Not actually my girlfriend
I received an email this morning from my girlfriend with the subject: “This morning…” Here is the text of the email:
I was so out of it that I took the sugar that I was going to put into my coffee, I opened it then opened the garbage can and promptly poured the entire packet in. I think that a day off is needed.
I wonder if people in the Middle Ages did things like feed their kids the cow food by accident or whether this is an effect of all of our iPods, DVRs and smartphones.
On July 14th, my girlfriend and I boarded a plane to Dublin, Ireland. One of her best friends, a lovely Irish girl named Emma, was getting married in Wexford, in the south of Ireland, on the 18th to a great guy named Garret. We planned to spend a few days in Dublin and then head down south for the ceremony and party.
I decided to use the trip as a little experiment in travel documentation. While my girlfriend would document our travels (okay, okay, our visits to Irish pubs) with her very nice digital camera, I would only bring along a Flip Video camera. She would take nice, well composed, well lit photos of people, places and things. I would capture short videos of action or moving panoramas of vistas that were too difficult to capture in one frame. I did my best to keep the videos short (under 20 seconds when possible). I also took certain videos for certain people based on jokes or stories we’ve shared.
Now that we’ve returned home, I’m uploading all of the videos to YouTube and she’s putting her photos up on Picassa. I plan on sending the respective links to our family and friends to see how people react and which medium they like better for vicariously experiencing our travels. Once I get feedback, I will post again here with the results along with sample photos and videos.
My suspicion is that as long as a particular person’s broadband connection and computer are fast enough they will get a kick out of the video and will really enjoy seeing us in action traveling. I think that this type of recording and sharing will become more common as the tools get better and people learn that videos that don’t tell stories but merely show something need to be very very very short. I know this is happening now. But perhaps one day, a majority of travelers will leave their still cameras at home.
Two years ago, I worked on the triple Webby-Award winning series Hometown Baghdad. I spent an inordinate amount of time working on the production, managing the online release including all press and marketing and becoming friends with the Iraqi guys who helped us make the documentary. It was hands down the best experience of my life.
While cleaning up some files on my computer today, I discovered this mp3 of an interview Laurie Meadoff and I did with NPR’s All Things Considered. Give it a listen.
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Note: The mp3 is preceded by 7 seconds of silence.
