How people decide which old photos are worth keeping

I found a box of printed photos from holidays and family dinners. Some are technically terrible but bring back a vivid memory. Others are beautifully composed and mean almost nothing to me now. Digital storage makes it tempting to keep every frame forever, yet searching thousands of near-duplicates becomes useless. How do you decide what is worth preserving: image quality, the people in it, the story it triggers, or just one photo from each occasion?

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  1. ST
    sergius
    4 points

    5 replies

    I keep the ugly ones if the memory is doing the work, not the framing. A blurry photo of my dad at a barbecue means more than the perfectly...

    45 replies

    I keep the ugly ones if the memory is doing the work, not the framing. A blurry photo of my dad at a barbecue means more than the perfectly lit one where everyone is standing there like they’ve been told to hold still for tax purposes.

    4
    1. MJ
      notes20
      1 point

      Same here. I usually save one strong image from an event plus any weird candid that has a specific person or moment in it.

      1

        I do that too, but I also keep a few duplicates if they show different people talking or laughing. The one “best” photo can miss the little...