Here is a video from 2007 called “this is not text”; an obvious reference to Magritte’s “This is not a pipe”.
The video was part of “Videoblogging week 2007”.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dzqyywzlfsbjp5f/Dltq-VideobloggingWeek2007Part5485.mov?dl=0
In December 2004, when I started videoblogging, I had no previous experience with putting my own face in front of the camera. But my drive was so huge that once I started out, I quickly scanned the scene, and I also made a decision: I need to be in NYC for the world’s first videoblogging conference. So I did, and one output from that process, which I keep referring back to in my own thinking, is this interview which “Human Dog” did with me, which mostly was about weather:
In this creative process, I got through a tough time in my personal life; after my father had died in March 2003, I went really far down into the series of basements, mostly because I did not get to know him before he died; he denied me this, and my mother denied me this, and they both just blamed each other without taking responsability for their actions. And when he died of cancer in 2003, when I was 25, he told me before he died that he not for one second regretted not having contact with me. That hurt. But the creative process of making videos helped me through that.
As I have previously written, this spring was when I finally came out of a lengthy depression. One concrete result out of that process was that I decided to get involved with EWB here in Norway, and I now am having an active role there. Ok.
But I have also been inspired by Asbjørg, who is a Norwegian artist who has been putting out videos for some time on Instagram. Here are two of them that touched me, for this or that reason: 1: Går i ring, 2: Kjære veps. I don’t know why, but the tunes, the videos, the creative output touched me deeply. I have also commented directly to Asbjørg that her output has meant a lot to me, inspired me; because I believe in giving others feedback. And now, inspired by her, I have today on May 25th 2023 decided to try things out myself. Creating a creative output where I also control the music. Or let’s just call it what it is: The sound track.
And here I am. I have my work at an organization where I deal with professional networks. I have my life with my son during the weekdays while he stays with his mother in the weekends. I have my spare time engagement at EWB Norway. And now I am keen on exploring the creation of videos again, but where I also create the sound.
Well, I don’t know yet, but I will take one step at the time. First of all, I want to find a format. I think I will go for the same as Asbjørg. Instagram. My own main Instagram account (@dltq42) is locked down and I only have 15 followers there; an inner circle. But I can create a separate Instagram account for my explorations. And, like always, I like to share my process. So I think I will create two new accounts, which will be public. Now they are created: @dltqoutput, and @dltqprocess.
Output is, well, the output. The things I consider results. Process is my process getting to that output. Since both are public, they will work off each other as well.
May 25th 2023. It starts.
Basically just testing
On December 22nd 2004, I became obsessed over vlogging. So obsessed that I devoted myself fully to this. Well. I felt like I only did 60%, but in hindsight, I realize that I really did a lot of effort.
Why did I obsess over vlogging from late 2004 until 2009?
I think it was linked to my mantra of “showing your world to the world”. And I also liked Jay Dedman’s “momentshowing” term. Showing your moments. So that others, who have their Own contexts, can see your moments, your context, and perhaps connect with you, over small things or big things. And thus we could hopefully make the world a smaller place.
Here is my first video, from December 22nd 2004:
In January 2005, I joined VloggerCon in NYC as one of very few people from Europe. And I signed up for Vimeo early on, and I have video #126 on the entire site. Here it is: https://vimeo.com/126
I entered a community. A community of technologists and artists. And I loved loved loved that interplay. The exploration of technical feasibility mixed with the artistic view of the world. I did not consider myself an artist, but in hindsight I guess I very much did so; I created what later became known as the Raymonde persona. And there was even a series of videos created in 2005? 2006? Which was called The Head of Raymond K; in short THORK. It was madness. Very artistic. And I loved the interplay across timezones; one of my projects later on was SpeedVlogging – creating a video and uploading it for viewing within 5 minutes. (I at one point had www.speedvlogging.com but I forget what content I once had then)
Anyway. My ideals are pretty precisely expressed in this video from January 2005 during the vloggercon05 event. Here is a clip taken from the full video.
To quote my 2005 me:
“My manifesto now, my manifesto and goal now is: Real political dialogue between individuals from anywhere in the world. The digital divide today is enormous, but I think by using new tools, and using videoblogging I think we can actually make any individual be able to express his world, even in the park, and I think that’s a great ideal.”
Quote, from Source
In September 2005, I co-organized VlogEurope in Amsterdam (referred to in this BBC article), and we had a total of 5 VlogEurope events: 2005 (Amsterdam), 2006 (Milan), 2007 (Heidelberg), 2008 (Budapest), 2009 (Amsterdam).
Why the obsession? The quote from VloggerCon 2005 says it all, really. Real (political) dialogue between individuals from anywhere in the world. My motivation for vlogging actually became much less when Google bought Youtube in 2006 – I was like “Ok, it’s mainstream now, I don’t need to push this further”.
Within my life, the videoblogging years is actually a good example of what kind of thing that really – Really – excites me. Back in 2004, when there was no Youtube or Blip.tv or real Vimeo (there was something but it was very different from the 2005 version that launched) – back when having 100 or 1000 viewers of your video was a pain $$$-wise (because bandwidth wasn’t free) – it was a worthy goal for me to get involved. To invest my time and energy. I even became a volunteer at Ourmedia.org in spring of 2005 (wikipedia article), to let anyone upload media to the Internet Archive for free. It was before youtube launched, and it filled a dire need back then: Free hosting for videos.
I moved on in my life, later on, and in 2009 I was effectively busy with building a nest, building a family, building a stable job situation.
In 2023, I am elsewhere in my own history. We will see where this takes me!
(Btw, I just found this video from 2017 where Anthony D’angelo does some digging into the past, and he also had some very good points. Recommended!)
[Video of process; 44m07s / 336MB]