YouTube
I am totally amazed by YouTube. I don't spend very much time looking at videos but when something on Facebook or Twitter really grabs my attention I'll go and watch. I'm confident that there are wide differences in technique and ability among the videographers but I'm usually focused on the subject of the video itself rather than on technique. It should have been obvious but wasn't that it takes skill to make a video.
Over the last several weeks, in between all the Christmas and New Year's craziness, I've been playing with videos. I took some videos while we were in Spain last summer and I tried uploading those. Wow. The sound quality was horrible and I was moving the camera so much that the video was horribly shaky. OK. Maybe something closer to home where I would have more control. I took a short video of some wonderful sea grass I have planted near the dye studio. The wind was ruffling it and making a wonderful sound. Nope. My video was still ghastly.
Our plan has always been to make videos about spinning and weaving. I've seen some similar ones on YouTube but we thought we could do a better job or at least a more personal job. Besides, there are some things we are pretty good at and we wanted to share.
Now, here are some of the reasons NOT to make videos... you have to hold your hands very steady or figure out how to use a tripod. You have to understand that you will have to talk and the recorder will record what you say and it will not sound like you to your ears when you play it back. You have to figure out how to sound as confident as you feel about whatever you are describing. I could go on and on. I hate being up in front of people and being up in front of a camera sounds like the same thing to me. Actually, I'm a pretty good teacher, at least as far as Peggy and many of the people I've taught say but getting over the horrible stage fright may take some time.
Today I played with one last video. It's not me talking or teaching. I'm just holding the camera and watching my new linen towels flap in the wind. It's a beginning. We can only go up from here.