The Falling Value Of Photographs?

The Falling Value Of Photographs?

Are todays photographs taken for granted?

It's been a while since I added to this blog. Other things have required my time and attention and the most recent of these has been the distressing failing of health and eventual passing of my mother.

The mental and practical fallout resulting from such an event can be quite overwhelming, but as the practicalities are overcome, interesting insights can sometimes start to become apparent. For me, one such revelation directly related to photography.

A collection of memories

Among my mothers effects were the photographs she had accumulated through her life, a mixture of family, friends, places, and special times that meant something not only to her but in many cases the others involved. Looking through the collection several things struck me. Overall it was interesting to see the way personal photographs seem to have lost something of their perceived value over the years. There appears, in my mind, to be a direct correlation between that and the rising ease of access to the media by the masses.

The earliest of my mothers pictures, are generally, lovingly presented in photo albums, complete with written captions, dates, locations, and often witty remarks. Probably the effort involved in taking then getting pictures processed and printed, raised the perceived value. As things progressed, with colour, and easier to use cameras being introduced, this value would seem to lower. Pictures taken in later years tend to be placed with less care and attention into cheaper albums, that is if they made it that far at all! Many remain in the original paper wallet in which they returned from the processors. 

Today, with the switch to digital, all but a small percentage of photographs have ceased to become physical entities at all! Instead they exist as collections of ones and zeros on people's phones, tablets, and computers. The ease and cheapness with which digital pictures are now taken, coupled with the shear quantity that people take, appears to have diminished the value to the point that it's rare that people feel it worth the effort to print them. 

Now pictures are viewed via the screens of various electronic devices. Whilst there are substantial advantages to always having whole albums to hand on your phone, along with the ease that they can be shared, there is a loss of the personal touch in editing and crafting a physical album. Today it's mostly only the very special occasions such as weddings that seem to warrant the production of a physical record. But who knows how much longer that will continue?

Unknowns

Sifting through those albums and boxes of old pictures, the other thing that became apparent was that, although a picture might well be worth a thousand words, sometimes some extra information is helpful! In addition to the album captions, some prints had notes on the back identifying people and events but most did not. The modern digital equivalent would be the EXIF data contained within the file itself, however many people are unaware of its existence let alone take the trouble of adding their own captions to it!

Sadly as time goes on, the people who can fill in the missing gaps dwindle, and I regret not taking the time to make myself more familiar with the who and where. So I now find myself staring at unknown ghosts from the past.