I created the following video yesterday as a test of what was possible to pull together quickly with the tools I had at hand: an Edirol audio recorder, iMovie, some sound effects from freesound.org, and a couple free hours. I’ve been playing around with adding audio over images for a while now, but I find audio really quite difficult to record well, there’s always a lot more happening around you than you think. I spent hours in the markets in Guatemala trying to get the right background sounds to put underneath a selection of photos but was never satisfied. For that project I don’t think I’d really considered using my own commentary/voice, it’s only recently I’ve began thinking about this (though I kinda’ feel like I’m the last one on the boat.)

I’m working toward starting to integrate actual video and stills work, using subject interviews to create pieces along the lines of Magnum in Motion, or MediaStorm. So, the above piece is the first tentative step in that direction. To begin then I chose some work from Cuba, the images from the hurricane damage to Gibara. I’ve already second guessed everything a dozen times, in particular my voice: inflection, the fact that I chose to prepare a text rather than speak more candidly, all of it. I know it’s all practise and confidence, so things will only get better from here. After writing the piece for Camera Obscura I’ve been thinking about creating a more regular series of voice overs using images from my archive, use a single image and fill in the context around it. These would definitely be more candid, and natural, and more importantly be good practise.

I’m also not sure if Vimeo is the right platform yet, or whether I want to host everything here. I like the idea of trying to build up some community around similar work via Vimeo. There are other tools like Sound Slides that I’d like to try using, though a video file as an end result, rather than a flash file, does appeal to me. The right tool for the moment, though, so I’ll probably play these choices as they come.

I’ve also also created a smaller version to start using for podcasting. I’m pretty sure WordPress takes care of the RSS, but I created a separate feed just for this and any further work that comes along. Subscribe to that feed in iTunes, and we shall walk hand-in-hand into this brave new world.