What is vlogging?
I define vlogging as the means of capturing personal moments in video format. Often times vlogging is about carrying a camera around with you while you continue to live your normal every day life. It is the telling of your story from a first person point of view—meaning, you are leading the video yourself, creating the theme for the video, and editing the final vlog for yourself and others to view.
If you’ve been following me or my family for awhile now you’ll know that we love vlogging. Memory Keeping in general is a huge part of our life and something that we find super important. We choose to vlog our moments because video allows us to relive those feelings and emotions the most. We love that with vlogging we can see people that we don’t often get to see, or even see people who have since past. We love that we can relive special events like Christmas or our Gender Reveal.
The term “vlog” actually is the truncation of the two words “video” and “log.” So, a simple definition of vlogging can be understood as the notion of logging something (originally with the idea of being like a diary) under the format of video. Today vlogging is a widely used term for online videos that are created for sites like YouTube and personal websites. However, throughout this blog post, when vlogging is mentioned I am referring to it only as a word for your personal video used for storing memories. Whether you choose to share these videos on YouTube or any online platform is up to you.
Vlogging is ultimately about your stories. A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post all about The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Vlogging—and while you read that blog please keep your story in mind when considering anything I am discussing. I talk about equipment, software, and other purchases that you can make to help you tell your story, but remember that as long as your story is being captured (no matter the gear you have or the money you’re spent on editing software) you’re still storing your memories to keep for years to come.
Why we vlog
Whether you’re just now interested in vlogging or you’re already doing it, it’s important to remember that your story matters! I am a firm believer in the idea that life is meant to be documented and shared with others. Why you might ask? Well, life is about learning, growing, and obtaining happiness in your every day life, and to me this means documenting what you do on a regular basis so that you can evaluate and relive moments, grow from each experience, and remember memories that helped shape you into the person you are today.
My Ultimate Beginner’s Guide for Vlogging is for those who want to capture their own stories with video and need to know how to get started. I share everything that I know about vlogging—what it is, what gear you need in order to capture the best stories, what things you can film on a daily basis, how to edit your vlogs so that each one has a theme, and ultimately, how you can share these stories with others so that you all can relive these moments over and over again!
In conclusion, it’s important to remember that your story matters. Video is one of the best current formats for keeping memories and telling your story. A vlog can do what no other platform can—capture movement, audio, and visuals that literally take you back to the time in which the story was originally being told through that moment.
Memory keeping is critical in the evolution of who you are and what makes you you. The more we grow, the more we begin to realize that our own memory is not reliable. As you encounter millions of meaningful stories in your lifetime you start noticing that not everything stays behind for you to remember, but every moment is important and deserves a time to shine. Our stories matters, so focus on capturing all moments big and small, significant and seemingly not, because these are the moments that make up our life’s story.
Check out our YouTube channel and how we vlog, here.
