What is it about Vlogging?

I’ve been blogging for more than 7 years. During that time, I’ve seen blogging trends come and go – we’ve been through selfies-in-the-mirror, relatable, magazine-style and somewhere in between; some of us were blogging before “social media” as it is today was even a thing, and seen new networks pop up, expand and die. One major thing that was around when I started blogging, but has grown and just completely boomed recently is vlogging.

For a really long time, I avoided the good old video blog because it was hard work and I decided I was awkward on camera. I did a video several years ago on rag curling my hair – it wasn’t hugely successful in my eyes because it was blurry (the camera focused on a butterfly decoration I had rather than me, and I didn’t know until afterwards!) and my family thought I was hilarious in it and made fun of me – thanks family! The editing and uploading took foreverrrrr too. So in my head, I thought that must be how videos worked all the time – they were difficult to edit, they took forever to upload and they were just plain awkward – some of us weren’t made for them.

But I decided, on a spur of the moment decision, to film a bra making video with the Harriet bra. And actually, it wasn’t too bad! I thought I wouldn’t have anything to say, but the 50+ minutes of video I filmed proved that wrong. In the end, yes, the editing was quite a long process and I was a little awkward, but I figured it out, uploaded it, and really liked it. It massively helped that I had a new camera with a flip screen that meant I could see what it was filming and focusing on, and that I now had iMovie on my Mac to edit it with, which was much easier than previously.

And I’ve now filmed a few videos and am looking forward to film more – so what is it about vlogging?

People say that blogging is dying – it’s being thrown to the trolls; no one sits down to read blogs any more

The thing about vlogging for me at the moment is that it’s so relatable. There’s that word again! Sometimes we want to see magazine style images and editorials; other times, we just really want to know what other girls are putting on their faces on a normal budget on a normal day so that we can recreate it.
Vlogging is people sat in their bedrooms talking to a camera – you’re in your own environment and far more vulnerable when you don’t have quite as much of an opportunity to pick and edit your words. It’s what comes naturally to you in that time that you’re sat in front of the camera. Yes, you can refilm it; yes, you can edit it. But that’s time and effort, so a lot of it is what comes to you in that moment – it’s more real.

And I think that’s the thing about vlogging at the moment. People want something instantly and they want real people to tell them it. There’s definitely still a place for editorial and polished images, but there’s also a craving for reality that vlogging instantly fills.

So I’ve fallen into the world of vlogging now, but I know I’ll also keep up the writing too. I’m not quite as eloquent when I’m speaking as when I’m writing – words often fail me, and it’s much easier to pause for a moment to think when you’re writing! Nevertheless, I’ve found a small new audience in vlogging and it’s fun, so I’m going to keep going. Originally my plan was to stick to sewing videos, but those are actually a lot more hard work because, as you can imagine, sewing plus videoing can be a little tricky! So keep your eye out for a mixture of lifestyle, sewing, fashion and hair/beauty (not sure there’ll be many of these!) over at my YouTube channel – let’s see how it goes!