Photographer passes away - what happens to the equipment etc?

His wife's next husband sells the equipment and throws out the photos.

Part of the problem is that film photography stopped evolving. It was state of the art and still progressing when suddenly digital advance so fast and rendered it almost obsolete in a short time. Digital became the maiin commodity. I guess you could say digital was the asteroid for film photography. Just like what happened when quartz watches came along. The Swiss watch industry turned it down saying people would not switch and the technology was sold to Casio.

The key, IMHO, is that if you know somebody values something you have, equipment or photos, and you are amenable to passing it along to them, either do it before you die, or make a specific bequest in your will. It can be contested, but pretty unlikely.

That is the key. Otherwise your main heir will be the landfill.

some of my retired parents late friends were into photography. At a certain point widows try to get rid of old equipment. - Maybe ours will be smart enough to use marketplaces like ebay wisely but it would help them if we 'd write the item descriptions. Otherwise some more or less clueless decluttering service guy might try his luck. Or the lot might end sold to a camera store (if such will still exist...) for a song.

 

One time a buddy showed up with a Linhof 4x5" monorail, asking me what it might be (worth). - His mother used to visit an old chap in a nursing home whose last treasured possession was that Linhof and he passed it to her.

 

When my grandfather died (while I was a teen) my parents decided to toss out all his old negatives.

One of my neighbors spent time digitizing the slides of a late local shutterbug that he obtained from his widow.

Share your pictures while you are alive. The internet is unlikely to forget things... Maybe figure out how to get them uploaded into the public domain after you passed away?

Or become famous enough so somebody will be willing to play curator of your archive and somebody else crazy enough to pay a good price for an old beater previously owned by you...

 

But yes, photography is most likely just my or your hobby and unlikely to leave traces, unless we did it for somebody else and made them happy.

I guess you could say digital was the asteroid for film photography. Just like what happened when quartz watches came along...

 

All true, but I still carry an Elgin 1955 mechanical pocket watch with me every day... :)

 

Certain hobbies seem to attract grave robbers more than others. I am mostly thinking of amateur radio, astronomy, and mechanics. In the first two of these, the dearly departed was likely well known by a regional "club" community of like minded people--as was their equipment. I cannot speak for women, but far too many of we men lie our arses off about how much some treasure is worth--or cost paid to acquire it. As a result, many widows have been left with the belief that a $2500 rig or scope only cost $300. There are those known to the dead that will appear even before the funeral--and offer to "help" sort and dispose of good old Bob's stuff for a fair price. Some of the things I have seen or heard should have resulted in a public whipping. :mad:

 

Likewise, I have seen clueless families simply donate tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment--because they did not know the value or have the help dealing with it. Relatives can be an especially parasitic sort of vulture--picking through and arguing with each other over who should get what and so on. If you have anything of value, be sure that you have a will. That your executor has a list of your Leica baubles--and their relative worth. Provide instructions in the will as to how your crap is to be disposed of. And when you get to 60, start thinning out the mass of stuff. Time to keep the things of most value to you, and use the proceeds from the sale of the rest to do something interesting. The Swedes call this "death cleaning."

 

And images? Does anyone in the public sphere of the art community value your work (e.g.,you have had gallery showings)? Give your print catalog to them, or similar. Let your family dig through the rest and dispose of as wished. You will be dead, and if they don't care what difference does it make? :confused:

Hmmm. Maybe that’s it. Hobbies get reduced to the value of equipment collected, not unlike coins or stamps, much as that’s what a lot of men seem to prize most about themselves, their . . . equipment! Crafts and art, on the other hand, come down to what’s made by that equipment.

 

What’s most valuable to me are actually those relatives, none of whom fit the mold of parasitic vulture and none of whom can I imagine picking through and arguing over my physical possessions or money. One reason I say that is we’ve already been through the loss of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles together and that simply has not happened.

 

There’s at least some truth in “you reap what you sow.”

I got to think about some 10 cameras that I got ,

very good subject and some great replies.

Hmmm. Maybe that’s it. Hobbies get reduced to the value of equipment collected, not unlike coins or stamps, much as that’s what a lot of men seem to prize most about themselves, their . . . equipment! Crafts and art, on the other hand, come down to what’s made by that equipment.

 

What’s most valuable to me are actually those relatives, none of whom fit the mold of parasitic vulture and none of whom can I imagine picking through and arguing over my physical possessions or money. One reason I say that is we’ve already been through the loss of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles together and that simply has not happened.

 

There’s at least some truth in “you reap what you sow.”

 

Lucky you...

 

:rolleyes:

Lucky you...

 

:rolleyes:

Well, like photography, some of it IS luck, but not all of it. The rest I’m comfortable taking some responsibility for. I stand by the photos I make and the relationships I’ve developed.

All true, but I still carry an Elgin 1955 mechanical pocket watch with me every day... :)

 

Certain hobbies seem to attract grave robbers more than others. I am mostly thinking of amateur radio, astronomy, and mechanics. In the first two of these, the dearly departed was likely well known by a regional "club" community of like minded people--as was their equipment. I cannot speak for women, but far too many of we men lie our arses off about how much some treasure is worth--or cost paid to acquire it. As a result, many widows have been left with the belief that a $2500 rig or scope only cost $300. There are those known to the dead that will appear even before the funeral--and offer to "help" sort and dispose of good old Bob's stuff for a fair price. Some of the things I have seen or heard should have resulted in a public whipping. :mad:

 

Likewise, I have seen clueless families simply donate tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment--because they did not know the value or have the help dealing with it. Relatives can be an especially parasitic sort of vulture--picking through and arguing with each other over who should get what and so on. If you have anything of value, be sure that you have a will. That your executor has a list of your Leica baubles--and their relative worth. Provide instructions in the will as to how your crap is to be disposed of. And when you get to 60, start thinning out the mass of stuff. Time to keep the things of most value to you, and use the proceeds from the sale of the rest to do something interesting. The Swedes call this "death cleaning."

 

And images? Does anyone in the public sphere of the art community value your work (e.g.,you have had gallery showings)? Give your print catalog to them, or similar. Let your family dig through the rest and dispose of as wished. You will be dead, and if they don't care what difference does it make? :confused:

 

I would say we all have our nostalgic appendages, Vinyl, tube audio (I remember when digital came out with systems that cost $20,000 dollars in 77 and they were the end all ubntil the prices came down.) When digital photos came out many periodicals said that it would take 100 years before the technology would yield quality images and so on and so on. I personsally have a love affair with soviet self winding watches. Plaster gave way to sheet rock. And we still here the oldest phrase in history "they do not make them like they use to ". Bottom they are just as good today. It is that progress and technological improvement drives the medium and the economy. Film cameras took a back seat because that is what people were buying and the must be a good reason. They are better overall. All those state of the art film cameras just did not sell and why would anyone continue to develop something that won't sell. I love film but no company is going to make any money off me. Just like box cameras from the turn of the century are just interesting artifacts. After all the arguments about what is better i am hopeful that the market place will help provide the answer

A friend, retired from a career as a professional photographer, moved to assisted living and I helped with liquidating his equipment. The family did not want to use Craigslist or the bay. The Nikon gear was sold to KEH. I posted lists of available equipment on this, and other photo sites. The XPan kit, Dedolites, and CoolScan sold. The rest of the top-end studio gear had no takers and KEH said they had no market for it. Schools did not want to take the gear as a donation. I reached out to wedding photographers I know, but the younger generation don't have studios. The family ultimately gave it to a enterprising teenager who is flogging it on the bay. (I still have an Elinchrom Fiberlite kit if anyone is interested). Conclusion: if it doesn't fit into the hand-held digital ecosystem, it has little value.