Video Insight

The most striking thing so far this weekend is how warm and friendly everyone is. Everything is crowded, but crowded with folks who came for the same reason--to celebrate a big change in the government, the candidate they supported, and a historic first in american history. Conversations pop up easily between people of all types and from all different places. Julie and I have been taking pictures of things, but we've also been doing mini interviews with just about anyone we happen to start talking with. I don't know whether these interviews are going to be very interesting to watch, but they've been a lot of fun to do. Another striking thing is how many people are walking around with cameras going all the time.
Anyway, this evening Julie had a remarkable insight into all this "home videoing." She pointed out that on the one hand people who were taking video of an event tended to experience less of the event--their hands are full so they don't clap, thier eyes are on a little screen instead of on the real scene. On the other hand, our little interviews are adding to our experience because these are conversations that we might not have if we weren't trying to record things for our friends and for my elementary school.
The result is a warning, of sorts, that tomorrow I'm not going to be taking many (or any) pictures of the swearing in. We'll all be able to that on tv. Instead we're going to spend our battery's energy and memory space on crowd stuff before and after the event. Good Night, .