Last year, I found the website Slideluck Potshow and quickly became obsessed. At its essence, the website serves as a gallery of slideshows that photographers and artists created and set to music. Two or three times a year, depending on where it is held, people submit their slideshows to judges who then pick the finalists and have a big potluck while sharing their work.
I loved discovering not only new work by really good photographers, but hearing new music as well. I put together a slideshow of Kai’s first two years with the music to one of my favorite bands and sent it off for an upcoming event in NYC.
And got rejected.
I’m not going to lie; this one stung a little. Probably because the photos are so personal. I’m not naive enough to think the work is anything that special compared to what a lot of other photographers are doing, but I think the fact that it was my son made it hurt more.
The paper was looking for some kind of multi-media piece for a story on the one year anniversary of the death of a two year-old girl to a hit and run driver. I had a feeling I could get a decent audio interview, but what would go with it? It’s not like it was a story that we covered for weeks and had tons of photos and/or video in the archive.
Luckily, the family randomly mentioned that they had a slideshow they put together on their computer of the girl. The light bulb went off and with some help from them, I was able to get a bunch of old pics to go with the some audio of the mom. Ended up working out in the end.
Makes me wonder where we would be without photos to go with our memories?
Life in the digital age has made many things easier for photographers. One of the best inventions that have come to light, to me, are the embeddable slideshows.
With the click of a button, I can create the code for a mini-viewer from my Photoshelter account that can be pasted into just about any website or blog. Everything is linked so if somebody sees a shot they like, they can click on the image and it begins leading them down the path to purchasing the print.
So much easier than flipping through page after page of proofs — from both a customer’s side and a photographer’s side.
These two slideshows are from a couple of side-gigs I did. One a wine tasting event with some of the major winemakers in the Napa Valley at ACME Fine Wines. The other from my sister-in-law Debbie’s wedding.
WARNING: Both of these have, literally, hundreds of images. If you’re looking for samples of my very, very best work, go to my website. If you’re looking to kill time with some coffee to people watch, then you’re golden.
It seems like every few weeks, when I look at my son Kai or take a photo of him, he looks just a little bit older than before.
My wife took this Polaroid after he set up a new train race track he got from his aunt Andrea and uncle Raul. He’s only 2 but looks like a four year-old in this picture.
Put this together a while back but I’m only now getting to posting it. The interview I used for the voice over went on for 15 minutes unedited, all of which was really, really good. Alas, anything over the three minute mark on the web starts reaching the outer limits of most peoples attention span.
Couple of months ago the local sheriffs dept. did some training with their K-9’s at an abandoned office building. A couple of the exercises had me just a few feet away from the jaws of a dog looking to bite somebody, but I like this one the best.
The dogs got a running start from the other end of the building and this particular dog is so young, he decided to leap over the counter instead of running around it.
A friend says goodbye after the funeral service for U.S. Army Pfc. Jennifer Cole as the California State Honor Guard moves her from the Cornerstone Ministries santuary. Cole was killed in Iraq on Aug. 2, 2008. An investigation into the cause of her death is ongoing.
