The pain of old photos!

[manaheim]

I just spent an hour or so rifling through some old pictures... many taken by me, some by my wife (then girlfriend), some by parents and other friends, etc.

Almost all of them are absolutely horrible... overexposed, underexposed, poor framing, bad focus, etc. etc. etc... you name it.

It just kills me. So many memories, barely captured on horribly fuzzy and poorly taken pictures. Friends, pets long past, houses and vacations... all just crap. Sure, there are the occasional acceptable shots... and even a few good ones, but they're just super super rare.

It really bums me out.

I think I'm going to try to write up a very brief sort of guide to taking pictures to give to my kids when they get a bit older... in hopes that maybe it will help them at least ensure that their memories are not a horrible mess when they get older.

 

[JerryPH]

I was lucky... my dad was an avid enthusiast back when I was a kid. Not only were most of my concerts and competitions recorded on reel to reel tapes, but we have some incredible pics of our family from the 60s to the mid 80s all in albums before he slowed down and the video age came in.

I hope to continue the tradition on all our family gatherings to do my best and capture some shots. Some may even be in focus, if I try real hard... lol

 

[TwoRails]

Ya, it can be a bummer, but take joy in that you have some record at all!! Even a bad shot is much, much better than no shot! At least you can look at them and go back to your memories and share them.

 

[JerryPH]

Chris, I have the ultimate solution for you... in your will, each child gets a D700 and a copy of "Understanding Exposure", and if they want the inheritance, they have to demonstrate above average photography skills!

 

[manaheim]

Jerry. Wait... I don't have a D700 yet. Why do THEY get one? Lousy brats. Sounds like you were very lucky with your Dad, so hopefully some of what I'm doing will rub off on my girls.

Tworails... yes, you're right. No question. It's just painful to think of how many more memories I would have had I had more of a clue, and even better... a digital camera. Kids today are so lucky to be able to just rip off pictures like wild.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, for as long as the photos I would find, if I had shoeboxes full of old photos, were taken by my dad or sister, they would probably be good, since my dad and uncle were enthusiasts, same as Jerry's dad was, and it rubbed off on my sister early on.

However --- the old photos taken by me (!), in print, in flip-albums just so they'd be safely stored, are all horrible. I went back to the first I took when I first got my 500N (first Canon SLR, and that was only 9 years ago... ), and they most of them are ... yes: downright horrible.

I find that very frustrating!

 

[craig]

I tell my non photographer friends that you can never take a bad photo. 20 years from now that over flashed pic in the bar will be really comforting. As defenders of photography we all know that is only partly true.

Long story short save those images! Proud to say I think I only tossed or deleted about 10 photos in my life.

Love the Fraggle avatar. Brings a smile to my face as I sit hear and procrastinate writing captions.

Love & Muppets

 

[JerryPH]

Lousy brats. Sounds like you were very lucky with your Dad, so hopefully some of what I'm doing will rub off on my girls.

lol@the "lousy brats", I bet you would be the first to freak if one so much as stubbed a toe!

Set the example, encourage them in it, and it will happen (that pretty much covers a lot of subjects).