I spent some time last week traveling with an evangelist who works in small, remote villages in the Northern Region of Ghana. While out with him, I tried doing some “video portraits.” Basically, after I take a still-photo portrait of a person, I show it to them and then ask if I can take another. Then I switch to Video Mode on my camera and take the same shot as a 10-20 second video clip.
It’s really interesting to see how a few seconds of video really brings the image to life. You capture audio of the surroundings, you get blinks, twitches, and ticks, you get various facial expressions and body movement. It all comes together to give you a better context of the environment and a better reflection of that person and even, to some degree, their personality.
Props to Chase Jarvis for the idea. Props to Werner Herzog for the inspiration to let the camera roll a little longer and create beautiful yet awkward moments.