Please, you have got to watch this one section coming up

"So I went on vacation again, a cruise this time. And took along the little camcorder and sometimes made a pest of myself. Some of the stuff was good, some was gosh-awful. But this one clip came out phenomenal. Wake up now, it's two scenes from here."

Would you describe that amazing little slice of time that you somehow captured and what feelings/memories it still evokes? I'm not talking equipment or skill here, so much as an instance where everything just clicked somehow (did not intend that pun but such is the wandering nature of prose). For myself, I often just wander into good shots by accident---how great it would be to read of your great moments and maybe develop some consistently better instincts. Through descriptions and memories at least as much as through video links.

????????

Don

Hmm, how to explain. What makes it hard I think, is we know what we like but are unaccustomed to talking about it. Identifying then putting into words, is hard. Goes against much of communication practice this decade. So I'm not holding my breath here. But what a terrific boost it would be if several of us would TRY to . connect the dots for others. Meanwhile I shall continue to breathe as usual

Even though I never travel without a camera, I occasionally appreciate the fact more than usual.

We were plane-watching at Maho Beach on St. Maarten with our granddaughters when I realized at the last minute that the next fairly large plane on the surfboard schedule was a United plane. Since the girls' mom works for United, I came up with this idea, gathered them up and got them ready for the shot in about 90 seconds. I shot a sequence of five or six shots as the plane came in and did a little Photoshop magic to finish it off.

It is now a framed 16x20 hanging on our daughter's living room wall that provokes many comments and questions.

Happy time-slicing!

Dave

A super capture, thank you for it. The scene was there that triggered your imagination with an instantaneous family linkage, and clearly the effort worked. It's the sort of thing that makes a great antidote to a slide show "we did this, then this, etc." mode of photos/video show and tells.

I keep coming back to this thread, and I think I understand the premise - finally.

This morning I go out to the same rose garden I have visited over and over because I'm locked and can't seem to find good subject material to photograph.

As I wander an acre of numerous varieties of rose bushes, taking the same tired shots...

I look down, and in the grass is this little guy:

Amidst everything around me, I truly think this was the highlight of the morning. Doesn't matter if nobody else "gets it"- it made me smile and connected me back to why I like my photography habit so much.

Yeah, maybe the premise was fuzzier than intended. The point, though, was to harvest examples (pics/clips themselves as here, or freestanding word-descriptions) of captures that at the time or later, were EVENTS. Not just part of a day's ordinary sequence of scenes -- ordinary just as you've observed, despite excellent technique and maybe high octane equippage over your shoulder. Your rose looked great to me, a far better shot than I'd ever capture; but would I watch an hour of beautiful roses? Asking that nudges me closer to the important question: how can I punctuate this video project, in my case, to give vivacity and maybe perspective to the this-and-this-and-this parts of it?

Is the length of your project necessarily pre-determined?

In my 50 year old, but still conditioned to the current state of affairs - I.E. attention grabbing video of short, sweet, and to the point - I can not think of a single event in my life that would catch the attention of anyone else for the span of an hour, let alone much less duration.

At best I see a successful video project of a personal event to be as such:

• An overall introduction of the scope of the event (weeklong cruise)
  
• Each significant event broken down to a short story - getting ready, the players, the event itself, the resulting emotions of the experience
  
• Maybe a slide show at the end of key moments or visuals.
  

The only ways I know of to "punch up a project" is to use or develop innovative filming and post production techniques: high perspectives, rapid cuts, etc.

I did a couple as such, gopro footage with "B" roll footage and stills - and came out at 5-7 minutes total. Even with diving, ruins, a new cruise ship, etc. - I don't have the skill to fill an hour with entertaining images.

Me either, but I wonder if an hour's worth of entertaining snippets back to back is desirable, or even possible. Action films are prime examples of this: bigger special effects and louder Dolby stuff pumping into my ears? Meh. Not sure how to defend this, but my sense is that mundane stuff wants to be punctuated with wonderful moments. Not an hour's succession of exploding cars and nasty creatures with concealed zippers lurking in Tokyo harbor, but just enough curious and fresh clips (video is my own interest) to reassure the viewer that you the thing's maker DO notice such things and that pretty soon you'll deliver another. And maybe the interest of these infrequent snippets will add texture to following mundane sections? Interesting concept. Pacing, which we're nudging here, needs its own thread.

I think I know what you mean. Every once in a while you get a shot that wasn't necessarily planned - you happen to be in the right place at the right time and have your camera ready. We had gone to our local race track so I could get some practice at action shots. Didn't expect this to happen over near the stables.

...happen over near the stables.

 

Amazing. Dick Francis books contain the phrase now and then, "he's jumping out of his skin," which this guy nearly is. Studying the people and stable and the floating horse, I find my mind wants a context for enjoying the situation a little more fully. Not that the picture itself suffers at all as it is; but for myself continuing to process this curious topic, that's the direction my my thought is beginning to move. Maybe it's that my curiosity is genuinely aroused and wonders about the story surrounding this remarkable scene?

And still processing an earlier post --the tiny mushroom-- I wonder, in making a sequence or short assembled video, if some of the context-furnishing images or in my case clips would find their interest value ramped up, even though those same pics/clips otherwise would seem mundane, by nearness to your scene here? Magic transferring to unremarkable siblings. Hmm.

Amazing. Dick Francis books contain the phrase now and then, "he's jumping out of his skin," which this guy nearly is. Studying the people and stable and the floating horse, I find my mind wants a context for enjoying the situation a little more fully. Not that the picture itself suffers at all as it is; but for myself continuing to process this curious topic, that's the direction my my thought is beginning to move. Maybe it's that my curiosity is genuinely aroused and wonders about the story surrounding this remarkable scene?

 

And still processing an earlier post --the tiny mushroom-- I wonder, in making a sequence or short assembled video, if some of the context-furnishing images or in my case clips would find their interest value ramped up, even though those same pics/clips otherwise would seem mundane, by nearness to your scene here? Magic transferring to unremarkable siblings. Hmm.

That's one of a series of shots using the "burst" mode on my camera. That horse apparently just wasn't in the mood to behave right then. Even when they got him settled down a bit and the jockey was onboard he was still prancing sideways and stuff. I think he finally settled down once they got out on the track for the ride down to the gate.

I need to pit SOMETHING up here by way of example (have to cut 'n paste since my tablet doesn't do quite everything). https://youtu.be/_LwO696EBJg. First self-comment, I am not particularly a horse follower: this is new subject matter. Occasion was first matinee of the Snake River Stampede recently. Second, IMO the announcer distracts mightily from the real emotion here. The "moment" to pay attention to, begins about two thirds through this brief sequence. The lighting was perfect, the motion of mare and foal carried a freight of drama. It brings back the poser that I've been processing more as this string has developed, what story line might this thing inform? Whose tale do the scared-but-secure colt and his mom help to tell? Maybe there is no real good solution, but it's the sort of thing that keeps boredom at a distance for me and just maybe for my viewers.