You might have noticed a massive dropoff in my video production. It’s true. And this will, chances are, continue to be true for the foreseeable future. You see, my work life is now my primary life, once again. Thinking back to pre-C19 times, there is no way I would have had time to create a YouTube channel, and these days are more like those days than the days in between.
So, there will be fewer films here.
Frankly, I even had dreams of killing this entire channel and just returning to posting stills and copy on my site. (I might still do this, at least for the short term.) As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m not a YouTuber. I prefer to shoot stills and write. There is a quietness to this way of working that isn’t the same when you add motion and sound to the conversation. Either way, another year is about to pass and a thank you in is order.
Thank you to all those who visited my channel. I appreciate the time and the comments and I hope this year was fruitful when it comes to your photography and life in general. Having said that, you need help with your photography and your editing skills. Seriously, next year I’m not holding back. A few links to chew on.
Comments 16
I’m glad to read or view any content you produce, no matter the interval, Dan. Happy holidays!
Author
Thanks Gerry! Same to you.
Hi,
i was wondering when this would happen. you were just doing to much and never made a secret out of it that this is not how you are. so iam greatfull for every thing here and on the YouTube Channel this is how I found you but you have to do what feels right for you and now that I have found you I might as well read here. just leave the stuff you made on YouTube please iam not yet completely throu all of it 😉
frank
Author
I’m not sure it’s doing too much. I’m selfish. Just want to do what feels right and what is meaningful. Life is too short. Glad you are enjoying the process.
Dan I completely understand but I don’t have to like it!! I enjoy your content and opinions so much. Your honesty and unique style of presentation is so refreshing compared to the other “creators” if you can call them that. We will still take what we can get though. My Milnor fix is always appreciated!!
Author
Oh, I’ll be around and hopefully in a way that is even more meaningful, useful.
Dan, does this mean the video subscription project you spoke about with Jorge is not happening?
Author
Oh no, that is going forward. Very much looking forward to it. I know the platform I will use.
I’ve stepped away from photography for (what feels like) so long now that I feel like I don’t remember how to use my camera or processing software. But these little videos and your blog always make me say “maybe today”. Always love seeing the stills of prints on the table and copies of books and zines. In this video, it was great to see the people dancing and celebrating. Sounds like a brutal schedule coming up, but an exciting one.
Yeah, every now and then I get so frustrated with photography that I give it a break for a while. Next time the bug bites me, I get a few minutes of panic when I open Photoshop and realise that I seem to have forgotten how to use it. Fortunately, this blank stare at the screen eventually ends when I pull myself together again and it eventually, bit by bit, drifts back – if almost as muscle memory rather than mental recovery. Don’t use it, lose it.
I don’t think that happens when one is young; it sure does when one is not!
As I may have mentioned here already, my current problem with my right eye means that I can’t use a proper camera, and have been using the iPhone instead. After a few weeks of this, I feel that although my initial feeling about it was decidedly a negative one, the ease and permanent presence of the thing has made photography more an everyday thing than at any time since I retired. This could be either good or bad; I expect I’ll find that out once my next date with the eye specialist has happened and, I hope, the eye is back to normal.
In a way, the iPhone is part of the same discipline I’d accepted as my amateur norm: go out with the lens on the camera that day, and live with it. Only thing is, my iPhone 13 Mini only offers two lenses, both wides. I wasn’t normally an aficionado of wides, preferring the longer end of the “normal” portrait lenses, though yeah, horses for courses of course. Those courses, when you do it just for fun, depend entirely on you. That’s nice, if not very stretching. I have also noticed that focal length aside, everything I do now seems to have adopted the very same look – the same “colour” of black/white (I no longer have any interest whatsoever in colour pictures, and automatically convert everything to black and white as quickly as I can, feeling that until I do so, I don’t even have an image with which to start playing); whether this “look” is a reflection of my taste at the moment, or of the iPhone files, is something else for which I have no certain answer.
Dan, in my view, has been burning his candle at both ends ever since I found this channel; that is okay, but I think I now notice a severe charring at the middle of it. You know how that always works out. But then, I’m often wrong. 😉
Author
I’m just getting started. People have been saying I’ve been burning the candle, and it’s true, but as long as I’m burning the right candle it’s well worth the effort. I simply want to work on things with meaning. Harder than it seems.
Author
Man, just start. Go out in the yard and look around. The post side isn’t interesting. Just figure the fastest, most efficient path and spend your time in the field.
Looking forward to hearing more about the events in 2024 as dates are fixed. As per your comment in the video, the next Foto Wien will be in 2025.
The snow looks great. A couple of weeks ago we had 50cm (around 19 inches) in 24hrs here in Munich, which caused a bit of unexpected chaos with transport. It’s great to be out in that weather if you don’t have to travel!
Author
Yes, bummed about no PW until 2025. Will have to head straight to Germany I guess…..
I would far rather read a blog than watch a youtube video, honestly. I think… I enjoy short but impactful videos more – and then I see yours and am reminded that longer videos full of good info are still hard to pass by!
Static media like a blog though is always my preference for the most part.
Perhaps it’s is just the balance between each that needs to shift l little for you.
Author
Same for me, but my work duties make the filming a requirement. So..you suffer with me.