Pocket Adventures
So, after gathering up all the funds I’ve accumulated over the years from online gift certificates, etc., I recently managed to snag an Osmo Pocket 3 as a Christmas/Birthday present to myself. I’ve been looking at instruction materials and making test videos, bringing it along in my bag when I’m out in case I happen across anything to film. The Pocket 3 is a tiny 1-inch sensor cleverly integrated into a portable gimbal with a handle, resulting (in the right hands) in butter-smooth video but not taking up much space. One of the many criticisms leveled against my previous videos is how choppy and vertigo-inducing my camera movements can be as I waved whatever Canon Powershot I happened to be using like a slingshot. The Pocket’s camera is basically stuck at f2 and can only zoom in 2X, but the image quality isn’t half bad, better than what my phone can do anyway. I’ve gone back and forth on what frame rate to use: Both 30P and 24P are nice, but 24P (at 1/50) feels nicer. I might even manage to finally upload a 4K video one of these days, and y’all will finally see that yeah, honey, it’s the years and the mileage.
I took the Pocket out to Keelung one sunny afternoon last week, just walking around and making whatever vapid remark that came to mind for the camera, testing how did in various lighting situations, angles, etc. I hadn’t been out to my favorite dysfunctional port town for a minute so it was nice to walk those gritty streets again. I also had a chance to enjoy some tasty dessert and coffee amid the comfy jazz-infused atmosphere at Eddie’s Cafe, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. Eddie grew up with the son of the late Keelung photographer Cheng Sang-hsi, so he knows all about the scene there. The cafe is 15 years old now, which is impressive, especially in that relatively out-of-the-way spot in the old market across the train tracks.
A couple of days ago I took the train out to Shanjia, a little station between Shulin and Yingge, that has always piqued my interest, even back when I was taking the train back and forth to our army base in Miaoli. A former mining community, Shanjia doesn’t seem like much of a going concern these days; I walked around the old houses lining the midge-infested canal that runs beneath the station, crisscrossed by small bridges that lead to an old mine that is now a laundry spot/tourist attraction. Further up the hill is a large modern apartment complex that feels glaringly out of place amid the older mine buildings featuring old slogans like “Unify China” on them. I continued past the modern public library and walked up the road into the mountains a bit, but it was cold, cloudy and not a little spooky, so when a local orange cat suggested that I head back down the mountain, I listened.
Yesterday, amid once-again brilliant weather, I ventured up to Dihua Street, which is of course jam-packed with tourists and revelers as we approach the Lunar New Year holiday. I lasted about 10 minutes in the crush before bailing to the other side of the Yongle Market where I often enjoy stretching my Taiwanese capabilities with the elderly owner of the bitter tea stall there, chatting as I sipped my tea and watched the people walking by. I then escaped further to the riverside, paying my respects to the temple where I once took a photograph that ended being cover art for a Picador Press book, and just sitting in the afternoon sun and looking across the wide waters over at the jumbo jets wafting in over the towers of Sanchong.
After putting the Pocket through its paces for a time, I’ve come to the conclusion that, while it works fine when needed (and when I know how to operate it, which is an ongoing project), I can’t just be having it on me all the time like that. My video and photography mindsets are so different that it feels like I’m switching my brain out for another completely different one. Or perhaps that is how my brain “works”, as switching languages often feels the same way; I don’t find it easy to go back and forth. So when I have the Pocket out when I’m walking around, it interferes with my usual photographic inclinations in a most unpleasant fashion.
The best way to use it, I’m realizing, is like I would use a telephoto lens, i.e. only bring it out when I have a prepared idea of what I’m going to use it for. Otherwise it just becomes a hindrance to seeing rather than a tool.
I might edit some of the test videos into little pieces to upload to my YouTube at some point, or possibly one longer one…we’ll see. My ten-year-old iMac, specced out though it was at the time, can’t run anything but iMovie these days, but that should be enough to start. Eventually I’ll probably have to upgrade to Davinci Resolve or something if I get a newer computer for school, which starts back up in mid February. In the meantime I’m going to catch up on some much-needed rest, go through the photos I’ve taken over the last couple of months, and hopefully get a leg up on next semester’s subject matter.
Next week is the Lunar New Year break. Entering the Year of the Snake feels entirely apropos considering what’s going on the U.S. these days, alas.
