It was my intention to start a Youtube channel in conjunction with my blog and social media… but that’s turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought. As such, I have taken a lot of videos from my trip to Taipei but I am not able to use it at this moment. In short, I’m making some mistakes. It’s inevitable, but it won’t stop me from continuing to actually get my first video up.
I wanted to share my mistakes so far, because I really like it when other people share their mistakes with me. It makes me feel that I am not alone, and it also reminds me that in a world full of AI generated content… there still are actual human beings you can connect with online.
So, my mistakes. First of all, I had something things to learn about what kind of shots I wanted to take. I had planned that my vlog was going to be informative because I don’t really have the technology to show stunning visuals like a lot of other travel vlogs. I thought that this was the only thing I could do, but when I started taking videos during my flight process and after arriving in Taipei… I realised that this approach would be really tiring for me.
I like to be helpful and informative… but I didn’t want this vlog to take away from the richness of my travel experience. Although it was fun to try something different and push my comfort zone a little… it just didn’t feel right for me. Instead, I thought that I would focus on food. I liked this idea much better and started recording my thoughts and taking videos of food being prepared and presented. Taipei seemed like the perfect first place for this… but then I ran into my second problem. Technology.
Look, I’ve never been great with it. I knew that this would be part of the learning curve when I set out to do vlogging and let’s say that I’m in the middle of this learning curve right now. Intuitively, the aesthetic of the shot is really important to me… so I selected the highest possible resolution on my camera and started filming. I didn’t worry too much about the composition or lighting in the shots, as I figured that I’d just learn that as I go. After taking a bunch of “footage” I sat down one evening to edit and put it all together, to play around and see what kind of mood I wanted for my videos. The only thing was… I couldn’t. The resolution was way too high for both my phone and laptop to process. There were a few solutions to this… I could buy a new laptop, or I could lower the resolution of my photos.
Quality is something that has been really important to me, so I didn’t want to compromise on resolution. However, after doing some asking around and researching… I realised that it would be a little out of my budget to buy the technology I needed. I eventually decided that I’d just lower the resolution… but the process takes a long time. After a few days, I had some videos I could sit down and work with. I sat down again one evening… but this time I realised that I hadn’t taken all the shots I needed in order to make the video I wanted. Another roadblock… and I didn’t have the mental capacity to look for another solution.
Besides, all that I had filmed in Taipei had been in high resolution… so I had a lot of videos to compress. It would take too long… I had to simply film in lower resolution from that point on and leave all the footage from Taiwan for another time. Funnily enough, that led me to taking and editing still photos and I rediscovered an old passion of mine. It all works out in the end.
Still, it’s a little frustrating not having a drone or a better camera… but I knew I had to decide that I had all the necessary tools in front of me. It was up to me to figure out how it would work, and well, I’m still figuring it out. I’m still going to get that video up.
But I am actually enjoying the process of getting there because I am not putting on a front… worrying about image is too tiring for me during this period of my life. I want to genuinely open myself up and share with others. I learned from the past that if I put sincerity into what I do, then I will surely have it in return. I think that’s why I am not afraid to share my experience as it’s happening.
We are always learning after all, no matter our age, background or qualifications. I know that the value of real connection only gives to all involved, and never takes away. And quite frankly, I don’t want to miss out on that value simply because I’m worried about the opinions of others.
In saying that, I hope that you found this information helpful and if you’re on a similar journey… I’d be really happy to hear from you!
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