Its Never Too Late to Learn! 

Sometimes we discover sides of ourselves we never knew we had. My recent find happened as I scrolled down my favorite videos people leave on Instagram: nature scenes, lovely interiors, and inspirational people who help me escape the mayhem and stress of today’s world. That’s when it occurred to me, why don’t I try making and posting my own videos? Little did I know that moment would change my life in three wonderful ways…

Learning something new — I picked up my phone and stood underneath a Japanese maple tree in our front yard. It was April and the tree’s bright red spikey leaves clung to the rough brown bark. Using only my iPhone, I followed them as they went up and up, against a bright blue sky. I worried that adding music would be complicated. Would I have to go to a special film-making site?

But no. With the help of my son Patrick, I learned Instagram has an endless trove of tunes one can use for free, from lovely orchestral pieces, to movie themes to funny, wacky stuff. For this video, I added a floaty, gentle melody by a french composer. It took minutes. Afterwards, I realized this was fun and wanted to learn more. 

Seeing the world up close – Spring brought white lilacs and pink blossoms on a weeping cherry tree out front. Blue hydrangeas, bright red roses, yellow loosestrife, bubble-gum-colored azaleas and white dahlias have all been my models. Up close, I see how flowers are amazing, complex structures, and by watching my favorite videographers have learned to go slowly, almost lovingly over my subjects.

The other day I stopped on a side road to tape an amazing array of bright orange day lilies. With cars going by (probably wondering what this strange woman was doing), I took close ups and long shots. I zoomed and panned in. Before this, I hadn’t taken videos in my life (other than occasional vacation footage) and yet I’ve become a hunter of ‘the picture,’ which leads to the next lesson…

Seeking beautiful moments – Now that I have become a “budding” videographer, I’m on the alert for anything that is both ordinary and yet special – a breezy day, a sunset, rainfall, a bird lighting on a branch, dewdrops on a plant, all the little treasures in life. Anything with movement is especially beautiful. All the little things I rushed by before now make me stop and size up for form and composition.

Light, weather, and seasons are always changing and as they do more lovely scenes emerge. I’m already looking forward to the bright leaves of autumn or soft, white snowfalls of winter. In the way it helped me to gaze at lovely moments from others around the world, I hope in my small way, I’m helping people forget their problems too.

The fun part is fellow ‘Instagrammers’ are starting to respond,and I’ve learned the big rule – keep your focus narrow. If people like the sights of the Connecticut countryside, give them that. It’s fun to slowly see the numbers go up (trust me, they’re embarrassingly tiny compared to some Instagram stars with 100K followers), but I realized it’s not about the stats. It’s about the journey this strange and modern art form has taken me. 

We’re never too old to grow and change. Sometimes all you have to do is gaze at what’s in front of you.  

 

Have you found an unexpected passion in later years? Comments are always welcome and if you’d like to receive posts via email, just press here.

Thank you!