why are there so few photos of people?

Question

Hello just wondering is there a reason why people dont have profile pictures of those in their tree, is it just because unable to find them?  Thank you

Comments

Photographs of my ancestors are mostly in Queensland, Australia - and I am not.

Answer 1

I have very few photos of my ancestors. I'd imagine most of them until recent years were unlikely to have owned cameras - there's not been much wealth in my tree, nor people of prominence.

Answer 2

Possibly copyright concerns

Comments

so, frustrating they have it open for anyone to view so why put restrictions.  Anyone can go find and read it so why not allow a link even to their site.  So many lost story's due to those wanting to gain money instead of honoring and sharing the stories of our ancestors.

Answer 3

Copyright law is the reason why I don’t have a lot of them posted. I require myself to have taken the picture myself or have permission from the person who took the picture to publish it on the site.  When I do post a picture, I always post the source and at state if I have a verbal permission from that  author.  It takes some work to comply.  Take headstone pictures that are on FindAGrave.  I cannot just copy that picture if I don't know the source.  So I use two sources if I do publish the picture.  (And I do publish a lot of headstone pictures.). No problem if I took the picture.  I just document that I give permission to Wikitree to publish my photo. The second source is public domain.  Even though it is public domain, I publish the domain source that allows Wikitree to publish this picture.  Our public library here allows Wikitree to publish the pictures that they own but I have to give them credit as the source and they publish how they want that source to read.

Answer 4

I am finding photos through local historical societies and posting those I can confirm-the local volunteers may be guessing. These donations would be another way that photos are no longer in the family. Some historical Societies are less generous in their willingness to share- they lack the volunteer hours or want to reserve the images for their own publications. Key point- I can physically get to the local historical societies in the places where my ancestors lived. One can always write or send an email, but repeated visits usually unearth more material as the staff and volunteers become more aquainted with family connections whose relevance may not have been not immediately apparent.

Answer 5

Far too many of us have inherited photo albums full of relatives we can't identify because, at the time, everyone knew Aunt Alice and Uncle Edward. A century later - not so much! 

Comments

I have "inherited" my mothers, grandmother's and great grandmother's albums.  Yes, there are many people in photos (mostly non-relatives) that I can not identify, but I have gone thru all the photos (several hundred) and identified the ones I do know.  Often times only identifying a person because I recognized them from a different photo.  I then try to share these photos with anyone and everyone that wants them so they won't easily be lost (like in a house fire).  I have seen some of the photos online, but since I don't know who originally had "rights" to it I am cautious on sharing them on wiki. I've always thought (probably erroneoulsy) that as long as I am not making money off the photo and give credit to the person that took it (if known) copyright laws don't come into play.  After all, what good is a photograph if noone ever sees it ?