When I was a kid I used to shoot 3-minute rolls of Super8 film. My family often spent weekends camping at Waterville Valley in the NH White Mountains. Although it was about 70 miles we'd stay at a campground in the National Forest. In the autumn of 1973, at the age of 14, I spliced together a whole summer's worth of movies onto a bigger reel. I added commentary and music on a cassette tape. I'd synch 'em up and put on a show. In that decade, I never could've imagined the day we'd have digital tape.Now it is frightfully easy to capture adventures. I only need to plug the Firewire cable into my old Sony HC-40. Instantly, I'm given the option to copy to the drive from inside Ulead's Movie Factory 5. I've tried others, but paid for Movie Factory because it's designed to go through the process the same way I think. It takes a while to get the data on the drive. Then, I simply cut out parts I don't want, select a menu and write to DVD. The results are easy to access once on disc and inherently copyable in that form. This discs are full of colour and sound in a way which still-photography can't match.
This afternoon, I mailed a copy of our vacation in Sri Lanka to Jay's brother. He's working out of the country. It's been a long time since he's seen his wife, daughters, and the construction on a new home. He will love watching the DVD, I'm sure.
I don't know why I'm not creative more often. Doing a project today is a hell of a lot simpler than playing with Super8 film and a cassette!