Pictures, Pictures
March 1st, 2005Currently my daughter Helen is very "into" in My Little Pony toys. This picture shows how she dressed and "accessorized" the one I bought her Monday, when her school was closed because of snow.
I have already shared this photo, along with many others taken today or late last week, with Helen’s grandmother, aka my mom.
Tonight I sent "Grandmother" the email below. It has links to web pages with more than 60 of these recent "snow days" photos.
I created these web pages very easily. I simply choose the "export as web page" command from within Picasa (Picasa is the free image management software that I am currently using). After I choose that command, Picasa did almost everything else. I didn’t see, much less write, a single HTML tag. It works beautifully.
After I choose a group of photos and selected the command "export as web page," Picasa created a folder containing all the images and HTML files that I need to create a web page of photos. I then used WS_FTP to move that folder to space allotted to me on the university’s server, and, voila, I had a web page with lots of photos. Then all I had to do was send Mom the web address by email.
Hi, Mom.
Well, we didn’t get buried by the new storm, but once again Helen’s school was canceled and Maggie and I were off work, so once again we kept her and took some pictures.
You can see them, along with a few captions I wrote, at:
The ones from yesterday are still at:
(I now realize I made them too big).
Also, I am experimenting with a new slide show program. It lets me add moving text, like in a movie. Here’s an early experiment, using some of the same photos:
Unfortunately a lot of the image quality was lost compared to the versions of the pictures on the above web page. If you can make the window showing it small, it will look better. I still have some learning to do!
Hope you and Dad are having a good week.
Love,
Walter
I adore and am in awe of how digital photography, email, the web and tools like Picasa are changing the way people interact. This "convergence" is really enhancing a lot of personal communication. Sometimes technology truly can help people to live richer, better lives.
Of course I could have shared these photos with my mother without relying on digital technology. I could have shot a conventional roll of film, developed it, then written Mom a letter and mailed it to her with prints of the photos.
I could do all that, and frankly if there weren’t digital options I think I ought to do stuff like that. But would I? Often?
In truth, I do a much better job staying in touch through email and other electronic means than I ever managed to do through "analog" means. Yeah, I sometimes send paper greeting cards on birthdays and holidays, but I doubt I’d write people letters or send them photos as often as I now do if technology hadn’t made it so convenient to do so.
The right tool can work wonders. It shortens the critical distance between an impulse to communicate and the actual act of communicating. The results can be magical.