Hello Malcolm, About 1 month ago a friend of mine told me that his digital camera was stolen. He had 6 months worth of pictures on it that he had never bothered to download or print yet. It contained two summer vacations, birthdays, his son's baseball season (including pitching first year), etc. He said that he just had not got around to doing anything about preservation and now it is all lost.
Much like computers and backups, most of us don't back up like we should until we get burned once or twice. Yes, a significant portion of the digital photos being taken now will probably be lost forever. -- Best regards, Bruce Saturday, August 6, 2005, 10:49:54 AM, you wrote: MS> Quite agree, the only difference I have noted on some peoples holiday MS> pictures is a vast increase in quantity and nothing in quality. At the end MS> of the day, they paid the cash and what they do with the equipment is their MS> concern. If they come to enjoy photography, perhaps they will join a club or MS> a list. MS> I am concerned that what they have taken will be lost. I already know people MS> that have put memory cards in the rubbish by mistake and formatted hard MS> drives with 18 months worth of family pictures. The old pack of prints and MS> negs that gets tucked away in a drawer and forgotten has a much better MS> survival prospect. A lot of social history for the future will be lost MS> because so many will not recognise the importance of backing images up until MS> it's too late; the culture of losing a print and still having the negative MS> is still set in stone. If you read camera magazines or you're part of a MS> mailing list this is old old news. If you take a few pictures a week with MS> your P&S, recording whatever hobby etc that does interest you, and months MS> pass and you have a computer crash or whatever, it's a tough way to learn. MS> Malcolm
