The Evolution of eXtremecoast
Some people are purists, content to experience their adventures on our coastal waters without taking any pictures or videos at all. Personally, I sometimes find pleasure in leaving my experiences in the purest form, content to soak in everything with my senses. Few things in life bring a more authentic kind of satisfaction than simply focusing fully on the beauty and grandeur of our surroundings.
All that said, most of us do take advantage of our opportunities to document our activities in the great outdoors. Over the last several decades, the technologies that aid us in this endeavor have become more and more sophisticated. Today's optimized cameras and digital video recording devices have evolved in many of the same ways as our other equipment and tackle.
Some of the things we experience on the open ocean, along the beachfront, or in the bays just beg to be recorded and shared with others. Of course, the reasons we have for wanting to record events permanently vary depending on circumstances. At times, we want to do so for purely personal reasons, so we can later relive moments with better clarity. At other times, our egos come into play, and, of course, some of us can use recordings of events for educational purposes and to make money.
Over the past twenty-five years or so, I've developed a deep appreciation for both photography and videography. In recent years, partially because of the onset of the monumental DSLR era, I've been focusing almost exclusively on photography. I started shooting digital photography three decades ago, during the dawn of true digital technology, and I've become proficient with these amazing devices. During my long journey as a videographer and photographer, I've amassed and stored over a quarter of a million photo and video files on multiple hard drives. Some of these clips and images have never been published for others to see.
The act of shooting and editing videos still occupies a special place in my heart. During the early 2000s, when I had my Extreme Coast website, I was about equally dedicated to shooting videos and taking photographs. But once the technology made transferring videos to a computer easy so they could be edited and polished, I fell in love with the moving pictures. I enjoyed posting them on sites like YouTube, where I've had an active channel for many years.
At the beginning of this digital time frame, editing and sharing video clips on my own site also became rewarding for me. One of my cherished editing tricks is syncing video clips with favorite music. I made three major videos for the website—one in 2002, one in 2005, and the big Evolution video, which I produced in 2010. All these thrill-injected videos were enhanced with some of my favorite music, mainly unique instrumental or electronic tunes I appreciated and integrated into my footage.
As years passed, the videos I archived on the YouTube platform came under scrutiny. I was informed of copyright violations related to the use of music in some of them. Consequently, I deleted most of the videos I'd stored there for years, mostly for purely private purposes. I also became more interested in delving into the professional aspects of taking digital photographs, and I've spent the last several years exploring those avenues.
More recently, I've discovered I can create my own original, inspirational soundtracks to sync with my video clips and post them with full rights for use. This idea has breathed new life into my interest in videography. I've started putting effort into rebuilding my YouTube channel library. Lately, I've posted various kinds of videos that showcase gear like drones and reel accessories or provide instructions about making surf weights and other useful gear.
My latest video is a real gem; it includes a compilation of over twenty epic minutes of rarely seen underwater footage of nearshore snapper, amberjack, and grouper, all obtained via kayak. I've had these clips in raw form for a number of years, and I really enjoyed compiling them into a finished movie. I have many new video projects in the works, including scouring my huge collection of clips and using some of them to make new, polished products.
My renewed fascination with video surely won't drive me to wear a GoPro on my head all the time. But in situations I feel are better suited for documentation in video, I'll go back to taking more of the moving pictures. In the near future, I'll be posting some more interesting and useful finished videos on my YouTube channel—eXtremecoast. Those who like what they see there can sign up and subscribe to receive more content moving forward, as I rediscover my love for the medium.