It was a bit of a weird stretch last week – the weather got flat out wonky on us out of nowhere, and we ended up getting a downright decent, warm spring day sitting right next to school cancellations and a few inches of snow.
So I figured I’d make a video out of it.
It was fun, actually – ended up sticking a little closer to home with the places I chose to shoot. Back when I was first starting out, I had this weird idea in my head that if I went someplace a little more grandiose – a city, or some place maybe more visually interesting than a quiet little suburb stopover in New Jersey – my shots wouldn’t be able to do the place justice. I think it’s a bit of a silly way to look at photography now, but it’s what kept me wandering around my hometown when I was still figuring out my camera – shooting almost exclusively in patches of woods by the roadside, old rail lines, scenic local ponds…
…it’s a vibe I feel like I got back to a little bit with this little edit…vlog….thing. But less because I’m skeevy about shooting in busier spots, and more because I like capturing the little bits of charm that shine through the cracks in this little town – bits that sometimes, you don’t even need to take a car too.
Anyways, here’s the latest upload on the Fernway Films Youtube channel. Hope you like it. 🙂
Who would have thought I’d end up being on here less once the semester started? 🙂
Hope you’re all not terribly mad at me. I’m settled back into the swing of things after getting a new camera, heading off to Key West for the holiday with my family, and enjoying the sheer amount of free time that gets dumped on you once college lets out for a month. Expect more photos, more blogs, and more video in the weeks to come!
A nice little one I never posted from the recent warehouse set. I think my girlfriend may be talking to a plant? I’m not sure.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about projects for the YouTube channel – different things to keep us moving along while we’re working on the more ambitious videos we’ve been bouncing around concepts for. We’ve got what we’re tentatively calling “trip” or “day” videos – like Night Ride and The Downtown Lap which are essentially music videos with a bit of a loose narrative that follow us as a group while we’re out and about on our little escapades – which are great, but I definitely don’t want them to be the brunt of what we do.
Then there’s the Tips Appreciated micro-series we’re working on, where every video shoots for somewhere under a minute. But even those are a little tricky to pump out because of the effort that goes into trying to center in on something snappy, quick, and catchy to shoot, cut down, edit, and post on a semi-frequent basis. Not to mention props – you’ll see what I’m talking about once we actually manage to get another one posted.
Vlogs are huge on YouTube right now. I was a big fan of Casey Neistat’s series while it was still on, and there’s no denying that the genre is still carrying a lot of weight on the platform. But while it’s tempting to jump on that wagon, I don’t think the whole deal would really appeal to me. And it’s not the act of putting a life on camera, or having nothing to post that’s really the issue – it’s more that I think that vlogs aren’t really personal enough in some regards.
Course, you also can’t really deny the kind of connection that some of these content creators have with their audiences, but I’ve always sort of felt that you lose…something the moment you step outside of just living your life and turn to the camera to address an unseen audience. There’s something about the physical act of putting what I’m doing on film on halt to talk at a lens that would really take me out of it – cheapen things, almost. It may be an odd opinion to have, but it’s a constant worry I’ve got while I’m working on projects. It’s constantly something I’ll circumvent with voice-overs or superimposed text, just because I don’t really feel as though it resonates with what I do.
But I like the odd sense of voyeur that comes with viewing a vlog – the (hopefully) unfiltered and genuine experience that comes with offering the events of a day up to the world, because you thought it was worth sharing in a certain form. Maybe I’ll find some way to tap into that without the “hosting” aspect of things…only time’ll tell.
…or you’ll come back here in a few months, and I’ll be zipping around Manhattan on an electric skateboard, wearing painted shades and shouting at a DSLR. In which case, feel free to quote this post back to me, yeah?
FernwayPress 