"boots+3 years old+with dad"

I had the opportunity to listen to the talented photographer MeRa Koh speak today. One of her main points was to shoot with intention. Slow down. Think about your shot. Put your camera down and experience your surroundings. 

Thinking about it all day in relation to how I shoot made me wonder if I need to change something. I tend to shoot with intention. I like to see a shot before I take it. In fact most of the shots hanging in my house, the ones I truly love, I saw before I ever held my camera up. BUT, the thing I have to change is keeping all of those other shots. About a year and a half ago I

 started shooting everyday. On average about 50 shots a day, sometimes the same thing from 50 different angles!

In 50 years (here's hoping for long life) will Ian want to sort through 200 terabytes of photographs? Will it mean anything to him? Will this shot matter to him?

The 4 so so shots before and after certainly won't. Will he want 200 photos of our garden in 2009? Will this kind of fuzzy cluttered shot mean anything to him?

I can't answer that question. Today I know my photos exist as a visual journal of my life. All of the moments saved before they pass by. All of the tiny details captured so I can remember the boots he wore, the too short shorts, the Diego backpack, the red car that is leaving our driveway soon. All of those things caught. So maybe I'll delete a couple and hope that in 50 years technology has changed enough to hold 200 terabytes on something the size of a thumbnail with a really cool search feature that finds "boots+3 years old+with dad".