I hinted at this in an earlier post, but part of my photographic process as a self-portrait artist is to shoot short videos of myself doing the same sorts of things I would do while posing for pictures. Not so much in a behind-the-scenes way (honestly, I don't think there's anything especially interesting going on behind the scenes - the interesting part is what's in front of the camera - that's why I'm putting it in front of the camera), but to give my fans and followers a chance to see me in motion, which is more visceral than a still image, and one step closer to being there in person.
But in addition to sharing these videos, I like to review them and take screencaps of interesting moments. You might say this process is redundant, when fans will be able to view the video itself, and when I usually have similar photos taken of the same subject around the same time. But it serves an important purpose. As a self-portrait artist, I have many limitations, and one of them is not being able to watch while my subject poses, in order to pick out (or even direct) the poses that look good. Much of what I do is based on a combination of instinct and experience, derived from knowing my own body (through years of photographing it).
So, recording a video, and then reviewing it, allows me to simulate the experience of standing behind the camera and clicking the shutter (or in my case, the screencap button) while my model poses. But it also allows me to explore a more dynamic range of poses - especially action poses - in a shorter period of time than I could if I tried each one while taking a still image. And when I'm out shooting on location, getting naked in potentially risky areas, every second counts. If I only have, say, a minute to create some material before I have to get dressed and/or move along, then a short video will produce far more content than two or three still images created while running back and forth to the camera and waiting for the timer to count down.
I've front-loaded this post with all the advantages of the video screencapping process, because I want you to understand why I do (and continue to do) it. But what I really wanted to talk about are the disadvantages. Firstly, capturing a screenshot from a video yields a significantly lower resolution image than if I had taken a still image to start with. This is unfortunate, but I consider it a worthwhile sacrifice. I've always been more of an artistic photographer than a technical one - what matters is what's being pictured, not how crisp and clear the image is. Which is not to say that I wouldn't love to take technically stunning photographs, but I don't have thousands of dollars to drop on expensive lenses. And I'd rather make good art cheaply than give up on being an artist because I can't afford professional gear. Lucky for me, the camera(s) on an iPhone these days are pretty decent.
But the biggest drawback of the screencapping process is just how tedious it is. I can get up to a hundred captures or more from a video three or four minutes long. Naturally, I'll whittle those down to just the best dozen or two, in most cases. But that's still tens of images that need to be processed and watermarked (and images shot out in nature - which I take a lot of - are the most frustrating to watermark). Add to that the fact that I frequently shoot multiple videos when I'm out on location, and even just one day's haul of content can take a long time to process. That's why I have almost a whole summer's worth of content still unposted, even as another season is on the verge of starting.
I've said this before, but I enjoy the excitement and the adventure of going out on shoots more than the tedium of sitting in front of a computer processing images. I've toyed with the idea of going out to enjoy nude recreation without taking my camera along, but since my camera is also my phone, of course I'm going to take it - and I just can't seem to resist the temptation to photograph my activities. So the workload compounds upon itself. Perhaps I should just be a model, and let somebody else control the camera. But you see, I'm quite alone in the world of making nude art. Besides, I always wanted to be the photographer. I only started modeling because I had no one else to do it for me. There are all kinds of people who deserve to be modeling instead of me.
I hate to admit it, but it's not even just that the process takes so much time. If I sat down and powered through it, I could generate from one video a couple dozen images ready to be posted, in a matter of a few hours. But the going is monotonous, and when you have to repeat this process day after day, week after week, month after month, even year after year, I get burned out. It would be hard even if I were being paid a reasonable hourly wage. And while I have finally, after years of doing this, figured out a way to generate some modest income from it, it doesn't begin to approach minimum wage (even adjusted for part time work - imagine spreading just two weeks' salary over the course of a whole year). I continue to do it in spite of these facts because I'm passionate about it. And I'm honestly very lucky to be in a position where I can afford to spend the amount of time (and out-of-pocket expenses) that I do engaging in an activity that I, for the vast majority of the process, genuinely enjoy. Still, there's a lot of pressure in today's content-driven economy to keep producing at a steady rate, at the risk of losing followers (and therefore income) if you slack off. But you've already heard me complain about that before.
