Maidstone Then & Now

[coecolin]

I belong to the Maidstone Camera Club here in Kent England. We also have a small A\V group of about ten members.

The club has been involved in what is called the Glass Plate Project in conjunction with Maidstone Museum which holds around 8000 glass plates. They consist of all types of subjects. Just to name a few, the building of the Panama Canal, The Chinese Railway, The Royal Mews (London) and many others.

Around four members of the A/V group were asked to produce Audio Visual sequence's which included the above mentioned projects. I was asked to produce an A/V on Maidstone Then & Now, which I thought I would upload here. I must warn you that it runs for 20 minutes. If anybody has the patience to download and watch this I would welcome any comments. It can be found at http://www.mediafire.com/?jqjizywqmjt

By the way around some 2000 odd glass plates can be viewed at http://www.kentphotoarchive.org.uk

Colin.

[Ken Cox]

Colin the link to the archives does not work for me

greet show

ken

[fh1805]

I edited Colin's post to correct the link.

regards,

Peter

[Ken Cox]

thanks Peter

ken

[coecolin]

Ken,

I am sorry the archive did not work for you. I have just tried it and it works fine, wether that is because Peter adjusted it I do not know, as I did not think to try the link after I put it up.

Peter,

Thank you for sorting that out.

Colin.

[jfa]

Colin

Your project on Maidstone was interesting and well presented and made me think our Camera Club here should attempt a similar project. It was very interesting to see how much has changed and yet stays familiar.

I watched the entire 20min AV and found it very enjoyable and informative, I think you have achieved your aims. Well done.

A few constructive suggestions if I may.

While the commentary was at the right level I found the background music a little soft particularly when the voice had stopped. There was a little hum behind the voice and while it was not too distracting it would not be heard when the voice stopped if the background music was a touch higher in volume.

As someone who is not familiar with this part of the world a location map at the start would be a good idea.

Also the occasional use of a street map to show the viewer around Maidstone may also be useful.

Thanks again for posting the interesting AV.

[coecolin]

John,

I am glad you enjoyed my Maidstone show. It was done for showing around camera clubs around the area, also for showing in the Museum at times. I take on board your suggestions and thank you for them. I will make a point of listening for the slight humming, I had not noticed it, maybe my hearing. If you wanted to look at a map you can find it on the kentphotarchives web site shown on my original post. Click on google maps, then on street scenes, and then on the black square in the centre (covered with markers) If you click the green markers that will bring up the glass plate thumbnails and by clicking on one will bring up a larger picture, then up on the right you have the choice of bringing up the modern day image.

Colin.