Geographical Slideshows

It was a stormy day on December 21st 2002, when I went to see the floods in the Negev, taking some pictures to remember the fascinating sights of the gushing water. I organized some of the best pictures in a PowerPoint Slideshow, and sent it to some of my friends. And they did the rest… Within a week, I started getting numerous enthusiastic emails from people who got the slideshow by email. The winter played its role too, as winter ’02-’03 in Israel was one of the rainiest winters ever known. I went to see the nature in its best, and let others participate in the experience by preparing and sending additional slideshows.

In the era prior to YouTube, Facebook and smartphones, the PowerPoint slideshows turned out to be a pioneering method of expressing art to the public. They became viral, served as a “wandering exhibition”, one which travels to the very desk of people. They were linked to time and space, and stimulated people to go out to the nature and explore it by themselves after they saw the pictures. They were also circulated among people who live outside Israel, getting a chance to see some positive sights from Israel, as opposed to those presented in traditional media.

Images of places are now common in numerous electronic media. Sometimes we are fed up with them. Still, I am always surprised to get thank you and feedback emails from people who stumble upon the slideshows and enjoy them. The text accompanying the pictures make them a photographed story rather than a collection of photos, thus a precious added value.

With increasing importance of environmental issues in Israel, I founded “Svivon” – “A wandering Magazine of Nature and Environment in Israel”, which was published in a PowerPoint Slideshow format, circulating through the Net, and raising awareness to these issues. “Svivon” won the 2004 “Pratt” prize for Environmental Journalism. “TIME” magazine has chosen the people who share content through the Internet as the “TIME’s Person of the Year 2006”. I was glad I managed to utilize this technological tool in order to promote Israel, its natural resources and environmental issues.

Following are 108 of the best slideshows for download.