Tag: youtube

Sidebar links update

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It came to my attention that the title of my blogroll “What I Read” (just down there on the right) was actually rather inaccurate, given that I wasn’t reading many of the links therein, and hadn’t for some time.

And not just that.

The fact is that I’m reading less and watching more. Call me lazy if you want, but actually for me, there’s just more good content being produced on Youtube than there was before. I’m particularly enjoying learning photography and editing techniques from several experts at the moment, and so I felt that my sidebar needed updating to reflect this change in my reading and viewing habits.

I mean, I could go through the new additions, but given that they’re all right there…

 

Ag, you do the maths.

That lifestyle though…

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Apparently, it’s been a year since photographer/videographer Peter McKinnon became Youtuber Peter McKinnon. And while there are many individuals with far higher follower counts on that platform, it seems to me (at least as one of his 1.8 million followers) that there surely can’t be too many of them who are as genuine, down to earth and just plain “nice” as he is.

Here’s his short review of his first year on Youtube:

I love the shoes motif. The excitement of new beginnings, but safely protecting the old memories.

So here’s to another year of adventure, exploration, seeing the world, staying grounded, staying motivated, staying happy…

I’ve always been good at staying grounded, (mostly) motivated and (generally) happy. It’s the other bits I need to work on.

But if the rewards of these attributes are basically jetting around the world and taking amazing photos, I’m willing give it a go.

Peter says…

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In his latest video, photographer, cinematographer, vlogger and all round nice chap Peter McKinnon (Youtube, IG) tells us why he chose to drop his popular Two Minute Tuesday tutorial uploads:

I created two minute Tuesday because I just wanted a video that I could make every week that was only two minutes and I could make it about anything I wanted: an easy way to make content, a consistent way to get content.

But then:

It started to become this assumed… that every Tuesday it would be something that you would learn… something that I would teach. And the problem with that is that there’s a limit to everything that I know!
I ran out of ideas. There’s times when I’m sitting there thinking to myself “what could I possibly teach today? I feel like I’ve done everything. I’ve got nothing else to give.”

What follows is an introspective session debating whether it is better to make content merely to stick to a schedule or whether the real aim is to make what you want, when you want to. And for Peter, that was an easy question to answer, and that’s why he dropped Two Minute Tuesday.

That clearly makes sense for someone in Peter’s position. It’s his job; it’s how he makes his living, and so yes, he has to produce high quality results in order to maintain standards and so keep earning money from it.

I have to do the same thing with my job. And I do.

But this blog isn’t my job.  And besides which, there’s more to this whole “forced” versus “organic” content debate – a very important more:

You want to put out a constant stream of content so that your fans, people that enjoy consuming that content get used to coming back every week and seeing the stuff that you’re making.

Yep – audience expectancy. Because there will always be some percentage of the people who watch your videos or read your posts who want a continual stream of content, rather than one or two (perceived) high quality pieces here or there. And because I can’t ever guarantee time, inclination, effort or ability to be able to produce those one or two gems every week (or whenever), you get saddled with “something” every day.

Sorry for you.

But I have to say, people keep coming back. They might come back and be regularly disappointed, but they do keep coming back. (I’m not sure what sort of people these are when I look at it this way, but still…)

And guess what? Peter has given up on giving up of his Two Minute Tuesdays and is now following my lead:

I’ve decided to start doing them again; it’s just not going to be tutorials every week. It could be pretty random… It could be just anything and everything.

Which, considering he’s never even seen it, sums up this blog pretty well.

Welcome back, Two Minute Tuesday. We’ve missed you.

In my bag

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Well, not actually my bag, but that of Canadian photographer, vlogger and all-round nice guy Peter McKinnon. Last night, he released a video just ahead of a(nother) trip abroad showing us exactly what equipment he was taking with him:

I have to say that I’m a bit jealous. He has a lot of lovely kit. But then, he is a professional photographer. I’m not. I’m a professional microbiologist and yes, I have some great lab equipment. But there are times (many of them) when I’d much rather be travelling all over the world with my drone and some very, very expensive cameras and lenses than poking TB in the laboratory.

And, while we’re on this envy trip, can I just point out Peter’s irritatingly amazing abilities in photo and video editing? “Hashtag goals”.

I was busy writing this post when suddenly, as if to complete the trifecta of covetousness, he casually dropped this tweet this morning:

[6000 mutters several (or more) swear words under his breath]

Given his talent and that place, we’re likely to get some very special images in the near future. Something I’m really looking forward to.

It’s still sickening though.

Flights

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For some reason, it seems that I like planes. Not in a Let’s Go And Stand At The Airport For Days On End And Note Down Their Registration Numbers way, but definitely in a Since We’re At The Airport Let’s Go And Have A Coffee Somewhere We Can See The Runway From way. It’s an interest, not an obsession.

Of course, the only obsessive bit of this interest is the Airbus A380. Scarce in Cape Town thanks to our thin taxiways, but always a pleasure to get on in Dubai and go to Manchester. This (mild) obsession resulted in me following British Airways A380 pilot Dave Wallsworth on twitter. I mentioned this to you on here almost two years ago.

Captain Dave  has now released a pair of YouTube videos showing exactly how an A380 takes off and lands. Yes, it’s a bit nerdy, in that it’s 10 minutes (each time) of real time footage, and it seems that aside from a few short words and actions, the crew don’t actually seem to do very much*, but it’s also annotated so that each thing that they do do is explained clearly.
If you have some spare time (and who doesn’t in early January?), it’s worth a watch:

And then, should you so wish, there’s the landing to look at as well.
WARNING: You will end up in Johannesburg at the end of this particular video.

One thing I did notice in both videos is that there’s an awful lot of looking out of the windows, presumably for other planes. I’m not sure if I find this comforting or not. Sure, a final check left before heading onto the runway seems like a pretty good idea, but should it really be necessary? I suppose that it takes minimal effort and it could make a huge difference, but I do wonder if it ever has. A bit like me looking left when turning onto the dual carriageway this morning, so as not to hit the utter twat of a cyclist going the wrong way. (An incident that was apparently entirely my fault with only a few months until the Cycle Tour, obvs.)

Having flown on these beasts several (or more) times, albeit never on a BA one or into Joburg, it’s really interesting to see what happens up front when we’re sitting in the back having our headphones and blankets collected and trying to find where our shoes have disappeared to.

 

* almost certainly because they’ve done an awful lot of things previously to make sure that they actually don’t have to do very much during this ten minutes.