Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t believe in accidents. I’m a firm believer of the rule, “everything happens for a reason.” If you go through a breakup, there’s a reason, if you get fired from your job, there’s a reason, if you bump into one of your kindergarten classmates from 40 years ago, there’s a reason…..you get the idea.

Now, these reasons can be obvious or not so obvious. Maybe the less obvious ones you’ll find out the reason it happened later down the road, or maybe it was never meant for you to know; it’s not like any of us hold the complete set of keys to the universe.

I say all of this because a very obvious thing happened to me the other night with my very first shoot. That’s right folks, VERY FIRST SHOOT (insert excited squeal). My mentor, Christine Chen, invited me to shadow her and one of her staff members, whose name is also Kellie (she must be a really cool chick- wink wink), to film an event called, “Conscious Leadership.” Some of you know that I’m currently on my own journey to conscious/ unconscious knowledge. I’m completely intrigued by it all, which is why I was so stoked that this just so happened to be my first shoot. I mean….what are the chances that the speaker opens up with quotes from Gandhi and Buddha, and continues to speak on how meditation and knowing one’s self first is the key to not only a happy fulfilling life but also being a leader who is more in touch with what and who is around you. Pretty amazing talk if I say so myself….and I do say so. 😉

Christine actually let me take a camera around the event and shoot by myself. She of course showed me how to work the camera, but after that she released me out into the wild. I also did a lot of the panning back and forth from shots with the still camera during the speech. I definitely still have some work to do, but all in all I was pretty darn happy with myself seeing as how it was my first time. I thought I was just going to be watching, but I’m fortunate that she let me get in and get my hands dirty. I even went around to the guests after the event and asked questions on if they enjoyed the speech, and so on. The other Kellie was filming and helping me along of course.

All in all, it was an amazing night, and I owe it to Christine and Kellie for letting me get my feet wet with the cameras, and I owe thanks to the higher beings, the universe, God (whatever you wish to call it) by timing everything just right to where this would be my first shoot. I learned a lot, a lot about everything new that I’m discovering in my life. 🙂

Oh….my….word.  Look, I realize that I can be an impatient person at times (this is something I’m working on), but this exporting thing truly tries to push my buttons.  I DESPISE exporting.  It can take days sometimes!  DAYS!  Did you know this?  Of course you did.  I know you feel my pain.  Apparently it’s the worst part for every filmmaker/ editor.  Is there anything more frustrating than being excited about a project, or needing to hurry up and get a project to a client, only to have the exportation process be the culprit that slows you down??

Okay, okay, I can’t blame my turtle speed TOTALLY on the exportation and the uploading (which can be equally as bad as the exporting).  I recognize that as a “newbie” to the editing world, I’m still trying to get my grasp on things, and will be slower than those who have been doing this for a while.  Add a MAC to the equation for the first time in my life after forever using PCs doesn’t really help the speed of things either, but it IS all coming together, slowly but surely.  I do recognize that my speed is increasingly better time after time I sit at my computer to work.  In due time, I’ll be just as good, if not better, than my peers.  I know I have the creativity part down, it’s just learning how to manipulate the equipment needed to put my thoughts into action.  BUT…..it would certainly help if the exporting/ uploading was quicker than what it currently is.

YouTube videos say that it’ll take longer to upload and export videos depending on the size (duh), and also the quality in which you have rendered the material.  All in all, I would rather take the extra time to have quality items than to have hogwash just so it could export and upload faster.  Ya know?  All in a days work I suppose.

Ok, my blog readers.  I’m turning out the lights.  Tomorrow is Monday, so I hope everyone gets some rest and wakes up ready for the week ahead.  🙂  Good night!!