My interest in photography in general and videography in particular began with a 2 1/4" by 2 1/4" Ricohflex camera that accompanied me on a family trip through the western United States, back when my brother Noel and I were still in high school. I took black and white photos, which I developed and printed in a darkroom in the basement of our home in Swarthmore, PA.

During this trip and during a second trip through the western United States several years later, Noel also developed his passion for photography (and, coincidentally, for natural history); indeed, he has gone on to publish a number of well regarded bird books and other articles and essays, amply illustrated with his (and his wife Helen's) photographs.

By the time of the second trip, I had already graduated to 8mm movies, using a wind-up Revere movie camera. Ever since, despite their somewhat coarser resolution, I have preferred shooting movies to stills. I believe that this medium adds an important extra dimension (time) and an important new sensory input (sound) to our ability to record and recall past events and venues.

(The introduction of digital technology has all but evened the resolution score. While there is always room for improvement, today's HD camcorders deliver a picture that is more than adequate to deal with the needs of most users. (I personally consider the lack of greater color depth more restrictive than the lack of greater resolution.) Yes, a new generation of 4K camcorders and TV panels is already underway, and the resulting display is an improvement, but I have to wonder whether this improvement is worth the attendant increase in storage, bandwidth, and overall expense?)

A regular 8mm movie camera accompanied my early sailing adventures aboard Viking (down the Inland Waterway and over to the Bahamas). Next came a Fuji super 8mm sound movie camera, acquired in the late 1970s and on board during Catspaw's long around-the-world adventure. (How I wish that I had had my current Panasonic AG-AC130 camcorder for that trip. What memorable video I would have been able to record.)

(During this trip, Jody and I also shot stills with several 35mm film cameras, including a Nikonos underwater camera and a Pentax ME. Exposed film from both the Fuji movie camera and the still cameras was mailed back to the US for developing, after which it was directed to my parents' home in Fort Lauderdale to await our return. Unfortunately, not all of this film made it to Fort Lauderdale.)

Recognizing that film degrades every time it is played, I have refrained from playing the super 8mm record of that trip but once, during which playing it was commercially transcribed to analogue VHS tape, using a Goko projector. I retain the means for replaying the original film. Sometime in the not too distant future, I plan to finally digitize its projected image, using one of my camcorders (most probably to SD). There are problems to be sorted out in so digitizing this film, but I think I should be able improve upon a possible digitization of the VHS transcription.

My first serious (and most expensive ever) camcorder was a Sony ED Beta camcorder, acquired in the late 1980s to record field operations during a wind wave project in the Bight of Abaco, Bahamas. A step below the Sony Beta-Cam, this analogue camcorder had 500 line resolution, but, in the marine environment of the Abaco Bight, it proved difficult to keep it running properly. Typically, it would develop artifacts, some minor, some not so minor, over the course of a single field experiment (lasting several months). Nonetheless, this camcorder has provided a valuable record of field operations during the project, which record has since been digitized.

In the late 1990s, the video industry saw two significant developments, digital camcorders and nonlinear video editing. I bought into both developments, acquiring one of the earliest camcorder models, the Sony DCR VX1000 (which I took along on a two week family excursion to France in May of 1998), and starting to experiment with producing videos. By 2001, I had settled on Vegas Video (now part of the Sony line) as my nonlinear video editor of choice. What a pleasure it was to gradually come up to speed with this ground breaking technology. How easy it was to use both tools to begin to put together an acceptable video presentation that others might be willing to watch.

Over the years, I have stuck with Vegas Video. It is reasonably priced, intuitive, and reliable ... and it does everything I need to do and then some.

In 2005, we bought an Aliner camper over the internet and took it to Alaska for three months. In honor of the occasion, I invested in another camcorder from Sony, the HDR-FX1. This HDV camcorder isn't quite high definition, but it comes awfully close (1440 x 1080 instead of 1920 x 1080). Another winner in my book!

Both the VX1000 and the HDR-FX1 use digital tape cassettes to store source clips. This type of storage introduces a electromechanical aspect into their operation that can gradually wear out/degrade. To be sure the system is more reliable than analogue recording, but it is not as reliable as a tapeless system. Modern camcorders record to flash cards (such as SDHC cards). My current HD camcorder, the Panasonic AG-AC130P, has slots for two such cards, a 3-CMOS video sensor, and provision for balanced audio input. I am in video heaven.

It is possible that I might someday upgrade to a 4K camcorder or to a 3D camcorder, but I doubt it.

The videos below are presented in largely chronological order, at reduced resolution. Their .mp4 format is supported by most browsers. These videos may be viewed in page view at reduced resolution, or they may be expanded to full screen (still at reduced resolution) by hovering over and clicking the expand icon in the lower right corner of the page view display, returning to page view by hovering over and clicking the contract icon in the lower right corner of the full screen display. One can pause and restart either display with the keyboard's spacebar, if necessary to allow the buffer to read ahead.

Catspaw Productions is a nom de plume for the noncommercial enterprise that has authored these videos.

In May of 1998, the Snyder family embarked upon a two-week auto tour of France. Starting and ending in Paris, the tour visited several museums in Paris and then circled the French countryside counterclockwise, stopping at Giverny, the Norman coast (including the American cemetery and Mont Saint Michel), Rennes, Saumur, Chenonceaux, Les Eyzies, the Dordogne, Lascaux, Arles, Cote d'Azur, Castellane, the Verdon, Grenoble, and Lyon, and returning to Fontainebleau and Moret sur Loing outside Paris.

Handheld and shot in SD with a Sony DCR VX1000 camcorder, this extended family-centered video was my first major editing project, some years later, using an early version of Vegas Video (I believe it was version 6). The original video was, in fact, not too bad for a handheld effort, but it was clear that the video could benefit from a reedit with a more modern version, capable of stabilizing clips in post.

Such a reedit (with Vegas Pro 12) came to pass in late 2022, some 24 years after the auto tour. It is this reedit that is presented below. The reedit takes advantage of Vegas Pro 12's Mercalli-stabilization plug-in and of Vegas's Vegasaur extension. This extension streamlines the bulk application of the Mercalli stabilization and of a wide variety of other Vegas plug-ins.

The reedit proceeded with some difficulty, but led ultimately to what I think constitutes a successful general approach to editing the 4:3 720 by 480 interlaced-avi NTSC-DV source video of the DCR VX1000. (Employ a progressive version of standard-definition 4:3 720 by 480 interlaced-mpeg-2 NTSC-DV format as the project format. Put the application of Vegas plug-ins downstream from the conversion of the source video to this project format, and render out the resulting video in this same progressive-mpeg-2 project format.)

The background music by Francis Poulenc is from a commercial CD.

Trip to France Videos

As described elsewhere in this narrative, 2005 marks the beginning of the end of our cruising adventures aboard Catspaw and the start of some land cruising adventures with a newly acquired Aliner camper, Chez Moa. These adventures began by picking up the upgraded camper in Las Vegas in May, making an initial shakedown excursion to Zion Park, heading north to the AlCan Highway via Glacier, Banff, and Jasper Parks, spending several months traversing Alaska and, aboard the Sun Princess, Alaska's inland passage, and returning home via Canada's Yukon Territories and Cassiar Highway and Alaska's Hyder.

These videos were shot in HDV with my Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder, acquired just prior to leaving for Las Vegas.

Trip to Alaska Videos

At some point, following our return to Fort Lauderdale after four years around the world aboard Catspaw, at the urging of Teddy Emery, whose first husband Bruce Pitcairn had been a business partner of naval architect Georges Hofmann, whose design for Jean Filloux's ketch La Creuse had played a significant role in the birth of Catspaw, Jody and I joined the Nova Singers. For 15+ years, we took part in the multiple concerts offered each year by this 100+ member choral group, directed by Peggy Joyce Barber and Chuck Stanley.

This experience introduced us to some new friends, in particular to Dave and Denise Welch, who joined us, aboard Catspaw, in the Abacos (2000) and, on the road, in southern Utah (2011) and Alberta (2013), and to a wonderful new world of choral music. Of particular note to me were the Faure requiem, the more contemporary choral works of John Rutter and Morten Lauridsen, and a host of other religious works and (already somewhat familiar) show tunes and ballads.

In July of 2006, the Singers toured northern Italy, singing in churches and cathedrals along the way. Following a hair-raising change of planes at London's Heathrow Airport, the tour group landed in Milan, transferred to a bus, and, over a period of a week or more, went on to Venice, Ravenna, Florence, Asissi, and Rome, singing in Saint Peter's Cathedral, and concluding its tour at Rome's Forum and Coloseum.

Jody and I had opted to join the tour, and I had packed my HDR-FX1 camcorder and a monopod. A monopod is considerably less stable than a tripod but is more stable than hand-held. Moreover, the typical collapsed monopod will fit inside most regulation travel suitcases. (Better yet, there are some tripods that can also be packed inside a travel suitcase. my present SLIK PRO 340EZ being one.)

Tour of Italy Video

Encouraged by the previous summer's excursion to Alaska with our Honda CRV Snowflake and Aliner camper Chez Moa, we decided to spend part of summer 2006 travelling up the east coast of the USA, Chez Moa in tow, from Fort Lauderdale to Maine and back. This excursion allowed us to revisit some old haunts and some friends along the way and, for the first time, to visit the University of Virginia, Martha's Vineyard, and much of the Maine coast.

Of particular interest to me during the trip north was the south Jersey shore, in particular Stone Harbor, where my dad Russell and his brother Randall had occasionally spent a week or two, vacationing with their families. Grandpa Lewis Klingaman on my mom's side and grandma Barbara Snyder on my dad's side were also there. I have particularly fond memories of learning to body surf off the beach, fishing and crabbing in the bay with grandpa Klingaman, and playing pinochle with grandma Snyder and the somewhat raucous Snyder family. Grandpa Klingaman loved to fish and grandma Snyder loved to play cards!

In Anapolis we stopped to see Steve and Marja Vance aboard Phantasma, a 90' power cruiser that they had (commercially) skippered for a number of years, following their trip around the world aboard Twiga, a 28' Cal sloop. We had first met Steve and Marja and Twiga in 1980 at Hana Moe Noe Bay on the Marquesan Island of Tahuata, and had crossed paths with them many times in the ensuing years, both during and following our respective circumnavigations.

In Martha's Vineyard we visisted Conrad and Jane Neumann. Conrad had grown up fishing for swordfish out of Menemsha and had later gone into marine geology. He arrived at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School at about the same time that I did, and we undertook independent field studies in the same Bight of Abaco, west of Abaco Island, Conrad because the region had some raised terraces (geological evidence of past rises in sea level), and I because the Bight was remote, was a convenient depth for the installation of field instrumentation, and was almost totally enclosed (so that the wave field would be of local origin). In connection with these studies, we shared a number of cruises to the Bight aboard RV Gerda, captained by Commander Dickinson.

A significant portion of the source video from our excursion to Maine has not yet been edited. Stay tuned.

Trip to Maine Videos

Fort Lauderdale is an ideal starting point for exploring the many wonders of subtropical Florida. These include the Florida Keys, the barrier islands, beaches, and waterways of the southeast and southwest coasts of Florida, the theme parks of central Florida, and the Everglades. Living in Fort Lauderdale, with Catspaw docked behind our home, our focus was ever on the Bahama Islands to the east. But, periodically, a more local venue would capture our attention. A favorite day trip was to the Royal Palm Visitor Center and Anhinga Trail in Everglades Park.

December of 2006 brought our son Garth and my onetime college roomate Dave Cox, simultaneously, from Washington State to south Florida for a visit. This was a special occasion, and Royal Palm provided a suitable welcome for our two guests. Not only were the alligators in abundance, the birds were also numerous and varied. Anhingas, cormorants, herons, egrets, storks ... even several gallinules, and an American bittern!

All captured very nicely in this brief video, filmed in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder.

Everglades Park Video

The videos linked below were shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder. Two of these videos describe our 2007 summer cruise to the Abacos aboard Catspaw. (These two videos are also linked to the Still More Bahamas section of the website's Catspaw/More Recent History page, accompanied by a gallery of related photos.)

The first video shows Catspaw's passage across the Little Bahama Bank to Man-O-War Cay (following which Catspaw remains docked at Man-O-War while we fly home to join a class reunion at Connecticut's Wesleyan University) and her subsequent exploration of the northern Abacos in the vicinity of Man-O-War with guest and classmate Naren Bali and spouse Margarita from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Included in this exploration are Man-O-War Cay, Green Turtle Cay (New Plymouth and White Sound), Manjack Cay, Great Guana Cay, and Elbow Cay (Hopetown).

Following the departure of Naren and Margarita, we welcome Garth aboard in Marsh Harbour. The second video shows Catspaw's continuing exploration of Marsh Harbour and Hopetown and her return home via Sandy Cay and Pelican Cay in the southern Abacos and Hoffman Cay and Saddleback Cay in the Berry Islands. This second video starts in Marsh Harbour aboard Neil and Lollie Dreizen's sloop Nautigal.

Included with these two cruise videos is a video of our interim visit to Wesleyan University to attend Graduation 2007 and the 50th reunion of Wesleyan's Class of '57. Meeting us at the reunion is '57 classmate and fellow physics major Naren Bali with spouse Margarita. Following the reunion, the four of us fly back to Fort Lauderdale and across to Marsh Harbour, Abaco, to board (and reboard) the docked Catspaw at nearby Man-O-War Cay.

Abaco Cruise Videos

Wesleyan Reunion Video

Like the videos from summer 2007, these videos from summer 2008 were shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder and are linked to the Still More Bahamas section of the website's Catspaw/More Recent History page, accompanied by a gallery of related photos. (Two of these videos are also linked to the Some Photos and Videos section of the website's Catspaw/Summary Description page.)

Summer 2008 was remarkable for its excellent weather. Never had we experienced such ideal conditions for cruising the Bahamas. It stayed not too warm and sunny throughout most of the summer. Moreover, there always seemed to be sufficient wind to push us along at an acceptable speed. With Gavin aboard for the entire cruise, we made a quick passage to Nassau, then headed across to our principal destination, the northern Exuma Cays.

The first video shows the passage from Fort Lauderdale to Shroud Cay, stopping in Nassau. The second video shows the leg from Hawksbill Cay to Sampson Cay. The third video shows our extended stay in the Pipe Creek region of the Exumas. The fourth video shows our return to Norman's Cay from Staniel Cay. Garth and PJ were with us for a week in Staniel Cay. Finally, the fifth video shows the passage from Norman's Cay, via Nassau, to the Market Fish Cays in the Berry Islands.

These videos show gunkholing in the Bahamas at its absolute best. Tiny remote islands, spread across shallow seas and connected by warm clear turquoise waters so inviting that it is all one can do to refrain from jumping in at every opportunity. Catspaw is now gone, but these videos take me back to our carefree days cruising the Bahamas. They allow me to experience, once again, the joys that attended our having been there in the distant past.

Exuma Cruise Videos

Shortly after arriving in Medford from Fort Lauderdale, we met Art Howard and his wife Mechtild. Art had played viola in the Rogue Valley Symphony and had sailed around the world in a Carib 41, meeting Mechtild in South Africa.

Together with the Howards and the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder, we spent the first two days of 2011 in Bandon, Oregon. From the Sunset Motel, we had an excellent view of the beach and of the myriad activities that passed before our eyes as the day progressed. Moreover, the balcony to our room provided an excellent platform from which to video these activities. And we were extremely lucky with the weather. We experienced two days of sunshine and a memorable sunset to mark the end of the first day.

Oregon New Year is probably the most sophisticated video that I have made to date. It combines the natural visual beauty of the middle southern Oregon coast with the musical beauty of one of Oregon's best known composers' best known works, Ernest Bloch's Concerto Grosso.

It is perhaps unfair to claim Bloch as an Oregon composer. He was born in Switzerland and spent a major portion of his career as founder and director of California's San Francisco Conservatory. It is only in his later years that Bloch came to Oregon. (He lived out his life in Agate Beach above Newport.) In any event, it is entirely fitting that his Concerto Grosso should accompany a visual survey of a portion of the southern Oregon coast.

The video begins with dawn on Bandon Beach, to the accompaniment of the Concerto Grosso's first movement (Prelude). The scene then shifts to the first evening's sunset; the Concerto Grosso's second movement (Dirge) tracks the descent of the sun to and below the horizon. The third movement (Pastorale) shifts the focus from Bandon Beach to other coastal features in and south of Bandon. Finally, the fourth movement (Fugue) carries us further south to the coast between Port Orford and Gold Beach.

This video was shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder. The background music (Bloch's Concerto Grosso) is from a commercial CD.

Oregon New Year Video

In August of 2011, we took Chez Moa and the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder to Panguitch, Utah, to begin a month-long tour of southern Utah's many scenic attractions. On the way to Panguitch, we stopped for a few days at the new home of Fred and Gayle Bieker in Sun Valley, ID. Some thirty years earlier, we met Fred and Gayle in the Marquesas Islands aboard Quintet, their Swan 48 sloop. It was good to see them again, and the occasion provided an introduction both to their garden and to Sun Valley's summer music festival.

Rendezvousing with us in Panguitch and joining us on our tour were some other friends from Boca Raton, FL, Dave and Denise Welch. Dave and Denise had been sailing aboard Catspaw in the Bahamas, and, like the two of us, Dave had been a member of the Nova Singers. He had also occasionally accompanied the Singers on clarinet. Denise was and is a geology buff, high on Utah's red-rock country and always on the lookout for stone-age artifacts.

From Panguitch, we visited Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, and, on the following day, Casto Canyon and Kodachrome Basin. We then headed east to Escalante and Torrey, and, from Torrey, east and south to Capitol Reef National Park, Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonland National Park, and Monument Valley. From Monument Valley, we crossed the border into Arizona, visiting (and videoing) Canyon de Chelly National Monument and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (where my brother Noel joined us). We next visited Antelope Canyon (a slot canyon near Page, AZ) and, back in Utah, Zion Canyon National Park (videoing both its scenic eastern plateau and portions of the Canyon itself). On the way home, we stopped briefly at Nevada's Angel Lake.

The many parks of southern Utah and northern Arizona are only part of what draws one to the region. Between these parks, such as in the approaches to Escalante and Torrey, nature provides a spectacular succession of mostly barren but picturesque landscapes. One need only point one's camera or camcorder in the right direction and carefully frame one's shots to record something worth viewing.

The resulting (edited and rendered) video, shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder, is in four parts: Medford to Panguitch, Panguitch to Torrey, Torrey to Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly to Angel Lake.

Southern Utah Videos

This brief video documents a 2011 art show in the Sunrise room of Rogue Valley Manor authored by Audrey Sochor, whom we were privileged to know for several years prior to her passing in 2013.

Audrey and her husband Art came to the Manor via Ashland, Oregon, where, for many years, they ran a bed and breakfast (the Arden Forest Inn) catering to devotees of the Oregon Shakespere Festival. Art was a man of many talents, one of which was his mastery of Shakespere and of English literature in general.

Audrey had two passions, Art and art, and she talked incessantly about both. She had found her niche in the art world. It was to hang panels of pastel colored cloth from the ceilings and walls, minmicing the great kelp beds of the Pacific coast. Water and the oceans, she felt, were the mother lode, the giver of life, the be all and end all.

She was fascinated by the "moire" diffraction patterns that appeared when light struck two closely spaced panels, and she sought to make these patterns an integral part of her art, bemoaning the fact that the resulting moire patterns were all too static ... if only she could somehow induce the panels to move more vigorously ... perhaps in sync with the ocean waves ...

She wanted to pass on her art in some way and was in negotiations with the Newport Acquarium on creating a permanent display on the grounds of the acquarium.

Audrey had a fragile constitution. Her bent frame spoke volumes, and she had to carefully watch what she ate. One day we learned that she was in the health center with an intestinal blockage. We visited her, and her spirits seemed quite good.

Next thing we knew, she was gone. May she rest in peace. And may this brief modest video be part of her legacy.

This video was shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder. The live camera effects are minimal and were added in post. The background music is from a commercial CD.

Sea Curtains Video

In December of 2011, the Snyder clan (Garth and PJ, Gavin and Sabrina, Russ and Jody) vacationed in a Menehune Shores apartment building on the island of Maui. During their stay, they made several excursions to Ka'anapoli and to Ka'anapoli Beach, traversed the road to Hana, explored the Iao Valley, and ascended the road to Haleakala, Maui's dominant but dormant volcanic peak.

From the top of Haleakala, one looks down upon clouds, encircling the peak. And upon an alien field of volcanic debris, stretching out to the east. Both scenes are worthy subjects for any camcorder. This particular video was shot in HDV with the Sony HDR-FX1.

Maui Video

Gavin and Sabrina had crossed paths in high school, where they participated in inter-school debate tournaments. Some years later, when Gavin was attending law school at Columbia and Sabrina was working in New York City, they began a more serious relationship.

This relationship was in fact serious enough that, when Gavin left New York to join the law firm of Irell and Manella in Los Angeles, Sabrina decided to follow him to Los Angeles.

After several years in Los Angeles, Gavin and Sabrina finally decided to get married. They set a date that no one could forget (12/12/2012), and sent out invitations to family members, far and wide.

Earlier in the summer, I had invested in a new camcorder, the Panasonic AG-AC130P. This new camcorder was fully high definition (HD), employed three CMOS sensors, and recorded to two SD cards instead of to tape (a much more convenient and reliable arrangement). The wedding would be my first major project with the new camcorder. It was a difficult assignment. All of the filming was indoors, the wedding dinner at Il Cielo in very low (candle)light. At Gavin and Sabrina's Westwood apartment, I found myself often shooting into the light, with essentially no alternative viewpoint.

The resulting video is in four parts, corresponding to the four successive days of wedding related activities. Monday's video documents a luncheon party in the apartment for early wedding arrivals, Tuesday's video, a morning nail fest in town, and an evening dinner party in the apartment for a swelling number of wedding arrivals. Wednesday's video documents the reception, wedding, and dinner party at Il Cielo. Thursday's video shifts gears to an afternoon birthday party for Sabrina's niece, Roseanna, in the apartment.

Wedding Videos

Just outside of Ruch, Oregon, not far from Medford, lies Woodrat Mountain, a celebrated launch site for hang gliders and paragliders and the starting point for an annual paragliding competition, the Woodrat Mountain Rat Race. Contestants in the competition take off from an upper launch site, circle in a stack above the mountain, and, at the starting gun, depart on a predetermined course among the neighboring peaks and valleys. First to cross the finish line after traversing all way points wins the race.

On the Saturday prior to the start of the competition in June, 2013, I took the Panasonic AG-AC130P HD camcorder to the upper launch site and attempted to capture the massive activity and confusion attending launch operations. I returned, later in the week, to acquire some background shots from the road leading to the launch site and to film paraglider landings below on the valley floor.

The resulting video is a low effort production that gives the viewer some idea of what the sport of paragliding is all about, but does not attempt much else.

Rat Race Video

Cruise ships provide a unique opportunity for video production. Not only is one's life aboard ship of interest, these ships stop in ports of scenic and historical interest, so that one's excursions, while in port, are also typically of interest. Add to these observations the fact that footage from a moving cruise ship imparts a sense of motion to this footage as the ship approaches or leaves port or passes some landmark, always a good feature, if executed smoothly (using a deck mounted tripod).

Suffice to say that I have engaged a number of cruises in my lifetime, some commercial and some private, and my videography has benefitted accordingly. This particular series of videos focuses on two areas that Jody and I had not previously visited, the Baltic Sea, and the southern coast of Norway.

The Baltic Sea lies between Scandinavia and the northern coast of middle Europe. It provides ready access to the Atlantic, via the Skagerrak and the North Sea, to several countries, including Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.

This cruise was actually two cruises aboard Holland America's Eurodam, with a stop in Copenhagen in between.

Baltic Videos

Southern Norway Videos

Some years ealier, we had visited Bosque del Apache with my brother Noel. It left a lasting impression. Never had I seen so many big birds together in one place. Intent upon filming a repeat gathering with my new Panasonic AG-AC130P camcorder, we made arrangements to fly to Tucson in early January 2017, to meet Noel there, to drive on to New Mexico's Bosque del Apache, and to visit several other New Mexico sites before delivering Noel back home to Portal, AZ, and the car back to Tucson.

Sure enough, Bosque had an abundance of big birds, particularly snow geese and sandhill cranes. What suprised us was that, not too far to the north in the Bernardo preserve, there were even more sandhill cranes. (Noel estimated the number at several thousand.)

Before delivering Noel home, we also visited New Mexico's Valley of Fires and White Sands National Monument.

New Mexico Videos

One of the entries on my bucket list has always been the island of Iceland. Not only is this island flush with visual beauty just begging to be photographed and videographed, it is geologically active and provides a home for one of the planet's significant tectonic features, Thingvellir Park's rift valley. This valley marks the surfacing of and intersection of the Atlantic Ocean's mid-Atlantic Ridge in and with Iceland and separates two major continental plates, the North American and Eurasian plates.

So it was that, in early July 2018, Jody, Garth, and I found ourselves aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Jade, enroute to Iceland. After embarking Jade in Hamburg, Germany, we followed the Elbe River downstream to the North Sea, past a mixed succession of riverfront industrial, residential, and recreational sites. From there, over a period of five days, preliminary to arriving in Iceland, we continued on to the coast of Norway, stopping in Alesund and Bergen, and to the Shetland Islands, stopping in Lerwick.

Arriving in Iceland, we spent two days in Reykjavik (on the west coast) and one day in Akureyri (on the north coast). Various tours took us to nearby sites. We did not see a lot of Iceland, but what we saw was impressive. The waterfalls (Gullfoss and Godafoss) were awe-inspiring, as was the harnessing of hydroelectric and geothermal sites to elcctrify and pipe hot water directly to homes throughout Iceland. (Next time I visit Iceland, should there be a next time, I will visit for several weeks, and I will rent a vehicle to more fully explore this unique and wonderful island.)

Conditions for sourcing video during the cruise were mostly good to excellent. Up until our arrival in Iceland, the sun shone brightly. The two days in and around Reykjavik were overcast, but it did not rain (much). The sun came out again in Akureyri, but it was quite windy, destabilizing much of the source footage. Indeed, on returning to Akureyri from Myvatn, a wind gust succeeded in toppling the camcorder and tripod, completely disabling the camcorder. As a result I was unable to video susequent stops in the Faroe Islands and Scotland (as Jade made her way back to Hamburg).

Back home in Medford, the Akureyri source video proved a difficult edit. Much of this video required stabilization in post. Fortunately, Vegas Pro 12 has an effective Mercalli stabilization plug-in. This plug-in, however, can only accomplish so much - so the resulting Akureyri video is still occasionally a bit shaky.

Iceland Cruise Videos

Rogue Valley Manor has a number of residents with RVs. They call themselves the "Rogue Rovers," and, up until the Covid-19 pandemic, were somewhat organized and active.

We have joined a number of Rogue Rover campouts to the coast and to various RV Parks on southern Oregon's many rivers, with our 12' Aliner pop-up camper, Chez Moa. Chez Moa is not the most impressive RV, but it has served us well and has been easy on the budget. It provides a place to sleep, three-way refrigeration, and an outdoor propane stove.

It weighs only ~1000 lbs, so we are able to tow it with our Honda CRV. And we have good visibility in the rear view mirror, towing it (collapsed). We load the back of the Honda with all the heavier gear that we need on our camping trips. That includes a tripod mounted camcorder that can quickly be deployed, should we come upon something of interest. Once we have set up camp, we are free to make excursions with the CRV.

Indian Mary Park is on the Rogue River not far from Merlin. It is particularly enjoyable in the late fall, when the leaves are turning. Further down the road is Graves Creek, from which one can hike along the Rogue to Rainey Falls. Another favorite campsite for the Rovers is the RV Park just above the bridge in Shady Cove.

Oceanside and Winchester Bay are on the Oregon coast. The Oceanside campsite has ready access to the beach. The remaining sites are mostly on the McKenzie and North and South Umpqua Rivers.

2012 Campout Videos

2015 Campout Videos

2016 Campout Videos

2017 Campout Videos

Here are some videos that resulted from other excursions in the Pacific northwest, including several extended campouts with Chez Moa, day trips starting and ending in Medford, and excursions entirely within the confines of the Manor complex. The extended campouts ranged as far north as Mount Saint Helens in Washington State, as far south as Yosemite Park in California, as far east as the Malheur Preserve and Steens Mountain in central Oregon, and as far west as the Oregon coast. They included an excursion to observe (and video) the solar eclipse of 2017 from forest land, not far from Mitchell, Oregon.

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020/2021 gave rise to another series of videos. Mostly confined to our Manor cottage, except for periodic visits to the local Fred Meyer to pick up drugs and other consumables, we sought a way to safely continue our exploration of southern Oregon during this pandemic. The answer to this quest was day trips by car. That kept us mostly at a safe distance from others and provided an opportunity for further videography.

Oregon Videos

Coronavirus Waysides Videos

California Videos

Jody spent her last two years of high school at Forrest Sherman High in Naples, Italy, where her dad was commanding officer of the Naval Air Facility. As is the case with most of us, one's high school years are memorable. That goes double for the military ... and quadruple for Naples.

So, as the spouse of a military brat, I have piggybacked on a number of Jody's many high school reunions. And videoed several. Included in the current archive are three videos documenting a 2009 reunion in the Tetons (and Yellowstone) and a fourth video documenting a 2018 reunion in Midway, Utah.

Reunion Videos

Every year, shortly after Thanksgiving, the Manor's Christmas lights go up. That includes the lights on the giant Sequoia at the entrance to the Manor building, the installation of which requires the participation of the Medford fire department. As one comes to expect with any Manor enterprise, this Christmas display is simply awesome. It spans the entire crest of Barneburg Hill and lifts the spirits of residents, one and all.

Included in the Christmas Lights video are clips documenting the Manor's 2014 and 2016 display. Also included are the 2014 display on Medford's Greystone Court and the 2015 display at the Seattle zoo.

Christmas Lights Video

Perhaps the simplest form of video is the concert video. One has the music itself to propel the interest in the video and doesn't need to complicate the videography in order to sustain this interest. Usually, a single static wide view of the proceedings will suffice. About all one has to add are titles and captions identifying the occasion, performers, and music played.

Moreover, any attempt to go beyond this simple prescription is fraught with difficulty. Manual pans and zooms are almost impossible to execute with any precision, even with a fluid head on your tripod. And you don't know ahead of time exactly when to execute them. (What if you have zoomed in on a particular performer, and the focus changes abruptly to another performer? How do you deal with that situation?) Best to stick with a single static wide view!

This section begins with a concert by the Snyder/Tomizuka Duo, the 'cello/piano duo of my brother Noel and his pianist friend, Mari Tomizuka.

Noel contemplated a career in music before deciding to pursue a career in biology. He is a graduate of Curtis Institute, where he was a student of Orlando Cole. (I studied viola privately with Orlando's father, Lucius Cole, and with Max Aronoff. Orlando and Max were members of the Curtis Quartet.)

Mari had a long successful career as an accompanist in the Netherlands before returning home to Tucson, where she now teaches piano.

In the late summer of 2018, Noel and Mari gave an initial concert in Rogue Valley Manor's auditorium. They returned again in mid-summer 2019 to give a second concert in the auditorium, which concert was repeated, the following evening, at Medford's First Presbyterian Church. Included in the program was the C-minor piano quartet of Johannes Brahms. Kathleen Strahm played violin, and I played viola.

Concerts by the Snyder/Tomizuka Duo and Guests

Also included below are three concerts presented by the Southern Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA). The first of these concerts, Serenade for Barry, honors the memory of composer R. Barry Ulrich, a founding member of the chapter who had recently passed away. The second honors the 80th birthday of composer William Ashworth, past president of the chapter, presenting a number of his compositions, and the third, composer I'lana Cotton, presenting four of her string chamber compositions. The video of the third concert integrates an audio recording of the concert by Sean McCoy.

NACUSA Concerts

Finally, Concert Videos includes three videos from the Jazz Vespers concert series at Medford's First Presbyterian Church, in progress since January of 2016. The brainchild of Rogue Valley Manor resident Robin Blomquist and pastor Murray Richmond, this monthly concert series presents a variety of jazz stylings by local musicians.

Jazz Vespers Concerts