Regarding Completion And Directors’ Cuts

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One of my best (or worst) attributes is my inability to leave work-in-progress, well, in progress. And here I’m talking about something larger (and ultimately more important) than simply finishing something: One can finish and yet not complete–in the same way battles can be won while the war is lost.

Yesterday I posted a rough-cut video that compiled what I consider the best of my handheld, time-lapse iPhoneography in Washington DC’s Foggy Bottom Metro station. I simply wanted my favorite shots in one place, and I was curious about the effect of reintroducing movement and sound to the photos’ frozen moments. Given the relatively small amount of time I spent lashing the thing together, I was quite pleased with the result–especially the choice of The Dream Academy’s “Waterloo” for its soundtrack. That, as they say, should have been that. Except that I was left with something still mostly conceptual. Except that it had lot of rough edges. Except that I knew I could do better. Clearly, I had two options: Either dial-down visitor expectations by underscoring the video was no more than a draft executed during a long lunch hour–or I could, you know, do the damn thing right. And as I’ve said, I’m a big proponent of genuine completion.

So here it is–for all five of you that may be interested: The deluxe, director’s cut of “I Can Hear The Trains Pulling Out.” With proper pans, perfected dissolves and even a title sequence.

But be forewarned: to do the photos justice in terms of resolution, this is a large HD video, and many visitors will need to pre-buffer. At the risk of immodesty, I think the patience is well worth it. ‘Nuff said.

You can find the final-draft video here:

http://web.me.com/kulturhack/Site_4/Metro_Station_iPhoneography.html

Compilation: The Metro Station iPhoneography

From the winter of 2010 through the spring of 2011, I suffered from an ailment that entailed some fairly excuriating physical therapy.

Since my ability to drive was impaired, I ended up taking a lot of subway rides to the medical center. On these almost daily trips, I started to take handheld, slow-shutter iPhone shots of the stations and the trains. At first, it was simply to take my mind off the discomfort, but soon I found that an iPhoneography project had accreted around the original intent.

Though I’ve already published many of these shots, they were always–or at least for a very long time–seen by me as glimpses of the work-in-progress that has become this video . . .