New ways of presenting your photos

R

Rich Silfver

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If you feel that you are running out of ways to present your photos then playing around with an audio slideshow may be something you may want to try out.

Audio slideshows are getting increasingly popular (Magnum Photos homepage being one example) as it allows a set of photos to tell a story accompanied by words, text and/or music.

I put a small test together in about two hours using nothing but free tools readily available on the internet that can be viewed here: 94114 (turn up the volume :) )

EDIT: If that site's bandwidth allocation is used up, then try this on: 94114-2

A great example of how to incorporate audio slideshows into a site or blog can be seen here: Video Journal or here Journal of a Photographer

Rob Galbraith has an article about it here as well: Article
 
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I have never felt that the audio/visual thing works for me. If you play music, someone won't like it, or the song will date the work and the show will become stale, sometimes voices can be annoying, and sound effects are tiring. I guess it's too many/few gallery visits. I much preferred the gallery rooms that we silent, bright, and you were left alone to see photo's at your own pace. Whenever I entered a darker room, with audio/visual stuff going on I never stayed long.

So I don't think I'd bother with that. My problem is producing the photo's worth presenting, and their format/placement. I was placing some random shots on my wall last night... 5 images were put up and the area suddenly looked very cluttered.
 
Oop! I best add that although the quiet, bright room thing works for me, installation art can be amazing. I love the work by Boltanski, and anyone who has seen the real thing will agree placement is everything, and little lights can go a long way.
 
Check out Brenda Ann Kenneally's "Money, Power and Respect"

I'm all for tired phrases like 'a picture can tell a thousand words' but what some of the more creative people out there are creating with multimedia techniques can sometimes truely elevate the photos. It can also be powerful to hear the actual voices of the people in the images, etc.
 
Hearing the stories behind images definitely enhances the experience, I agree with you that far. But sometimes when it is written it is easier - you can read the story at your leisure, although the persons voices may be the part that enhances the image I'm not sure. It becomes even more subjective when you mix mediums
 
Rich, the presentation created by Soundslides is slick, but I think this form of presentation ONLY works well when the audio is meticulously edited and timed with the images, such as the Magnum ones are. A slide show+music is rather cheesy IMO.

Audio clips from the quite american site (http://www.quietamerican.org/) are amazing. I can only imagine the awsome pictures that can go along with those audio clips

Nachkebia said:
One picture - million words
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I must disagree, if you've ever worked with videos or motion film, there's an old saying "70% of what you see is heard" (or something like that, I forgot) The idea is that good images, paired with bad audio makes the whole thing as bad as the audio. Bad images paired with excellent audio will make the whole piece as good as the audio. When it comes to pairing images and audio, the most critical part is the audio, and when done right, it can make for a powerful presentation - much more powrful than images alone. This is pricesely why movie makers put so much effort into the movie's soudtrack and sound effects..
 
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Pherdinand said:
"A slide show+music is rather cheesy IMO."
I was saying the same, practically. I wanted to, at least.
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Oh ok, I thought you were generalizing your thoughts on this method as a whole..
 
I thought this worked superbly and the music seemed to me entirely appropriate. My congratulations Rich.

Intriguingly, in the late 16th/early 17th century a number of artists on the fringes of mainstream culture experimented with a similar technique, exploiting the new technology of printing, issuing books of protosurrealist illustrations, accompanied by captions, songs and sheet music, intended to be simultaneously enjoyed, so presaging exactly this type of presentation and its overwhelming effect on the viewer. It really works so well.

All the best, Ian
 
Well, obviously tastes are different. I don't like that type of music, so that's why:)

But the idea is good .
Another version is the "pdf mini project"described in nr. 40-something of the Lens Work magazine, basicly a pdf presentation about a group of shots, with some extra, be it text or sound.
 
Rich... Congratulations !

Rich... Congratulations !

Well done, well presented. Thank you for your efforts. The pictures do it justice and the message is mind grabbing. Thanks.
 
Pherdinand said:
Good images, text is fine. I'd cut the music.
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I think adding appropriate (the term is for another debate) music obviously adds to the experience.

People who liked their food cooked with nothing but firewood or coal bitterly complained about gas-range stoves, just as much as those who complain about food being "cooked" in microwaves rather than gas stoves.

Things change, and tastes change. That said, I had on my website audio added to my slideshows, but turned it off, for it annoyed even me after a few days; and not everybody likes being "surprised" by music in the background when they're surfing a site in a quiet place.

Little by little it'll catch on. Just like photography did during the paint-only days. ;)
 
It's just my taste, Gabriel; (that changes too).
I always liked the images Rich shot, but apparently we have different taste in music:)
 
Well done, this kind of total presentation can be more effective than the sum of its individual parts, and this one is SUPERBLY done.

The photographs - expectedly strong individually - have even more impact as a staggered series; the text is informative and succinct, the timing was pretty much right-on, and I was very taken by the music, which, melody and lyrics, wove the whole thing powerfully together and pulled me in.

And now I'm going to watch it again...
 
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