Audio slideshows are multimedia productions that combine audio and photographs to communicate information about almost any subject. They can be used in a variety of contexts including content for websites, taking up relatively little bandwidth; as downloadable podcasts; or as part of a group or one on one presentation.
Audio slideshows differ greatly from video, not first because they are a lot more cost effective to produce , but because the audio and photographs are in effect ’standalone’ and can be understood independent of each other. However, combined, they create a powerful and compelling audio visual experience with great photographs having the unique ability to capture a single moment in time and linger in the viewers memory.
Audio slideshows may be journalistic in their approach and style or have commercial application in order to promote a person, place, service or product. As a passionate photographer, I see audio slideshows as a new way for audiences to view photographs in the online, digital age. Traditionally, photojournalistic images could only be published in newspapers, magazines ordisplayed on gallery walls, but audio slideshows have provided a new outlet for these images and a quick Google search proves how popular this new medium has become even for prestigious online resources such as the BBC News website.
While I have been the lead photographer on the following projects, the have been produced in collaboration with talented audio producer Sam Coley for a range of contexts, and a brief description accompanies each piece of work.
Justice not Crisis are a direct action pressure group based in Birmingham which focus on social housing issues. The ‘Social Justice Centre’ featured is this slideshow was for a short time a squat housing homeless people as well as the JNC headquaters and meeting centre. I passed this house with intrigue most days until the point that Sam and I made a visit to the house with a view to making a project to raise awareness of the JNC issues where we were welcomed into the house and invited to attend the next JNC meeting to record audio and take photographs. The finished project was made in collaboration with Birmingham City University School of Media and MoRadio:
Justice Not Crisis: Squatters Rights in Birmingham from Sam Coley on Vimeo.
This project, funded by Birmingham City University as part of the Birmingham Music Archive (www.birminghammusicarchive.co.uk), and presented by Birmingham based musician and poet Paul Murphy, examines the life of Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott who would have celebrated his 60th birthday in August 2009 if were alive today. The slideshow will combine photographs with audio recordings of Paul Murphy visiting Lynott’s birthplace and church where he was christened in South Birmingham as well as landmarks Lynott’s in Lynotts life including his final resting place in the city where he was raised, Dublin. The audio from this slideshow is an excerpt from a full radio documentary which was played on BBC West Midlands on Lynott’s birthday in August 2009.
Phil Lynott at 60 from Sam Coley on Vimeo.