Creating a Video From Old Photos

[PhotoGuy]

I'm not sure if this is in the right spot or not, but thought I'd share something I did in the wake of my father's recent passing from Covid. I'm an amateur photographer and have taken a ton of photos over the years. My younger sister is the "historian" of the family and has collected old family photos going way back. When my 88 year old father passed away, I found it helpful to create a video slide show using 41 photos dating back to his childhood and ending with photos from when we last got together with him. I then set it to music and uploaded it to YouTube for my siblings and others who were close to my dad. I found that rather than feeling sad as I created this, it was a way to remember happier times. Of course, when it was done it brought tears. I think the addition of the music is what did it. My three siblings really appreciated having this way to remember our father. 

Recently I did a similar project on a much larger scale for a man in our community whose wife passed away suddenly. The neighbors rallied around him and a few weeks ago one of them mentioned that I'd created a slide show for her after her dog passed away. I'd taken about 100 photos of them with their dogs on the local beach on a fine summer morning, and used many in my slide show. She convinced the widower to give me about 200 photos on a disk and I painstakingly edited most of them (cropping, fixing scratches and color, etc) and ended up with a nearly 12 minute retrospective on her life, set to three of her favorite pieces of music. When the pandemic eases, he'll use some of this during a memorial for his late wife. He called me and said how grateful he was to have this for him and their only child. Last time I looked, it had had over 100 views on YouTube (the link is private and not discoverable in online searches). 

Anyway, it's been a healing tool for me, even if it can trigger tears. It's a way to see our loved ones in happier times.

[Kieron]

What a wonderful way to work through one's own grief, by assisting others who are going through a similar struggle.  Thanks for sharing. :)