National Photography Month

Although the actual month is not until June next year, just sneaking in before the 2012 Olympics, (I am still miffed at not getting tickets), the start of National Photography Month is heralded as the care and of images to make the biggest family album. Here is something from the organisers

“National Photography Month is the UK’s first event of its kind dedicated to celebrating the value of photography. Organised by the Photo Imaging Council and The Photo Marketing Association, and supported by organisations from the photography world including National Geographic and the Royal Photographic Society and leading photographic retailers and suppliers, National Photography Month, which will run during June 2012, will feature nation-wide events, celebrity exhibitions, a mobile Capture and Keep bus, and special offers from suppliers. Highlights include the creation of the world’s largest family album, as members of the public are invited to submit family snaps for a project which will be unveiled to mark the start of events, and a celebrity auction in aid of charity (further details below).

At the heart of the campaign is the message that the importance of photography lies not just in creating good images but in the role photographs have as historical records. The nation’s images represent a vast trove of personal histories. But while we are taking more pictures than at any other time, the fleeting nature of digital images means we are printing or keeping fewer of these important documents. National Photography Month aims to encourage the nation both to get more involved in photography, and to explore new ways to capture and keep life’s most important moments.”...more

I think Roger Toothwriting in the Guardian explains it better..”As the organisers put it, “Family ‘Memory Keepers’ – often mothers – no longer have the time to create albums, and the nature of modern photography means it is easy to leave images on disk or on line.”

This certainly rings true, so many pictures are left on computers that are in danger of failing with images locked on old hard disks, anything that encourages photographers – amateur and professionals – to think about long-term storage and editing is a good thing.

Perhaps the editing side is the more important. Due to digital photography far too many frames are being shot, with too little thought about sorting the wheat from the chaff.”…….more

A curated album of family pictures is a wonderful thing, but photographs also look good on screen, sometimes better as long as they are in some sort of order, not repetitive and are well captioned. Electronic storage is not so much of a problem with services like Flickr and other new “cloud-based” solutions coming available.”   

I think he sums it up here “We are in danger of drowning under a mass of digital images. Here’s hoping next year’s National Photography Month will help us remember to sort the wheat from the chaff”