My 30 Days Of Great

Back in February I took an online course through Creative Live with the oh-so-great Hailey Bartholomew from You Can't Be Serious and The AMAZING Sue Bryce. I was so excited for this course because I have been wanting to capture video for YEARS- wanting to give my clients something extra special for them to remember a part in their lives. I am actually probably - one would say- addicted to capture video clips. I secretly have a stash of them... not really knowing what to do with them lol..

Anywho... I took this course and at the end they announced a challenge for all us students. To video something each day for 30 days- something you are greatful for and make a video montage under 2 minutes to share with the world.

So with a hop, skip, jump and a twirl, I began shooting. I shot big and little things that made me happy. Things like coffee steam on a cold morning, a moist yummy chocolate muffin on a tiny plate and a tiny spoon - seriously tiny things make giggle. I got a lot of video of my littles... well because I love them and well because they were the ones that were around me the most.

The day came where I wanted to work on my grand video project.. only to find out that SOMEHOW I lost my video clips. I think I actually cried at that moment... and I can't really confirm or deny, but I think there was a little chocolate binge in there as well. Everything that I had worked hard on.. was gone :( How could I do this?! Being a professional photographer I tell others to make sure they back up their stuff all the time.. and I do it myself for clients.. so WHY would I not do this myself?! UGH! I thought that there was no way to actually make the contest deadline and I just threw my hands up and had a little pitty party for myself.

3 days before the contest closed I got a new surge of enthusiasm and I kicked my butt into gear and decided to have a go at the video with what I had and what I could capture in one day. I let myself have fun and told myself that even if I do not make the deadline, what is important is to 1. finish the damn video and 2. this would be something my kids would enjoy hopefully forever!

I found a song by one of my fave folk children singers- Frances England and had a go at what I had. By day 2 I was stressing out because I had 4 hours to finish and nothing was looking right. Once again, I had a pity party as I tortured myself by watching all the other great (seriously great) videos that were being posted online. Feeling like a failure, I closed my laptop and gave myself a mental tongue lashing.

To my surprise... I found out that I still had a WHOLE day to finish the video.. so once again I climbed aboard this emotional train I built and kicked butt to get it finished. That day had a bunch of little problems which included the program crashing and then me not being able to view it. Holy Boogers.. the only one that can fix it was hubby and he was working... LATE.

One hour till closing.. Finally he got the program working and I was cursing at the internet at this moment on how slow it was going. I sat on the facebook board announcing my troubles and begging for an extension. Knowing how silly that sounded.. why would they give me an extension??? But they were wonderful and kept telling me not to worry. HAHAHAHahahahaha how funny... no worries.. that is all I seemed to have done. Finally 30 minutes past the deadline, my video was published and posted. It for sure was no academy award video, but to me it was perfection. It was my life- under 2 minutes. Yes, it would be GREAT to be one of their top 5 videos, but there were some really amazing videos. I am just happy I did not fully give up and trash it. As crazy and stressful I made myself for this video... I would for surely do it all again! In fact, I can't wait for the next video challenge!

So here is my 30 days of Great. Go ahead and take a peek and tell me what you think :)