As much as I’d love to sit back in the recliner, watch TV and munch on a pizza every day that doesn’t result in much footage.
Getting up well before sunrise to pack gear, grab something to eat, drive to a location, hike in to a good spot and set up the camera takes effort. Every morning when the alarm goes off, there’s nothing more I’d love to do on some days than to turn it off and go to sleep.
Just as soon as that thought enters my mind, it’s immediately replaced with the excitement of knowing I’ll be out in nature capturing some amazing imagery.
Oftentimes I’ll go out to Indian Creek Nature Center since I know it so well and film for a few hours. I know what I’ll find there most days and I’m sure that  I’ll get some good footage.
If I put in a little more effort I can discover new locations that I didn’t know existed.
If I do a little research I can learn where there’s a good chance I might find a subject I’ve been wanting to film.
If I get up a little earlier, I can set up deeper in the woods or on the prairie before the sun comes up.
A little effort means the sky is the limit. When that effort pays off, I find that I want to put in even more effort to get even better footage, to get to even better locations and to learn more about nature and wildlife.
If the effort doesn’t happen to pay off, I have my determination hat that I put on and keep on trying. Eventually just about anything you set your mind to, will happen if you put in the effort needed to achieve it.
I strongly believe that your results are a direct reflection on the amount of effort you put in. The more I grow as a filmmaker it seems the more effort I put into it.
If you want to film a spectacular sunset, you need to make the effort to be in place as often as possible in case that amazing sunset occurs. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked outside and the skies look blah and I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to drive twenty minutes to the spot I wanted to film. Later that evening I’d see images on the news taken by viewers of the most amazing sunset. If I had made the effort to go out even though it looked like the sunset would be dull, I could have filmed something amazing!
I’ve now picked up an app on my phone that helps me predict colorful sunrises and sunsets. It will show me on a map what location might have the right conditions to catch the sky all aglow. When I see eighty percent or more probability I know that I’ll be rewarded with some wonderful color.
Effort. It may be hard sometimes to make it happen but I can guarantee that if you don’t put in the effort, your results will certainly vary.
And as always, shoot the ordinary and make it extraordinary!
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.