Should I chuck out my old photos?

[slowmotion]

Photographic slides tend to develop a "bloom" after a while in casual storage. My expert tells me that penicillin grows on the emulsion.

 

[classic33]

Photographic slides tend to develop a "bloom" after a while in casual storage. My expert tells me that penicillin grows on the emulsion.

How long have they been in "casual storage"? I've some over sixty years old.

 

[slowmotion]

How long have they been in "casual storage"? I've some over sixty years old.

My "expert" digitised a handful of slides that had been stored in reasonably cool conditions for about thirty years. Not archive conditions, but out of extremes of temperature and sunlight. They all had "blooms" on them. He did a good job of digitally enhancing them but they were not quite the same as when they originally came back from the Kodak photo lab all those years ago.

 

[classic33]

Mine aren't in archive storage conditions. Maybe I've been lucky.

 

[biggs682]

keep them as they might have incriminating evidence on them

 

[iandg]

Bin them Marmy. It must be heartbreaking to see that once proud, noodley body compared to the lardy, hideous, beer-soaked lump it's become...

@Marmion Aah, Noodley, it all makes sense now - You're right, I have ridden with you and do remember you from the Snow Roads.

 

[Mo1959]

In a mad moment when tidying out a cupboard I threw all my old photos out and now seriously regret at least not keeping some of them.

Maybe go through them and keep what you consider a decent selection. You could maybe get them transferred to disc or memory card eventually if you don't want to hang on to the slides.

 

[User32269]

Keep them and you can eat one next time you pick up an infection. Test the penicillin theory.

 

[Drago]

Friend of Mrs D has a photo of her as a child sat on Jimmy Savile's knee. I think I'd shred that if it were mine.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Keep them, photos are much nicer. We take loads of digital pics these days and hardly ever look at them, it was much nicer to take a few precious shots and look back at them or treat your friends to a viewing when they come over.

That last bit isn't true.

 

[summerdays]

I love old photos and my kids love looking at them occasionally (ones of themselves and their siblings). I'd say go through get rid of every naff out of focus flower ones, and a lot of duplicate scenery ones and keep the rest perhaps digitising them and sharing them with those who appear in them.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Set up a stand which is lit properly, take digital photos of your photos, upload to cloud drive and maybe store on a memory stick (they are cheap as chips now). If you do it right, it's good enough quality to be worthwhile

 

[mybike]

These are slides taken when I was 18-25 years old, the brief period when I fancied myself as a bit of a lensman. They're all pretty rubbish. It was before I started roller-skating with my wife-to-be.

Edit: It was love on sixteen wheels at the Jubilee Hall roller disco, Covent Garden.

Yeh, I've got some of those. Get yourself a scanner & digitise them.

 

[mybike]

[QUOTE 4750902, member: 76"]I'm still the only Bin them vote! Oh dear, am I the only one on here who doesn't care about the past in this way?[/QUOTE]

yep.

 

[ufkacbln]

Interesting perspective from a museum talk about local history

They were lamenting the advent of digital photography as they used to get lots of old photos of local landmarks, fashion and events

A treasure trove for local historians

However these are now sealed on hard drives never to see the light of day