I’m sure we’ve all read the trend articles stating that video is the new photo. Facebook is pushing it hard, and every media company out there is trying to figure out how to win at video. I live in this world at Fast Horse, helping guide clients through the process of creating compelling, shareable video. But I wasn’t really walking the walk when it came to what I was creating personally.

So, on a recent vacation, I decided to take far fewer photos, and to capture our trip almost exclusively on video. The goal was to create a highlight reel once we were back home, stitching together all of the B-roll I shot along the way. The idea required some discipline and a tiny bit of planning, but I was excited. I have countless photos from past vacations that never see the light of day and just collect dust in my Dropbox account. Putting in the legwork to shoot and edit a video felt like a creative challenge, and potentially a fun way to share more of my trip with friends and family.

I turned my iPhone video setting up a notch (1080p HC at 60 fps) to make sure the quality was on-point, and made a mental note to always shoot in landscape mode.

This was my first foray into edited video, and I can say it took me forever to edit this thing once I was home. I used iMovie, which was okay. The biggest pain was editing the dozens of clips I had down to one to two seconds each and taking just the best part of each scene. But I’m glad I took the time, and I can say I’ll do it again. Being able to relive the magic of our trip in just 4 minutes is really special. I hope you enjoy my directorial debut!