What’s the life cycle of a photo?
I suppose that depends on how it is measured. We can measure how long a photo lasts electronically before it is deleted or degraded. It may be seconds or decades.
Same thing with negatives and prints. They actually physically exist for a period of time. Properly processed and preserved negatives may last for centuries or longer (millenia?)
Another measurement is our attention. How long is a photo looked at? Social media photos can have pretty short lifespans. Big attention at the start and then quickly diminishing notice. Some photos may actually never get noticed more than a few seconds limited to a quick glance at your LCD to see if it came out.
Photos we print, those that cross into the physical world, enjoy a much higher stature, living on and being noticed long after social media shots are long forgotten. They may get relegated to a drawer but eventually we’ll clean it out and refresh our attention.
But of course we can’t pay attention to everything forever. Older photos may be nice but few have the fresh energy of newer images.
Keep shooting and producing and take time to make some prints occasionally.