This will most likely be the last thing I post about Antarctica. I have an upcoming series for Blurb, but I’m not sure how many of you follow Blurb’s YouTube channel. This will most likely be one of the last things I post on YouTube. I will make one additional film about my plans, but the combination of my upcoming schedule and workload, and my realization that YouTube isn’t a place I want to be, means I am moving on. Or moving back depending on how you look at it.
Antarctica was a life-changing trip, as it is for many of the folks who are fortunate enough to go.
It was a surprising trip that forced me to procrastinate for the first time in recent memory. Procrastination is an odd thing and not something I like experiencing. However, it made me come to conclusions and take steps to remedy certain aspects of my life. I’m nearing three hundred different publications in the past thirteen years, but I still get nervous when I hit “print.” I am looking forward to receiving this notebook, and also looking forward to taking my time and using the book to explore artistic and visual experiments. I am also looking forward to having this book when I travel, using it to expand my mind and skill set.
Comments 17
I hope we, the followers of your work and advises, will get you through your blogs, if not through YouTube. Just know, you have unknowingly maybe served as a mentor for many of us in our life and photographic/creative journey
Author
Thanks for those kind words. Glad I’m doing something that resonates.
Wow that was ….. wow. I know you started youtube to learn how to make films. Mission accomplished. If you just wanted to learn it for the learning sake, you can stop now. Thanks
I will miss them but iam looking forward of what is to come
All the best
Frank
What a edit iam still paralysed from the flow of this video
Author
Thank you. This was a fun one to make. And being able to visit this place was truly a fortunate experience.
Slow mo? B/W? Dramatic sound track? — Gosh, I sincerely hope your stills work does A more justice!
Author
Not sure what this means but thank you.
I understand that you gotta do you, but I’ll miss your motivational YouTube videos. Hopefully, we’ll see you more here. Godspeed Daniel.
Author
This is my base. There will also be a newsletter addition, and I’ll still make films but only occasionally.
I hope your decision (semi, I hope, and just a lingering sliver of the art, not act, of procrastination) to abandon this outlet is just an attack of indigestion, and nothing more serious. Your space remains the only one left worth visiting since the death, just a year ago, of Tim, the sweet guy behind Leicaphilia. (The site still stands, along with access to the wealth of photos and literature; you just can’t reply to anything anymore.) If you quit, then it’s over: the Internet returns to the hands of the brain-dead, the camera reviewers (some excellent, some not) and those wanting to get rich quick on the selling of my freely-given spare time.
As you didn’t ask, here’s an opinion: you have simply reached overload. Nobody I know can juggle as many different objects at the same time. Were they all balls, it would be easier, but you have complicated the task by trying to suspend in the air a rainbow of objects of different kinds; that’s a lot more difficult.
I know I’m a voice in the wilderness on this one, but if you want to lighten the overall load, my advice would be to start by abandoning the concept of shooting colour and black/white on different cameras. Frankly, unless you are shooting Joseph’s coat of many colours for Vogue, and haven’t the use of a roll of white Colorama, forget it: just make the friggin’ shot! You can decide how it looks best later on. Trying to settle that bit first is nothing more than puritanical self-harm, and might just mean you end up with zilch because of an unnecessary moral stance. It belongs in the film era, where it mattered a great deal. That’s gone; pretending it hasn’t is self-deception.
Dan, you pick one of the coldest, most inhospitable places on Earth, and then feel a bit surprised when the experience has effects. The very thought of going there feels, to me, like unnatural punishment for something I probably didn’t do. The fact that it is expensive, difficult to reach, in no way raises its desirability quotient for me. Clearly, different strokes for different folks.
I’m not sure if this is relevant here or not: as I age, I notice that my attitude to things is changing. When I was young (I was never middle-aged: I moved, in my head, from young to old overnight), I placed a lot of value on experiences of things, things such as foreign trips etc. but with age, those concepts have been radically altered: I see resources spent on temporal jollies as far less worthwhile than the same resources being spent on tangible goods of lasting value. I like things to last. Equally, I feel reluctant to buy anything that I know I don’t actually need. I suppose that if I were rich, the one thing I would try never to do again is step into my kitchen to make a meal. I would eat out again almost every day just as I used to do pre-Covid. Unfortunately, Covid and self-catering forced me to realise just how much additional money I was giving away every week… that was one mother of a wake-up call!
I hope your partnered venture with the famous lady works out well.
Author
I’m not quitting. I’m just quitting YouTube. For the most part. This is my base, and will get a few minor tweaks and a newsletter service. Films will still come but only on the rare occasion when I have something to say. Antarctica was incredible. The most unique environment I’ve ever encountered. Like being the Amazon. Those are the two. We are trying to find a way back. It’s hard to explain until you are there.
Well that was one heck of a swan song if indeed this was your last film. As the others have said, without these films, the world will be a little less for me. Thanks for all the inspiration, advice and humor over the last few years. Hope to catch you in NYC!
Author
I’ll be here on Shifter. Just pulling back from YouTube, which isn’t a place I want to spend time. I will still do films but occasionally when I have something to say.
Hi Dan,
I think video and stills as you shared here from your Anthartica journey can’t no longer be marked as you do often as lo-fi photography from someone who’s just a beginner in this matter. It’s hi-fi on the highest level. Except for the slight wobble I saw here and there ( no pun intended, you explained it, mastering the same gear and subject everyday again and again is key), I enjoyed looking at this film as a kid discovering a lovely new book. These pictures are wonderful to consume and leaves me behind with the thought: these magical creatures you captured in your lens are luckily unaware what a mess we made of the rest of the world and what is still ahead of them. As for YT: it isn’t the unique visual source for us, contrarary to what big G wants us to believe. We don’t need it. It’s just fun. It’s the books( digital or analog) we need. If they disappear we’re done and dead. Thank you and we’ll meet again on Shifter for sure.
Regards,
Reiner
The problem with having only books, or other printed matter, is that those are essentially one-way streets.
The Internet allows us, if the sites desire, to take part in whatever’s going down: there can be immediate two-way conversation. That is valuable for anyone who likes to feel alive, and believes they have something to contribute to something that interests them. YouTube (?) is a great resource, even if not always used by the brightest and best. I don’t have such an outlet, but if I did, it would be disappointing if nobody could respond.
Author
The problem is, I see people talking about the internet in this way, but then I see how it’s actually being used, at least most of the time, and I see something very different. Also, I never said “only books.” Books are essential, for me anyway, the internet is a secondary resource.
Author
Most of the time, I see people wasting huge amounts of time online…
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