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Mike C.

Doug, I've been following your recent heroic transitional struggles with the bemused interest of someone who has no need or desire to follow (as the old joke has it, "I love work: I could watch it all day").

The thing that strikes me about video (and why I have, as yet, no interest in it) is the way that it always foregrounds the "reality value" of its content. The thing most people never learn about still photography is how to see past the subject ("It's a squaredance") to appreciate the expressive 2-D aesthetic of shape, tone, colour and composition -- that's why they get hung up on things like sharpness, "white balance" and the like. Your Flikr set exemplifies the way a skilled, sensitive still photographer can capture a mood, and use a selective process to say "Look, this is what it feels like, it's a warm, pink, blurry, smiley, communal kind of thing".

The video of the same squaredance moves me along in chunks of real time, so that I don't dwell on (or have my attention focussed on) aspects of the scene that might challenge my everyday perception of what is going on ("It's a squaredance; there's a pretty girl; hey, nice shoes") but on the other hand it does give a much more accurate representation of dance moves, body language, context, etc. I'm getting more information about the subject, which my brain trusts (and selects) as if it were reality.

The dilemma is exemplified, for me, by this: there's a moment towards the end of your Tractor Tavern video when a girl is clogging on a raised platform, and her movements are magical -- I want to watch her, nothing else. Video reveals the movement to me, but also takes it away before I'm ready. Still photography would let me gaze as long as I like, but could only ever hint at her movements. Reconciling those two desires (identifying the "good bits"; putting them together in a satisfying and revealing way) may of course simply be what truly excellent video editing is all about... Lots of luck, Doug, we're watching your progress with interest!

Doug Plummer

Mike, thank you for a thoughtful exegesis of this whole enterprise. It's why I will continue to do both still and video, because each has attributes that are compelling to me. What you said about photography is spot on--a successful photograph is one which engages qualities removed from the context of reality, while still referring back to it. I can engage myself photographically, because some other trigger is at work--oh, nice swirl, great color, interesting juxtaposition--that might just as easily be triggered in some completely different environment. The clip of Skye clogging on stage is magical, and is so because of the flow and movement only video can record, and I can tease the viewer and up the tension of the piece by keeping the clip short and composing it within other elements.

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