Photo Vlog

My annual favourite-photos blog post usually gets compiled over the course of the year. By December, I pretty much know which photos are going in the collection and the post, which I begin writing as soon as I have a couple of decent pictures, is all but already put together.

I haven't shot any photos so far this year, but with my upcoming trip to Costa Rica, I'm pretty sure I'll have one or two to share.

As 2023 drew to a close, I considered taking my annual, final post and making it into a YouTube video. Though my channel mostly is about kayaking adventures and travel, I do have a few photo projects that I've shared, and I thought my best photos would be a great addition.

I have to admit, I hate seeing myself in videos. I'm awkward, can't keep my eyes on the camera lens, and my voice loses its natural flow. But I stood in front of my camera (my smartphone, actually) with two video lights on me and a coloured light added to the background, and essentially read my blog post.

The end result is a video that's under six minutes long that showcases the photos that I shared in my final blog post of December.

Have a look.

After I recorded my A roll, I really didn't like how I looked and sounded, so a couple of days later, I tried to re-record myself: this time, sounding more natural and speaking less from a script and more from an off-the-cuff summary of the key descriptions of each photo.

I struggled with that one, doing many takes, and some technical glitches made me abandon that attempt.

DW was in the next room, as I re-recorded my video, and she suggested that we have a conversation and discuss the photos on a one-on-one critique. She hadn't seen most of the photos so she'd have a fresh perspective and we'd be able to talk about what she saw, and she'd ask me what made the photo one of my faves.

I liked that idea and we did a dry run, but we realized we'd have to set something up where we could have some space to talk, with maybe a large monitor that showed each picture. With our house in disarray, because of our renovations, we really didn't have the space.

But we're going to do it at the end of this year, for my favourite photos of 2024. If that works out well, I might make it an annual video to close out the year.

You'll have to stay tuned for that one.

If you liked this video, please give it the ol' Thumbs Up and share it. Also consider subscribing to my channel. I'm sure to have an upcoming video or two of our travels in Costa Rica, plus more kayaking adventures once the weather lets us head out again.

Happy Friday!