Fifty years from now, people will not have the pleasure of going though old photographs at a flea market, garage sale or antique mall. There will be basically no hard copy photographs. All our photographs are now digitized and stored on hard drive or discs. You will not be able to rummage through a shoe box or album of photos. You will not experience the discovery of a unique image of a child and its pet or favorite toy. Vernacular photography will have become obsolete.

Existing photographs of generations before will have increased dramatically in price and be available to the few who can afford such an antique collection of 200-300 year old images. Hard copy images have become a thing of the past and rather than a personal collection, you will view them on specialty sites or order discs with enhanced images from the past. Today, family photos of relatives, vacations, fun time with the kids, are all in file on the iphones and pads. No more the bulky family albums we used to pull out of the bookcase and spread on the table to look at grandparents and childhood pictures. No longer the fuzzy, out of focus images with heads cut off and faded colors.

We lost something along the way to better technology. We lost the intimate social aspect of life. This is true in general as we see folks getting together for an event but spending more time on their phones texting and sharing. We share our happy times at the restaurant or bar but it is momentary as far as the images go for they will be erased to make room for the next event.

For years I have collected vintage images by going to estate and garage sales when families discard the portraits of family and relatives they no longer know or care about. I have on occasion gone back at the end of a sale to make an offer on the box of photos and albums no one wanted. I had been rewarded with most interesting images whose participants have no name or history other than they once existed and the black and white photo represents that moment in time when an experience was shared. I view these photographs not as someone I do not know, but rather a distant relative in the family of humankind whose name has been lost to me. A few images I have do have names so I can share that moment of time with Sarah, Thuy, Asako or “Uncle” Fred. and acknowledge their existence. We are all one family.

It is sad, at least to me, future generations will not have this privilege. Peace.