Night Time Via Ferrata at the Rocher De Naye
Sleeping, in a different place than usual.
I have worked with video cameras, from hi8 to MiniDV, Beta SP, SX, DVCAM, XDCAM, AVCHD and other formats. Cameras have grown and shrunk, controls have changed from manual to partially automated to fully automated. Television news and Studio camera productions have gone from three or four camera operators to needing a couple and then a single camera operator sitting in a side room with controls for all three cameras. Crane and jib moves are programmed so that the same action is performed at the start of each news program.
Virtual Reality technology and Virtual reality headsets are going down in price. Apps provide mobile phone users with 360° videos in normal vision and 3D. The technology we use to watch 360° content and immerse ourselves in the VR world could be adapted and made suitable for multi-camera production.
It would be nice for software to be written that moves the camera as we move our heads. This technology is already used by gunners flying in Apache helicopters. The point would be to adapt this technology to camera operating. I would manual controls for zoom and focus and a control  to lock off the camera once the desired shot is ready.
Imagine how much simpler controlling drone and crane cameras would be. Imagine also how much nicer it will be for conference attendees, concert goers and UN delegates if a smaller remote controlled camera could be used. Camera operators often obscure people’s view. This technology would be less intrusive. Camera operators could sit rather than stand for hours at a time, barely able to move.
VR goggles and the technology they contain should not be used just to consume a finished product but should instead be used as a creative/production tool. VR goggles and related tech could be used to simplify people’s work, to make it more intuitive. Multicamera production with VR goggles would reduce costs and make high-quality video coverage achievable even for modest budgets. The excuse for using a single webcam to Livestream an event will be gone making virtual attendance of events more enjoyable.
In Switzerland they reintroduced wolves and they are thriving, to the point where a collection of 17 packs of wolves became a pack of 35 wolves. As the number of wolves increases so does the probability that humans will fall victim to wolves. They are thinking of reintroducing them to Ireland too.
“Wolves create a landscape of fear that keeps deer moving, it keeps deer away from the roads, it keeps deer up in the highlands where we want them, not down in our fields or in our gardens,” he says.
Reintroducing wolves also takes away the freedom of hikers, walkers and children. The more wolves are around, the more likely it is that humans will fall victim to these wolves. If they behave like foxes or cats then I have no problem. If they behave like domestic dogs we will need to walk with fog horns, pepper spray or big sticks. If wolves are reintroduced it is no longer safe to walk alone, and that is all I do.
The very argument for introducing wolves, to frighten deer, is the same argument for why they should not be reintroduced. Europe is densely populated. If we introduce predators humans will encounter them more and more regularly, and eventually people will be attacked. We don’t introduce sharks to swimming waters. Why do people think it’s okay to reintroduce wolves?
Dogs attack humans regularly. I have been threatened by dogs at least five to ten times during my walks. I have never been bitten but I have changed where I walk because of my fear of dogs. If dogs were not cruel, sadistic animals, I would not fear wolves. If I knew with certainty that wolves behave like foxes then I would feel safe. Foxes usually slink away, or sprint away, depending on whether they know they have been seen. If wolves behave like foxes then I am less afraid, but I still don’t want to walk in woods alone anymore.
By reintroducing wolves we remove the freedom for people to walk alone. We also decrease the safety of children to go out alone. There was a recent petition where 25,000 or more people signed against the culling of wolves in Switzerland but the article doesn’t address the key point. Are the people who sign petitions to keep wolves, hiking alone in the woods? Are the people who want wolves around stuck in cities, where there is little to no risk of seeing wolves?
Carry an air horn, bear spray, or something to ward off nearby wolves.
Are wolf attacks rare because wolves are rare, or are they rare because wolves, like foxes fear humans. If attacks are rare because wolves behave like foxes then I am not afraid. If attacks are rare, because wolves are rare, then I do not find this reassuring, especially with growing numbers. I am tempted to walk with pepper spray, an air horn and trekking poles.