I've decided to track down the places where I use to live back in 1998-2004. Problem is, they've changed (Google Maps) and all the pics online are from the post 2005 era. In terms of photography, the late-90s to the mid-2000s are going to be a mini Dark Age. It's very hard to find good, high-quality images from, say, 1999 or 2001, except for album cover arts and celebrity photo shoots. I'm talking about real images from the streets of my city. It's like that time didn't exist. For every single pic from my city made before 2005 on the Internet you get about 10-15 shot after 2005, and 20 shot after 2007. One can find more pics from the 80's and back to the 60's than from 1998-2004. I guess in the west it might not be exactly like that.

Working on the inside of the publishing industry, I know a ton of images were lost simply because the switch to digital and the cost of data storage were out of sync long enough for professionals to get in the practice of mass deleting everything when the hard drives got too full, or backing up on proprietary things like Zip drives or floppies that have huge failure rates.

I know back in 2003, it was a dark age.  A Blackout swept the North east part of North America, affecting Ontario and 8 US states and left millions of people without power for weeks.  Lives were lost, tragedy struck.  It was truly a horrific dark age :(

I see your point, but I'm not talking about that. It's like there are far more photos from the 70's and the 80's of my city and loads of photos from 2005-present than there are from the 90's and especially 2000-2004. It's like the 90's and the early 00's kids will have a harder time revisiting their childhoods in the future by downloading images of their favorite places from the Internet. The pre-1990 photos get scanned and posted online because they're retro and cool. The 2005-present photos get uploaded because of the advent of digital photography. People nowadays shoot even the most mundane stuff. All the images I get of my neighborhood online are either from the 60's-80's, or 2005-present. ::)

Most photos from 2000-2004 are of local politics (in your case of Bush.) I kow there are far more photos from back then of US cities, but even in your case some years are largely deleted from history. E.g. if you Google 'New York, 2001' 99% of the results are images of 9/11 like there are no pics of NY from 1/1 to 9/10. Don't get me wrong that was a true disaster, but for some reason a whole generation is spared from our childhood memories. :\'(

And all the photos from back then are either of some disaster, crime story, politicians, high-quality celebrity/product/car pics, or family photos. Almost none pics of places within my city, except the most popular, central locations. And even they are scarce and with a bad quality.

alot of google map virtual maps are from 2007 and up.
As alot of those pics taking peoples houses and sidewalks were not taken until mid 2007

alot of google map virtual maps are from 2007 and up.
As alot of those pics taking peoples houses and sidewalks were not taken until mid 2007
I hope that decades from now, with the maturing of the Internet those pics from the late 00's will get deleted eventually.

One can find more pics from the 80's and back to the 60's than from 1998-2004. I guess in the west it might not be exactly like that.



The pre-1990 photos get scanned and posted online because they're retro and cool.


That's the point. Pictures from 1998-2004 are not retro and cool yet. People still took a lot of analog shots in the first half of the 00s. These photos definetly exist, but they are not interesting or old enough to be worth an upload.

That's the point. Pictures from 1998-2004 are not retro and cool yet. People still took a lot of analog shots in the first half of the 00s. These photos definetly exist, but they are not interesting or old enough to be worth an upload.


That's like 10-15 years ago, doesn't have that retro feel just yet.

Late 90s to early 00s? So about 1997 to 2002?

The late 90s to about 2000 had a 'optimistic' feel to it due to the economic boom. 2001 though did have a bit of a gloomy feel because of 9/11 and there was a recession that lasted only that year I think.

2002 was dull, just another year in my opinion.

I guess overall it was a pretty fun time in my opinion even though music started going south starting around 1999.

Late 90s to early 00s? So about 1997 to 2002?

The late 90s to about 2000 had a 'optimistic' feel to it due to the economic boom. 2001 though did have a bit of a gloomy feel because of 9/11 and there was a recession that lasted only that year I think.

2002 was dull, just another year in my opinion.

I guess overall it was a pretty fun time in my opinion even though music started going south starting around 1999.

Only in the USA. In most of Europe 2001 was one of the better years economically, culturally, and in many places politically, too.

Only in the USA. In most of Europe 2001 was one of the better years economically, culturally, and in many places politically, too.


Late 90's, no, but early 00's, yes. The dotcom bubble bursting in early 2000 was the first sign of the shift away from the optimist, "the sky/future is the limit" 90's to the apathetic and angry 00's that IMO didn't start to wane until around the time Obama took office. But there are plenty of phots from the late '90s/early '00s out there. Thrift/secondhand book stores are loaded with many books from that era containing many contemporary photos. There were in fact more cameras used in this era than in the '70s-'80s when it was still 24 (if you're lucky 36) shots of film per roll, as digital cameras were starting to be added, and as this era becomes nostalgic, will increase in interest and cause more photos to be displayed.

But this was the time in which the greatest number of people accessed/subscribed to the Internet and/or purchased a cellphone first time. 1996 and 2003 are worlds apart in terms of communications; in the former having just Internet acess and a cellphone was a status symbol with expensive hourly rates; most still used landlines and the majority didn't yet have an e-mail address. In 2003, even the kids were getting the cellphone and dial-up Internet was well on its the way out. It reminds me a bit of the late '60s/early '70s (which people once called a "mini dark age" as a barrier to what they miss about the '50s/early '60s), except in more of a technological way.

True, seeing as no one likes to talk about late 90s and early 2000s for some reason, which is sad as 1997-2004 was my childhood, 2005 being my transition and 2005-2011 being my teen days, seeing as in 2005 when I was 11 Middle School was like High School, the kid days were over for me early at 11. so when 1997-2004 doesn't get talked about much it's sad. only my home videos, picture, music videos, movies and youtube can recollect those times for me, seeing as mainstream/media seems to have forgotten these times.

Not for me, my childhood was in the late 90s and early 2000s.
People act like 9/11 changed way more than it did. Yes it changed a lot in terms of sociopolitical elements, but culturally the early half of the 00s (I'd say until about '04/'05) still felt vaguely 90s.


True, seeing as no one likes to talk about late 90s and early 2000s for some reason, which is sad as 1997-2004 was my childhood, 2005 being my transition and 2005-2011 being my teen days, seeing as in 2005 when I was 11 Middle School was like High School, the kid days were over for me early at 11. so when 1997-2004 doesn't get talked about much it's sad. only my home videos, picture, music videos, movies and youtube can recollect those times for me, seeing as mainstream/media seems to have forgotten these times.
While I do agree with you, keep in mind that in 5-10 years those years will be "retro" and once they are, they will be talked about and reminisced more often.

(insert random text) 2001, but (insert more random text) 2006 and retro 2007, and of course (insert more random text) 2004-05 cusp feeling like my high school grad party of (insert year) , nevertheless the trend of (insert random text..gee I think I have to poop soon) 2001 again and May to June 2002, however (insert text)  1996 of course.

While I do agree with you, keep in mind that in 5-10 years those years will be "retro" and once they are, they will be talked about and reminisced more often.

I agree.

(insert random text) 2001, but (insert more random text) 2006 and retro 2007, and of course (insert more random text) 2004-05 cusp feeling like my high school grad party of (insert year) , nevertheless the trend of (insert random text..gee I think I have to poop soon) 2001 again and May to June 2002, however (insert text)  1996 of course.


I don't even know what this is supposed to mean.
?

I don't even know what this is supposed to mean.
?


I understood it perfectly.  He was talking about how memories of days gone by correlate to the desires of decades which involve the syncing of discussions to prove data relates indefinitely

I see your point, but I'm not talking about that.

But my uncle's best friend lost his dog in the blackout.  Where is Fido now :(

I understood it perfectly.  He was talking about how memories of days gone by correlate to the desires of decades which involve the syncing of discussions to prove data relates indefinitely


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I understood it perfectly.  He was talking about how memories of days gone by correlate to the desires of decades which involve the syncing of discussions to prove data relates indefinitely


Eeyup.