Weekend Rhode trip
It’s October, and I’m already missing the warmer weather.
If you remember, I wrote back in June (yikes, time really seems to slip between my fingers) that I was dabbling with video editing, even having created two videos for work by that point.
Work got a little busy since then so I haven’t been able to dabble with video work as much as I’d like, but I was able to squeeze a personal project out, with footage from a rhode trip to Rhode Island (pun fully intended).
I used my little blue Nikon PowerShot Elph 115 IS (her name’s Nikita), which really isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s super portable. It had enough battery to last me an entire day of capturing random footage.
When I wasn’t taking video footage, I was also taking photos with my trusty Canon T3i. It was really wonderful to have, but with only one battery pack I had to limit its use a bit. Despite the slight limitation, I’m satisfied with the footage and the photos I took on that trip. And I’m also unbelievably grateful that we live in a time with digital photography. Imagine having to spend all that money to develop what could be sub-par photos? Film photography is a whole other beast that I’ll leave to hardcore fans to master.
Of course, I didn’t just collect photos and video footage just for the sake of it. Before we went on this road trip I was determined to get at least one video made up as well as a photo album for my friends to remember the trip by.The video I put together is more of a montage than the vlog style that I originally wanted, but I think it came out okay for a first real try. It records our trip from when we first leave our hotel in Warwick, RI; then us heading into Newport, RI, for the mansion tours; then stopping at the Mystic Aquarium; then heading into Mystic, CT; and finally at a random rest stop heading home.
As far as the photos I took are concerned, I did some light editing on some of them but other than the ones I shared with my friends, I haven’t done too much with them.
Except for this photo. It’s not the perfect photo, but after some retouching it looks particularly moody. I think I did all right!
For the rest of the images I took on our trip, I might upload a few of them to one of those public domain images sites like Pixabay, Barn Images, or Unsplash—simply because those websites helped me out a lot over the years with non-cheesy stock photos, and I think it’s time I returned the favor. Give love and you shall receive, yeah?
Obviously, I’m not an expert in photography or videography. But what I love about these art forms is that, with technology, they’re becoming more readily accessible forms of expression. You don’t have to own a super expensive DSLR to take great photos or a super expensive video camera to tell a good story.
Just think about what’s popular on social media—memes, Vines (wow, I've really dated myself here), all these consumable media capture our attention because they tell a story. It doesn’t need to be perfectly filmed or photographed, just well-told.
P.S. A huge thank you to Anna, Soohyun, and Julia (the squad) for being patient with me when I’d double-back to take video footage or when I’d sneakily take photos of them. Our Rhode Trip is something I certainly won’t forget.
Main image by Julentto Photography.