The Beauty of the Slideshow -- Now Available to Everyone

Even before the Internet, I appreciated the slideshow. I created presentations with multiple projectors and audio, and I was always impressed with what the combined media could communicate. Even compared to video -- where you move right through a moment so quickly you can miss the subtlety of it -- the slideshow has its unique charms.

The problem, in the old days, was that you had to have the audience present to deliver the program; it was a lot of work for a small number of people. The printed page reached a much larger audience.

Today, with the Web becoming the leader in delivering the news, we are no longer limited to printed words and still images on the page. Rather than publishing a quote, we can deliver audio of the interviews and the experience, giving a story authenticity in a way that we couldn't achieve before. We can create slideshows for everyone -- to watch whenever they choose.

Those in radio, like NPR, are increasingly the keynote speakers at today's journalism conferences. They are teaching their print-media brethren how to gather audio to improve the multimedia content on their Web sites.

For a while now, I have been working on gathering audio. I learned very quickly you need a good digital recorder and an excellent microphone. It also didn't take long to realize if you don't have your headphones on when you are recording, you will be surprised later at what you picked up or didn't pick up.

I did one of my multimedia projects at a petting farm; my goal was to capture everything naturally. It was fun capturing the sounds of the animals and hearing Farmer Sue talk to her guests.

Later, I decided I wanted to put together a slideshow that helped to communicate what I do best -- capturing the moment. Here's that presentation.

Most recently, I have been in the Yucatan photographing the mission projects my church has been working on for the past 12 years. A small handful of members -- electricians, plumbers and other skilled workers -- work side by side with the locals to build churches, camps and water wells. Here you can see and hear the results of this project.