I'm on my way to San Francisco right now. I will be creating my first vlog on this trip. I want it to be good, but more than that, I just want to get it done and know that I did it. Talking to a camera in front of strangers, yes. Shooting 4x the amount of b-roll I think I'll need, yes. Not knowing exactly what the story is, but just shooting everything and finding the story later, yes. I'm also going to do that whole thing will my camera on full manual mode.
Speaking of manual mode, it's pretty much the most difficult way to use a camera–I have to balance the exposure for every shot, double check white balance, make sure my audio levels are good, and make any creative exposure adjustments I want before taking each shot–I will have all of that in my mind while also trying to line up aesthetically beautiful shots that lines up to tell a compelling and beautiful story.
I'm fully expecting the entire thing to be a colossal failure, but I'll try my best to succeed. The success of this vlog will be in the process and completion of a semi-OK video. If it's better than that, I'll be in love. Hopefully, this will spur on more of these vlogs. I want to shot them partly for entertainment purposes, partly educational, and partly for my kids and grandkids to see me when I was younger. Now that I've started, I kinda wish I had started earlier, like 5-10 years earlier. How cool would that have been?
Never wait to start something good. Damn the torpedos (the naysayers, too) and just do your thing.