From the blog
Story
A friend of mine suggested I do a workshop where I teach others how to shoot nature video or stills. He said people would pay good money for it. My problem with this is that it moves doing what I love even more into the realm of earning money than it already is. I would have to please people because they are paying customers. I already do most of my shooting alone because I don’t think it is fair or fun for the people on a trip with me to sit and study a water drip for an hour. My last video from Zion Narrows, I did just that in a little side canyon called Orderville Canyon. I saw the drip, set down my pack, and filmed it at different angles and waited until the pool around it calmed down and the light was right. I love it when I have all day on a hike to spend hours shooting whatever I want. I love walking away from a place or a view and knowing that I captured it, and having others around usually requires me to do the best I can and move along.
Now, maybe others on the trip would actually enjoy shooting a drip for an hour, but that drip is mine! I don’t want other people stealing my shots. I’m kinda kidding, but not entirely. Truthfully, I film what I film because I want to share it with others, but I think having a bunch of people around would ruin the moment. I’m also out there for my own piece of mind and sometimes to get away from others and be by myself. I really enjoy solitude and spend my entire work life teaching, so teaching on my precious trips feels like never stopping work. Anyone that knows me well knows that I really like to take time off from work and get away, often! 🙂
Also, there is the issue of noise. People make so much noise. Even a friend on a trip, who knows he needs to be silent while I am taping, makes noise that shows up huge in the video. A scrape of pants, a movement of a sleeve, a step, it’s all picked up and makes life harder for the sound edit. When I go places with lots of people, I usually end up stripping the entire soundtrack out and replacing it with some clean sound I taped in another location. It is very hard sometimes to find a place to record good sound. A nearby road, planes overhead, people talking, it’s not fun finding good sound.
I am putting together a photo and video exhibit that I would like to show someday. It’s just a little dream right now and I’m working on my photos and printing them so that someday I can have a gallery show somewhere. I think any serious artist needs to work toward that day when they put their work out there to people and stand in front of it. I also have the hope that someday I will have a gallery where folks can buy my videos and images along with photo books, cards, and calendars. I have a long way to go and a ton to learn before that day comes though, but it’s a cool goal.
Tony