My wife tracked down and phoned the now retired photographer who shot her parent’s wedding and asked him if she could buy copies of the wedding photos. He barked out that he had dumped the negatives when he retired and put the phone down. It was clear from his reaction that this was not the first such request he had received. Was that an air of regret in his voice, did he realize that he could have charged the same price for 1(10×8) photo in 2011 as he received for the entire wedding album back in the 50’s? We will never know, and neither will he because he was foolish enough to dump the negatives.

Of course it’s a momentous task keeping all those files in a state of preservation and in a filing system which would allow you to retrieve them. And realistically the money you get for the odd copy you sell to some deceased relative is not worth the effort. But keeping the negatives or digital files could be of great value historically. Portraits of children making their First Holy Communion; judging from the fact that 80% of those attending Mass nowadays are OAP’s it wont be long before First Holy Communion photographs become as rare as hens teeth.

I used to photograph 4 or 5 Priests getting Ordained every year. I even photographed a Nuns Profession. I bet there isn’t a photographer under 40 who has been asked to cover any of those. So even photographs with Priests or Nuns in them will have an historic value in the not too distant future. Read More→