My YouTube Inspirations
We are all shaped by what we see and what we experience. As much as I like to say this website and blog is ‘my own’, it is undeniable that so many people, creators and videos have influenced me and shaped my journey to be where I am today, a hiker and filmmaker.
Christian delivers such a unique blend of honesty, creativity and emotion into her videos. The opening of her latest (at the time of writing) video, Van Life Alone by the Sea exemplafies this perfectly. I felt so drawn into to the video, more than many other similar videos.
She balances the ratio of spoken to unspoken video to create a really nice atmosphere within the video. Finally, the framing of each scene has inspired me to keep looking for angles, layering of fore- and backgrounds etc in my videos. Go check her out!
2. The Balkans Mirage: A Journey on Wheels
This video is such a new and unique take on the typical ‘travel’ film. The comedy is gripping, but it is balanced by the very high quality of production. This film is a take on Wes Anderson in a comedic fashion. I would encourage any aspiring filmakers especially in the hiking world to watch this video and not only make silent videos, there is so much more that can be done!
3. GoPro
No other account on YouTube has inspired people to get out and film adventure more than GoPro I’m sure. Whilst yes… it’s difficult to match GoPro’s perfection with your own GoPro, they’re videos have left me inspired since a young teenager and I’m sure my life wouldn’t be the same without them!
See below one of my favourite videos, published in 2013: Lions - the new endangered species? At first, this doesn’t seem like the crazy action we’re used to, but it shows how powerful of a story you can tell with the small, compact camera : )
4. Kraig Adams
I’m sure many of you know Kraig Adams, the man that made silent hiking ‘cool’. You can tell how much effort he goes in to every shot, the angle, framing are always so engaging. He has inspired many many filmmakers, myself included. Craig has a confidence in his videos that I have tried to emulate, not being embarassed of where the camera goes, how much onlookers he receives.
Harmen Hoek is another cinematic hiking filmmaker. Similar to Kraig Adams, he has some amazing silent hiking videos that show you the power of good lighting and framing to create a certain feeling. His video in the Picos de Europa was particularly inspiring and got me booking my own flights to do the trip!
