"Minutes in Nature" video project

Homework #9 (4) Our next class session will focus on video. As we have spoken in class, there are 2 ways of how you can approach this. The first: Find a video online that you would like to use as your template. Choose a sequence or the entire video and redo it. If you feel comfortable go ahead and create the video. Or just present your idea in next class. The second possibility: Create a video or idea of a video which consists of a single 1 minute shot that you don't have to edit or change. If you feel comfortable with the technology involved, go ahead and create the video. Or just present your idea in our next class.

When beginning my exploration of video I was eager, I came up with two ideas rather quickly, to record the sink as I was washing brushes, and to record my family's thanksgiving table. Both these ideas came to me through thinking conceptually, my first concept revolved around the idea of capturing the natural transformation and interaction of various colors and water. The thanksgiving dinner concept revolved around capturing the spirit of my family during the holiday through their candid actions and interactions with food. Being that I do not have experience with video, I encountered several issues that I did not anticipate. The most significant of these challenges was the idea that a camera when recording for long periods of time has a short battery life and a limited memory card, and the fact that it is hard to manipulate a scenario to appear the way you envisioned, especially with film.

After struggling with this project I began to think about the videos we had seen in class. I was very inspired by Laia's film of the caution tape blowing in the wind. Being that I believe natural occurrences are more aesthetically enticing than those planned or constructed, I decided nature would be my subject, and similar to Laia I focused on how the wind effected my subject. Through this exploration I captured a multitude of "minutes in nature" on my camera and iPhone and chose to post several of my favorites.

I was struggling to keep my hand steady while recording, I do not happen to have a tripod. As a solution to this problem I placed my iPhone on the ground and recorded these two videos. The end results happened to be my favorites, because they captured the fleeting clouds and my curios dog sniffing the phone.