Photo Slide Shows Bring Back Memories

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Photographs invoke emotion and conjure up memories. One of my favorite quotes is by Sy Parish; “And if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture.”

Most of us have boxes, drawers, and albums filled with photographs we have taken over the years. Photographs symbolize a moment in time that has been forever frozen.

My Aunt was diagnoses with Alzheimer’s many years ago. As the years go by her memory of past events fades. Her daughters have made pocket sized photo albums with pictures and detailed descriptions; for example, “This is Sally. She is five years old; her mother is Jane, your youngest daughter.” My Aunt looks at these little books every day. Sometimes she remembers who Jane is; other days she has to ask.

While visiting my Aunt I noticed that she loves to watch television. It was then that I realized creating a DVD of her life with voice-overs describing each event might help her remember her past. When I returned home I contacted her daughters and asked them to email me photographs and descriptions of each photo asking them; “where it took place, when it took place and who is in the photo?” I then met with my Aunt’s sisters, asking them to go through their photographs and gather the one’s that might help my Aunt remember.

Once I had received all of the photographs I scanned them and placed them in a slideshow program. Each frame of the DVD describes the time, event and people in the photograph. It is important to include background music that is specific to the their era, in my Aunt’s case it was; Glen Miller, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra.

My mother and her sisters have been wonderful in writing down memories of their childhood. Silly events that happened when they were young girls, events that we hope will spark memories in my Aunt. Using a voice-over, the "memory" is told then the photograph appears for 30-40 seconds, giving ample time for individual to reminisce about the photograph and event.

Alzheimer DVD’s are a family affair. It is important to receive input from as many people as possible that are close to the person with Alzheimer’s.

If someone is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s it is wonderful to interview them, asking them their favorite childhood memories, school memories, their marriage, children and grandchildren. What are their hobbies? Where did they like to vacation? What are they most passionate about? What are their favorite songs?

There are so many good times in life; sharing them on a DVD is a way to preserve the memories.

Graduation Slide Show

They have finally done it, or at least there is an end in sight. Graduation is just around the corner, so is the prom, parties, college visits, the list is endless.
Putting together a slide show to honor their special day can be a daunting task. As you sort through your piles of photographs that have amassed over the years you can't help but be overwhelmed with "how fast the time has gone." Seems like yesterday that they were doing the "Bambi" walk...toddling across the floor, grinning ear-to-ear.
Yes, the time does fly by. Now it's time to sort out your photographs and select your favorites to feature in their Slide Show, a celebration of their accomplishments. Where do you start?
Here are just a few of the memorable moments you might have captured with your camera and video camera: birth, first step, first toothless grin, tears at the barbers, fearful glance as they walked in to school for the first time, delight in their first Halloween parade, family vacations, sporting events, recitals, holidays, middle school and at last high school.
There are three types of slide shows I design:
1. Chronological Slide Show
This slide show show starts with photographs of their birth and ends with High School graduation. This talks a little bit of time to organize. Each category in this slide show usually contains roughly ten photographs. If your child has siblings I highly recommend that you include the same number of photos of each sibling. This is a good rule of thumb to use with grandparents (you don't want more of one side that the other), and siblings.
2. Random Slide Show
The random slide show might start with a photograph of the child as a baby and morph into their senior photo. Then throughout it will show them as a youngster and the next photo might be present day.
3. Event
The event slide show is broken down into categories, for example:
Family
Friends
Sporting/Music/Dance
Vacations
Each grouping of photos starts with a title page then leads into the photographs relating to the category.
Yes, preparing your slide show is a daunting task, but one that is well worth it. If you want to include quotes (funny things you child said)or dates remember to write them on a post-it note, attach it to the back of your photo. Separate your photographs with a sheet of paper if there is already writing on the back. Why? The ink that is on the back of a photo when stacked on top of another photo can often bleed through to the photo it is on top of, which will permanently damage the photo.
The next task is selecting music. Your child might have definite likes and dislikes(if this is not a surprise), ask them for their input. If you are surprising your child with the slide show ask their siblings and friends what music they think you should use. You can also be sneaky and check out their Ipod to see what music they have in their favorites.
Finally, decide on the length of the show. I have designed custom slide shows with 350 photographs, they only run 12-15 minutes. The photographs dance across the screen and at the end the show is designed to loop (continuously play), ideal when showing your slide show during the graduation party.
Cost varies with each slide show, dependent on the amount of photographs that need to be scanned, digital photos and number of songs that will accompany your slide show. It is also very important to remember that the music needs to be purchased, as I have said before, we want our artist to keep writing and continue to record.
Phew...are you ready to get started? You can contact me for a free consultation and I will walk you through the process.

Thoughts on Turning 50 by LeahV

Thoughts on Turning 50

I love this essay...in celebration of her 50th Leah made a "Top 50" list...
“a list of things that make me happy to be who I am and where I am in this journey through life. These are in no particular order.

http://leahv.blogspot.com/
Posted by LeahV at 5:01 PM 2 comments
Labels: 50th Birthday

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Lets Talk FIVE-0

A new phenomenon hit me when I turned fifty; I started talking fifty. Now you are probably asking yourself, "how do you talk fifty?" The answer is easy, in the past I didn't walk up to total strangers and in course of the conversation mention my age; for example, "I turned thirty this year." Things are different since I turned fifty.
This morning I was at the gym and there was a woman jumping rope while I was crunching on the big red ball. After I was done with my crunches I went to put my weights back, she was minding her own business when I told her I admired her for jumping rope. She acknowledged my comment with a smile. It's not out of the norm for me to talk with strangers, what is out of the norm was that I had to close with this; "I used to jump rope but since I turned fifty it hurts my knees." Now in mentioning that I just turned fifty I expected a reaction, "no way are you fifty," or "you look great." There was no reply, just another smile.
I think the reason we tell everyone we are fifty is because we look forward to their reaction. "You're kidding me, I thought you weren't over forty." "You fabulous, I hope I look as good as you when I'm fifty." and on and on it goes. It's like a fishing expedition, fishing for a reaction.

www.maguireonline.com

I am always looking for information on music, that's how I found James Maguire. I highly recommend you visit his site.
James Maguire
journalist, author, editor
http://www.maguireonline.com

Music and Your Slideshow

When you choose the music for your slideshow consider two things:
1. The audience
2. The occassion
Are you making the slideshow for yourself, a friend, your parents, or a team?
What is their favorite genre of music? Crooners. Rock. Rap. Jazz. Classical. This list can be endless.
I always layout all the photographs on a large table and then sort them into categories; growing up, school, friends, family, weddings, anniversaries and vacations.
We all have favorites, for weddings and anniversaries I tend to use Nat King Cole or Frank Sinatra. Photographs of family are ideal to use with CSNY and Rosemary Clooney.
Imagine a photograph of someone on the beach, the music that accompanies that photo should have something to do with summer fun; maybe "Lazy Days of Summer!"
For the world traveler consider, "I've Been Everywhere."
It's always fun to display photographs of sisters with "We Are Family."
You don't have to use the entire song, edit and use the part of the lyrics that fit with your photograhs.


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