Move

This video is 1 of 3 short films created by Rick Mereki, Tim White and Andrew Lees. Commissioned by STA Travel Australia the three of them document their 6 week journey around the world. The video is compiled of a series of short video clips of continual movement between locations. To me it works as an example of how photography or in this case videography can be done and shared anywhere. These platforms allow the user to document their experiences and share it as a story to with the world. It demonstrates to me how photography is so easily accessible and is practically possible wherever you are. Through these quick shots you soon gather a sense of their journey and build up a sense of their experiences. Although intentionally depicting the different locations they visited, it is reflective of how photographs of ourselves are taken so frequently that they capture a sense of our general living (drinks at the pub, nights in with friends...) not primarily specific events (birthdays, graduation...), where in fact we are documenting our own living.

1 Second Everyday

I came across this video on Vimeo, where the videographer documents a year of his life (age 30), having time off from work. As you can probably guess by the title he does this by recording a second of his life everyday, revealing small snippets as to his social identity and behaviour. Here you can start to see regularities such as cycling, drinking with friends and working on his laptop. This concept of snap video clips links in with mine of a 'story' through photography, as through the collation of images or in this instance clips, you can start to visualise a film of seemingly unattached and segmented events.

What becomes difficult in this video through the eyes of the cameraman, is what second he should film everyday? Does he randomly choose that period of time, does he wait for a more significant event to take place in his day, or film a selection of seconds and opt for what he feels is the best one that day. As with my previous test video, I would like to aim to develop it further and over a longer period of time using a regular intervals to photograph. Taking the decision away from me of what to film in order to create a more honest documentation.

His video is also made possible through the accessibility of technology, where the shots are predominately filmed on his iPhone, with a selection of other clips captured with a small range of digital cameras (Canon 7D to GoPro HD). In some cases utilising iPhone apps to create desired effects for certain shots. What makes this video more exciting is that he plans to continue this project for the rest of his life.

Film slides

When shopping in Brighton I came across a box with a huge pile of film slides where i had to buy a selection. I found them strangely enticing where they don't work as a picture in their own right, such as to hang on the wall, but are still very desirable physical objects. This highlighted to me the attraction to analogue photography and how the object, even the film, creates a far greater sense of a precious possession than pixels on screen ever will. Personally i find these slides more attractive than actual prints of the photograph, seeming that much more fragile and original. Especially being someone else's film it feels like a sneaky insight into their life. 

Documenting

I set myself the task of photography myself wherever i was every 10 minutes, to great a portrait sequence of myself with changing backgrounds to represent how digital cameras are making photography more accessible. This test was made using just my iPhone camera, over a period of 4 hours. The idea was to show that you can start to get an idea as to a person's social identity by seeing what they're doing and where they are, portraying how digital pictures can be taken in such large quantities and so quickly that they are leading more and more towards moving image and film. Through document myself at regular intervals and the different locations I'm situated in you start to build up a image of the type of person I am, especially if captured over a long period of time.

This was just a quick test so i did forget to smile when i took the pictures!

Social Identity

As mentioned in the previous post photographs nowadays are so popular and uploaded online so frequently that they almost become a story or disjointed film depicting a person's events. This is what I aimed to explore through my first test video. Here I have collected all my tagged Facebook photos and ordered in sequence, revealing how others can easily pass judgement towards my social identity. However, one clear factor I discovered when reviewing the pictures is they all largely revolve around time spent with friends or nights out. Photographs of me and my family barely appear showing how the two are separate through the social site, showing how the site or certainly in my case predominately revolves around use with friends.