I really enjoyed being involved in this exercise. I don't really have the equipment to compete with some of you here, but it is fun nevertheless. It's a real learning experience for a novice videographer like myself. Now, on to push the limits of this ole equipment of mine in the next challenge!

link: http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challenge1/rap_appalachian living skies.mov

equipment: Canon Optura 200MC minidv camcorder
Sony dcr-trv730 digital8 camcorder
Nikon TC-E3 ED 3x teleconverter (for coolpix 995 camera)
Sony 2X teleconverter
Meade ETX-90 spotting scope

Rick Phillips
Kingsport, Tennessee

Before moving to the PNW, I lived in the Cherokee mountains outside Jonesborough/Johnson City, so your video made me very nostalgic. I love the southern Appalachians! Thanks for sharing such beautiful video.

I would like to hear more about your equipment- I did lots of Coolpix photography but never mastered the really high magnification images you got, and would be curious to hear more about how you use the spotting scope with both cameras and camcorders.

Ruth

Thanks for sharing this beautiful scenes.
I liked your film very much and the music too.
Reminds me of Irish music. (?)

Nice footage there! Nice job on focusing. I liked the music.

Keep up the good work!
~Gabriel

Nice video and cool music. Did you use the Meade ETX-90 spotting scope in some of your clips?

Yes, Per, I used the ETX on the first close-up shot of the Merlin (small falcon) sitting in the top of the Spruce tree. I still have some problems to iron out with this setup. Sometimes I get some vinetting around the edges of the shot. I think this is just my homemade connector going astray. Still, it allows me to get some really closeup footage of birds that aren't easily approached.

Rick

I truly enjoyed every moment, really, really liked the audio.

Brian

Rick,

Don't know why you think you can't compete. You had some great bird shots in this film!

The music worked, the footage worked. You've got a really good film on your hands. Congrats!

Thanks for the encouragement Kevin. I guess I'm just in awe of all the artists here and the talented ways they approached this exercise. I've learned an awful lot just watching how different people shot and edited things together. It's just been a lot of fun and I look forward to doing and seeing more.

Rick

Rick:

Great production man. I loved every second of it. I think the choice of Irish music over....."hillbilly" for lack of a better term....was interesting. Was it a compromise or was it intentional?

Randy

The selection of Irish was intentional. I found it under a creative commons license on the Internet Archive. Actually most of the "hillbillies" around here are of Irish or Scot/Irish decent. In fact a lot of the really weird terms (some of which I had heard all my life and still didn't know what they really meant) we use in the Appalachians are derived from old Scotch/Irish language corrupted as immigrants here were isolated for so long. Happy you enjoyed it.

Rick

The music reminds me a lot of some of the "intense" score in the Daniel Day Lewis "Last Of The Mohicans" movie (which is one of my favorites, by the way).

I had the feeling that a fringed deerskin clad individual bearing a Kentucky long rifle could step out from behind some foliage at any time.

You have some very well done footage of avian life and their environment, smoothly edited in a way that left me enchanted.

Bruce Foreman

P.S. And as Kevin said, you can compete far better than you may imagine. Equipment doesn't make an artist, he just uses what he has and rolls with it. Vision and inspiration count more.

Lovely shots of merlin(?) and exciting closing raptor sequence with vultures in between and a disagreeable coot or 2 (very shrewd, must count for bonus points!) and double jigs for barndancing in the background. Refreshing and foot-tapping all the way.

This was great fun! I see you managed to capture many bird different species and that is impressive. I liked your choice of music too.

You do much better than you give yourself credit for. I agree with Bruce that it is not the equipment but rather the willingness to get out there, do it and share your vision. You certainly did that here and I hope we will see more.

You posted: "In fact a lot of the really weird terms (some of which I had heard all my life and still didn't know what they really meant) we use in the Appalachians are derived from old Scotch/Irish language corrupted as immigrants here were isolated for so long."

That is fascinating. Perhaps you can make a short out of this one day. I would definitely watch it!

Best wishes~
Bradley