Friday, May 16, 2014

So I hiked along the Econlockhatchee River in the Little Big Econ State Forest last week.  The forest is north east of Orlando and this trail follows in an east-west direction from the Barr Street trailhead to Snowhill Road.  Both the Little and Big Econlockhatchee Rivers are in this forest, and the trail passes along both of them.  I hiked a little more than three quarters of the way out and back.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I shot video along the trail using my Ultralight Filmmaking equipment and iPhone 5C.
The weather was hot, nearly 96 degrees.  The sky was mostly clear and there was a light breeze, which made the hike bearable.
Even though it was hot, I had an excellent time!  I was so busy setting up shots and making camera moves that the time just flew by, and I actually ran out of time to finish the hike.  Also I ran my camera battery down to 17%, using the FILMIC PRO App, so I had to shut my phone off on the return trip to conserve power for an emergency phone call in case I needed to make one.  The next time I'll bring my Solio Bolt backup battery.
And the trail was excellent!  Traffic noise died down pretty quickly and I didn't hear anything mechanical except a couple boat motors in the distance and an occasional airplane overhead.  A lone trail runner guy passed me twice, but that was it for people outdoors.  I really enjoyed walking by the river.  The trail was well-marked, the bridges were in good shape (can be an issue in super-humid Florida), and there was lots of wildlife.  I did come across a large turtle, found some cardinals flitting in a bush, followed squirrels along tree branches and heard lots of splashes in the water and bird whistles in the air.  
I got into the rhythm of setting up, practicing a move, getting the shot and moving on.  I did miss not having wide angle, macro or telephoto lenses for some shots, but I will get them later.  I missed having full manual control over the camera like I used to use, but the video came out fine.  I didn't use the lavaliere microphone yet, but that will come soon.
When I returned home and recharged the batteries, I loaded the clips into the iPhone's camera roll, opened Adobe VideoBite and began editing.  After a few minutes I was intuitively using the App, trimming and dragging clips around.  It was cool to edit within the phone.  It was very, very easy and it is very, very limited.  But I do like how it came out.  The finished product is below, and it gives you a feeling of what it is like to hike this trail.  I hope you enjoy it.
On my Facebook page Lite Packer Lifestyle, there is a shorter version of this video.  Facebook limits you to two minutes for your video, You Tube does not.  Plan on seeing more videos from me in the future.
Many years ago in a previous life I was a TV news photographer.  I really liked what I did, I was respected by my peers and I was welcomed to work on the other side of the crime scene tape daily.  Though I am many years out of practice, I felt a little bit of that goodness today, and it was wonderful!

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