Storytelling Tip: There's A Story Behind Every Image

Every image has a story. For my mom's last birthday, my brother asked my dad for any pictures he had of mom. My dad sent over a number of slides and the image above was one of the slides he sent. We scanned about sixty of them and then made a DVD and a Photo Book. I wondered what the story was around this image. So today, I sent the image to my mom and asked her about the image. This is what she told me:

"It was taken in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Right after Dad came home from overseas. We had been married 6 months. It was June of 1955. Ford Hardtop maybe 1954. We were just in the park, celebrating his homecoming. He had stopped in Hawaii - therefore the flowers. He had the white coat made for me in Japan."

Tip: If you want to know more about an image, ask. Use open ended, general questions like "What do you remember about this picture?" If you ask open ended, general questions, you'll find out more than you expected.

Follow up general questions with specific questions like "When was this taken?" or "Where was this taken?" Use specific questions as follow up to general questions. Avoid questions that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".

Slideshows, DVD's and More

We live in the age of multimedia. Our lives are supplemented with wildly vivid imagery. Have you noticed the change in television studio sets since the introduction of High Definition? I took the picture above in ESPN's Digital Studio.

One of the best ways to showcase your digital images is with a slideshow. Now personally, I hate the word slideshow, but it is a word to which people relate (sometimes badly). When I was young, world travelers would come by the Elks Club with their travel photos and put on a slide show. "Here I am in front of the Eiffel Tower" was quickly followed by "My dog jumps in the Seine".

We've come a long way from simple slideshows. Here's a link to http://www.avincistudio.com/ where you can create a movie of your images in mere seconds. Just download the software and in minutes you'll see how great your images look in a full motion production.

What's more, if you'd like a couple of secret promo codes, I'll post those too if you ask.

I provided a sample above of a Wedding Production that was made in seconds using aVinci software. All you do is supply the images! Good luck.

Combining Images and Video

I created this DVD Navigator using images and an old Super 8 film (converted to digital). The videos are from a visit to Disneyland around 1963. I used template driven software that is made by aVinci Media (the company I work for). I'm the lead kid hanging on for dear life. At the time I was very afraid of the swinging bridge. That's my Dad in the images and my Mom in the video.

The navigator is used on a DVD to show you what you can do with the DVD, in this case, Play a Movie or Slideshow. These "spinups" are especially useful in creating the appearance of a professional product. They can tell a story all by themselves.