Digital Shorties 2017
Short Shorties = Shorties
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Shorties was born out of my 2016 year’s experience with vlogging.
Still using my iPhone, I wanted to further the experiment by making it a point to be more intentional about my shots, and tell more cinematic stories in under a minute that would work for Instagram’s platform.
I took more of a documentary approach to storytelling with this collection, trying out ways to inform, capture a feeling, or bring you into one of my adventures.
This 12-story collection follows my journey starting back home in Carrollton, TX, then moved to Austin for half the year, and then to Anchorage, Alaska for the other half — from South to North.
I hope y’all enjoy this year’s collection!
A trip to the Iconic North Park Center in Dallas.
Visiting a park and reminiscing about my hometown, Carrollton, TX.
Shortly after moving to Austin, visiting the infamous Mount Bonnell with amazing views of the Colorado river.
Feeding my obsession with State Capitals. This one is pretty amazing!
I had a secret ritual of going out to the Oasis every weekend to make sure that I was taking a moment to stop and appreciate the beauty of Austin.
A trip I took to Houston right after my job ended in Austin, and right before all the flooding.
My second weekend in Anchorage, climbing Flattop Mountain.
Perhaps the coolest state fair I’ve been to in a long time.
Enjoying the culture and arts at one of my favorite places in the city.
The first snow, daylight savings, the darkness, and Downtown. This was a defining moment for me and my introduction to Anchorage winters.
I had heard about this band, the Super Saturated Sugar Strings, a lot since arriving in Anchorage, and got a chance to see them up close and personal.
The great people of Alaska raising money for the Special Olympics. An amazing tradition that I’ve always wanted to see in person.
Reflection
My intention at the beginning of the year was to create stories that I would narrate over, but I quickly found myself bored to the idea of having to write out a narrative in addition to crafting a visual story.
The last 6 Shorties don’t have a verbal narrative, and have a much different feel in music and color grading aesthetic. Part of it is influenced by being in Alaska, and part is finding my cinematic flavor.
I struggled to figure out whether or not to stay completely behind the camera or not with these stories. I was okay stepping into the stories every now and then to test out how the story would work — I may have created another type of story in the process, which we’ll find out more about in 2018.
I hope to add another 12 stories to my Shorties collection next year, and have already started with my experimenting with a new collection.
