Welcome to the Jungle

I look back on these early vlogs and cringe a little, but then I realize I was filming all of them with my GoPro and editing them on iMovie! This one is of the Memphis Zoo and this was our first time there. Very fun.

Spring Was in The Air

I was still vlogging using only my GoPro for the most part on these early vlogs. That had its advantages. However, I cringe at some of the quality but smile at the memories.

SLAYbour Day 2019 (home video)

Kiddos made this with their uncle last night. Of course I edited…too cute not to share today.

A Day Without Mom

You’ll have to guess if I survived…

This was my second vlog and I went after it while my wife was gone for a few days. You can probably guess it was completely exhausting, but I caught some moments I’ll always look back at and smile.

Watching my boys laugh over picking up a worm before soccer games brought me right back to my childhood days with my brother. Perhaps it will give you a smile today…

Why Vlog?

I wrote previously about my initial foray in to the Vloggosphere. Well, thought I’d share those…

I wrote previously about my initial foray in to the Vloggosphere. Well, thought I’d share those vlogs each Friday…starting from the beginning. Enjoy!

Blogging about Vlogging

Last year about this time I got bit by the vlogger bug. Pretty bad too. As you saw from my previous post, I learned a lot in 40 weeks. That’s solid 9-10 months of vlogging!! It was exhausting and I learned what I was hoping to learn…but in reality, I only learned a tiny piece of what’s out there. BUT it was great.

Now that I’m back up and on my own website, I’ll probably split my time between vlogging, blogging, and doing nothing. One thing I know about myself is that if I feel too obligated to do something, it often loses the sense of fun that keeps my passion running it. However, what I also realized I can do…is blog…about my vlog. It’s all about finding material and content right?

Blogging about Vlogging!

You should always assume that you are not the first one to come up with an idea (unless you can get a .com domain name…like I did here…boom baby!) . And if I am not the first one to write about blogging about vlogging, the PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I would love to read another blogger’s take. There is no better way to get better than to see what else is possible and strive to elevate oneself to a higher bar.

my first vlog ever

My First Vlog

The above video was my first vlog ever. Not bad in my opinion. I pretty much spelled out why I started the vlog, and it actually reflects why I started it back up after a 6-7 month break.

I want to record my family memories
It incentivizes me to do more with my family
I like the creation process
Learning and using the gear and software is fun

I honestly think that the only reason I didn’t start sooner was I didn’t know it was a thing until recently. (yes…I work too much) But I’m glad that I did because it scratches so many itchs for me. I do look back at my videoing techniques and editing faux pas and cringe every now and then…that’s also part of the fun.

Be Careful Though

One of the things that I discovered when I was vlogging regularly, was that I got sucked in to looking at my metrics. Before I knew it, I was checking the YouTube studio app , which is great regardless of my previous obsession, read incessantly about how to keep my video interactions high…all that stuff.

Thus I had to back off…I was enjoying it, but it started eating at me a bit and I would get frustrated if I didn’t “have content” to make videos…when really I just need to take a day or two off. So I took a few months off – ha!

All That to Say…

I’ll be blogging about some of my vlogging.

Topics I’m considering:

technical lessons learned
how I picked my gear
why I picked the gear I did
technique lessons learned
how to get comfortable talking to a camera you’re holding
how to explain to your family what the hell you’re doing and why
and more…

If any of these interest you, let me know and I’ll cover that one first. That way you can say you contributed to the next installation of ‘blogging about vlogging’.

Why Make a Video of A Hammock?

For these moments…

for these moments

What You Can Learn from Making 40 Vlogs in 40 Weeks

7 Lessons that apply to more than just Vlogging

7 Lessons that apply to more than just Vlogging

I learned some valuable lessons about vlogging in 2018. Some I liked and some I didn’t. These lessons range from the art versus science aspects, to the external versus personal – sometimes very personal.

I don’t know what gave me the vlogging bug at the beginning of 2018. It was probably the fact I had started watching more YouTube in general…discovering creators out there that inspired me, or that I wanted better keepsake videos of my kids and family events than 1 random iPhone video with no context, and still perhaps some subliminal YouTube message seeped in to my brain; but I got bit and bit hard.

Below I’m going to share with you 7 lessons I learned from creating and posting 40 vlogs in 40 weeks.

Jason Koertge is one of my favorite, what I call, accidental YouTubers and probably my biggest personal inspiration because of how he vlogs with his kids in tow. Now it’s no accident that he currently has over 41,000 followers because he checks all the recommended YouTube creator boxes:

He has “niched” down
He consistently posts videos
His thumbnails are almost always killer
oh…and his content is really good (I thought he was a professional editor at first)

I call him an accidental YouTuber because I don’t believe he intended to try and build a following on YouTube. He found something he was passionate about (his 4Runner & Overlanding), that people are interested in (like me), then he made a ton of really good videos about that…and he posted them to YouTube.

The YouTube algorithm ate his stuff up and wanted more.

#1 Consistency is Key

There’s a reason that I am putting this as #1. In my opinion this is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do if you want to create a following on YouTube. I even created a video about just that…but if you’re reading this, I would only watch it if you have 4 minutes and 31 seconds to watch me tell you what I just told you here. (and you can learn what my voice sounds like I guess)

All the big time YouTubers do this 1 thing extremely well. At least they used to…Casey Neistat is a more recent exception to this rule…but he has hundreds of videos out there circulating the interwebs and was incredibly consistent for years.

#2 Content Over Gear

This was a tough lesson for me to learn and it wasn’t fully realized until my very last vlog of 2018. Like a lot of people, I went a little crazy, spent a bunch of money, and got nice but not professional gear. More than I ended up needing.

I reveled in all the Amazon price hunting, the box opening, gear organizing, learning, and more. I got a pretty nice lens for my Canon 80D along with some other nice to have/less expensive lenses…and guess what, a year later I have just sold the majority of it.

You’re probably shaking your head right now and telling me that I’m an idiot…even a non-YouTuber could tell you that Scott! Well, this lesson is about how incredibly easy it is to fall right in to the rabbit hole of camera gear and enjoy the wonderland of better images, video with more bokeh, wide angles, better audio…the list goes on.

Why did it take so long to learn this lesson? Why wasn’t this realized on vlogs 1-39? First, I saw a Casey Neistat video where he said that for a long time, almost 50% of the content for his vlogs were filmed with his iPhone. Second, on vlog 40 my expensive lens was acting weird and I used my “cheap” lens. Vlog 40 turned out to be my favorite video I created, got some gorgeous shots, and the resulting video almost made me cry when I finished it. (don’t worry…sentimentality is in the eye of the beholder…me)

Somehow, due to this “restriction” to using the less expensive lens made me focus on everything else and the result I will cherish forever.

#3 Story Matters Most

No one will watch your high quality vlog if it’s not interesting.

This is why major Hollywood productions flop. The story line sucks, people can’t identify with the character, no flow, etc. Think about your storyline before you start filming for the day and you’ll be much more likely to have a good end product.

I’ll refer again to Mr. Neistat…who is a legit professional storyteller. Seriously, he’s so good.

#4 Editing is Where the Magic is Made

This was the steepest learning curve for me, but once I got the hang of it, it made all the difference.

Felix Schlater is a vastly under rated YouTuber who actually started as a video editor who came to vlogging. You can see it immediately and has a great series he’s making that covers the process of video making, vlogging etc.

You can overcome (sometimes) the lack of a planned out storyline with good video editing…if you have enough footage to work with. Sometimes this means that your video ends up going in a completely different direction, but you salvaged it.

#5 The Flow is Fun

I really enjoyed making these vlogs. It was challenging but very rewarding. It forced me out of my own comfort zone, prompted me to shoot video when I wouldn’t have previously, and I now have 40 videos of 2018 that I can cherish forever.

#6 I am Not a Full Time YouTuber

2018 was the year of vlogging and YouTube for me.

There is an amazing community of vloggers you can discover out there. I saw some creators start the year with only a couple hundred followers that are now over 50 thousand, some create literal movements, and some that I purely enjoy for enjoyments sake. However, just like all the “How to Write Everyday” posts you find on Medium, the one thing you will figure out by making vlogs every week…is if you enjoy the grind.

I am very satisfied with my vlogging experience and I will still make more. I learned a new skill, made some memories, and get to keep those memories. 40 vlogs with hundreds of hours of video footage, many afternoons and evenings editing video, and getting comfortable talking at a camera in public is not easy. Nor did I expect it to be…and that’s ok.

I tried it and it’s fun, but not my current profession.

#7 If You Decide to Try Something, Give It Your Best

It doesn’t matter if it’s vlogging, blogging, exercising, or eating healthier for a new year, new you. Give it your best shot…don’t hold back…and you will learn more than you ever imagined.

Take another look at this list…but this time, in your mind, replace the terms video, gear, or YouTube with whatever project or new practice you have taken up.