Today, everything is about “media”, the more the better. Also, everything has to be mixed together, so everyone can experience it better.
It will sound “revolutionary” if I don’t subscribe to this concept. Just hear me out...?
I love photography. I am, at times, good at it and get the pictures I imagined even before taking the shot. Most of the time, that doesn’t happen, the results are more like documentary shots than anything else.
Very quiet
A long time ago, I got a small cassette recorder, a little mono thing with a small microphone. I tried to record thunderstorms with it. And I failed miserably. Nevertheless, recording sound has always been one of my favourite occupations. But the technology wasn’t there, and what was there, was out of reach for me.
Potential for overload
For photography, this was a little easier as camera gear is more readily available “for the masses”. Then came the era of video. I got hold of a camera that could record on VHS tape directly. No editing or manipulation was possible. That was great for recording some family vacations, I thought. Except that the whole contraption weighed well over 20 pounds. Carrying that at all times to capture “the moment” was not feasible.
Energising
But hey, I’m dating myself here. Video cameras got better and a lot smaller over time. Yet video editing was not very common. Adobe Premiere was one of the first programs to allow for this, at the expense of loads of expensive hard drive space.
Liminal
Fast forward to today, where we have video cameras in our pockets with rudimentary editing capabilities to boot. YouTube is full of videos created in this manner.
The sensory overload is there too. I can get hooked on watching the “shorts” for hours if I am not careful. Yet something has gone missing in the process. Watching a beautiful photograph in a quiet moment, or listening to music on a pair of headphones is no longer common.
Shocking
When I was a teenager, I made sure I bought the best headphones I could afford. To the dismay of my parents, I could listen to music for hours without acknowledging anyone around me. Mostly my mother, who wanted me to vacuum my room…
Disoriented
So here is something I want to offer on the pair of blogs I have been writing for some time now. The main goal is to separate the senses again into visual and auditory. Just ask yourself when was the last time you stood still in a forest or on an empty beach to listen to your surroundings?
Expecting
When was the last time you just stood in a place to only look around and enjoy the environment? Today, that answer will often be “a long time ago”, simply because our lives have gotten mixed up in the “media” of today. Everything has to be Dolby Atmos, 5.1 or 9.1 audio, super 8k resolution and whatnot.
Early morning loon
Eliminating one or the other from the equation will bring back the attention to the medium we are attuned to. Bringing peace and quiet to the brain. At least for me it does. Just standing in a forest with nothing to listen to but the animals and the wind in the trees will calm my nerves for a week (almost).
Waiting
Standing in a beautiful place and looking for a composition for a photograph is another way to calm the nerves. It’s rare that I create videos that integrate everything.
Waves on the rocks
By eliminating the view from a landscape, we retain the soundscape. The soundscape, with your eyes closed, is capable of bringing out the landscape by itself, although it will be a different for each of us. After listening for a while, one can get lost again in thought and perhaps memories of long forgotten times. Or simply invent a landscape that has nothing to do with the original. By adding video to the sound, I would be directing your mind to what I want you to feel.
Listen closely
By separating the elements, you regain control over your mind and imagination. Something that one will hardly find on platforms like YouTube or any other media outlet today.
Overwhelming
It’s not that I am old fashioned and want to go back to the simple Sound and Vision idea, I want to regain my imagination and my independent thoughts. Not the thoughts imposed by the one creating the media in the first place.
This is a mixed blog, it could have been on my audio blog as well. But hey, I’m not going to post it on both sites 
.
Until next time…