What are your travel photos for?

My photos are for me, both now and in my dotage when I'm no longer able to travel.

Ditto JeanM.

Till then I’ll travel and explore. As I often remind myself you aren’t born happy or unhappy. It’s a choice.

My photos are for me. I may take 1000 photos on a trip and I'll delete 90% of them. Of those 100 that are left, maybe one will make it to my wall. We have 6 frames in our living room and 6 in our kitchen with rotating photos from past trips. Of those 12, they represent 10 different trips dating from our latest in Mexico City, to 2017 in Venice. Those 99 other photos from each trip are for occasional memories or reminders. Sometimes to remind what we saw, or even what we wore to remind us of temperatures and what to pack for a return trip. Sometimes we're watching a movie or TV show and a scene will take place somewhere we've been and I'll grab my phone to bring up the image and we'll both smile over the memory.

Anyway, I enjoyed the article. A couple of points caught my attention:

“I’m at the point now where I look at past photos of vacations and
think, “How is this any different from the thousands of other pictures
someone took of this exact spot?”

That's a common comment on this Forum, but for me the difference is that I took the photo. It's mine and my memory, from a specific location, with a specific memory, and no postcard can replicate that.

I have never gone back to a picture of the Eiffel Tower, but I have
gone back to a picture taken on a family trip outside of a TGI Fridays
in New Jersey.

I go back to both, but of those 900 photos I deleted, it's rarely a selfie of me and my wife. Those are keepers because they mean too much to me that we shared a moment together.

After I pass on, my children will see them and understand why I was never home to raise them

My photos are for me, both now and in my dotage when I'm no longer able to travel.

All good answers, but the above is my favorite. Also, my pictures since about 2003 are all digital, so I can carry them with me wherever my future medical condition allows me to be.

Allan: "That's a common comment on this Forum, but for me the difference is that I took the photo. It's mine and my memory, from a specific location, with a specific memory, and no postcard can replicate that."

I'm the same. I do enjoy architectural photography, but the angle and viewpoint is mine on my photos. Sure there might be others similar out there, but they don't represent what I felt and saw.

Also, as a parent of young child, I do think about how they will inherit my photos, especially our family photos. It's all digital now under my password protected account. It is quite a lot to take it on one day.
I recently retrieved my baby/childhood albums from my parents home and planning to convert them to digital, though I do enjoy flipping those plastic pages.

Excellent, thought-provoking article, Joy! Thanks for sharing it!

”A study by Diehl, Zauberman, and Barasch2 found that photographing an experience makes people enjoy it more, because hunting for the shot makes you look harder at what is in front of you. They also found that it has a limit. When the thing in front of you is already holding your attention, the benefit goes away (think concert pictures and videos).”. Want to increase this? Put the phone away & sketch or paint it, instead. It intensifies this benefit!

I’d say my photos are 90% for me & 10% for others. I have some friends & relatives who can’t travel (my aunt turned 101 today!), and they request & enjoy my 5 photos/city & a little commentary when I’m in Europe. Also, I’ve helped women in our community who know I like to travel & ask about places for their itineraries. It’s easy to share some photos as I describe some options that sound like their kind of destination.

Subdividing the 90% for me, some of that is just the pure love of photography - improving composition, lighting, angles, “telling the story”. It’s a reason to get up early & take those perfect photos.

But the major reason, like most of us, is for the enjoyment of reliving a special place over & over. I have a collage of canvas enlarged photos on my home office wall and photo books in the living room bookcase with one front displayed. And when your spouse is no longer here, the travel photos - the memories they instantly recall are truly priceless!

My photos satisfy my creative side. I share on Instagram for those willing to see and enjoy. I've also been lucky to have my photos featured in museum exhibits, so more of that is a new goal for me.

“It's all digital now under my password protected account.”

A tangent to this topic - make sure today that you have all of your passwords to accounts listed in a bank safety deposit box. My husband & I knew each other’s but shock grief will blank out these things.

for me the difference is that I took the photo. It's mine and my memory, from a specific location, with a specific memory

This is how I think about pictures as well. There may be better angles or more iconic shots but looking at a picture I took gives me a feeling I was really there in a way that just thinking about the trip does not.

I have my trip pictures set up as my screen background so every few minutes it changes to a another shot. I use a trip at a time for a few weeks, then go to a different one. As for the future, once I'm gone I doubt anyone will care or want my pictures except for the handful I have of my relatives that have been passed down from my parents.

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing. My pictures are mainly for me so that I can relive my travel memories. Some of the pictures will evoke a strong emotional response. I sometimes put several of them in a photo book or print a collage of them as a poster for framing. I do enjoy sharing them on Facebook and with my family. I photograph works of art, close-ups of architecture or other areas of interest, landscapes, etc. I like framing pictures in different ways and in different lighting.
I used to take a lot more pictures than I do now. I’m striving to be more in the moment instead of getting the best shot. Would I still travel if I couldn’t take pictures? Absolutely!

Ditto JeanM

My photos are for me, both now and in my dotage when I'm no longer able to travel.

"What are your travel photos for?" is what he titled his article. But the question he actually asked people was "Would you go on vacation if you could not take or post a single photo or video from the trip?" which struck me as a stupid question. Of COURSE I would; who wouldn't? Maybe soulless influencers whose primary motivation for travel is clicks and $$$. Do any of us on these forums really travel PRIMARILY for photography (aside from professional photographers, perhaps)?

Rant over. As to what my travel photos are for, as others have said, they are mostly for the joy of reliving an enjoyable experience. They are also my travel journal. I don't write down much about my trips, but I add captions to my pictures. My memory isn't as good as it used to be. I remember places I've been fairly well, but I realized not long ago that if I didn't take pictures of meals on a trip, later on I have no idea what I ate (unless it was exceptionally good or exceptionally bad).

I post a select few when I return (never when I'm still away), but if I had to stop doing that, no big deal.

I loved all the answers above. I agree with just about all of them. My photos are about the memories. My memory is pretty crappy, so it's even nicer to be able to look back at these over the years and remember. I do find myself gravitating to the photos I took of other people, like the woman in traditional garb in Turkey, sitting at a bus stop with her hand clasped under her chin, just waiting patiently.

But I think the photos of my most recent trip with my daughter will probably be my favorites in the future. I look at those and remember the joy and the laughter and the beauty we saw. It makes my heart sing, and the photos help keep that song alive.

I like MJH Travel's answer... I'm glad there are hardly any "soul-less travel influencers" in this forum. Haha.

I typically take maybe 500 photos per week, cull that down to 100. Then crop and edit the 100 and give them meaningful filenames and file them in organized directories. I have maybe 6 friends or family who say they like to view them, so I upload those photos to an on-line storage and email or text them a link to view them.

Very important is to keep all my photo files in 5 or 6 locations around my house and garage so they can't be lost to a fire, flood, or pestilence (!)

I don't password protect photos, but I sure do password protect all the files with login and passwords for all my various accounts. And save the files to many locations (... pestilence.-proof)

”Would you go on vacation if you could not take or post a single photo or video from the trip?" which struck me as a stupid question. Of COURSE I would; who wouldn't? Maybe soulless influencers whose primary motivation for travel is clicks and $$$”

Mjh, That question actually made me stop & pause for awhile. I don’t want to be an influencer & purposely don’t ever try to make $$$ from my trips or advice. Yet, from a psychological standpoint, my photos during a solo trip are very much like a companion - something I enjoy looking at in the evening while waiting for dinner to arrive & typically my only souvenir. Maybe they’re proof to myself afterwards that I can & love to do these things, be adventurous, discover beauty. These photos are much more to me than something to store on the Cloud. Would I go on my solo Christmas Market trip if I couldn’t take one photo or at least write about it in a journal? My answer would not be an immediate “yes”.

Yet, from a psychological standpoint, my photos during a solo trip are very much like a companion - something I enjoy looking at in the evening while waiting for dinner to arrive & typically my only souvenir. Maybe they’re proof to myself afterwards that I can & love to do these things, be adventurous, discover beauty.

You expressed my feelings so well, Jean. This 100%.

They're primarily for me. And if other people enjoy them (they tell me they do), that's a bonus.

They don't just preserve a memory of that moment in time, they help me return to the location and relive the day.

I can look at a photo I made and not only see what I was looking at, I feel the experience I had that day. and not just in the photo location. Looking at a travel photo will often jog my memory about other things I saw before and after that photo... things I might not have remembered without looking at the photo(s) and just trying to recall that part of that trip.

I remember my first trip to Europe many, many years ago when we carried cameras and not cellphones. I have very few pictures from that trip. I was so busy looking at all the wonderful things around me that I kept forgetting to snap a picture.

Thanks all for chiming in and sharing your thoughts.
On the topic of password, most of my photos from the last 15 years are in my iCloud (Apple) account which has password for access.
Though my husband and kid can easily access them on my phone using my passcode I guess, which they know.

Joy, regarding iCloud, I'd think it's like Google Drive, which I use. There is a login and password to access the account and upload/delete photos and create directories. But I also have the ability to "share" a folder. If I click "share", I have the option of sharing to specific users, or sharing to "everyone with the link". I choose that option. Then I have the option to "save a link". Then I open my email program, write an email, and paste the link into it. I can then email the link to anyone, and they can see those photos, but not delete anything. When you email a link, you have no idea who all will see that link, of course. So you just send links to view photos, and don't send a link to login to your account.

Travelerguy - I also have a Google account that I use occasionally (kid school and field trips) for photos.
With iCloud we can share a link to albums but I think it's temporary. What I was mainly concerned is when I am no longer on Earth, how my daughter can gain access to my photos, including kid's baby and childhood photos, which all live in my account.
Husband and I do share passwords, but I recently had to change mine and never updated our joint record file. The problem with these accounts is that I feel we are constantly updating security features.

Joy, very good point. No problem sharing photos of a recent trip with friends, but what about my 20 year collection of photos, and my massive collection of scanned family photos? I have two answers for my wife and me.

1. All the photos and videos are on my primary laptop, and on a backup hard drive on my network, and on a big thumbdrive, also on my network. My estate planning has instructions to give all laptops and storage devices to a trusted family person.

2. I have several Google accounts, one for each cellphone, and a few others. For instance one has a mirror of all our ancestry files and photos collected by my wife and me. There are no sensitive or financial files on these accounts. And these accounts do not have my real name. I hope that at some point I can give all the login information to one or more trusted family members, and let them share with whatever family members are interested. I don't really need to have all these accounts cancelled after I die.

I'm glad you brought up this topic, I think it's very important for all of us to think about.

I read Scott’s article yesterday as well. A lot of my pictures are for our books and my blog.

I keep a fraction of mine and even fewer of hubby’s as he takes many more than I do, so there’s a lot of deletion. Those that remain make it into an annual trip slide show I can pull up on the Roku and let run as a nice background when we entertain or just for us to reminisce.

The kids won’t care. They have enough photos to keep track of. Although instructions for access to our digital life are included in our wills, I cannot imagine any of these digital treasures will ever be seen after we pass. Sent thumb drives of early pictures to each kid years ago…if they can find them they have their early childhood memories.

I've been a serious shutterbug since the age of ten, and taking photographs has always been and remains as integral to the travel experience as eating local food and endeavouring to have meaningful conversations with locals in their native language. When I look back upon my photographs I'm not merely reminded of where I was, but also of who I was and what I thought and felt at that moment. I've never given a toss if anyone else liked or even saw my photos...never entered contests or belonged to camera clubs, never shared them on social media. Photography is not a social activity for me. Don't care what happens to my photos after I'm gone.

make sure today that you have all of your passwords to accounts listed in a bank safety deposit box.

What a great idea. If only I had a safety deposit box.

The photos I take are of my travels and my own gardens usually in flower. A few are shared when asked, the garden and occasionally one of me and my husband. Otherwise, no one asks to see the travel photos…no one! I don’t look at my husband’s pictures either. The photos are edited heavily and am a decent photographer. I had a goal of 10 photos for each trip. Sad to say, that goal has never been met. Like Jean’s use of art work to enhance her life , I do detailed colored pencil drawings of my travels. They are taken from my favorite photos. My phone photo album makes remembering past adventures easy. The older paper photo albums are looked at much less. Nobody will care about all these photo memories when I’m gone. Thanks for letting me condense my thoughts on all the photo memories.

With my simple digital I takes lots and lots of pictures in a day, depends where, of course. I go out in the morning with 3 fully loaded batteries, one of which by the end of the day, ie when it gets dark, one or maybe two are totally exhausted. Time to recharge for the next day.

I take pictures for me , overwhelmingly , some for the family, focusing on remembrance , and for history sake, where I was , basically shooting everything, landscape, terrain, architecture, churches / cathedrals, war cemeteries, ie those from WW1 , hotels and street signs named after historical personalities, authors, generals, historical and memorial plaques in France, Germany and Austria, politicians, scientists, composers, poets, even Metro stations, battles in France and some in Germany, and so on. Of course the name of the train station is to be photographed, absolutely cannot leave that out.

If I take a picture of a cafe, that picture brings back to me of how I felt then, the weather, etc.