Super Moon 2013 Norfolk, MA

First of all I'd like to say welcome to the surge of new email subscribers!  Thanks for joining me on my YouTube web publishing journey.  I'm really starting to discover the power of social media and how it can boost ones career.  Feel free to reach out to me with any audio, video, tech or social media related questions.  I'm here to help and share what I have learned.  Good luck to everyone who has entered the Million View Giveaway.  Currently I'm at about 925,000 views and 1,000,000 is right around the corner.

About once every 14 full moon cycles we get to observe a phenomenon called a perigee moon.  Often called a super moon, this bigger and brighter than usual lunar spectacle is a great excuse for professional and amateur photographers to test their gear.  After having some of my 2012 Super Moon footage make its way into an ABC World News broadcast I decided to go out again this year and point the lens of my Canon SX30is to the night sky.  This time around I added a little perspective by capturing more than just the moon alone.  I included some high speed video of downtown Norfolk, Massachusetts.

Lake Archer 4th of July Time Lapse

Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July this year.  What could be better than sitting on a deck, overlooking a lake, watching the sun go down, with a warm summer breeze gently whispering through the trees?  This is how I got to spend the 4th of July last year with some awesome people.

My camera didn't capture the firework competition between various neighbors around the lake trying to out-do one another, but it was quite enjoyable to watch.  My friend Chris and I participated in the festivities by rigging up 36 bottle rockets to go off at the same time.  It was a fun little experiment with electrical tape and canon fuses, and it actually worked!  (Don't try this at home kids).

If you're interested in experimenting with time lapse photography on a budget I would recommend the Canon Hack Development Kit.  If you have a Canon PowerShot camera there is some free software you can download called CHDK.  This will allow you to run an intervalometer (aka time lapse) script.  All you have to do is dial in your settings and let the camera do it's thing.

After the pictures have been captured you can use iMovie or Movie Maker to turn your still picture sequence into a time lapse video.  Time lapse photography is a fun little hobby and captures the scenery and memories in an interesting way.

Big News For BigNate84

How many people on YouTube can say their username and video made it to national news?  Well I guess there's that dad who's video made the news after he put a few rounds into his daughters laptop as a form of punishment.  And there's always a steady stream of freak car accident videos coming out of Russia that make the news.  The story of my video making national news is a little less dramatic than the examples above, but hopefully it speaks to my creativity, production values and YouTube search ranking.

Last week I was pleasantly surprised to get a message from ABC producer Susan Schwartz.  At first glance I thought this was somebody playing a joke, or some sort of spam.  But it turned out to be a legitimate request to use experimental video footage I had done of the 2012 Supermoon.  Susan offered to give my YouTube channel an on screen credit.  Needless to say I graciously granted her permission to use a few seconds of my video (2.15 seconds to be exact, but who's counting?) on the June 22, 2013 ABC World News national broadcast.

As someone who has been working diligently to create quality content on YouTube this was a nice form of encouragement and recognition, and of course bragging rights.  In addition to how-to videos I have uploaded a few time lapse, stop motion and high speed videos over the years.  They don't get many consistent views but I have always had fun creating time lapse style videos.  As a video creator, time lapse photography and high speed video is a great skill to have in your tool belt.  It can help spice up a boring sequence and communicate to the viewer in an interesting way.  I usually try to include some form of time lapse or high speed sequence in all of my how-to videos but I never imagined it would make the news!  This made my day.

Garage Demolition Time Lapse

Super Moon Time Lapse 2012

I have always been interested in photography and videography as a hobby.  My point & shoot Canon PowerShot SX30is has been the perfect tool for me to explore time lapse photography and astrophotography on a budget.  Typically these genres of photography require a substancial investment in professional and specialized equipment.

The SX30is is a perfect tool for beginners to explore this type of photography.  With the help of a little firmware hack called CHDK you can run time lapse scripts on the $500 camera and increase exposure times well beyond the factory default settings among many other extra features that become available with CHDK.

Of course there is no substitute for a professional DSLR with an improved image sensor, but the cost to enter that hobby with real professional gear is much higher when you factor in the lenses, intervalometer devices, remote shutters and so on.  This video is my first attempt at taking video footage of the moon.  Although the quality is not superb, a few seconds of this video made an ABC World News segment on the supermoon and I was able to do it on the cheep.

Christmas Card

Stop Motion Wintery Mix

Time Lapse Snowy Commute

Time Lapse Digging Out