April 2010 – Page 2 – Journeys of a Hybrid

When I was a young woman, newly married, my mother decided to have a psychic come to her house one evening and hold individual sessions with all of her family members. My mother was searching for something at the time, which I didn’t know then but I do know now – but that’s a story for another time.

There were two things that I remember from that “psychic reading”. One was that he told me that in a past life I had been an Inca and that I had fallen off a cliff and had broken my hip. The second thing he told me was that I was going to be shooting video.

As for the Inca past life comment – I recently had to consult a chiropractor after a night of dancing at a fundraiser had left my right hip inflamed, sending shooting pains down my sciatic nerve. When the chiropractor asked me what I did to cause this, I told him about the dancing, but not the Inca part – that was probably best left unsaid.

As far as the video prediction, he had a crystal ball into my future, but at the time I thought – video? Are you kidding? I equated video with soap operas and really bad late night commercials. I was a young still photographer just getting a name in the magazine world and starting to make some money in the corporate sector. I couldn’t have been less interested in video at that time.

Fast forward to now. I’ve been shooting video with traditional video tools for over ten years. I give seminars to still photographers who may be thinking of getting into video and I have just made a big investment in both money and mental power and have embraced the HD DSLR tools for an upcoming project I am working on Opening Our Eyes.

I’m not the only still photographer thinking of video these days – it seems like everybody is. As print platforms give way to electronic ones like the iPad that debuted this past weekend, the way we communicate is rapidly changing and along with that there is a huge demand for video. On the April 12th cover of Time Magazine is a portrait of Steve Jobs and inside a review of the iPad entitled “Do We Need the iPad?” The writer Lev Grossman wraps up the article nicely:

“If I have a beef with the iPad, it’s that while it’s a lovely device for consuming content, it doesn’t do much to facilitate its creation. The computer is the greatest all-purpose creativity tool since the pen. It put a music studio, a movie studio, a darkroom and a publishing house on everybody’s desk. The iPad shifts the emphasis from creating content to merely absorbing and manipulating it. It mutes you, turns you back into a passive consumer of other people’s masterpieces. In that sense, it’s a step backward. Not much of a fairy-tale ending. Except for the people who are selling content. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1976932-2,00.html#ixzz0k3oIUDqY

In Time’s editor’s column “Ushering In a New Era”, Managing Editor Richard Stengel talks about making the magazine available on electronic devices like the iPad and Time will soon be delivering it’s entire contents to paying customers as a self contained application that can be downloaded to the iPad. Sports Illustrated is ready to go electronic as well.

If this doesn’t send a signal to still photographers the need to diversify and embrace video – what will? With print moving to electronic delivery – the demand for video will increase. I sit on the National Board of ASMP and we recognize this changing paradigm. In fact that is exactly how I came to be involved with the Board of ASMP. I was asked to run for the Board because of my video experience. It’s been a year since I’ve been on the board and in that time I have set up a motion/video committee with the intention of gathering and sharing information about video production. So far, through the efforts of the committee an online resource for video was developed and has been uploaded to the ASMP website.

I continue to learn as technology drives us forward and I continue to network and collaborate with people. One person that I’ve learned a lot from is Richard Harrington of Rhed Pixel. Richard is one of those guys that never seem to sleep. He runs a successful business, teaches, writes and shares a lot of information on various forums like Creative Cow and on his own blog. I’ve also worked with Richard’s team of motion graphics animators on an industrial that I produced last year. I continue to learn from Richard who has just written a book called “From Still to Motion” that I can’t wait to get my hands on. It’s all about working with the hybrid DSLR cameras.

Looks like that psychic was right – at least about the video. Not sure about the past life Inca thing but it makes you wonder doesn’t it? Was it destiny? Or was it just that I was a restless soul at the time wanting to learn more about how I could tell a story and with what tools. Not really sure – I’m just glad that I followed those instincts.

I have been completely buried with details, the last few weeks – everything from applying for visas, to booking flights within particular destinations to securing lodging for 98 nights – and doing it all on a shoestring budget. It’s been challenging, frustrating and necessary in order to get Opening Our Eyes off the ground.

I recently stumbled upon some interesting connections and communities while doing research for our travel needs. My daughter Erin had sent me a couple of links to insightful articles on Matador Network. I started exploring this network and website and was really impressed not only with the information that I found here but also by the “community” that had been built. Yesterday I had a great phone conversation with Matador’s CEO, Ross Borden and we discussed some very interesting ideas about how we could collaborate and share – so stay tuned and if you love travel and life – become a member of the Matador Network.

When I started my backpacking adventures over 35 years ago, I didn’t have an online community like the Matador Network – didn’t even have the Internet as we know it, or cell phones, Fedex or any other quick way to facilitate communication – I was pretty much cut off and out there – alone. Yet, I did have a “community” – meeting and talking with other travelers along the way – sharing tips and info, along with cautionary advice. There was definitely a community and it was in real time, face to face but unpredictable.

I started thinking about then and now when it comes to traveling and there is one thing that resonates with me as much today as it did then and that is making sure that I allow serendipity to happen when I travel. Serendipity – the things that happen that aren’t planned – the things that can only happen when you open yourself up to the unknown – when you are willing to take a chance – see what’s out there – follow your instincts and see where they take you.

So my daughter and I have built in “time” for our trip – time to linger and really absorb where we are – to get outside of ourselves and our own little “unit” and become part of where we are. My experience and wisdom from traveling all these years have taught me to plan ahead – but my instincts tell me to leave a little up to chance – and more importantly to be open to possibilities and opportunities. It’s the things that you never would have thought to plan – that are sometimes the most rewarding of all. But you have to open your eyes, take notice and cross into the unknown. That’s hard to do when you are traveling with other people because it’s easy to stay within the comfort of your own “tribe”. That’s one reason why I’ve traveled solo most of my life. But this time around my daughter and I will venture into the unknown, with a lot of trust, gut instincts, thrills and trepidations and see where it takes us – but also knowing that we have each other’s back. And that’s the best of both worlds.