What shall I do with all my photos?

[eastwestdivide]

After few years of intermittent spare-time scanning, I've now got a collection of railway photos from about 1978-88. There's a predominance of Southern Region, plenty from Kent, plus a load of wagon photos (but nothing to rival P Bartlett et al), and lots of others round the UK, most of them showing more than just the train.

Not many left to scan, so the next phase is dig out my scribbled notes and try to match up dates, details and locations to get them properly catalogued.

 

But after that? They're not going to do anyone any good except me if they sit on a hard disk, and I'd rather they were seen by people who might find them useful. I've had enough "Like"s here to know that some are of interest to what people are trying to do right now.

I don't consider them particularly valuable in the sense of getting money for them, but on the other hand, I was pretty cheesed off with somebody passing off some of mine as their own on Geograph (who, to be fair, promptly got them taken down).

 

So, do I just continue to post the useful ones as-and-when relevant to topics on forums such as here, or upload them all to a Flickr/Zenfolio/Smugmug/etc website, or build my own website for them, or what?

 

Any insights gratefully received.

 

(And yes, they are well backed up - the question is more about what to do with them now, or how to self-publish them.)

[DaveF]

I've got several thousand photos on flickr, mainly railways. Most day's they get around 1,000 plus views.

 

From time to time I do a random check to make sure they aren't straying too far!

 

Most comments made about them are fair and helpful.

 

I don't find the flickr pro charges excessive and I get a lot of pleasure from putting them on the web.

 

I know some people have found them useful.

 

David

[Oldddudders]

Undoubtedly those of you who bother to post your pics do the rest of us a favour - period. Pics taken only 20 years ago are now generally unreproducable - the railway scene has changed dramatically in that time. That said, captions and tags are the key to your precious output really making its mark, by being found by those who seek/need what you are offering. I find flickr fair and easy, too - and as others found when a respected site went belly-up, bigger may just be better for your peace of mind.

[Rivercider]

I have always enjoyed seeing the pictures you have scanned, particularly the Southern Region 1980s thread.

Ian is spot on about captions, the additional info you provide brings the picture to life and, especially with dates, helps put it into context.

 

I stumbled upon Flickr more or less by chance, but as we already subscribe to BT Internet I get a free Pro account.

I am a technophobe but seem to get along with it pretty well.

It does feel good when someone comments on one of my photos, and I have had some of my captions corrected too!

 

Can I ask how you spot someone passing your pictures off as their own, or check that they aren't straying too far?

It's not a problem that I am aware of, perhaps I have not been looking hard enough.

 

cheers

[Silver Sidelines]

Yes - up until this evening Flickr works very well and as already stated a Flickr 'Pro' account comes free with BTinternet. Tonight Flickr is really slow - so I am guessing that you are already loading your pictures (he said tongue in cheek).

 

Good luck

 

Ray

[DaveF]

 

 

Can I ask how you spot someone passing your pictures off as their own, or check that they aren't straying too far?

It's not a problem that I am aware of, perhaps I have not been looking hard enough.

 

cheers

 

All I do is search, usually using Google, on a photo title or a keyword. There aren't many photos I really worry about too much as it is not a business. I am also well aware that no matter how hard I try to prevent it images on a screen can be copied and I don't want to watermark everything.

 

My most surprising one was finding one of my images of jellyfish used on Springwatch on BBC1, I eventually realised I had let a Conservation organisation have a copy with permission to use it.

 

David

[eastwestdivide]

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

Can I ask how you spot someone passing your pictures off as their own, or check that they aren't straying too far?

It's not a problem that I am aware of, perhaps I have not been looking hard enough.

It was just luck in my case - if it's an area you're interested in, you're likely to come across sites covering that area. In my case, it was a local history forum that alerted me to the possibility, and I just did a quick search.

 

Yes - up until this evening Flickr works very well and as already stated a Flickr 'Pro' account comes free with BTinternet. Tonight Flickr is really slow - so I am guessing that you are already loading your pictures (he said tongue in cheek).

Wasn't me causing Flickr to flicker - I've been away from the computer since those first couple of replies. Thanks for the BTI tipoff - we're with them too and I didn't realise that.

 

Looking forward to a winter's cataloguing, then I'll have a think. After losing some work on fotopic (not the photos, but the presentation and accompanying words), I'm tending towards building my own site: although that's less "findable" than a commercial one, it's more flexible and 100% under my control and backupable.

[beast66606]

After losing some work on fotopic (not the photos, but the presentation and accompanying words)

 

You should always store captions with the photos, there are numerous ways to do this but 3 ways to consider are

 

1. Use an editor which can update the exif data in a photo, for example Adobe Lightroom, the information is then stored with the photo

 

2. Use a database to store the information in and give each photo a unique reference number, this allows searching and retrieval of records based on whatever criteria you choose.

 

3. Use a program such as Excel and store the data in that.

 

I use Excel, a spreadsheet per date, I have some macros which make life easier and I've written some software to generate a template from a website which publishes passenger timings.

I store my photos in folders by date but each photo is uniquely numbered, one day they will be in a database and the spreadsheet information will be used to start off the information.

[eastwestdivide]

You should always store captions with the photos, there are numerous ways to do this but 3 ways to consider are

 

1. Use an editor which can update the exif data in a photo, for example Adobe Lightroom, the information is then stored with the photo

 

2. Use a database to store the information in and give each photo a unique reference number, this allows searching and retrieval of records based on whatever criteria you choose.

 

3. Use a program such as Excel and store the data in that.

...

 

Thanks for that.

Yes, I've been doing 1+2 = numbering system for the filenames, cross-referenced to a database of info, plus adding the EXIF to the individual files. Nearly cracked using exiftool to automatically populate the database info into the files themselves.

 

 

By the way, does this Mirò sculpture remind you of anyone's profile picture?

[hmrspaul]

The search engines appear to use file names as criteria. Now file names can be quite long I would recommend putting info into them, including a copyright. I use rolling stock number, a brief description (usually as carried on the wagon), place and date.

 

I recognise Zenfolio is more expensive than other sites, but it does mean you can control access and sell prints and/or downloads. I do accept it doesn't have some of the friendlier aspects of Flicr

 

My Zenfolio referral code is Referral Code:YDA-98Z-BBZ

 

Paul Bartlett

[Mod4]

 

By the way, does this Mirò sculpture remind you of anyone's profile picture?

 

Hey...."I'd give you advice, but you wouldn't listen. No one ever does."

[oily]

I've got about 300+ (mostly by Colour Rail) 35mm colour slides of railways that I never look at in Journal 24 plastic Archive Containers. They are taking up a lot of space does anyone have a view on what is best to do with them. As Colour Rail still sell railway photos they seem have little value but would they be worth selling and would be be the best venue to offer them on?

Many thanks for suggestions.

[Dudley]

I recognise Zenfolio is more expensive than other sites, but it does mean you can control access and sell prints and/or downloads. I do accept it doesn't have some of the friendlier aspects of Flicr

 

My Zenfolio referral code is Referral Code:YDA-98Z-BBZ

 

Paul Bartlett

 

I recently tried the two week free trial of Zenfolio but have to say that I was EXTREMELY unimpressed; much too fiddly and my reasonable communications to their offices went unanswered. I get the feeling that being in the US they don't give a hoot for UK customers. Highly UN-recommended.

 

Whatever member 'eastwestdivide' decides on it'll be one heck of a lot of work: accurate captions + uploading etc etc. I know because I built up a Fotopic website of over 1500 carefully selected & tweaked & captioned images between 2006 and 2010 and then BANG! and they're all gone...

 

Dudley

[hmrspaul]

 

 

I recently tried the two week free trial of Zenfolio but have to say that I was EXTREMELY unimpressed; much too fiddly and my reasonable communications to their offices went unanswered. I get the feeling that being in the US they don't give a hoot for UK customers. Highly UN-recommended.

 

Whatever member 'eastwestdivide' decides on it'll be one heck of a lot of work: accurate captions + uploading etc etc. I know because I built up a Fotopic website of over 1500 carefully selected & tweaked & captioned images between 2006 and 2010 and then BANG! and they're all gone...

 

Dudley

 

Sorry about that, I've found their email service for queries to be very helpful. Admittedly, there is a time difference which can sometimes affect answers. I usually send in the evening when the Yanks are getting up and starting work.

 

Fiddly - good fun, you takes your choice. I agree, some of the aspects of the site are far from obvious, and they do use some strange naming protocols for some of what can be done. But it is incredibly flexible in use.

 

I am hopeful because they have various sources of income that the site should be reliable and unlikely to go bang. I don't understand the financial model for flicr etc.

 

Paul Bartlett

[hmrspaul]

I've got about 300+ (mostly by Colour Rail) 35mm colour slides of railways that I never look at in Journal 24 plastic Archive Containers. They are taking up a lot of space does anyone have a view on what is best to do with them. As Colour Rail still sell railway photos they seem have little value but would they be worth selling and would be be the best venue to offer them on?

Many thanks for suggestions.

 

Apparently a Colour rail slide went for a three figure sum recently, possibly no longer available. That's ebay....

 

Paul Bartlett

[eastwestdivide]

Whatever member 'eastwestdivide' decides on it'll be one heck of a lot of work: accurate captions + uploading etc etc. I know because I built up a Fotopic website of over 1500 carefully selected & tweaked & captioned images between 2006 and 2010 and then BANG! and they're all gone...

 

Yes, which is why I'm leaning towards creating my own website: I'll have it in its entirety, and not have any important stuff only "in the cloud" = "on someone else's computer"

[roundhouse]

As I scan my old photos in, I rename them with the location name, year then in brackets the photo number starting at 1 for each location and year. I use this method for digital photos aswell.

 

This means i have the location and year it was taken in the file name .

 

All my photos are saved on a server at home, another one stored off site and laso on a portable hard drive I tend to carry with me most of the time.

[plarailfan]

All of my more interesting photo's are on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/41294071@N02/

I've found the site easy to use, but I don't know what to do with the original paper prints, as there are (only) just over 100 from the 1980's and they are just sat around in a box doing 'nowt. (cluttering up the house my long suffering missus says)

Anyway - get a load of this ! - a couple of years ago, I stumbled on a recently published book, which appears to contain one of my flickr pics, but not credited to me in any way.

Of course, it is possible that another photographer genuinely took a similar photo, but the thing is, I didn't have access to a scanner at the time I posted it on flickr, so I took a photo of the original with my digital camera, which caused some very slight distortion which appears in the book ! coincidence ?

Anyways, I don't mind, but still, it would be nice to be asked first.

My pics on flickr have had around 100, 000 views and I feel pleased that other people enjoy a look at this era in railway history, what concerns me most, is when someone dies, their account is deleted and the photo's removed, presumably gone forever unless other family members keep up the momentum - in my case doubtful, as no-one is very interested !

[EddieB]

The previous post (#18) and the recent thread in this topic regarding the shameless abstraction of images from Flickr to be passed off as "own work" and prints sold on eBay, raise some concerns about the security and integrity of Flickr.

 

I'm not a Flickr user, but from what I see there is little if any mention of copyright in its introduction and help screens. Primarily Flickr seems designed to share images (a good thing), but with the advent of "creative commons" licensing, it seems that the attitude that anything posted on the web is "fair game" is becoming more prevalent.

 

Let's be clear - copyright exists, unless explicitly waived and even if limited rights to usage and reproduction have been granted. However, it has long been the case that copyrighted work has turned up in publications - usually mis-credited and frequently mis-captioned. Unfortunately with the greater accessibility of images the trend is likely to increase.

 

So, as a general comment to those posting their work on Flickr, caveat emptor. If you're images are good enough or of sufficient interest to put on public display, then you are entitled to any royalties or fees from usage. Most decent folk I'm sure would request permission before using another's work; but as we've seen there are some unscupulous characters who may not be so courteous.

 

It seems to me that Zenfolio looks a more secure proposition. Images are locked so that they cannot be downloaded or printed from the screen.

[eastwestdivide]

It seems to me that Zenfolio looks a more secure proposition. Images are locked so that they cannot be downloaded or printed from the screen.

While Zenfolio may be more secure than Flickr, I take the view that whatever you can see on screen, someone else can download one way or another.

Which makes the case for uploading low-res, cropped or watermarked images if you're worried about unauthorised use.

[DaveF]

While Zenfolio may be more secure than Flickr, I take the view that whatever you can see on screen, someone else can download one way or another.

Which makes the case for uploading low-res, cropped or watermarked images if you're worried about unauthorised use.

 

As eastwestdivide says anything can be copied/downloaded that is visible on a screen. It could then be resized and printed off very easily.

 

If you are concerned about copyright infringement then you really must watermark your images, and make sure that the image cannot simply be cropped to remove the watermark.

 

David

[Norm81]

I've got several thousand photos on flickr, mainly railways. Most day's they get around 1,000 plus views.

 

From time to time I do a random check to make sure they aren't straying too far!

 

Most comments made about them are fair and helpful.

 

I don't find the flickr pro charges excessive and I get a lot of pleasure from putting them on the web.

 

I know some people have found them useful.

 

David

I've definitely contributed to the 1,000+ views on more than one day and also found them useful.

[Mythocentric]

May I also suggest that photographs could also be donated to one of the dedicated railway societies. The Historical Model Railway Society www.hmrs.org.uk , for instance, covers railways in general and through all periods. Copyright, of course, remains with the originator and as well as providing protection for the future makes them available for study by current and future generations.