A camera shy blogger isn’t something you hear of too often, especially when this is what they do for a living. For the longest time I have been really camera shy. I hate having my picture taken which is probably due to self-confidence issues. The majority of the photos you see on here or on social media are either of Erin on her own or with John or other family members. It’s quite rare for there to be pictures of me. Last month I realised something though. If I want to move forward as a blogger, for my business, I need to work on overcoming camera shyness.
I don’t know where it came from really. One day I think I woke up and decided to create a Youtube channel. I’d been thinking about it on and off for a couple of months but was a bit too nervous to do it. I don’t even go live on Instagram stories. After I’d created my channel I figured I should probably do something about the video content. I had already filmed a couple of really short videos of toys we had been reviewing but nothing with me in. I figured these would be a good start just to figure out what I was doing on Youtube and with iMovie.
I’m sure I could have probably got away with doing this for a little while but I didn’t even talk on the videos. That’s how bothered I have been about doing video content. I have always hated my voice on the phone so I didn’t want to speak on the videos.
After a shopping trip in Norwich I got home and decided that was the day. When Erin was in the bath I sat in front of my Mac and started filming. The light was crap, my make-up had worn off and I was tired as hell but I didn’t care. I sat down and filmed a video with no planning, no preparation and no caring about how shit I looked. I didn’t even edit the video after filming. I added a quick title and hit upload. After that, it was done! I was a bit shocked at myself really because that is not like me at all! I also look miserable as hell in the thumbnail.
Since then though, I’ve sort of come to love Youtube. I don’t post anything on a schedule at the minute but I have a few ideas for things I’d like to film. I’m also trying to do a few more review type videos when I get the right products. I’m still getting used to hearing and seeing myself speak on film and I think that will take some time.
I’d love to hear any tips you may have for overcoming camera shyness and if you have any video ideas for me, please let me know in the comments!
Yay, congratulations on your first video! I know exactly what you mean about not even liking your voice on the phone. I hope one day I’ll overcome my fear of being on video too. Well done you! I think the first video is probably the hardest.