Pedro Meyer, founder of ZoneZero, the pioneering photography site, just wrote to say that he’s working on an Ipod version of I Photograph to Remember, the cdrom he made in the early 90s. It’s a deeply moving portrait documenting the last years of his parents’ life. Pedro invites readers of if:book to download a beta version HERE. He’s hoping for feedback so please send comments.
I thought it might be interesting to describe the debut of IPTR at the Digital World Conference in Beverly Hills in 1991. To appreciate this you have to understand that at that time no one had ever really seen anything on a computer screen with emotional content. The audience consisted of hyperactive, mostly male, senior executives who normally couldn’t sit still or be quiet for five minutes. But for thirty-two minutes, from the moment the lights went down till the closing credits, there wasn’t even the sound of breathing. People were literally stunned as they suddenly realized that the number-crunching, text processing machine on their desk could convey complex, profound feelings.
if:book
A Project of the Institute for the Future of the Book
Lovely, I’m sure, but why do I have to own an iPod to view it? When he released his CD-ROM, did it only run on a Dell?
You don’t need an iPod to play iPod video, which is just Quicktime video formatted to be 320 x 240 pixels.
Perhaps the intent in the original post was to recognize that some may feel that portable devices are for trivial things and the experience of viewing this video may convince them otherwise. iTunes is cross platform and provides a nice method for viewing this content. BTW – is your issue something like that of Mac users frustrated that others don’t understand that all PCs do not run the Windows OS.
compelling anecdote, bob,
thanks for sharing that…
-bowerbird
These are excerpts from something I wrote to Bob when he sent me the URL for I Photograph to Remember (http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/fotografio/) early this year:
I find it not only beautiful within the medium limitations, as Pedro says on his 2001 comment, but actually perfectly suited for both, the original CD ROM, and its current home on the internet. It is a work of love, and as such it has a purity that transcends media. The photographs and their subject(s) have a degree of intimacy that forces the viewer to look inside and avoid all morbidity or voyeurism. The narration, plain and to the point, is as photographic as the pictures are eloquent. The line between text and image is blurred in the most perfect black & white sense. It evokes feelings of unconditional love, of hands held in moments of weakness and strength, of happiness and sadness, of true friendship, which is the basis of true love. The whole experience becomes introspection, on the screen and in the mind of the viewer.
Let’s remember that IPTR’s debut was a Voyager CD ROM, and that it was the first one with continuous sound and images ever produced. Today, IPTR continues to be a perfect object. As those photographs exist thanks to the magic of chemicals and light, this exists thanks to that “old” CD ROM technology. I remember Bob’s words when he first showed me IPTR on his iPod; “it’s perfect for this.” A lover of the projected image and the darkness of the movie house, I still feel that the intimacy the handheld device provides is indeed perfect for this piece.
I might very well buy an iPod because of this, but it would be a tough decision because I don’t like having more things on me regardless how light and small it might be.
And ah just wondering, will the spanish version be released?
Yes the Spanish version will come out very soon (probably in January) and a Japanese version as well. We are already working on the Chinese version.
All those who don’t want to look at it on the iPod, can of course go to http://zonezero.com and type in
in the search engine, I PHOTOGRAPH TO REMEMBER,and it will take you to the internet version. It’s not as lovely viewing as on the iPod I must say.