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Did you ever watch slide shows with your family?

posted 2 months ago by MaximRecoil (4853)
15 replies | jump to latest

I'm guessing that this doesn't happen much anymore, not even a modern version of it (i.e., a modern TV and digital pictures instead of real slide prints from film and a slide projector).

When I was a kid (my earliest memories start in 1978), a slide show seemed like a big event. The fact that it wasn't easy to convince Dad to show slides, plus all the setup involved, added to the event effect. Once us kids convinced him (with help from Mom), Dad would go upstairs and lug down the big projector screen, and then go back up and lug down the slide projector, and then go back up and lug down the several boxes of slides.

While Dad was doing that, Mom and us kids would be getting things ready in the living room; clearing off an end table and moving it in front of the couch to use as a projector stand and moving things out of the way for the projector screen.

Then Dad would do a lot of fiddling with the projector and the screen; adjusting focus, screen position, projector height (with the help of a book or two placed under the projector), and Mom would make popcorn.

Then we'd turn the lights off and the show would start.

The real key to those slide shows being fun was Mom. She was/is a great story-teller, and she had a story, often a funny one, about most of the pictures. Most of them were from the 1960s and the early 1970s, which makes for a fascinating glimpse back in time when you're so young. It also helped that the pictures were excellent quality because Dad was a professional photographer and developed pictures himself in his own darkroom.

There was one slide that got accidentally put in upside down one time; a picture of my grandfather (who was a pastor) baptizing someone in a lake, and us kids thought it was hilarious. After that it became a tradition to view that particular slide upside down.

[–] Kowalski (79128) 2 months ago

AS A KID....LATE 80S/EARLY 90S.....FAMILY MEMBER'S VACATION SHOTS MOSTLY....ONCE MY GRANDFATHER SHOWED SLIDES OF A CAR SHOW AND A PARADE.......NO SLIDESHOWS SINCE.

[–] MarkPh (1057) 2 months ago

There are lots of apps that can create slideshows from photos, even Windows has one included.
I occasionally use them to refresh memories from past vacations.

[–] MaximRecoil (4853) 2 months ago

I know, which is why I mentioned "a modern version of it," and I doubt it happens very often now. What family today is going to sit down and watch a series of still images when they have important things to attend to, like their social media accounts on their phones? I know people these days who can't even sit through an actual movie without missing half of it because they were mesmerized by their phones. Imagine them trying to sit through a slide show.

[–] ClementinaSpur (1336) 2 months ago

Great memories you have! I had a very similar experience. My dad believed slides were the only way to go and never got prints made from his film, but the downside of this is he never was in a mood to have slideshows! It was only about once every year or two we would look at slides, and that was mostly because he was waxing sentimental about his years in the Navy. He had a lot of slides from his travels along with some great examples of rare aircraft that somebody somewhere now would pay money to have. I know aircraft magazines pay for collections like this.

He would always linger a really long time on his Navy days slides and narrate everything in the picture like a tour guide. Any slides of me, my sister, and mom would get the cursory two seconds! Move along!

My dad would project the slides onto the bare wall, but I do remember him hanging a white sheet up once. I also remember the projector messing up one time, and as he was peering over it to check it out, the bulb exploded in his face. He was fortunate it didn't seriously injure his eyes.

Even though it didn't happen that often, slide show nights were always my favorite time. They were magic, and I can't even say the magic was about the images on the slides. It was about things beyond that.

[–] MaximRecoil (4853) 2 months ago

That is indeed very similar to my experience, and your last paragraph nailed it. That's exactly the way it was for me (and my siblings as well).

Dad's projector screen was a retractable type on a tripod, and it had a glass-beaded screen that really made the pictures pop. I vividly remember the brilliant red color of Dad's 1960-something Pontiac Bonneville convertible in one of the pictures. Unfortunately I never saw that car in real life, because he sold it at some point before my earliest memories. When that picture would come up Mom would always say to Dad, "I loved that car. I wish you still had it." It was the car that Dad had when they were dating.

[–] Mustang (5571) 2 months ago

In the early to mid 80's my Uncle went abroad a lot, USA, Canada, Europe, UK, China, New Zealand and he would take loads of photos and have them developed as slides. He would put on slide shows when he got back. For me what made it seem cooler than just normal photos was the size of the screen and these slide shows were done in a dark room so it provided a sense of immersion that you don't get from ordinary photos.

In the 2000's he went to UK, Germany and Ukraine and the photos this time were digital and he showed us via the laptop and it was not the same at all.

[–] MaximRecoil (4853) 2 months ago

" For me what made it seem cooler than just normal photos was the size of the screen and these slide shows were done in a dark room so it provided a sense of immersion that you don't get from ordinary photos.

In the 2000's he went to UK, Germany and Ukraine and the photos this time were digital and he showed us via the laptop and it was not the same at all."

Yeah, the atmosphere of a real slide show in a dark room on a big screen makes a big difference. Interesting pictures and a good narrator helps too.

When I was a kid I obviously wasn't old enough to have ever seen significantly younger versions of anyone in real life, so seeing pictures my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., when they were 10 or 20 years younger, and my older siblings when they were babies or toddlers, was fascinating, and Mom was a great narrator, and a lot of the pictures would prompt interesting family discussions too.

I assumed slide shows were inherently fun until I had to sit through a slide show at my grandmother's house though. It consisted of pictures she took when she visited Israel, and they were mostly just desertous, mountainous landscape pictures, and she had little to nothing to say about any of them. What a yawn fest that was.

[–] Mustang (5571) 2 months ago

Interesting photos and narration make a big difference, not that I have seen other people's slide shows but it makes sense if the person narrating doesn't know how to bring the photos to life or give them meaning than the slide show will be boring.

The last slide show he did was China and that was not nearly as interesting as Europe or USA. So subject also plays a part. I can see how photos of deserts and mountains in Israel would get old fast. Unless there is some interesting story to go with them they are just photos of sand.

[–] [deleted] 2 months ago

Nope. Cameras were a luxury in the 80's and 90's. We didn't use them. My dad worked hard and mom hated dad so we didn't do things as a family. My grandparents were divorced in the US and the others lived in Europe. We didn't see them much. They didn't take pictures either because they didn't care to pay to develop film or think we would be interested.

Most of our pictures were from school or church. There weren't enough for a slideshow.

[–] jriley555 (8551) 2 months ago

Thank you for that sweet memory.

My parents were so overwhelmed squeezing out kids they didn't have a lot time or energy left for taking pictures. In consequence, we only have a few precious ones.

One time we got our pictures back from Walgreens and it turned out they were a black family celebrating their Easter, not ours. We sort of got a kick out of that. Wondered, at the time, if they got ours. It would only have been fair.

[–] fourlemons (3634) 2 months ago

What a sweet and funny story. That's one you'll never forget!

[–] fourlemons (3634) 2 months ago

My grandfather once showed us a slideshow when we were over visiting at their house. The slides were of different trips they had taken as my dad and his siblings were growing up. I remember enjoying it.

We didn't watch slideshows at my house, but I do remember my father showing us movies on our old projector where he had to wind the film around the reels and we'd watch soundless cartoons of Popeye. I thought that was big stuff and begged to do it often.

Also I enjoyed reading your OP. That's funny about the tradition of looking at that one slide upside down. And reading about the fun of setting it all up sounds like a great example of why childhood can feel so magical.

[–] MaximRecoil (4853) 2 months ago

That's awesome. Uncle Herb had a movie projector but I only ever saw it in use once; it was a home movie of us 3 kids (there are 4 of us but my younger sister would have been less than a year old at the time, or not yet born at all) and his 2 kids playing in his yard in the late 1970s when I was 3 or 4 years old. I wish I could see that again. That's one thing I envy about the younger generations: they tend to have lots of video footage of their childhood, because when camcorders became affordable in the late '80s and early '90s, and especially later on with the ubiquity of smart phones, it became far easier than in the days of movie cameras that used film.

I still love projectors. I use a modern digital one for watching movies at home. It's more of a hassle to use than a regular TV, and it only looks its best in the dark (I always wait until night to use it since I have no easy way of completely blocking out the light in my living room during the day), but it's more than worth it to me. Nothing else has the same look of a projected image. Digital projectors don't have the same charm as old film projectors, and they don't make that classic clickety projector sound, but content for those is hard to find, very expensive, and often damaged/deteriorated, if you're looking for full Hollywood movies.

[–] mikethemartian (7001) 2 months ago

I know I had seen slide shows when I was a kid but I’m not sure if my dad ever showed them. What my dad used to do was show 8mm movies on a projector. Some were home movies but he also made some amateur movies with friends before I was born. They made one short movie called “A Touch of Death” about some guy receiving a death threat from someone he once worked with but couldn’t remember exactly who. They also made some test scenes for a western movie