[Kevin Johnson]

Well, I’ve been mulling over the responses the past several days and I’ve come to some conclusions, sort of.

I unfortunately couldn’t agree more that as far as the public (and some companies) are concerned Videographers are a dime a dozen. With NLE and the HD camera price points now, those that would have been wannabes are everywhere and working on the cheap (which is a whole other topic).

I feel strongly that I have untapped skills and experience, but I believe there is a place out there for me somewhere. The remolding, categorizing and promoting myself is where I’m still in a quandary. I want to say that I would be happiest in a production house (as vague as that is) but I could also see myself doing Cable, Documentaries, Shorts, Government, Corporate…….

It’s like being a car junkie. You love to work on them and drive them, and though you might have some favorites you really love them all for their own characteristics.

I have to not only “choose” one but also keep in mind the likelihood that I can get in. I certainly don’t feel it but I’m 46 and all those 20somethings look mighty appealing to accounting.

If I had to choose between only shooting or only editing I’d take shooting by a landslide. Don’t get me wrong I’m one of those guys that will move an edit by 1 frame because it looks better, I can loose all track of time and genuinely enjoy the process…. but that’s for what I have shot, completing the full circle if you will. The thought of sitting in a chair everyday and ONLY editing brings about shortness of breath. BUT, if that’s all I could get I would do it and give it my all because I have this silly thing called pride.

John, at one time I would have rather worked at the dollar store than do wedding videos. However, there’s some amazing stuff now days and I would be proud to put out some of that quality. I’ve sent out several resumes to Wedding Film videographers.

Mike, you have a very good point about my comp reel. knowing that nobody will look at several stories to get a cross section of…. what do I call it? It’s not “styles” because news is just a variation of a theme. any ways, I wasn’t overly happy with the outcome but wanted to try something. You’ll notice it’s on the bottom now and I’m even considering removing it all together. Also thanks for Pandora’s box, though as hard as it is to see, if I keep looking I just might find hope.

[Mike Smith] “Maybe, thinking like a reporter, you could put together a great two minutes about yourself. It would be for you to plan the script, but maybe editorial and scripting, camera and editing skills and experience might feature. If those were related to specific stories and challenges, and how you were able to make great work in varied circumstances, and how well you can work with different teams, that wouldn’t necessarily play badly to your target audiences.”

How do others feel about this? Instead of promoting I’m afraid it would come across cocky. Can’t say I’ve seen anybody do this.

“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”