Dangling in the air, sat inside a cable cart crossing the river Thames. It’s windy and the cabin is rocking from side to side. I’m usually okay with heights, apart from the weird faces I pull whilst sitting in a plane that’s taking off.
On this occasion, as the cart rocks from side-to-side on a single cable, I’m left reminded of this facial expression and do my best to conceal it. Luckily the people sat opposite are on a FaceTime call (public video calls in London are a thing now, apparently).
Since late 2009 I’ve been using a Canon 600D as my main camera. I’m by no means a professional photographer and I’m not trying to be. Photography is fun. I’m the kind of person who needs a focus when going out for walks or going on holiday. Photography gives me that focus I need.
This week I’ve been creating and uploading 4K video. I say video… I, like many other people don’t yet own a device capable of recording 4K video so that is a little misleading. No, what I’m actually creating are photo slideshows in 4K.
A decent DSLR can take images with enough megapixels to cover the 3840×2160 dimensions found in this new Ultra-High Definition video format. Unfortunately, Aperture for Mac has very poor support for 4K video exports so I’ve resorted to Final Cut Pro instead. My poor MacBook Pro loses about 60GB of space every time I create a 2-3 minute video in 4K. When exporting, the fans go into overdrive and my work-horse laptop suddenly finds out what hard work really is.
Last weekend I went to Verulamium Park in St. Albans. It’s a nice place to go to, even at the weekends – there’s loads of people around, but because it is so big there is so much space. It was also a good opportunity to take some photos. For late September, it was a hot day which meant lots of ducks!
It’s probably one of those things that is often neglected in the cut and thrust of modern life. Keeping track of one’s thoughts and reflecting daily experiences are no longer part of the modern perception of a ‘diary’. The diary has become a planner, a schedule, a stressful to-do list of a busy life.
Matt Keil 