I spent some time thinking what skill set I need to enhance this year to become a better rounded visual storyteller and picked film making and editing as the target for my New Year resolution.
My first instinct is to photograph, despite my camera being capable of shooting video and me getting a fancy monopod and completing a couple of online Premiere Pro editing courses. Somehow photography feels more natural and more rewarding. I can take and edit hundreds of still images in the same amount of time spent on filming and editing a two minute clip.
Meanwhile, embarrassingly enough, I have some video footage from Kingholm Quay marina sitting untouched on my hard drive since last summer!
So my New Year resolution is to confront my avoidance/resistance patterns preventing me to explore a new facet of visual storytelling and make filming an effortless and enjoyable lifestyle activity.
In addition to my street photography walks I want diversify my Dumfries Diaries project and schedule a few urban mini sessions focusing on video. The idea is to push myself out my comfort zone and to develop a consistent workflow I can actually stick to. As an accountability method I’ll share the results on this blog. After all, 80% of all New Year resolutions are usually abandoned…
To ease into the whole process, John and I decided to start filming closer to home – at Crichton Memorial Church we pass almost every day. John, my knight in shining armour, graciously volunteered to carry the gear.
Crichton Memorial Church is a beautiful example of Victorian architecture in High Gothic revival style, designed by a renowned Scottish architect Arthur George Sydney Mitchell (1856-1930) and built using local red sandstone from Locharbriggs.
Recently Dumfries Historic Buidings Trust publicly launched their stonecarving project, dedicated to helping people to discover and the amazing craft of stonemasons and stonecarvers in our area. There was a flood of social media posts with images of very handsome carvings on public office buildings and above the shop entrances in Dumfries.
Naturally these post made us more appreciative and aware of the charming stone sculptures of Crichton Memorial Church by William Vickers. In the video we pay a bit of homage to the richly carved arched entrance to the church, ornate niche canopies and magnificent gargoyles on the towers that makes this church look similar to a mini cathedral.
