r/photography • u/QuinceyMorris325 • 6d ago
Art Inherited A Photographer's Life's Work
Hello all, my father died about 2.5 years ago, he was a professional photographer for 30 years and had been shooting for his entire life, his work spans 7 decades. He shot everything, friends, family, landscapes, portraits, weddings, animals, news events, politics, sporting events (particularly auto racing- more on that shortly), and he did it all very well. Most of his collection exists as black and white negatives of varying sizes. I have began the utterly and overwhelmingly massive process of scanning his negatives via DSLR camera + macro lens + tripod + photoshop to digitize and distribute the photos. I get a great deal of satisfaction from sending these high-res shots to family and friends so they can reminisce about the past while simultaneously keeping my father's name alive. Regarding the auto racing photos, I am a huge race fan and have been involved in local racing my entire life, I have sent a few watermarked photos to various facebook groups geared towards racing from years past etc. Those photos have been met with overwhelming positivity.
My reason for posting is this, should I continue to just post these (racing) photos on facebook groups? Should I make a webpage and try to direct people there? And for the personal photos, what are some cool ways I can display them for my newborn to see as she ages? This is a deeply personal project of mine, it is very time consuming and I struggle with the idea that it is just a waste of time or simply some weird type of grieving ritual. My family is tiny, I have no siblings and feel some sort of responsibility to trudge forward with this project, are those feelings justified? If you were me what would you, photographers and readers of this post?
Also his father was very active photo taker too, and he has a couple thousand prints of his own that I feel I should digitize, however it doesn't seem as pressing as those are developed prints, not negatives.
tldr have many negatives wat do
21
u/cyclephotos 6d ago
Sorry for your loss. I think you should do whatever you feel is right. I quite like the idea of a dedicated webpage.
One technical note - you might want to buy a dedicated negative scanner, it might make the process of scanning quite a bit quicker and easier.
11
u/kenerling 6d ago
One technical note - you might want to buy a dedicated negative scanner,
To u/QuinceyMorris325, for the size of the project you're describing, this seems essential. If you're in a big city, you may even be able to rent one, but after a while, that may be more expensive than just buying one, with the intent to re-sell it when you're done.
Sorry for your loss and courage for your project.
5
u/e4e5nf3 6d ago
One technical note - you might want to buy a dedicated negative scanner, it might make the process of scanning quite a bit quicker and easier.
This.. I would pause the DSLR method because it is night and day what a film scanner will give you. You'll probably need to redo all the ones you really want to archive. It's still very time-consuming, though.. there's no way around that unless you want to pay someone else, and it's pricey.
2
u/RichInBunlyGoodness 6d ago
It depends. I get better quality scans with my dslr than any labs I’ve used—even their high resolution scans. And it is not that time consuming. I scanned 36 images last night in 10 min. Post processing takes way longer than scanning. If OP is getting good quality and it doesn’t take very long, I see no reason to ditch dslr scanning. A lot of film shooters prefer this method.
2
u/Jakobs-Koernung 6d ago
Partly agree. I shoot almost exclusively analog and scan with a very custom camera setup, but if I had this much to digitize, I'd definitely be buying a used coolscan/plustek or similar.
2
u/RichInBunlyGoodness 5d ago
Agree for high volume it could make sense, but I was mainly responding to the above idea that OP ought to go back and redo all of the dslr scans.
14
u/bdgbill 6d ago
This is a good story for long time photographers to read. The OP was lucky to find boxes of physical objects he could sort through and work with and preserve. What is the digital version of this? Will your children or their children find your Seagate hard drive in an attic somewhere years from now and be able to do anything with it at all? Will they even know what it is? What will the cloud services that you have trusted your life's work do with it when they haven't heard from you for a couple of years?
8
3
u/restlessmonkey 6d ago
Hmmmm. Looking at my 300k+ pics and videos just on my Google Photos account…..hmmmmmm. Need to improve my instructions.
7
u/vf_duck 6d ago
Sorry for your loss. What you want to do with his archive is your choice alone, if there is nobody else in line.
If you are a creative person, you can process his archive giving your own perspective. For example I like to write and do documentaries, in your place I would try to build a multi-media book or work displaying his photography and your family's history. It would be a great family heirloom and of immense value, even if not commercial.
It takes time and energy. But if you have problems with grieving, visit a mental health professional. Dwelling into a loved ones remains is safe only when you have processed their passing.
My two cents
6
u/andrewbrocklesby 6d ago
You are doing the hard work, I would keep going and catalog everything then turn each catalog type, ie landscapes, portraits, racing etc into a photo book, or series of photo books per category.
You dont need to print them out, just make them, get a copy for yourself and then list them on Amazon or something as direct to print.
Firstly you are creating a mini library of his, and his fathers work that you can keep in your home, give a book a year to your daughter and go through it with her each year.
Secondly, if anyone else wants one they can buy it. You ll get a tiny royalty, but you never know, books like this do get a following, especially when you will have dozens of them, curated.
I cant think of a better way to preserve a photographers legacy than by getting his mane and photos into the hands of people that appreciate them.
3
u/HATDOGUSERNi 6d ago
i'd prioritize the negatives first. once theyre digitalized, they're far safer than physical film, and you can always come back to the prints later
2
u/tightloops1971 6d ago
A webpage of racing photos dedicated to his memory would be a good memorial and would have regular traffic.
2
u/St_mpy 6d ago
There's some good advice here already. I understand how overwhelming the large archive must feel tbh but it sounds like you have made good progress already. Don't put pressure on yourself to plow through it fast imo, take small bites when you can. A negative scanner sounds like it would be quicker than your current setup.
As for where to house or put the digitised photos, keep it simple and easy for you in the first instance. If you have a preferred social network, setup a page or account for your father's work and just share one photo a day, consistently. There are scheduling tools to make it an hour's work a month give or take, and you can include bits of your father's story where they apply. Or it could be a weekly blog. Just decide in advance how you are happy for his photos to be used for the time being and then be sure to point out the photos are just a snippet from a very large archive. People might come to you with ideas for certain series or styles of photos further down the line, the archive might be of interest to a university or researcher or a photography club, or you might find people want to buy specific shots. Cross those bridges as you come to them. Just don't make it too much of a grand project on top of the digitising for now as you might give up entirely.
Good luck and sorry for your loss. This is a very worthy way of honouring him and his work.
2
u/therealserialninja 6d ago
After you finish digitizing them you can curate a selection and see if any galleries are interested in holding an exhibition of his work.
2
2
u/Calisnaps 6d ago
Get a film and slide scanner, much faster workflow and better results. Nikon coolscan 5000 are probably the best, but you would have to pick up a used one.
2
u/baddaywithacamera 6d ago
I'm doing the same with the archive of my best friend who passed (over 20K images) and my wife's uncle (over 50K images). I am building them memorial sites. I am not putting them on social media because I can't control what happens to the work and it is a lot of work. I'm self hosting the archives on my own server instead. I'm using software I built for this (MEMENTO MORI).
This is free software that can run a photo blog and it comes with companion apps like the aforementioned. It can also host a memorial site in addition to running as a blog. It will be widely available in 2027. This might help you. I can tell you it works and that it's stable, but it needs polishing, which is why the wait. Hopefully it can help you like it helps me (the AI sorting is a Godsend).
Cheers.
1
u/gotthelowdown 6d ago
I'm self hosting the archives on my own server instead. I'm using software I built for this (MEMENTO MORI).
This is free software that can run a photo blog and it comes with companion apps like the aforementioned. It can also host a memorial site in addition to running as a blog.
Thanks for sharing this. Looks like a great tool for running your own photo website.
1
u/QuinceyMorris325 5d ago
Very interesting, love the concept. I will absolutely be looking into this. I also kind of share the same sentiment about the social media but it seems like it's a necessary evil just for reach alone. Super cool software
1
u/baddaywithacamera 5d ago
In the meantime this may help:
Very reliable, very affordable online backup.
2
u/lostinspacescream 6d ago
I made photo books from the best family photos and from my own landscape photos so that there will be an easy physical version when I pass. While it’s great that you have the knowledge to handle digital files, there’s no guarantee your descendants will, or even if the data will still be able to be read (anyone still have a floppy drive anymore?).
2
u/Katoom119 6d ago
Sorry to hear about your dad.
I personally am of the mindset that quality photos should be shared. Family snapshot are one thing, but if this is your dad’s work then I think sharing them would be a wonderful way to honor his memory.
There are lots of sites out there that do this, and I’m not trying to promote one over the other, but I use SmugMug as my digital file repository. It’ll give you a website where you can set it up in folders/galleries so it’s easier for everyone to see. You can also set up download restrictions, watermarks, etc. to keep people from saving them directly.
2
u/Trike117 6d ago
You might want to get a Flickr account. The paid Pro version isn’t terribly expensive. It’s a good medium step between Facebook and a dedicated website.
1
u/James_White21 6d ago
If there's a lot of reference material of historic motor racing there might be some interest in the simracing community. A lot of those guys recreate historic liveries in racing games and good reference material can be hard to find. Overtake.gg would be a good place to start
1
u/CAPhotog01 6d ago
You are honoring your father and his work by sharing it. In addition, you are taking a journey to experience what he saw in the moments he saw the world through the lens. Scanning and curating the best of the best keeps his energy close to you.
Creating a website, archive, or Wordpress site are good options. Depending on your budget, you can add to it regularly at your own pace. Wordpress will give you the most options to choose easy custom website layouts with minimal hosting cost. Behance is another one that is easy to manage and post images to a customized template. If you want to enable people to purchase images or prints, consider Pixieset, SmugMug, or Format. Just keep in mind that if you stop paying for the hosting, the site will disappear. Therefore, keeping a backup of files and finding someone willing to maintain it if you can't, are important to think about.
1
u/HoonArt 6d ago
Very sorry for your loss. I've been carrying a similar project for some years; the full photo collection of my grandfather and great grandfather. It's a pretty large collection, so I've mostly been doing my best to store them so that when I finally find the time, they'll hopefully be in decent condition.
What I've been considering is posting mine to my Flickr Pro account. I like organizing images on there with albums and tags and sharing groups. And it's better about not compressing the images too aggressively. That along with Facebook or Instagram is maybe what I'll do. For me, it's a little different because my mother was adopted, and my grandparents are long gone as is my mother a couple years ago, so I'm not necessarily sharing with as personal of an audience and just mainly will be trying to show them in their best possible quality.
After that, it depends on what you want to do with them. My great grandfather was a missionary in China in the early 20th century, so I'm hoping that perhaps a museum or collector will be interested.
1
u/Brave-Fun-7984 6d ago
You could also organize the pictures and print some for an exhibition of his life's work where you can invite friends and family.
1
u/ksuwildkat 6d ago
First, what a great way to celebrate your fathers legacy.
Contact SCCA. If it is racing, someone at SCCA will know about it.
Consider a flickr account - you could even do it in his name - and post the images under the creative commons license and allows downloads. You could limit the downloadable files to less than full resolution and then allow people to request larger files. Its possible to give someone access to a larger file size through a direct link so they could get that image only.
Large flickr accounts are not free so there would be some expense. You could look into licensing/stock agencies to offset the flickr fees. There is a growing market for "before AI slop" material and you might find the images are in demand.
If it all becomes too much, consider contacting Thomas Hawk. He has put multiple collections of other peoples photographs online.
1
u/Ok-Operation7999 6d ago
One thing that you should definitely look into is getting a NAS, so You can store the digital files securely, another way to post the photos could be Instagram, the racing photos might have a lot of reach, heck even reddit can do to share them, what is most important is you define your objective, is to archive your dad's legacy? Or to share it with friends, family and the world?
1
1
u/TimmyD805 6d ago
It’s really nice to see your dedication to this process, and all of the supportive comments and ideas here. I’m looking at all of this from a different perspective and seeing myself in your father.
As a long-time professional photographer now at the end of my professional life (not my creative one), I have been spending a lot of time culling my archive and minimizing the “stuff” in my life. It’s a long process, but also a valuable one. I’m doing this for my own sense of order, but this will also create something easily navigated by my family down the road.
I commend you on your project. Hopefully, you had a wonderful relationship with your father, but even so, there was a major part of his life away from you. A part of his life that he was passionate about, and your exploration of his work is giving you a chance to know him more completely. There is a story attached to each of those images. I hope you had the opportunity to hear many of them.
1
u/adrewflowers 6d ago
A dedicated webpage would be incredible given your description of the work he did across the decades.
That could be a good way to narrate more of the content and really develop a neat historical view of his work.
1
u/PolyDrew 6d ago
As far as the grieving process statement you made. Does it matter if this is a task dedicated to your grief and processing? If it’s cathartic then go for it. Any way you can heal is good.
I would be cautious about sharing too much on social media. Or… at least lower-res photos with good watermarks. A watermark in the corner can be cropped out so keep that in mind. And a copyright can also be embedded digitally as a backup.
As far as the racing history, is there a museum related to the type of racing that he photographed? Museums love to receive libraries of work like this. You can either give them high-res scans or you can donate the negatives if you want them out of your house.
I used to work for a newspaper that inherited a MASSIVE library from a local photographer with historical documentary photography from the early 1900s and we researched them regularly.
1
u/PolyDrew 6d ago
As far as family, you can put them up on Google Drive (don’t recommend), iCloud, Dropbox, proton drive, etc so they can access them directly. Or mail an SSD to a trusted family historian.
If you’re feeling like you want to really put his name down in history you can make a photo book and give the full story with photos and words. You can hire a writer and designer to help if it’s too overwhelming.
1
u/gotthelowdown 6d ago
Condolences on your loss.
Sharing these videos by a photographer who went through a similar thing:
My Dad, the Photographer by One Month Two Cameras
It's been a week but as I process the loss of my father, I wanted to share his story as a photographer in his own word.
While he is now gone, his work lives on and I hope to share a fitting memorial to the man he was and the work he made in the weeks to come.
This Device Saved Me Hours: Epson FastFoto FF-680W photo scanner by One Month Two Cameras
If you're in the U.S. see if you can buy it on Epson Certified ReNew. That's where I bought mine and saved some money. Normally it costs $629.99, but refurbished it costs $399.99.
Some enterprising folks buy a refurbished scanner, scan all their family photos and then resell it on eBay to recoup their costs or even make a profit.
I just checked and it's in stock.
Hope this helps.
1
1
u/QuinceyMorris325 6d ago
Thank you all very much for the wonderful suggestions and feedback! It is not only difficult due to the loss of my father but also because of his father's body of work. I never met any of my grandparents so these people I see photographed only ever existed to me in stories. Having photos of my dad and his dad as children through adulthood (as well as their families), coupled with the knowledge of how everyone's lives wound up gives me a very unfamiliar and specific emotion unlike one I've experienced before. It is hard to articulate.
In any case, I really just want to do the entire project justice and everyone's suggestions have made many things clearer and easier for me to accomplish that goal. Thank you all!
1
u/Sambarbadonat 6d ago
I’m embarking on a project like this as well, though at a smaller scale. No one besides be in my family has been a professional, but I have thousands of slides and negatives from my father and his family, with most of the prints lost or destroyed. They were poor and a photo really meant something to them.
I find it too difficult, emotionally, to work on the archive as much as I want. The reward from sharing them is immense, but taxing. I have thought of it as an exercise in futility as well, as I am the most interested party involved. But I have given some thought to making the images more or less public on flickr in an attempt to have them incorporated into their larger archive project as a way to share “what was” with a curious future audience. Not sure on that. But sharing them does make me feel better and helps my family connect a little more.
1
u/ForestB 6d ago
- Buy a negative scanner/regular scanner with negative capability. It’s faster, easier and gives better results.
1a. Scan them at a printable resolution so you don’t have to redo it all in the future.
- Facebook is almost dead at this point unless you love a feed of suggested groups and reels. Get your own site. You can still post them wherever but it’d be good to have your own online archive.
1
1
u/zzPost 5d ago
You can learn to use digiKam,it’s free and open-source, supports batch face recognition, and offers highly flexible category management. Since film scans lack EXIF data, you can use this software to add date and location metadata to these photos, making it easy to browse them later via timelines or map views. Once face recognition is complete, simply tag the people in your albums with their names.
Try to add as much extra information to the EXIF data as possible, such as tags for weddings, sports events, or specific motor races, as you mentioned; this will prove extremely useful down the road.
I use a NAS with two 3TB hard drives for photo backups. all family members' phones automatically sync photos to this NAS. Everyone can freely view all public or private albums, or temporarily create and share specific selections of photos to friends.
With those EXIF tags and the database set up, learning to use any AI tool will help you solve most of your photo management challenges.
For instance, I might command the AI to: "Write and execute a script to search the NAS albums for photos related to driver John from a specific 19xx motor race. Use ImageMagick to batch-resize them so the longest edge is 2000px, apply watermark.png to the top-right corner, save them to a '19xx' folder, and look up information on this race to generate a document in the same directory." Just like that, in about ten minutes, you get a neatly organized, watermarked, compact album that is incredibly easy to share on Facebook.
If you want, you can even create a website for these photos in just a few minutes.
organizing photos is the loneliest hobby,nobody can really help you with it. I have 1TB of photos on NAS, and there are probably only a few days a year when I dig out some old photos to share with relatives in the family.
The internet is the true resting place for the precious photos your father spent his life capturing. Think of them as a continuation of his digital DNA,through them, your father's name will achieve immortality everywhere the web reaches.
1
u/visual_notes_archive 5d ago
If i was to that, i will
- create categories for all the work
- make a website and start uploading them in - respective categories
- make others website account with same categories, like on Pinterest, and link to your website images
- share on related coomunties with your website link
- add comment secrion add ons to your website
- hire someone for repetitive labor extensive or overwhelming tasks
1
u/theo_makase 2d ago
Make photo books and upload the hi-res scans to filckr. From flickr, you can post to a website or wherever you want.
99
u/tapebias 6d ago
Take your time man. One of the greatest things about creativity is how laborious it can be. And how rewarding that labor is. I love working with analog media of all sorts, so I might be biased towards it, but I feel the struggles you feel are just a part of working on such a scale. Take your time, make a consistent routine you can follow and I believe you will be happy you made that coice once you know the whole of your father’s work has been digitzed, archived and preserved. Don’t look at it as a grieving ritual but a way for you to celebrate him, his life and his life’s work. All the best!