Say it with a video

The world of photography is changing and it's not because of megapixels. How can this change help you communicate?

For professional photographers convergence - the coming together of still shooting and video - is still looming on the horizon. Sure many new camera bodies have video built in but for now the still photographer can dip a big toe into the water but remain in the world of static images to tell stories.

In the age of the Internet we've all spent far too many hours browsing through YouTube, leaping from one set of videos to the next in search of a good laugh at The Evolution of Dance [youtube.com], something to rock out to [youtube.com] or a webisode [youtube.com] to kill time with. The amount of material that's out there is incredible, on YouTube alone over 20 hours of video are uploaded every minute (that's right, you can officially never watch every video of someone's cat getting confused by a laser pointer).

This is thanks to the proliferation of cheap video cameras in cell phones, digital cameras and Happy Meals that make it a cinch to pull video from your device and then share it with the world. That means you're no longer limited in simply e-mailing anecdotes and a couple of low-resolution photos from your vacation to your friends and family, you can make your own travel documentary so you don't have to repeat the details of your trip a hundred times.

If you can take a picture with your camera then with a little practice you can make a video just as easily (depending on your camera). Learning to use video gives you another way to remember the little moments in your life whether it's a great busker in the subway, a spot on Christopher Walken impression or a child dressed like a cow...

Over the next few weeks I hope to help you learn the basics of creating great little videos to put your story in motion.