Photographers Still Project Their Images

Showing your photographs to others is an essential part of photography

Sadly many digital photographers today have never used the slides that were once so important as a medium for display. We happily slotted dozens of slides into ‘carousels’ and fed the latter into a slide projector. They got stuck, they burned, they were upside down sometimes… wow. A really bothersome medium… but great fun. Families used to spend entire evenings displaying holiday slides to friends in a kind of ritualized boredom session destined to end in high beer consumption. Today we never do these things. I think it is a loss.

Photographers get a certain amount of gratification from showing off their best pictures. What is the point if you don’t. You spend all this time and money on your photography and then you have a limited outlet. Or is that really true?

Of course a lot of people are using social network sites to show off their pictures. However, there is such a lot of social network ‘noise’ out there that sometimes the impact of your great shots is lost. And, if you are doing it on Facebook the image compression is often damaging – leaving behind artifacts, colour banding and odd highlights.

If you want to show off your shots you have the option to display them via a laptop to your family, or you can route it through your TV. However, the size of most TVs leaves something to be desired. Big projection screens like the ones used for slides in yesteryear are not in use so much these days.

However, you might like to know that large-size projection of digital images is alive and well. I am a member of two photography clubs. At least once a month we have a ‘Projected Digital Image’ or PDI competition. At other times we project images for talks, discussions and activities. These days ye-olde slide projectors with carousels are largely out of use. Instead we use the same projectors that are much loved by company executives for displaying PowerPoints. Have you seen one of those? An image display system for projecting the slides for your talks, debates, lectures and lessons.

Yes, we regularly see our photographs displayed to a large audience and often have them commented on by judges and other club members. Showing off your photographs to a large audience and celebrating your photography is a great way to get feedback and to help improve your shots. They really do look great in a really large projection. Watching the photographs that others have taken is also a great way to learn about composition, technique and artistic insight.

There are hundreds of clubs across the UK and all over the world. Most of them have Internet sites and many show off their best shots on the site too. Most of the clubs in the UK have come to the end of this season – we all want to go off and take pictures for the summer. However, if you spend a little time looking at a few club sites you can get ideas for shots to take over the summer. Then come September clubs nationwide will welcome you to a new season.

Have fun and look out for your local club. You will learn lots about photography and make some great friends too. Well, I am off to a motorsport event first thing in the morning with two friends from one of my clubs. So, it is time for me to get some sleep. Have fun. Enjoy your photography.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

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