Virtual gallery

[habakuk]

Hi all. I just wanted to give you a hint about the virtual gallery I've set up. I wanted to experiment with a different way of presenting pictures and this virtual gallery has been created in the context of a local event about the death of children. Maybe you remember that on 24th of december 2006 my son died a few days before his planned birth date. On the following journey in the workld of mourning, I created a photo book and had a physical exhibition with the photos from that book. Now we wanted to do that exhibition again for the said event, but we didn't have enough room so I came up with this virtual exhibition.

The texts are in german (a english translation is in progress) but since this is a photography forum anyway, I wanted to share the visual experience with you.

I tried to create a simple presentation that mimicks as much of the real exhibition experience as I can within reasonable effort...

Have a look here:
http://www.punctumsaliens.ch/exhibitions/sternspuren2/

cheers
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[eob]

The gallery very nicely done. Many interesting images we haven't seen in our forum. Thanks, Roland.

I hope your pain has eased its grip a bit by now...

[Theo]

I agree nice job. I would also like to express my sympathies for your loss I wish you comfort.

Yours

[habakuk]

Thanks.
@eob: yes, we were very actively working through the mourning process and now we can harvest... we are kind of at peace with what happened.  The book "Sternspuren" proved to be so helpful to many couples who went through the same ordeal. I think the book shows the power of using photography as a metaphor work. I've done some research for my master thesis in NLP in this respect, and will spend more time investigating the potential to use photography just as we use painting or verbal metaphors in the gestalt therapy. A very interesting subject, btw.

I'm glad if the exhibition "works" for you too.

cheers
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[aprilS]

I tried to create a simple presentation that mimicks as much of the real exhibition experience as I can within reasonable effort...

Oh, I like this idea!

It reminds me of a wedding photographer's gallery I came across years ago, and saved offline entire as inspiration for my students of web design. It had that same feeling of entering and moving through a virtual space to view the photographs.

I especially love the ability to hover over the gallery note if I desire, but not be distracted by text while I view the (exquisite) images.

In the context of web design, I'd like to find more elegant icons to indicate moving forward or back. And I'm not so sure about the warm gray on the "floor". I also wonder if that could be reduced in depth; it's drawing a bit more attention in the total frame than I would like -- taking a little away from the beautiful presentation of the images.

All that said, I am so moved by what you have been able to create through a pain I can't imagine.

[habakuk]

Thank you, April.

About the design aspects: yes, the fwd/back buttons aren't really that cool... I first thought about having them on the side of te walls, but there they distract too much for my liking. Interface design is always a difficult thing imo. It's a art for itself... creating subtle yet very clear interface elements. About the "room" depth - I had to keep it that way to not make the note on the wall look squeezed. But again, I am convinced there might be more subtle, more refined ways to do the same.

I also thought about adding a spotlight, not only on the background as I did, but as a overlay over all the pictures. That would add to the "reality" factor. But... it also adds to the workload to create the slides.

Then, I had that all done with a nifty table construct, then switched to css and gave up both due to the ç*&%"/ incompatibilities in the css implementation of the various browsers. Webdesign still isn't straight forward...

To me, this is kind of a proof of concept, and I surely will spend time to think about this concept for other presentations.

And thanks for the kind words, April. Lots of things have emerged since the death of our son. I consider this being my duty as a dad...

cheers
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[jlmoriarty]

I'm just starting to go around the site and having just viewed your album "Sternspuren" I am compelled to comment even though it has been up for some time now.

I am nearly speechless. If the hope of a photograph is to draw you in, to blur the boundary between viewer and experience, this has succeeded on every level. How you managed to function in that storm of emotion is hard to understand. How you managed to function and craft a message of hope is totally beyond my ability to comprehend. How you managed to create such art, yes I use that word quite intentionally, is a tribute to your depth of character as well as your skill as a photographer.

My quibbles are nothing when compared to what you have experienced and achieved. And because of your generosity and skill you have allowed us to witness that achievement.

John

[habakuk]

John, I am moved by your comment. Thank you kindly for taking the time to go through the gallery. I had countless contacts with people that lived through a similar experience and I learned how much power photographs can have in dealing with unspeakable inner worlds. That was so for myself and it is so for many others that found their experience shown in the pictures of the Sternspuren series. And it sure was one of the most important moments in my life.

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