Onward to the Forth of July (to be continued)

One trip leads to the next. My trip to Roanoke and Atlanta involved planning, travel, and finishing up. I sorted pictures and edited video. I am an old school picture taker. The theory is that 10 percent are just trash and should be disposed of. 80 percent are just average, could be keepers or could be trash. These are often duplicates of the same. With my camera, I press the button and it keeps shooting until I depress the button so I have a lot of duplicates to dispose of. Also, I generally shoot more video than I need. I will, generally begin shooting from 5 sec. to several minutes before the train arrives. I cut out all that "dead air" and cut the end where I was reaching for the stop and the camcorder was shaky.

I have my own standards of what makes an acceptable, Where to begin the final video and were to end it, being a part of if. My camcorder store to a memory card. When I begin editing, I copy it to my computer, but leave a copy on the camcorder. I can make the copy in two ways. The first is to remove the card and plug it into the computer and via my file manage, copy directly. I have a set aside directory for it. Editing changes the format and cuts out the trash. Than I output this new file to another directory file. At this point, I have copies so if I make a mistake or want do something different, there it is, fresh and new. I also copy the file to a directory of uncut and raw video for years from now when I want something entirely different. The only real deletion is those where I accidentally started recording something and got really nothing at all.

Now comes the task of uploading to YouTube, placing in appropriate directories. Some are in more than one directory when the subject can fit more than one. For instance: my video of 611 fits in Daytrips and Motive Power, Steam. I might even use Consist, 611.

Even while finishing one trip, I begin thinking about the next. First is to look at a tentative date. Next is to decide what kind. Usually these two items are taken together. From Roanoke we move to 4th of July. The fourth of July will be a vacation trip, lasting more than a day in a out of town. I have a number of out and back trips, like the Atlanta trip or other. I took a couple out of the vault to rework for a trip from Richmond.

I first took my New York trip, which I label Metro North, because it takes in tourist sites in Manhattan plus a trip the Stamford, CT to watch trains. The original trip had me spend the night, or two in Stamford, as it was cheaper than Manhattan. One place I want to see it the High Line Park, built above the streets on an abandoned railroad viaduct. The second version, was to Philadelphia, PA. This would include a lot of watching of streetcars and local transit. Of course, going by the typical tourist attractions like Independence Hall, would be needed. (to be continued)