If it was really enjoyable, you will remember it. The human memory is designed to fix emotional experiences. No need for celluloid or pixels. If you were with a loved one, your future conversations about that time will keep the memory alive.
There is a certain value and excitement in showing personal photos or videos to grand-children. But their children will not even know your name.
The vanity and self-importance of youthful experiences will wane with age, reflection, wisdom, and a certain acceptance of our transient existence.
Yes, I left many meaningless 35mm negatives, in a long forgotten attic, of a distant house, which I used to inhabit. Nobody will miss them. Not even me. If they are, perchance, discovered by a future owner of the house, they will be excited, for about 10 minutes, then throw them away.
> If it was really enjoyable, you will remember it. The human memory is designed to fix emotional experiences. No need for celluloid or pixels. If you were with a loved one, your future conversations about that time will keep the memory alive.
Words to live by.
My point is this: the act of capturing photo and/or video is itself the draw for some people. It's an art form - beauty isn't just captured in a photograph, it's created through composition. A great photo is never just a photo of a great thing.
Why should the transience of my art deter me, if I myself am also transient?
I think the value of photography is in teaching how to really see and appreciate the world, not in any artifact you may have created (at least not very often, unless you are a genius).
It is similar to the way learning a musical skill (instrument, composition, production) teaches you to really hear music, which is probably more valuable than any particular sounds you created (again, geniuses excepted).
There is a similar formula for other artistic and professional practices. No graphic designer just reads a web page. No cabinetmaker walks into a room and sees it the way you do. No architect or town planner ever just walks down an anonymous street in a strange city...
FWIW I don't own a drone nor have I ever considered buying one. I do have a horde of 35mm film cameras though.