Usually you can offer the photos to whoever or whatever is in the photo. Person, establishment, city, brand, etc. You may also offer it as an archive for the city. But you gotta sit down and sort them out. You’ll eventually see themes here and there that can be compiled to a book of some sorts. Go at it, savour the time travel.
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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A stock agency wouldn't take them (probably) because of chain of title, i.e., establishing who actually owns the copyright. Did your late husband have any siblings, do you have any kids, and what state did all of this happen in, etc. You'd need signify from everyone and even then someone might claim something.
Creative Commons might be an option. Or museum, historical society.
Definitely museum. Libraries? Definitely don't just throw them though. See if anyone would be keen to get the film printed or see if any galleries would be keen to come take a look?
You might be able to sell it as a whole, or in chunks, to someone/persons who collect vintage film/scans/postcards/etc. I have some friends from the industry who did this for a while. It likely won’t be gobs of money, but it may be finding good homes this way. I’m not sure how you’d go about selling it in the most efficient way possible though.
I’d reach out to your local museums, galleries or maybe colleges to see if they would have any suggestions on where it could be sold or possibly donated if anything.
Library(s) for sure.
/r/AnalogCommunity /r/analog might help you find someone who'd be interested. Providing a (vague) location could help.
Sorry for your loss and I hope you're able to find something.
I would try to donate? It’s what people will also remember him by. It’s part of his legacy. It should be celebrated, not erased.
Depending on your time to dedicate to it, photo books could be a way to share the work. I don't know if it's worth the effort to sort/organize it all, make sure everything is scanned, and design it, but if you have the time it could be a good way to keep the memories alive.
Depending on the content it could also be marketable for sales or finding a publisher who's willing to handle it. It still puts a lot of work on you, but if the emotional effort of going through all of it is manageable and you have the time to dedicate to it, you could have a good product in the end for people to view.
I don’t think I can add much on to what’s already been said (donating to an organization or library), but I’m sure if you were willing to scan at least some of the work, you could find some folks on Reddit who would be more than happy to help you compile it somehow! If you do decide to go this route, feel free to DM, I’d be happy to help however I can!
Like others say, you would have to see who the executor of his estate is to figure out ownership. There’s a website you can upload images to, and they will post it on many stock sites. I don’t know what kind of royalties come from that. Might be a market for older retro images? Your could donate too. The work though is in digitizing good scans of everything. I have some old film stuff I want to get digitized and was quoted about 50 cents an image.
Talk to the library system, they might want it for their collection.
If he taught classes, get in touch with the school. If he won contests, get in touch with whatever organization held them. And libraries would also be a good option. Any documentation of your husband inheriting them and subsequently you inheriting them will help if you intend to publish or sell them.
I had a teacher who passed away who was a very talented photographer. His family put some of his work up for sale in a gallery and there was a show. It was a great opportunity for friends and family to get together and celebrate his life and his work.
What kind of photography was it? Travel? How much material are we talking about? How much effort are you willing to put in to do something meaningful with it? Please don't just throw it out!
Definitely repost this in r/analogcommunity
There are a bunch of old timer film people in there that’ll know what your best options are.
If it were me personally, I would do a bit of an exhibition of their works before donating them. That way the work is honoured and can be appreciated by others and then contributed to those who have use for them.
I work with an archive that is building a photographic reference library making hundreds of thousands of images available for historic references and research etc. At a minimum it would fulfill a fully credited legacy of preservation for your photo collection. Feel free to reach out and we can speak a bit more in detail about what we’re up to. Thanks.
Oh... What archive is that? I would love to learn more myself!
I would definitely suggest to OP, before getting rid of them, digitize them for sure. Send them to an archive, archival device, or do your best with a camera or your phone. No matter what happens to the physical versions after that, you don’t have to feel (so) guilty about not hanging onto everything. I hang on to way too much stuff to be sure but it can be a huge mental burden if you let it be.
Do you have any kids? I would maybe keep them, so the kids perhaps want to do something with them. Or a different relative. Maybe ask around in the family, what would other relatives suggest you do? There might be family memories in that material. Alternatively, I’d donate the whole collection to a librart or museum so it’s not gone forever.
Don't throw them away - release them as CC-0/Public domain if possible.
Don’t throw it away.
Get in touch with a photography institute and see if they’re interested. Or a library.
It might be a full time job, but it should definitely be praised.
Check what happened to Vivian Mayer.
You might not want to deal with it, but please don’t throw it away.
As a photographer... it would truly hurt my heart if someone didn't continue to view at least some of my work after I'm gone. I hope that the images outlast me.
There are archives and museums or other national organisations that can curate the images and (if you want) make them available under creative commons licenses or similar. Then people can see and use them (but not for commercial purposes).
(May be used for decorations in public spaces and the like, happened to a friends images he donated)
If you're from the US contact National Archives to donate them. But almost every country has something similar where they can help you.
Also there are certainly organisations on local levels that would probably love them for the same reason but also for local history documentation.
I would offer the remaining family (and maybe old students) to come pick a few to frame for themselves
Anything remaining , either offer to other artists or photographers in the area or galleries if they’re are any and then just put the rest on Kijiji / Craigslist or Facebook market place for cheap
ETA: you could also make coffee table books of your favourites and use them as gifts for family and friends
Did your father-in-law attend a university? If so they might be interested in acquiring his work for their archives/permanent collection. You could also reach out to the university gallery director and see if they'd be interested in an exhibit of the Cambodia collection.
Unless they were famous, you probably won't get much money from the photos/negatives. That being said I personally think that a great way to create some sort of legacy for them would be to release them under a Creative Commons license. This way people who find the work useful can utilize the images and your FIL's photography will live on that way
Scan it and show it to us!
Keep his memory alive
Upload it to Flickr or somewhere
Find your local camera club I'm sure they'd love to help
This might end up being one of those /r/UnethicalLifeProTips :-|
If you have a bunch that are already scanned.
Sign up for a flickr account. Depending on the number of photos, in order to upload all of them you might have to buy a "PRO" account for the year. (Currently $72) Don't set the account to auto-renew unless you think this will take longer than a year. There's also a 2-year plan for $132.
Upload all of the photos, and add as many descriptions, titles as you want. I would do this in groups. Cambodia (1972), Tiajuana (1964), etc.. Reason is you can add titles and descriptions to all of the items in that group as they're uploading. You can upload more than one group of photos at a time, but sometimes just looking at the small thumbnails you might tag some wrong.
Also mark all of them as "Public Domain Dedication (CC0)" You can do this during the upload process. This makes them free for anyone to download and use, if that's your intent. There are other options. https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Anyway, once everything is uploaded and you're happy with everything. You can set the account to "In Memoriam" This will protect all of the photos from deletion even after the Pro account expires. https://www.flickrhelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4404071450516-In-Memoriam-Flickr-Accounts
Once the account is In-Memoriam you won't be able to upload anything else or log in, so make sure you're done with everything.
Your FIL's shots of Cambodia are NOT like any other photos taken from their, as they were taken by your husband's father and not some stranger. 😉
Hey create a Flickr or other image site maybe even an Instagram account. Take pictures of Everything with a good phone.. then share it with the world !!
After that figure out what to do with the physical stuff..donate or other options. Maybe you can find someone at upwork.com or locally who can take on the job of selling them for a commission?