Tag: videography

Re-framing the Shot

So, a little known fact about me is that I work part time as a wedding videographer. My position is a second shooter to the lead videographer. It is a newly acquired skill that I am still learning. One of the characteristics of filming a wedding is the adaptability to change. Schedules rarely stick with their preplanned time line. All the vendors know this and try to accommodate the wedding party. It is their day after all. We just have to adjust to the situation and changes to create the most enjoyable moments for the couples and their guests.

For photographers and videographers, we all know that we must work in all conditions to get the perfect shot. Whether it is a small chapel with barely enough room to navigate the side aisles or in the blazing sun, freezing cold, or downpours. There is only one opportunity to capture an important day in the lives of the clients. It has to be right.

One step I take with every wedding is stopping to frame the shot. While I use a moving video and photographers take still pictures, the concept is the same; the people and objects must be in a certain part of the frame to look right. In video production the screen actually displays “thirds”, lines which help to keep the objects in the right part of the frame. For ceremonies, cameras are placed on tripods and set up and framed before the couple walks down the aisle.We double check everything as we wait for the groom first and then the bride to walk down the aisle. And then the music begins and we start rolling the video.

That’s when we can either validate our work in setting up the cameras, or when we can find that we are in fact not framed right. And we must react and reframe the shot. We can tilt the cameras’ angle either up or down, or pan left or right to make sure we capture the people in the frame.

No matter how well we plan the camera angles, there usually needs to be an adjustment. The framing does not always fall perfectly into place. And then there are the people who stand in front of the cameras. Not on purpose, but without realizing it, they have ruined our view of the bride and groom. Not intentionally, but never the less, we must adjust the camera and reframe the shot.

Recently, I was filming a wedding ceremony outdoors near a rock wall. My camera was all set. Perfect. The music started. The bride was walking down the aisle. I was set to capture the groom’s reaction as he saw his bride for the first time in her wedding dress. Everything was set. And then. A photographer stepped right in front of my camera. I had to reframe the shot and scramble to pick up my tripod and camera and lift it over the rock wall, all the while rolling. It was frustrating to be sure, but thankfully I got the shot. I have never had to carefully lift the gear and move it that much while filming, but it was important to not miss anything. Like I mentioned before, I have to get the shot.

This has reminded me about life. I get all my ducks in a row- that is everything ready and planned out, and there is always something to disrupt my plans. Just like the wedding guests or photographers who unintentionally block my view, in life the same can be true. And there are not do overs.

We find that we have to constantly adapt and change to life. Plans do not flow as expected. We have to deal with others and their schedules. Not everything in life will be the way we would like it to be. We have to step back at times and reframe out perspectives. Sometimes we literally have to take a step back and move from our position- whether actually a physical location, or an opinion, and see a different view.

Other times we must change our thinking. We must stop thinking the negative thoughts and choose to think about the positive. Sometimes we need to change our attitudes from negative to positive to reframe our thinking. Our minds will go in whatever direction we allow them. But we have the ability to stop and pick up thoughts and move them out of the negative. If we want to improve our thinking and attitudes we need to keep them in the frame. And in focus.

If you are finding yourself needing a reframing of your thoughts or attitudes lately; here is a great verse from the apostle Paul: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV).

If you take each part of the verse and stop to think about something that fits the description, it will change your perspective. I have tried it before and found that it works for me.

What was something true about today? What was something noble- that is something good someone did for you?, What was something that was right? What was something that happened that was good today? Did someone help you? Was it thoughtful and unexpected? Did you notice anything that was so selfless that it amazed you? Is there someone you can give thanks to? Can you thank God that you are alive today?

Think of these as guidelines on your perspective. They will keep your thoughts in frame and from going south. Life happens and we can choose how to react to it by choosing our thoughts. Keep them in the right framing. God Bless, Nancy

Focus

So, I need to ask you a question. Are you, like me, having trouble focusing on life? I mean there are so many distractions out there, that at times I just find it hard to keep the main thing the main thing. Since this post is all about dealing with change and moving forward in life, I think it is important to take a look, no pun intended, at our focus these days. I have been trying to keep pressing on, working from home, attending online classes and adjusting to a different way of doing things,but, honestly, I can’t focus.

I know the stuff I should be doing, but I have gotten pretty bored of all the shoulds and wanna do all the cant’s. Like going to eat out, and by out I do not mean outside in our car, while we drive back to our house after picking up through the drive up window. I mean at a real restaurant, sitting down at a table. Or what about going to the beach? Yup, the beaches are open, But……. You can’t actually go to them unless you happen to live at the beach. I secretly suspect that the beach house homeowners wish they could come to my neighborhood, because they are bored with going to the beach all the time. Well, maybe they aren’t. But I’m guessing they are having trouble with focus too.

So, how do we get back our focus? I asked myself this question quite a bit this week and searched for answer. The answer I found was this; it is not the should’s and the oughto’s I need to focus on and get back on track with doing life, but it is the who. No, not the world health organization, but the WHO: God.

With everything that is happening around us, it is easy to lose our focus on God. We start to look at our problems and they get bigger and bigger in our field of vision, crowding out our focus on God. Let me give you an example to think about:

I’ve mentioned before that my sons are photographers/ videographers and I have learned quite a bunch about the technical side of the industry. You see, their professional equipment has specific guides for the focus of a shot. Whatever lines up within the box will be in focus, whatever is outside will be blurry. when you look through the viewfinder the whole scene is before you, but you can choose to only place one object within the yellow box, with the background completely blurred. Or you might focus on the background with the closest object to you blurred. The scene is the same, but the object of focus changes, as you decide to change it.

I realized whenever I am feeling overwhelmed or uneasy, it is when I have changed my view finder to focus on the problems right now, and take my focus off of God. When I stop and catch myself feeling anxious, I stop and get back into my focus of Jesus. Practically, it looks like this, stop, pray, pick up my Bible and read a passage, close it, then meditate on what I just read.

Hebrews 12: 2 tells us what we should be doing during the difficult times; “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  We have a race to run in this life. A race of faith that isn’t always easy, but let’s keep our focus on Jesus, and not the distractions along the way, which are only temporary. God Bless- Nancy

 

Real (estate)

It was the perfect time of day. The day time sky had not quite given in to the blackness and darkness of the night sky, but was holding on for just a bit to its reflection of blue. It was a soft blue, almost purple, but you could tell it had been a brilliant blue in the brightness of daytime. The sun had set and was casting a loving glow upon the wispy clouds. The clouds were not big and puffy, but just small and wispy, like the contrails of a jet. They as well seemed to be trying to hold on to the last bit of day as they shown in a soft pink color. Some call this time the golden hour.

The sky view was blocked slightly by the house. But the house itself did not seem dwarfed by the sky as it was larger and grander than most. Someone had turned the lights on inside already anticipating the coming nightfall. In fact, each room had the glow of a soft yellow light and because the curtains had not yet been closed, you could see a hint of the room inside. Each window was symmetrical with the large door in the center. I had studied some architecture in college so I knew this would fall into the category of Georgian style. It looked so amazing at this perfect time of night. Almost magical and surreal. So perfect. Almost unbelievable.

And it was. You see it was a real estate listing I was staring at on my phone this morning. No, I’m not looking for a house, it just was one of those social media pop ups, probably because of a word suggestion made earlier by one of my sons. You see both my sons are photographers and videographers who work in real estate. So I am very familiar with how real estate photo shoots are done. When someone is ready to sell their home they typically call an agent to list their home. The agent calls my son and a time slot is given to shoot the home. My son edits the photos to some degree and then they are sent to another editor to finalize the pictures. I have heard from them just how far some home owners want them to edit the photos. Thankfully, my sons will not edit out something that would misrepresent the home- such as a door or window. But gaining in popularity with home sellers is the twilight shot. I have to give my sons quite a bit of credit here as they actually will go out at the golden hour and photograph a home. However some home sellers want an ideal picture with the purplish sky and pink clouds that are not real. The colorization is so intense that it is like a dream sequence, not reality. I’m not sure what people think who actually see the homes in person, but at least it gets them to visit the home.

We all know about air brushed photos of models on magazine covers, but have you ever thought that we too airbrush and edit our lives to look good for others? Let me be even more specific, have you ever thought about the church doing this? If you haven’t then let me assure you it does. I know because I am the church. We all are. If you call yourself a Christian than you are part of the body, the church. And I have been so guilty of this at times. But what if we could just be real with each other and stop showing up on Sunday mornings all edited and air bushed to perfection. Please I am not talking about showing up in our pajamas and without makeup. Makeup is okay as is hair coloring, and tattoos and piercings. Just be yourself and be transparent. Don’t try to hide your struggles and imperfections from each other. If you were perfect than you wouldn’t need God or a Savior.

And for all who read this who think they can’t visit church until their life is all cleaned up and edited, please come as you are. Believe me the church is full of many hurting people with problems that are willing to help you tackle yours. I know some church people are really judgemental, I get that and I have fallen for the lie that I have to act and or dress a certain way to be accepted. We all want acceptance and affirmation. But, we can’t really get that completely from people, we will only find that in God. And not in any god or religion, but THE God, who doesn’t ask us to clean up and edit ourselves first to look good on the outside, but the God who came down to earth as a lowly human, felt pain and hurt and rejection by others. He wants the real us so He can heal us. Not in a superficial way that only looks good on the outside, but in a real and personal way. he knows you and your struggles. If you do visit a church this week or seek out a pastor for help and you get the judgemental, air brushed version of church, keep looking, we are not all bad. we are just imperfect so keep looking and visiting until you find the one that welcomes you without the editing.