Kodi struggling to open image files

So im calling a picture slideshow via API call to play a smb share of pictures – has worked fine for months.
This morning i find an error msg on all the screens around the office – log show it made a meal of opening one or all of the pic files.

Code:
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-diskspace-500s-conv.jpg
16:28:02 T:14360 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
16:28:02 T:2132  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
16:28:02 T:2132  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
16:28:02 T:2132 WARNING: could not find codec parameters for smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-diskspace-500s-conv.jpg
16:28:02 T:2132   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
16:28:02 T:2132  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
16:28:02 T:14360   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 0, path [smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-diskspace-500s-conv.jpg]
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-freememory-conv.jpg
16:28:02 T:15644  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
16:28:02 T:15644  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
16:28:02 T:15644 WARNING: could not find codec parameters for smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-freememory-conv.jpg
16:28:02 T:15644   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
16:28:02 T:15644  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
16:28:02 T:14360   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 1, path [smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-freememory-conv.jpg]
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
16:28:02 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-mailqueue-swap-conv.jpg
16:28:02 T:17420  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
16:28:03 T:17420  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
16:28:03 T:17420 WARNING: could not find codec parameters for smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-mailqueue-swap-conv.jpg
16:28:03 T:17420   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
16:28:03 T:17420  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
16:28:03 T:14360   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 2, path [smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-apachedrilldown-mailqueue-swap-conv.jpg]
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-cpu-credits-conv.jpg
16:28:03 T:9420  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
16:28:03 T:9420  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
16:28:03 T:9420 WARNING: could not find codec parameters for smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-cpu-credits-conv.jpg
16:28:03 T:9420   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
16:28:03 T:9420  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
16:28:03 T:14360   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 3, path [smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-cpu-credits-conv.jpg]
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-overview-conv.jpg
16:28:03 T:6624  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
16:28:03 T:6624  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
16:28:03 T:6624 WARNING: could not find codec parameters for smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-overview-conv.jpg
16:28:03 T:6624   ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
16:28:03 T:6624  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
16:28:03 T:14360   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 4, path [smb://foe-screen3/Pictures/capture/hg-aws-ec2-overview-conv.jpg]
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
16:28:03 T:14360  NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting

These picture files all open fine within kodi when called on their own.
Any idea what might be causing this – or steps i can take to get a bit more info on the fail?

Any advice much appreciated.