The Kodak Carousel

I own a Kodak Carousel projector. This was a magic lantern to the past for me. I loved how simple it was to operate.

I used to put together slideshows on a regular basis for my work where I would sync two or more projectors to a soundtrack. The tape had the sound on one track and on another track where the cues to advance and fade up or down the lamp on the projectors to help photos disolve on the screen.

The other day I got hooked on the TV show Mad Men.  According to the show's pilot, the phrase "Mad men" was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves.

Just yesterday I watched the show about the agency working with Kodak on their new slide projector, which they wanted to promote the wheel aspect of the tray.

I think this scene is not just masterfully written piece explaining what advertising executives do, but gets to the heart of the power of photography.

Here is that scene for you to watch.

Mad Men: The Carousel from ray3c on Vimeo.
While the power of images is used all the time by Madison Avenue to hook us on products and services, I think Don Draper's image selection in the pitch gets to the real power of photography for the individual.

I love this speech of Don Draper's:

Technology is a glittering lure. But there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product.

My first job, I was in house at a fur company with this old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy.

And Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising was ‘new.’ Creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion.

But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product: nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent.

Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means ‘the pain from an old wound.’

It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.

This device isn’t a space ship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place where we ache to go again.

It’s not called ‘The Wheel.’ It’s called ‘The Carousel.’

It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/220

Yesterday at our church I took a few photos for preserving such a fun service. There is this photo I shared on my facebook page that was then shared by many others. People loved it not just because their kids are in the photo, but because of "nostalgia" of their own.

I loved it because the church this year created a special service for families. Often parents of little toddlers feel the pressure of keeping their kids quiet in "big church" and here they wanted the families to really feel welcomed.

I have never seen this many kids during a Children's Sermon before at our church.

Fujifilm X-E2, FUJINON XF 18-55mm, ISO 3200, ƒ/3.8, 1/500

 I also captured my daughter singing as part of a quartet. I was extremely proud.

Today photos help me remember and appreciate what a wonderful family I have. This photo here is from Easter 2001. Fourteen years ago and my daughter was just two years old.

We might not be showing our photos on a Kodak Carousel projector any more, but the photo still lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved.

3.5 Easy Slide Show solutions for Mac and PC

The last time I wrote about creating slide shows Adobe Flash based systems were supported everywhere on the web. After Apple decided to not support Flash on their iPads, iPhone or iTouch things changed.

All the slide shows I produced early on will not work on the Apple mobile devices as they were created up till not that long ago.

Today I do use Final Cut Pro X primarily when editing video and mixing in still images. I have also used Adobe Premier prior to Final Cut doing the same thing.

While I could use Final Cut Pro X and create slide shows these solutions are much simpler and faster in my opinion.  I can even produce most of what I want and export them into Final Cut Pro X if I like.

1. Soundslides Solution for both Mac and PC

The latest version of Soundslides (1.9.5) has JQuery HTML5 built into it. The beauty of the Soundslides solution is that the project will play back using Flash when available and use the HTML5 version as a fallback. This ensures the user experience is the best it can be.

Here is an example I recommend trying on your desktop/laptop and then if you have a Apple Mobile device try it there as well. By the way I had saved the original file [2008] so I was able to update the output for HTML5. 

The best part of the Soundslides solution is that it is cross platform.

You may find out as I did that some servers do not like the way Soundslides is talking to the device to determine what it is before giving it a flash or html5 version. The way licenses work they cannot create an html5 version only since it will not work on all browsers.

This is when you can choose to use Soundslides Video converting service. The downside is you have to upload your file and then wait for them to send you a link to download it. Your project goes into a Que and if you are on a deadline this might not work.

As far as simplicity to use and if your office has a mix of PCs and Macs this is a great software that is fairly easy to use. Having everyone using a similar software means you can easily train everyone.

---

2. For the Mac

My favorite Slide Show software for the Mac that creates movie files is FotoMagico.  The cost of the software is $99. One thing they offer that I don't know any other software offering is One-to-One Coaching.  Get up to speed with FotoMagico! Get tips and tricks from our tech support pros. Be more productive, and get your work done faster. Arrange a one-to-one online session with desktop sharing for $99 per session.

When you are ready to output the show FotoMagico has easy choices like YouTube, Apple Devices and just about any other output including 4K Cinema Projection.

---

3. For the PC

For a long time before I switched to using Mac exclusively I was using ProShow Gold.  I found going from ProShow Gold to FotoMagico seemless and believe they work very similar.

As you can see from the screen grabs they look very similar.  The outputs are similar to FotoMagico. You can create DVD, Blu-ray, Facebook, Youtube and more outputs.

---

My suggestion is to output to H.264 format since this is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video.

All of these solutions make it very easy to combine your still images with audio. You can create a voice over, use music and even blend with video. The learning curve on these software packages is much easier than using Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro X.

---

3.5 DigiCraft Plugin Solution

If you are looking for a plugin to use with Adobe Lightroom to create a slide show gallery try DigiCrafts software.  It was created primarily for photographers to create portfolio package to play on Apple devices.  I have used it when I just need a click through package.

I used this software to create small galleries of my work for my blog and website. You can click on the categories above. Here is the "education gallery" I created using DigiCrafts.

Shooting Slide Shows: Behind the Scene With Stanley

Nikon D3, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 w/ 1.4 converter, ISO 200, ƒ/5, 1/1600

This is a really simple way to do Slide Shows with audio. I prefer interview people as I did here. Watch the first one which shows what I did for a client and the second one is some photos of me shooting the package by my friend Ken Touchton.

Watch this one first

Then watch how I did it.

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.