Walking Alone Every Morning and Documenting

Morning. Sunrise. The best time of the day.

Walking. Alone. The best start of the day.

Since last month, I've started going for walks. Every day.

Over time, I combined my walks with listening to podcasts, taking photos, and, more recently, shooting a video here and there. And I began documenting my walks on Instagram Stories.

I made my brain link my boring walks with exciting - for me - tasks. I no longer have second thoughts if I should go for a walk when I wake up. In fact, I'm looking forward to them.

That's because I can't wait to listen to my favorite creator's newest podcast. I can't wait to press my camera's shutter button. I can't wait to post my next story.

I can't wait to be alone in the city.

Today I went the extra mile. I documented my morning walk into a 3-minute video. It's now a futureproof memory that will live forever on hard drives and online.

How I shot the video

In my first walks, I took pictures and shot videos with my phone. A 4-year-old Samsung Note 8.

It was ok for what I aimed for. Quality wasn't bad and it was the lightest setup.

But I was listening to podcasts via my Bluetooth earbuds and was tracking my walks through the Strava app. All in my phone.

While the phone was performing very well under these multitasking conditions, the battery was draining quickly. Especially when I was loading the Lightroom suite to take and edit my photos on the fly while keeping the native camera app running for the occasional video shoot.

Given I'm not short on camera gear, I let my phone deal with just my podcasts and activity tracking.

When I first carried a camera to my walks, I opted for my Sony A7C. I attached the smaller lens I had for a compact setup, the Zeiss 35mm f2.8.

I ended up taking a few photos and no video. I needed a small tripod at all times to avoid shaky video. Given I wanted to walk as light as possible, I quickly realized that I had to find an alternative.

So, I got my tiny DJI Osmo action.

I attached a mini tripod but I quickly realized that I didn't even need the tripod or a case for that matter. I could find numerous spots to place the small action camera during my walks and film myself or the surroundings.

Videos and photos turned out surprisingly great for a camera that fits into my palm and adds no weight!

Of course, an action cam's options are limited when it comes to focal length or aperture. Which makes the composition of utter importance. But that's the perfect exercise to practice coming up with compelling shots.

If you want to find out more about my gear, how I shoot and edit my videos, here's my blog's filmmaking page.