A rather short one again this month. I’ve been working on Youtube videos mostly and didn’t have much time for anything else. Hope you get something out of it anyway!

Thanks for reading

Giel Sweertvaegher

Last month’s work

🆕 New video on Youtube: I recently shared a new Air to Air video on YouTube. Now, I'm in the process of making a vlog-style behind-the-scenes video from the same project: the warbird flights from last July. More about that below.

🆒 My favorite Instagram posts I made this month: a simple composition of the NASA F-104.

⬇️ My worst performing Instagram post: the Grand Canyon.

⬆️My best performing Instagram post: the rare Mew Gull. Although this reel also raked in about 65000 views.

Behind the Scenes

🛜 New website

I’ve done a complete overhaul of my website. I constantly go back and forth between a website that has a lot of information and references and a website that is as minimalistic as possible. I switch it up about every two years. This time around, I went for the minimalistic approach again. A simple black and white design with options to see my portfolio, a selection of my favorite videos, a short about with the basic info and a link to my book and newsletter. That’s pretty much the whole site.

I also advise to never use wordpress.com to make a website.

❌ The printshop is gone (for now)

As you might have noticed there is no longer a link to a printshop. Society6, the print on demand site I used, has switched to paying plans and pretty much scared off a lot of their sellers. I decided to switch to RedBubble. However, I wasn’t too happy with how it looked. A friend rightly pointed out that a POD site no longer represents what I want to do with my work. And he’s right. Consequently, I've decided to remove links to any POD sites and plan to establish my own printshop. Here, I intend to offer high-quality prints, both open editions and limited editions. I already have several ideas on how to accomplish this, but I'm taking my time to ensure that when I do launch the first prints, everything is precisely as I envision it and the demand is there.

📹Behind the scenes video

I've finally begun working on the first behind-the-scenes video from our warbird project in July. However, I now realize I don’t have it in me to make a video like this. I struggle with speaking to the camera, so I ended up filming various clips without much dialogue. I now have to edit this footage into something that resembles a vlog like video. I'm considering using a voiceover to narrate the content, which feels a bit less awkward than talking directly to the camera while engaged in other activities, but it still feels odd. This editing process might take another week or two. If you haven't seen it by mid-December, there's a chance I might scrap the entire project altogether. Nevertheless, this experience is proving to be a valuable learning curve, and I'm confident that I'll be able to create something better next year.

Also, expect a second air-to-air video by the end of December

Worth Sharing

✈️

• Camden Thrasher at it on a carrier. Still so high on my bucketlist!

• Going low in Ukraine.

• Expert rates dogfights in movies.

• Landing a U2 on a carrier.

🚀

• Beautiful shot of the Lunar Lander Research Vehicle.

• SpaceX Launch photos and videos I liked:

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/Czy7DJouQWx/

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/CzymebzO515/

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/CzxSqT6uKVl/?img_index=1

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/CzzX0TgthK4/

  • https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz2l1RJuWx4/

• Starbase looks like a science fiction video.

• Beautiful shot of Bruce McCandless floating in space.

🎥

• Best YouTuber out there, by far.

• Restarted watching Breaking Bad. Still the best series ever made. The cinematography, story, acting, music. It’s all so good.

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