flickr

2016 in Photos and Video

Posted by Dean Shareski on in 365, flickr, Personal, travel, Video 2 Comments

Well, here it is, the moment you’ve been waiting for.

2017 will be my 10th year of taking a photo a day. It’s partly an act of mindfulness, partly documentation and by now pretty much a habit. While many people have on occasion, taken on this task, few have done it for as long and I don’t know many who take the photos and package them in any way. This year’s edition was about a 4-hour effort. I don’t do a whole lot of editing anymore, simply drop them in and do a bit of tweaking as needed, find some decent soundtracks and publish. At some point, I’ll force all my family members to watch it and we’ll be on to 2017. I actually go back every so often and look at past years. Taking 20 minutes or so to remember all the mostly great things that happened is a nice way to reflect and share a journey and you’ll certainly see what things are important to me.

While I’m certainly privileged to travel and see some amazing places, keep in mind I was doing this before my current life of travel. New and beautiful places are great but just as meaningful are the everyday moments at home, with family and friends. Some of you reading this will see yourselves in the video. I can’t imagine anyone watching all 20 minutes but here it is just in case. For all of you that I crossed paths with in 2016, thank you. You helped make it a wonderful year for me.

2016 in Photos and Video from shareski on Vimeo.

Still want more? Here are all the videos from previous years. While I can’t imagine anyone besides me wanting to watch them, consider it proof.

2008
2009
2010 (aka, the year I tried something crazy)
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Those Goofy DENny Awards Videos

Posted by Dean Shareski on in digital stories, Discovery, flickr 1 Comment

I’ve been a longtime fan of this quote. It’s this premise that gives me permission to try new things. It’s with this quote that I took on the task of promoting the DENny Awards. The DENnys are Discovery Education’s way of recognizing and acknowledge a variety of community members and the great work they’re doing. It’s not an official award so and there’s no voting or lobbying for winners but just a fun way for our team to say thank you to great teachers and leaders in education.

My teammates asked if I could make some videos to get folks attention about the event. Earlier last year I found several apps that allowed you to clone yourself in a photo. I wondered if something like that existed for video. I found Split Lens Pro 2. With it you could place your iPhone or iPad in a stationary position, set the timer and record yourself up to 4 times using a variety of framing options.

It took me a few tries to get all the settings right since I wanted to put them on instagram which meant keeping the videos to under 15 seconds. I recorded the clone part, reversed it in an app called Rotate and Flip. Normally this wouldn’t matter but many times there was text involved. I also created an bumper video for the ending using Keynote. Keynote allows exporting to video which I often take advantage of. I bring both these videos into iMovie on my phone and simply stitch them together and trim them to 15 seconds.

You can view all 13 videos on flickr.

While I fully acknowledge the silliness and goofiness of the videos, they do challenge and force me to be creative. The ability to create rather quickly in this short format means failure is cheap and fast. I failed lots. John Spencer often talks about the constraints that lead to increased creativity. With all the great choices and options of tools, constraints become important in order to focus and actually get stuff done.

Adding split lens to you and your students toolkit is yet another way to pursue creativity and storytelling. I’m sure you and your students can find ways to make more fascinating and interesting than I’ve done with the DENny Award videos. I’m no longer surprised when “stupid” fuels my creative juices. I’m not sure that we always appreciate or understand that.

2014 Year in Photos/Videos

Posted by Dean Shareski on in 365, digitalstorytelling, flickr, Personal, Video 5 Comments

It’s just another story caught up
In another photograph I found.
And it seems like another person lived that life A great many years ago from now,

When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time.

Welcome to year 7 of my annual year in photos montage. In case you missed it, here are the previous renditions:

2008
2009
2010 (aka, the year I tried something crazy)
2011
2012
2013

And while there are probably too many jumping,dog, golf and family/friend dinner photos, it’s my life and story. In some ways, very ordinary as the lyrics above state and yet I fully understand how fortunate and blessed I am to be able to travel and live the life I do. I continue to capture moments everyday as an act of mindfulness and gratitude. I have no plans to stop anytime soon.

2014 year in photos from shareski on Vimeo.

From a technical perspective, I used imovie to put it together. It’s pretty easy to put all my photos/videos as I tag them with 36514 and next year with 36515. By default, they come in with the Ken Burns effect. I’ve seen a few slideshows using this effect and often times people just leave the pan and zoom that it defaults to. I think this is a mistake in that the pan and zoom effect is intended to point to and reveal specific aspects of the photo. Keeping that in mind, I try to be intentional with every image. Sometimes using the full image and other times subtly moving in or out or across. It is by no means a masterpiece but simply being intentional makes it more watchable. I watch a few frames at a time to determine if a transition is needed or if I can just use a straight cut. In addition I do try occasionally to syncopate the music to the images/videos as well. Typically I’ve used creative commons music but this year I decided to use copyright music. The reason is that Youtube has made clear how they will handle it. In other words, it’s not illegal. They will let you know exactly how they will handle every song. You simply acknowledge the content ID match and you’ll know which countries may not play it or if you can monetize.

The “slideshow” montage is one of the most common media productions you’ll see at funerals, weddings and for many school projects. In large part because it’s relatively simply to create. Making them compelling and interesting is more difficult. I would never recommend creating something for the public that is over 3-4 minutes. Mine is 27 minutes long but it’s mostly for me, a bit for my family and if you’re able to watch it all, that’s a bonus. Having spent upwards of 12 hours putting it together, it’s a labour of love and all those images remind me of what I have. Happy 2015 to you all.

Update: Unbeknownst to me, youtube stripped the audio so the embed is now from vimeo.

Citation: https://buyshares.co.uk/online-casinos/

2013 The Year in Photos

Posted by Dean Shareski on in 365, flickr, fun, Personal, travel 3 Comments

It’s that time again. Time for me to gather all the photos of the day I took and compile them in a video for you to watch. Actually, I have no expectation that you would watch but I do enjoy putting this together for my own sake and mostly for my family and since many of you are in it and I’ve shared many of these moments online, I think it’s fine to share the final compilation. I’ve been taking a photo a day now since 2008. Every since I saw D’Arcy Norman do the same in 2007, I was inspired to give it a shot. I can truly say it’s one of the best things I do. I’ve spoke often of the mindfulness of the habit. While I’m fortunate to be able to go to lots of new places I love looking for subtle and interesting things that others might miss. I still see, looking back that I repeat myself often and while I’d love to think that each day offers something new, it’s also true that routine can be beautiful and worthy of capture. Trying to make the ordinary, extraordinary is a creative challenge. I also have strong concerns with those that argue that all this photo taking is making us miss out on the moment. Phooey. I get what they’re saying but looking back at my photos I recall the moment, the days and the stories they conjure. They become shared stories for our family and those I share my life with. I don’t feel regret when taking photos at events. I capture photos mostly for me but yes, also to share. This end of the year summary helps to connect the dots.

places
Mapped Photos

Here are my past efforts: 2008: No theme, just take a photo a day. 2009: One word titles 2010: The crazy attempt at attaching a song title to every photo and the ensuing video compilation. But go watch, even the first part to see what I mean. 2011: Adding occasional video to the mix 2012: Same as 2011 After the first couple of years I thought about quitting. I’m glad I didn’t and don’t see myself ever stopping. . I’ll admit I didn’t take as much time in editing this video as I’ve done in the past. The images tell the story of my year and that’s really enough. So if you have 18 minutes here you are, If not, thanks for stopping by and reading.  I’d encourage you if you’re not to try something like this. If you’ do something similar, do you do anything with them or just enjoy taking and sharing the daily/regular photos?

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before

Posted by Dean Shareski on in Blogs, flickr, twitter 4 Comments

Cameron EspositoIt’s becoming increasing more and more difficult to reflect and share any idea that is truly original. This is one of those reasons educators in particular feel uncomfortable with sharing. They figure someone’s already said it, thought it or shared it so why should I? The reality is this true. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll come up with a uniquely original idea or insight or even a resource. But if you’re seeking to be original you may be missing the point.

A number of years back Will Richardson wrote about his flickr conundrum where he wondered why would he take a photo of some landmark when there were perhaps thousands of better photos of the same image freely available on flickr?

So the question is, why take pictures of places that you visit that probably aren’t going to be as good as the photos that others have already taken that are already available for you to use in your own albums, slide shows, whatever? I mean, unless you want to organize the wife and kids in front of the spot just to prove you’ve been there, what’s the point?

Interesting question but the answer to me is simple:  I didn’t take those other pictures. In addition, my picture is filled with a story and context that those other pictures don’t have. And that’s why we share and reflect because although on the surface our stories, insights and ideas may not be new, they come with our personal context and perspectives and it’s those aspects of sharing that to me are most interesting and meaningful. It’s the reason that your “research” matters.

Yes, I do get tired of seeing the same link posted over and over. In my mind I say “seen it” but what I never get tired of seeing is people’s individual responses  and thoughts on those same things. Perhaps not just via twitter where the constraints don’t make for very meaningful reflections but in spaces where you can add your perspective and share your ideas and context. That’s the real value. I never pretend to come up with an idea that no one has considered. That’s why I do my best to credit others by linking or sourcing.

Maybe originality is overrated. But your thinking isn’t.

Photo Credit: TheeErin via Compfight cc