Sunday selfie ~ January 5, 2025

The first “Sunday Selfie” of 2025.

Of late, I’ve gotten a bit bored with modifying images of my mug. Initially,  it was just an opportunity to mess around with AI. I’m using Microsoft Designer’s free version, but the variations for restyling images are limited. It doesn’t help that I’ve never been big on selfies anyway.

So, instead, here’s a view of my life roughly every other Sunday morning.  I help run the AV at my church. My favorite thing is running the cameras, but I run sound on an occasion, too.

There are three cameras; one at the back of the sanctuary (camera one), one to the right near the first pew (#2), and another one to the left facing towards the back of the sanctuary (#3).

The monitor on the left displays all three camera views. The top section displays the live screen (what Zoom shows to the people watching) and the preview screen, which is what will appear when I slide the transition toggle.

So, I typically start with #1 backed out to show a wide-angle view of the sanctuary from the back while the prelude is played. In the meantime,  I line up #3 on the preview screen to the back of the sanctuary for the choir. When the prelude ends and the choir begins the processional down the aisle,  I slide the transition toggle to fade out #1 and bring in #3.

This goes on for the entire service – line up a shot, transition, line up the next shot, transition…

I’ve been doing this for a year or so now, so I’m pretty good at it. A couple of other people run the cameras also, but they typically rely on preset camera angles. I never liked using them. The camera movements get a little hurky-jerky when you rely on the programming.  Freehanding it allows me to compensate for people’s height or oddball movements you aren’t expecting.

The right monitor is the actual Zoom meeting. It messes me up a little because it’s a mirror image, so I just take quick glances at it. I also monitor the chat because the people on Zoom have the opportunity to type in their prayers or thankgiving during the “Prayers of the people” part of the service.  I’ll then read them at the appropriate time.

So if you ever wanted to know what is involved in running AV… that is it in a nutshell.  It’s not very exciting, but I enjoy helping out.

I rarely go to church if I don’t have anything to do. I have a pretty loose grip on my faith. That’s a topic for a different day. 😉

Hope everyone has a great week and a great start to the new year also!