Highway Video

[Alex]

For those who have shot video of roads, when did you first start, what prompted you to do it, do you have archives of your old footage?

I know with the youtube craze and the video modes of just about every digital camera that shooting footage is so easy or appealing. Is that what got you into it?

I started in 1991 and stopped in 1999, when my VHS camcorder died. I started again in 2001 on a Hi-8 video camera until it broke, and then tried out a DVD-cam in 2004. Nowadays I use my digital camera or break out the DVD-cam if I remember to bring it. What got me started on recording was the fact that I wanted to be able to relive roadtrips without leaving the house. It later became a way to document changes to the freeway system (i.e. all signs in button copy vs. retroreflective, pre-construction such as my footage of I-81/84/380, etc.).

My first footage was in and around Rochester, NY, when my aunt rented me a videocamera to use and we drove all around the freeways and out on Lake Ontario State Parkway. I got my own camcorder in summer of 1992, but did not actively being shooting road footage until 1993, when fellow road enthusiast Cary Todd and I set out on various day or night-trips to places like Scranton, PA, north Jersey, Baltimore/Washington, Harrisburg, PA, etc.

When I branched out to longer trips in 1996, I used the camcorder again through places like Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, Charlotte, etc.

In 2001 Andy and I took a trip from the Gulf Coast to Pittsburgh and back, shooting about 5 tapes worth of footage. On our Interstate 70 cross-country trip, I shot dvd footage of Columbus, OH and Denver, CO. Justin and I used the same cam twice in Miami in 2006.

These days I just shoot things randomly, like the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge in VA in December, or the George Wallace Tunnel in Mobile just two weeks ago.

Some are posted on youtube, but the majority of my video collection remains on VHS, awaiting the long process of DVD conversion. Fortunately I have all but one of my original tapes (the one lost contained Business Loop I-83 from York, PA in 1993). Additionally Cary Todd and his dad borrowed my camcorder to go along with one of theirs on a cross country trip in June of 1993 (Delaware to Los Angeles and back). I had the originals tapes of this trip for about 6 months, but never made copies myself (doh!). Those are now lost for all intents and purposes.

[Bryant5493]

For those who have shot video of roads, when did you first start, what prompted you to do it, do you have archives of your old footage?

I started sometime last year. I was prompted to record my driving adventures by watching other "roadgeek" videos, produced by FreewayJim, The Georgia Road Geek and VBDenny. I've just started archiving my videos this past week, when I bought a 320 GB External Hard Drive from Best Buy.


Be well,

Bryant

[Chris]

I started making videos in early 2006, being on vacation in southern Netherlands, exploring Belgium from there. I started with real speed videos, but I've decided to speed them up now, so I can record longer stretches of road and post them on youtube. To be frank, watching hours of roads at real speed becomes boring to me.

On youtube, I noticed there were more people adding videos, mostly from the U.S. In Europe, few people have more than one or two videos online. Most road videos you find on Youtube are people racing on freeways in Poland and Germany, rather for the speeds than the actual interest in roads.

I have to say freewayjim's videos are still the best around 

[RoadWarrior56]

I have a 1976 super 8 mm video from my dad's car of us  riding up and down Monteagle Mountain on I-24 in Tennessee in the southbound direction, which includes the old section on the south slope of the mountain, before it was reconstructed years later.  I just haven't gotten around to or figured out how to convert, along with other old films, to a digital format.  I suppose I could pay to have it done, but if anybody has an inexpensive way or knows of a service to do it, let me know via postings here.

[Bryant5493]

I have to say freewayjim's videos are still the best around 

I concur.


Be well,

Bryant

[SimMoonXP]

Yeah, that would be cool to see the old day Highway/Freeway video in early days as 1960s to now.. I'm sure that San Diego looks alot different back then.

[Freewayjim]

I have to say freewayjim's videos are still the best around 

I concur.

Be well,

Bryant

Thanks guys!

I have a degree in Communications/Broadcasting and I've been involved with my company's corporate videos so I have a little bit of a background with this and it's something I always enjoyed, especially editing.

I first tried to film highways back in 2004 just to do something different than the tens of thousands of photos I was shooting. I figured out how to set up a camera in the car that would give a reasonable good view and filmed the Big Dig in Boston. I did not do anything with that footage for two years as I was I was inspired mainly by The George Road-geek, other vidoes and a buddy of mine from NY who had a bunch of old footage he shot that he gave me a copy of on VHS, interesting stuff.

I tried a web cam and did not like it, so I kept fooling around with my in-car tripod set up until I got it to where it is now.

That first video is still on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ExDSyDKd0

I used Windows Movie Maker for that, no frills. Once I started dabbling with Macs I found that I could really do something with the free iMove program that came with it after being inspired by another YouTuber named "specialkvi" who gave me some tips on using the speed/time lapse function, all hell broke loose LOL, I found my niche.

After a year of iMovie I figured it was time to graduate to Final Cut Express which is simply an awesome piece of software.

I'm still learning how to get the most out of it so I like to think my videos are still evolving.

[hbelkins]

For those who have shot video of roads, when did you first start, what prompted you to do it, do you have archives of your old footage?

I know with the youtube craze and the video modes of just about every digital camera that shooting footage is so easy or appealing. Is that what got you into it?

My wife got me a VHS-C camcorder for Christmas back in 1999, because I'd mentioned something about videotaping some of my day trips. I nearly went broke buying VHS-C tapes at Big Lots and somewhere I have tapes of some of my trips. I have never converted any of them to digital format but i guess one of these days I should while one can still buy VHS-C adapters to play the tapes back in a standard VCR, before they go obsolete. I have no idea if my camera will even work anymore.

I didn't like the fact that you had to stop and change tapes every 90 minutes.

I really didn't give videos much thought after that until I saw how C.C. Slater did his videos last year when several of us met up in Nashville for Billy Riddle's wedding. Mr. Slater had a small camera with a suction cup monopod that easily attached to the windshield, and that made me think that I could do videos, too.

I've since upgraded my video camera and have a hard drive camera on order that should allow me to do even better videos. I process them on a Mac using iMovie HD; perhaps one of these days I'll do what Freewayjim did and upgrade to Final Cut Express. My problem has been in finding a conversion tool that I like.

I have uploaded a few videos to YouTube, but I don't like the way YouTube deletes certain videos because of the music soundtrack. So I mainly upload them to my Web site; as long as I have server space I will continue to do so and say, "Screw YouTube."

It's been an enjoyable way to contribute to the hobby while at the same time archiving my travels for my own replay.

[Chris]

There are several on-board cameras available for accident-recording purposes, but they are also suitable for our hobby.

DRS-1100 Drivers Eye;


example:
(high quality preferrable)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMpmwtMUGok

[Bryant5493]

Went to Philadelphia (MS), Biloxi and New Orleans last weekend.

Here's some footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKbvkMmBD9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2zJv_lfXM


Be well,

Bryant

[Alex]

That pavement on Interstate 10 was well in need of resurfacing. I first took the road (and filmed parts of it) in 1993, and the concrete was horrible then. I think they leveled some of it out since then, but that is all being taken care of now with the asphalting.

The Bayou Savauge Nat'l Wildlife exit was closed after Katrina. The interchange adjacent to it was never opened (at least from 1993 onwards).

Try a black shirt or cloth on your dashboard before your next video, it will diminish the effects of your dashboard reflection when you drive into the sun. 

[Bryant5493]

^^ Thanks, that's a good idea.

Yeah, I found that odd that that interchange was there, but lead to nothing.


Be well,

Bryant

[Bryant5493]

^^ That's the same thing I thought. I looked at a map (http://www.neworleansonline.com/assets/pdfs/maps/NOEastMap.pdf), which gave me the boundaries of New Orleans East as being just east of Michoud Boulevard to just west of Read Boulevard. I guess New Orleans East is just a smaller segment of eastern New Orleans.


Be well,

Bryant

[brentj650]

I started my YouTube freeway page, last month.  So far, I only have freeways from California and Nevada, but that'll change soon.  I also have designated playlists for the Bay Area, Greater Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and I-15 and I-80.  Tomorrow, I'll be launching a Fresno playlists with videos from all 4 freeways in town. 

http://www.youtube.com/freewaybrent

Enjoy.   :-)

[Chris]

^^
Your webcam idea is pretty interesting. How do you set that up, just have a notebook connected to the webcam, and let it roll? I guess you need to stabilize/attach the webcam to the dash to prevent it from fall off in turns/bumps. And you probably need a fairly good webcam.

[Bryant5493]

U.S. 90 Bus. West [HD]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHy_HqB1K-U


Be well,

Bryant

[UptownRoadGeek]

^^ That's the same thing I thought. I looked at a map (http://www.neworleansonline.com/assets/pdfs/maps/NOEastMap.pdf), which gave me the boundaries of New Orleans East as being just east of Michoud Boulevard to just west of Read Boulevard. I guess New Orleans East is just a smaller segment of eastern New Orleans.


Be well,

Bryant

Nice videos! 
"The East" is basically everything east of the IHNC and north of the Intracoastal Waterway.

I-10 has since been repaved (long overdue!) and one side of the new twin-span over Lake Pontchartrain has opened.

[Bryant5493]

^^ Thanks. I have some updated views of the Twin Spans and the I-10 repavement process in the "vault," if you will.


Be well,

Bryant

[Bryant5493]

U.S. 90 Bus. East [HD]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG8sVVEL_vY


Be well,

Bryant

[Bryant5493]

I-10 (Twin Spans)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17k0poLUGpc


Be well,

Bryant

[Hellfighter]

Well, look at what I found...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojzHvac8nzU

[Bryant5493]

^^ Cool video.


Be well,

Bryant

[Bickendan]

I use my Canon PowerShot when recording the road. I have vids of Duluth and Kansas City, though I'd like to speed them up before I upload.

[Bryant5493]

Biloxi-Gulfport-Long Beach Roadgeeking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqvHeYTIAcc


Be well,

Bryant

[Bryant5493]

Traffic Slowdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU6tfY_MzjY

Gulfport, Mississippi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzDZKELKOpQ


Be well,

Bryant