This videos awesome. Especially as, in reality it's just shots of people, faces, landscapes, etc. These are things we see everyday, all around us, and yet with a little work (french setting, rural beauty) and talent it's absolutely stunning.
Digital Media serves as an excellent platform for 'observing the ordinary' because it's so powerful. It can easily turn something ordinary, like a face or landscape, into something much much more through video, editing, color, composition (not in the rule of thirds sense), etc. DM makes it so easy also. Film can obviously do these things as well, but DM streamlines the process, opening it to many many more people, providing a voice to the otherwise voiceless. Because of it's accessibility, millions of videos have been created that otherwise wouldn't have, many of which are very ordinary things. Some are glorified (as seen above), some are purely ordinary- kids playing soccer, jumping on the tramp, etc. Even if a seemingly ordinary video doesn't seem influential or cool to a viewer, it will always mean something much more to the maker. Is there really anything ordinary at all? If you step back and look at the process behind the video, or the story, or the setting, or the experience, nothing will ever be ordinary.
Ode to Solitude & Landscapes & Outdoors
One day last semester I had extra time in my schedule. I could have read a book or studied or eaten food or slept. Instead, I went hiking up to squaw peak with my camera. I hiked alone, taking time to take pictures of a leaf or mushroom or view or stream. What might have been a 3 hour hike ended up being much more like 5 or 6, partially due to my lack of direction and partially due to my photography. The views along the way, were very worth it. By the time I finished I had hiked something like 8 miles and was tired and hungry, but going on this hike has been one of the best experiences I've had here. It was different, it was adventurous, even therapeutic, and I loved it. Do things out of the ordinary.
Those pictures are beautiful! I love that you included the word "solitude" in your photo essay's title, because that's what these pictures portray to me. Sometimes it's fun to be surrounded by lots of people and noise and motion, but sometimes, we all need a little solitude. Solitude is a state of being when you're alone, but not lonely. It's a time for peace and quiet, and a time to process life. I love that you focused on the grand scale of nature, as well as on the tiny details that comprise it, because it's the moments when we stop to look closer that really change who we are.
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