Note to self

In the past when I've been shooting panoramas I've tended to take photographs of my hand to record messages for later on. This form of very pidgin sign-language (end of sequence, cut here) served as a reasonable means to mark the start and end of sequences. I've started using similar queues for multi-shot images that I plan to turn into single final exposures. Then I had an epiphany of sorts. This was a stupid waste of space, to capture an 11Mb index point for each sequence. Particularly when my camera supports voice annotation! Now I use the voice annotation to record a quick comment or three on the last image of any given sequence. I can even record some thoughts about what emotions or motivations I have for the image, that may or may not change when I come to edit it. These annotations appear alongside the images as a .wav sound file that can be played back. I've since used this to capture some of the environment, such as music when I was shooting in a bar - this helps recreate the mood and revisit the emotional response when I come to finish the image at a later date. I've thought about trying to extend this in to a multimedia portrait project, shooting people then asking them to record a few bits of basic information, in their own voice. This way their name and location can be captured, or even snippits of their story. I think the combination has a lot of potential.