Nom Kapong
In 2012 I purchased my first “proper” camera and started ‘Aha’, a blog about food, people and places. My intention was to capture and share the things I love most about Cambodia as well as use the blog as an opportunity to hone my photography skills. However, as my work as a designer gained traction, I found it difficult to keep up the writing and shooting, so in 2015 I decided to stop Aha and channel my energy into my design work.
Its been 10 years since that first post, and today I’ve decided to re-start it, this time under my own name. However, instead of using the blog as a way to develop my photography skills — which I feel like I’ve got a decent grasp of — this time I will be using it to hone my videography skills. I don’t have any goals or plans to become an amazing film-maker or cinematographer but I do believe in the power of moving image, and its ability to draw people in in a way that stills aren’t always able to do.
Video for me brings together all the things I love; images, sound and story-telling. It is something that, as a creator, I am drawn more and more to. I am, by nature, an incredibly impatient person and although I strive for excellence, I’m not a perfectionist. I know my videos will be nowhere near perfect, but I am a firm believer in just ‘doing it’ and learning as you go.
When we’re learning something new, or ‘re-inventing’ ourselves it’s easy to get caught up in all the little details, the ‘tech-talk’, and resist taking action for fear of being judged. But I believe that the best way to learn is by doing because, to paraphrase what Ira Glass says, “it is only by going through a volume of work that you will be as good as your ambitions.”
For my first post I am sharing something that I shot and edited this morning. It’s not perfect. In fact it took me longer to write this post than it did to shot and edit the entire thing, but it’s a start. It was unplanned, but in the spirit of starting I grabbed my camera, got on my moto, and rode down to the wet-markets to see what scenes would unfold in front of me.
So here you have it, a short video of Nom Kampong, otherwise known as Nom Jien Chrouk.
