Keeping it all...

[oriecat]

I have had a camera since 1985. I have a lot of photos and slides and negatives, basically everything I have ever taken. I know that most of it is just crap and I should get rid of it, but I just can't bring myself to do it, even tho I never look at any of it. So I have a drawer just full of that old stuff... What do you do? Do you keep everything? If not, how do you decide when it is time to finally let something go?

 

[Jeff Canes]

I keep almost everything. Will through out a slide it’s black or clear, same for negative if all the frames are bad on the strip. Keep them in boxes in an extra room. I have been thinking for some time about getting a very good multi-format scanner to save them all to disk but when would I have the time.

My sister always ask for old photos for Christmas, I had one made from a 50 year old negative, I looked thru the same box about 10 times before I found it

 

[terri]

I don't mind discarding a junkie looking PRINT if I know I still have the negative or slide. I have no problem tossing bad slides that will never make a good image, ie out of focus, over or underexposed. That being said, just viewing the stuff I've taken in my accelerated shooting of the last couple of years, I can see where storage will always be an issue. And that's while trying very hard NOT to be sentimental!!! :roll:

 

[jack]

hi all

oriecat, im glad you posted this dilemma.
ive been "keen" too on 35mm since the early eighties ('83).
last year i had solid plans to relocate to the otherside of the world
from here in london. it was to be a real 'new beginning'. i planned to travel
very light. i had boxes of old prints - powerful memories both good and
tainted. i had a bulging bag of sticky, scratchy negs. i binned them all.
i had moved away from photography and started to paint. a lot.
i junked some old cine 8 cameras, a fold-out landcamera, some praktica
slr kit that i couldnt even sell for $10 and lots of ornamental sentimental
tat, clothes i no longer wore and felt i never would.
anyway - the move never happened. life dealt a different hand at the
11th hour. by november 2003, my creative inspiration had dried up with
the painting. i returned again to photography with a new passion.
i want to post that i regret throwing out past negs, prints and deleting
digital PSD's, SWFs, graphic work etc. i'd hang on to them if you can. you
never know (especially with the abilities to digital manipulate and enhance
thesedays) when even a mediocre stock image may come in very handy
(i.e with webdesign etc).
now, when i shoot a roll, im still self-critical with the results. as soon as
i get my prints done, i spread them out, bin the misfires and obvious
fumbles. im left with an A set which i upload to the net of offer around
friends or very possibly commercial prospects (im not yet a "professional"),
and i also have a B set (including duplicates) which i keep in another folder.
i dont show the B set around. but i wont ever throw away another neg from now.
and i dont handle them at all unless essential.

 

[Dew]

my motto, "out with the old, in with the new"

if i havent used it or have interest in a year, i dont need it ... that goes for clothing, shoes, photos, etc..

i have my hubby go through old photos with me ... he'll say, "thats junk, trash it." ... i can always count on him for his honest opinion :? ... thats one of the things i love and hate about him


need in honest opinion? .. doxx will give it to ya :LOL:

 

[ksmattfish]

I am all for getting rid of useless junk in my life, especially if it's taking up valuable room.

On the other hand, when it comes to creativity, whether writing, visual arts, etc..., I think that there is value in looking over past work. If only as a guide to see how far I've come. But often it rekindles ideas that I may not have been able to accomplish at the time. Many times I have looked at past "failure' only to be newly inspired. As many times I have looked at past "successes" only to think "man, that sucks!"

 

[zio]

i say keep the pictures of family/friends and what not. its always fun to go back years from now and see them...brings back good memories.

 

[motcon]

i've never tossed a negative (save for the over developed fp4 about which we won't speak.... )

i, however; explore alternative uses for negatives. if you are strictly a gray scale person, then, yeah; some negs will be useless. i often sit down with some wine, my lightbox, loupe, lint gloves, and my negatives looking for new crops and/or interpretations. if i throw out a neg from, say, a portrait shoot from 7 years back and i have a brain spark about what i could've done with it, i'll ask the nearest person to kick me square in the groin.

it really does take little space (the storage, not my groin). the true dilemna, if i may, is that it can be quite the brain-rattler in thinking about how to store them in terms of organization.

 

[Not Neve]

Hey Oriebabe! I say take a quick look through things and if something really screams junk then toss it. Then, store the rest of the things (that have potential). You do, afterall, have more space now.

Jack, that's unfortunate that things took a last minute turn but glad to hear you are now more passionate than before about photography.

Motcon, LOL, about the storage/groin comment.

P.S. Mindy, I got a new monitor...flatscreen and it's beautiful!

 

[ksmattfish]

Looking into my darkroom, I'm realizing that I don't even throw out work prints. I save them all in precariously high stacks, waiting for someday when I'll use them for toning experiments, or collages, or something. Most likely they will accumulate until they topple over on me.

 

[TwistMyArm]

"Purging your negative files in a giant bonfire is both scary and a relief"
Brooks Jensen


To be honest I don't think I could bring myself to do it. Maybe in a couple years I'll go ahead and force myself. I got a lot of crap that isn't worth the film it was shot with.

 

[joseph]

We hoard (or keep) stuff for one of two reasons, practicle or psychological, but that's for another forum. My rule if I did not use it or wanted it (slides neg prints) after three years it's gone. I found over many years of filling closets that three years was an optimal time. But now with digital.....I will keep anything worth while on my HD or DVD backup. Uses now are different e.g. to illustate something I need a bad example of a photo for my web site..... would have never needed a bad photo before. Technolog,y it's a changing.....

 

[manda]

i still have every bday card ive ever received.
enough said.

 

[stick35]

I'm terrible about throwing anything out. I still have boxes of 5.25" diskettes full of software fromm the early 80's.

Since my photography career has just started over the past few months, I don't have a big collection, but what I am doing with my prints is: out of every roll I get developed, I take the best 3 to 6 pictures and put them in a photo album and the rest I store in a box. I'm sure I will never ever throw them away.

 

[GerryDavid]

I'm terrible about throwing anything out. I still have boxes of 5.25" diskettes full of software fromm the early 80's.

Since my photography career has just started over the past few months, I don't have a big collection, but what I am doing with my prints is: out of every roll I get developed, I take the best 3 to 6 pictures and put them in a photo album and the rest I store in a box. I'm sure I will never ever throw them away.

Hehe, some of hte games from the late 80's and early 90's are the best. tHe one sthat run off of one 3.5" floppy, hehe. A couple of my fav old games are "stunts" which is a racing game, and "scorched earth" which is a mathematical angle/power game.

Ive also kept all of my negs, most of which arent that good but if I need to reproduce the pics, Ill have them. I will probably get some acid free negative sheets to put the negs in and put tehm in a binder :0).