Passions

After a somewhat marathon session of editing, I am home, feeling contented, relaxed and confident.

I had forgotten how much I love editing video. It’s been a few years since I’ve edited anything of substance. And it’s definitely a new experience for me using this new-fangled computer equipment.

You see, I’m an old timer. Back in my TV days, I used to edit tape to tape, in a bare bones environment. I was lucky if I had a video switcher somewhere in the middle to do a dissolve or a fade to black. I only had 2 channels of audio at the best of times. It was pretty hard work, but I am still very proud of the stuff I created back then. Even won some awards doing it. Someday I will digitize all those old Betacam SP tapes sitting on my bookshelf and show it off.

Digital video is a relatively new concept to me. Funny, when most people I know now who do video have only ever done it in the digital sphere. What I am learning, though, as I start to get used to my Final Cut Express software, is that the basics are still the same.

Back in the day, I was really good at making a 1 camera shoot look like it was shot with 3 cameras. Today, I learned that I haven’t lost my touch. (It’s all in the way you shoot it, by the way). I also used to have a great sense of flow and timing. Again, that has not gone away with my transition to the non-linear editing realm.

I guess that’s what it’s like when you are passionate about something. No matter how long you are away from it, you never really forget it. You can just pick it up, like it was yesterday, and get back in the groove. And, I have to say, I’m pretty damn happy that I’m getting my groove back.

I guess what I’m really trying to say is, when you find that thing you are passionate about, hang onto it. I lost my passion for a time, but I think it was because there were other things I had to learn in order to turn my passion into a successful business. Now that I’ve learned that bit, I’m very much looking forward to living the passion. And I’m definitely looking forward to all the new things I’m going to learn in the process.