On Tuesday I had my first job as the new member of the Heritage Committee at our golf course.

I was to film an interview between two long term members who spoke about their story and memoirs of Margie Masters who won a title at the LGPA in 1967 and a member of our club.

It was interesting to do this first task and admittedly there was some anxiety on my part. For one, this was my first task since leaving my professional work nearly a year where there was some expectations out on me. I’ve not felt this feeling of expectation since the workplace and it was “odd” to say the least. If anything, it made me recall the workplace again and hoping I don’t let anyone down or that my work is once again, critiqued by those who might not understand it.

None of that happened.

I prepared my back pack of equipment and the interviewer and interviewees were most accomodating, respectful and helpful. It turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon listening to stories and smiling about how much has changed since the 1950s.

There were some problems initially with the room we were going to do the interview. Namely, there was a rowdy lunch crowd in the room next door so it made me consider some lessons for next time.

It’s not a matter of just organising whatever room is available for filming, it’s also knowing what other functions are booked in nearby rooms at the same time for noise levels.

The staff were helpful as always and showed us to the main dining room where we could close doors for quietness however as it was surrounded by windows I had other problems. Namely too much light behind the subjects, the reflection of the ring light in the window and golfers walking in and out of the background or waving hello while we were filming.

In the editing process, I could edit them out but it depended on the story being told at the time. The interviewees were on a roll laughing and recalling memories that it didn’t seem right to stop them and ask them to redo.

I had some issues with my ring light too. One of the screws came undone in the boot of my car and I had to put it low to prevent it toppling over if it was at a greater height.

My gear is all quite old and not as sophisticated as a professional. All I had was my ring light, a couple of tripods for my iPhone and my Canon G7x plus a microphone attachment on that. I don’t have any other equipment or Bluetooth microphones mainly because I cannot justify the expense at the moment. I find that what I have more than creates a good product in the end. It works.

Yesterday I edited it all using Camtasia which is my preferred editing software program. I bought my own license some years back but haven’t upgraded it but again, it works out in the end as I’m not doing anything too sophisticated in the video. I haven’t been training myself to use these programs for over a year now deciding to put aside any skills I picked up for my working life before for different pursuits.

Out of the whole process, I enjoyed listening to the stories and speaking to the people after the interview and learning more about them. The filming and the editing just captured an element of that. In the end, I learned that filming and editing is “just an action” that needs to be done to capture that time or story. It doesn’t drive me or motivate me. It just is. I felt neither here nor there about it.

The excitement of filming that I had in the past had well and truly “left the building”. It made me realise how much I have changed as a person in the last year.

What I used to like and love and rave about in the past, I don’t have the same feeling towards it now. I’m a completely different person. I’ve hardened in some way with the child-like curious wonder gone.

I’m glad though that the result of it would be a piece of oral history captured for the future.