Thoughts On Recording Experiences
One of my YouTube followers recommended that I invest in a tripod so that I could record videos of me riding my motorcycle past a scenic background. It would be make my videos more cinematic and professional. He also recommended a drone I should buy to take my videos to another level. I guess the pun was unintended. 🙂
While I appreciate the feedback, I think I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing. And that is record first person view videos using my helmet mounted GoPro while I’m riding and selfie videos using my iPhone’s front facing camera when I stop for breaks. The reason I record footage and edit the videos later is to document my travels for myself. I publish the videos to YouTube because it’s part of my social media presence. Also it’s easy to play the videos in the YouTube app on TV instead of messing with external hard drives and USB sticks. If I’m talking to someone about my travels and want to show them something I search for my video on YouTube and play it for them on my phone. Or I send them a YouTube link if I’m chatting on WhatsApp. YouTube is just so convenient and instant.
In my videos you won’t find me asking people to like my videos or “hit the subscribe button down below”. It’s not that I don’t want a huge bunch of people following me on social media. The narcissist in me would love that. Just that I don’t want the social media thing to interfere with my travel experiences.
For example, I want to experience riding through a scenic valley by gazing to my left and right as I pass through. At a maximum I’m ready to move my left thumb once to press the record button on my GoPro remote and a second time to stop recording. Nothing more than that. I don’t want to search for a good cinematic angle, stop the motorcycle, unpack and set up the tripod, then ride back, turn around, ride past the tripod mounted camera, then turn around to come back for the tripod, pack it and continue the journey. Then do the same thing all over again the next time I find a scenic spot.
Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy watching the gorgeous videos some people make. Specially the drone footage videos. I have a good sense of the amount of work and time that goes into making those professional looking cinematic videos. The reward is a huge fan following which is great. But that’s just not what I’m looking for.
To each his own, I guess.
