One Second, Two Seconds, Three...

 ...seconds.

©Tanya Decheva, Isolation, 2021

For a while now my journey into video editing is running in full speed. I've started recording a bit more seriously maybe around 2012. But all I did was record videos of places, people, feelings, parties etc. Everything that made sense to be viewed as a moving image I recorded. A few years back my then boyfriend got me a camcorder. I just looooove me some digital zoom - most of the videos I make have some shitty hilarious absurd zoom-ins. 

Watching short experimental and personal films in Vimeo made me think I could do something like that. The sheer experience of feeling and emotion that speaks to others is what got me going. I observe the world around me and try to transfer it into thoughts and atmospheric images. So to make something happen I started learning a software for editing. Well, it's not exactly intended for that, but one of my professors suggested I try it, because it's really intuitive. I would recommend it to anyone that asks - DaVinci Resolve. It's the best damn software that I've tried. You can edit, you can animate and do compositing, work on your color corrections, your sound. And it's easy.

For 6 months I've learned so much and actually am starting to create videos that are not as simple. My first tries were with live photos, that special feature in some smartphones. For me as a photographer, live photos are a great example of digital influence on the medium, not in the technological sense but in a sense of evolution of photography. Live photos represent photography and video at the same time, but they are neither. The camera records seconds before and after you take the photo. The main idea is to choose from these frames if you didn't catch the exact moment. That takes us to a whole new level of the phrase "decisive moment" by Henri Cartier-Bresson. If we look at the video from a live photo as a whole, it's very short, it has no beginning and no end. Most of these videos are like fragments of the world around you - the sound is especially interesting - you catch a phrase or two that have no meaning whatsoever. But I've found that these strange video pieces are something challenging and very inspiring to work with.

The first video montages I made were short stories of my cat's live photos. Then I got into other more challenging themes. I'm still working on most of them. If you would like to see more of what I've made so far you can look up my Vimeo page. 

I've set the blog aside for a long time just because I'm learning so many new things. I'm fascinated with the world that I found in video making. I'll make sure to write more and share any new projects I'm working on. Much love to all of you reading and do try live photos if your device has that feature.