Minor Detail #6

A few weeks ago I told a friend that I haven’t had a truly, awesomely happy birthday since 2006, the year I started work in my current job. And I intend to change it this year, which is why I’m going away on my birthday. Alone. Maybe in my lonesome I would obtain the awesomeness I haven’t found yet. And maybe I would find the occasion worth celebrating, as any birthday should be.

My 21st birthday cake in 2006

But I have found that, aside from traveling, the other thing I really enjoy doing is making birthday videos for friends.

A verbal birthday greeting may be forgotten. Well-wishing text messages may be deleted. Letters and cards are more thoughtful but what I like about videos is that the senses of hearing and seeing come to play in one format. Videos capture the person as is, in that one particular moment he extended his birthday wishes for you. Plus, putting everything together, whether it be simply sequencing the photos and video clips around a theme or weaving a grand narrative out of all the available material, is what makes editing birthday videos a truly delightful enterprise.