Why Not Video? – Moving Pictures

All the cameras I carry are able to make video. The question really becomes, "Am I able to make video?" — All the cameras I carry are able to make video. The question really becomes, “Am I able to make video?”

In the past few weeks I’ve been pondering my strengths and weaknesses. As a result, one immediate and unimportant change has been my deletion of my personal Twitter account. I might have followed 11 people, several of whom stopped posting months ago, and maybe four people followed me. I seldom Tweeted.

More consequential might be my thoughts about videography. I am a competent videographer, but simply don’t have the resource or the motivation to commit myself to making videos, and I don’t want to be a vlogger/vidiot who posts 32 minute rants of myself talking to the camera. I see too much of that, and despise it.

I would be very interested to know how much of the video shot every day is actually viewed by the person shooting it, versus how much of it is crammed onto social media where it waits for "likes." — I would be very interested to know how much of the video shot every day is actually viewed by the person shooting it, versus how much of it is crammed onto social media where it waits for “likes.”

I certainly don’t want to become what I despise.

Since acquiring my first video camera in 2001, the excellent Canon GL-1, I have attempted to integrate video into my web presence, and after all these years I have concluded it’s just not for me. That might change one day if I got a job in the field or could generate tons of income from it, but today, my best videos are just a distraction. I am pretty sure my readership feels the same way: Richard is a great photographer and a good storyteller, but his videos don’t match up.

I have also said in past entries that as video resolution increases, quality falters, and that almost all video is worthless without the most important element: a good script.

So, if you are patrolling richardbarron.net and see a link to a video that doesn’t exist, or see any empty links at all, let me know and I’ll fix it.

The Canon GL-1 is a camcorder from a by-gone era, but it did one thing amazingly well: sound. Note the shotgun mic on top. We photographed our wedding with this camera, and you can hear every word.