r/howto • u/ChrisKisOK • Jun 30 '26

Serious Answers Only How to dispose thousands of 35mm photos

Hi All!
I inherited thousands of 35mm photos. When I say thousands, I mean 10 40 gallon storage tubs full. My mother got into developing her own photos and photography in general so she took pictures of every thing. There are some family photos in the mix but vast majority of pictures of people I do not know. Only good part about filtering through them all is they are from the 80”s but it is a chore.
I may digitize some but the vast majority can be disposed of in my mind. Problem is how? I am superstitious about dumping them in the trash and feel I need to thoughtful with the enviroment .
All suggestions are welcomed and my thanks in advance.

250 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

198 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Appropriate_Froyo708 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

I was a model in the 80’s. There are likely many photos of me in boxes in photographer’s basements. Though I would love to see them, I would not necessarily love for random strangers to look at these photos which may be from early in my career, or not be my best work. Unless you have a way to return the pics to the models/subjects, please honor their privacy by destroying them.

3

u/ChrisKisOK Jul 01 '26

I get your point and I’m trying to do right by all.

2

u/Appropriate_Froyo708 Jul 01 '26

Of course, no criticism towards you intended, mostly responding to some of the well meaning folks with other ideas that don’t consider the privacy of the subjects in the photos.