This is almost a repost, but I think it's reworked enough to stand on its own. I have to admit first off that I am not a video person and it took me a while to figure out even this meager endeavor.

I think the way I've embedded it here will provide you with the HD version. If you click through to the YouTube site, make sure you click on the HD button to get the best version of it.

I had previously posted the images of Contabando in the blog found here. The story of the site is revealed there as well, and I think it's an interesting tale, not so much from what I said, but for what it is—a beautiful place just a step or two away from the Rio Grande and Mexico. I just loved stumbling upon it on my recent travels, and equally loved sharing the images and story with you.

The music in the slide show is from Sun Kil Moon off of the Ghosts of the Great Highway album (note—the hotlink on the album title will take you to iTunes). Sun Kil Moon is led by the amazing Mark Kozelek, a San Francisco denizen and features some heartbreakingly beautiful songs—especially Carry Me Ohio. Mark and Sun Kil Moon have a new CD out last month April, and it's just as hauntingly beautiful as his previous work.

I hope you enjoy the slide show. Let me repeat though, I'm not a videographer, but it was fun to do this, my first ever successful* post to YouTube.

Some thoughts on the process for this post: I used the simple application that comes with the iLife software suite for Macs. iMovie is a bit unintuitive to me, and remains so even after getting this done. I think I'm so used to being able to lay out exactly what I want and how I want in applications like Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, that I was at first flummoxed on how to even import static images into iMovie with the intention of making a slide show with music. The music is the key to it all too, if you have a song choice already selected.

A track has a beginning and end (duh) so the number of slides chosen, and the length of time you choose to have each slide displayed are important elements to get all to come together at the end. It took me forever to figure out how to do a fade out on the music. The controls are there staring me in the face, but I didn't have a clue as to what they meant. I sort of got it figured out. 

What's cool in iMovie is the built-in Ken Burns effect. That's the thing that makes you feel like you're zooming in or out on the shot. I don't know if he was the first documentarian that used motion on still shots, but he's become the eponym of that process.

*This is actually a redo of the Contrabando video upload to YouTube. The first one was too long—or the music was too long, so the slides lingered before changing to the next one. And, truth be told, neither of the Contrabando slideshow videos were my first upload to YouTube, but they're  the first ones that got accepted. 

Previously I made a video slideshow of my photos from the Portland Japanese Gardens, inspired by Harry Homeless' beautiful blog on the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens. But I couldn't get it to play on YouTube, so I went over to Vimeo and was successful in getting it uploaded there. You can see my Japanese Garden slideshow here. But make sure you see Harry's wonderful photos too. 

Some further meta notes:

This has been an unprecedented weekend for me on OS—getting three posts up in the space of three days. I promise not to keep up the pace. I think you will all appreciate me more when my absence makes you fonder. The posts were one on my mother put up for Mother's Day, a new Photoshop Tutorial and the one on this page. 

I especially want to thank those of you who stopped by my post about my mother. Words cannot adequately express my emotions and gratitude for the affection and affirmation expressed in the comments. Thank you very much. If you left a comment, and have not revisited, I added three images that I hope you will find of interest, and adds a bit to the story. Truly, she deserves an expanded blog that would show some of the other elements in her life. Again, thank you very much for your kind comments. 

all images copyright © 2009 by barry b. doyle • all rights reserved