Lindsay Clark is living the dream of making travel part of her job. I first came across Lindsay when I was planning my own trip to Fiji and I learned about her awesome time spent there while traveling as a winner of the STA travel intern. You can watch her application video that one her this prime internship HERE. We will hopefully meet up at the Nomading Film Festival in New York next month and I can’t wait. To get to know more about Lindsay keep on reading.
Who: Lindsay Clark of Nomadder Where
What: www.NomaderWhere.com Twitter: @NomadderWhere
Facebook: Facebook.com/NomadderWheresite Youtube: Linzer32 Vimeo: NomadderWhere
StumbleUpon: NomadderWhere
You should watch: One Year at Nomadder Where video
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your website, and what got you motivated to start traveling? How did you get the travel bug?
I grew up in a rural Indiana town until my parents gave me the green light to pursue other academic paths in different cities. I moved to the state capital and attended a high school with wonderful opportunities in the arts and even travel. With one educational trip to Italy, I got all sorts of obsessed, especially after seeing such diversity and beauty I couldn’t yet see in my town.
In college, I attended Semester at Sea, a shipboard study abroad that travels around the world, which solidified my love of travel, mainly its challenges. My website started as a place to narrate my experiences to family and friends but evolved when I realized strangers were reading and commenting. In 2009, I won the STA World Traveler Internship, and that’s when my readership exploded. It’s been a labor of love and passion since.
2. Just quickly looking at your bio, it seems you have quite the prestigious background in the past few years. Can you tell us a little more about all of your great accomplishments?
My last three years have been about lucky breaks. Winning the internship felt unreal, because I didn’t know what STA was looking for and just took a shot in the dark. Getting the job with Project Explorer was effortless in that they found me. For someone who loves to travel and document its challenges and benefits, the odds are slim to score a job like that so easily. I didn’t even understand that I was extended a job offer until three weeks later.
I’ve been receptive to opportunities that presented themselves and made them when there were none. Between every big opportunity was a time when I decided to spend all my money to travel and do what I loved. It’s been an interesting ride, albeit expensive and risky.
3. Why did you decide to incorporate video into your website and blog?
Words and photos were no longer enough to recreate an experience the way I wanted to. Also, the people I write for are more inclined to watch videos than read verbose prose.
4. Aside from yourself, do you have any favourite people that make travel videos? Anyone that has inspired you or whom you just enjoy good content from?
Currently, I obsess over people who make cinematic portraits of a place, even though I myself am a creator and fan of the traveler vlogs. Mike Matas makes me giddy with his photo motion that puts me into epileptic shock. Stephan Kot has mad skills, both technical and creative. Anything with a distinct visual theme and thoughtful use of audio attracts my eye and ear – like a lot of these.
5. What has been your favourite travel video that you have made to date?
For the last year, I’ve been focusing my editing efforts on work, which means I have yet to cut a personal travel video with my improved software and soundtrack choices. In pure travel video terms, I think my Village Life video from Fiji has the best overall package of content. There were so many topics covered on that trip, but in slimming down the experience into a couple different activities, we were able to illustrate concisely and vividly what it was like to live there.
6. Did you have any previous filmmaking experience?
If you consider taping church for shut-ins or filming Tom Green-esque pranks over summer break to be filmmaking experience, then yes I did. Otherwise, no, but I did study photography, which branched easily into the realm of video.
7. Do you have any tips for other people who are wanting to start making travel videos?
Don’t be dissuaded by your access to technology. I made a video with a point-and-shoot and Windows Movie Maker that sent me around the world for free. Set your personal standards higher with each new video, but you have to start somewhere. My first videos were crap fests.
8. What equipment do you use? Camera? Editing program? Type of computer?
Most of my travel videos were edited with iMovie, but now I film and function with Final Cut Pro in mind. I would love a good DSLR video camera, but right now I’m happy with my ever-so economical Sanyo HD1010 and Canon Powershot HD. If I didn’t have a Mac for video editing, I would cry endlessly.
9. Vimeo or Youtube?
Both. Depends on the video, too.
10. How do you go about promoting your videos? Do you have any suggestions for other people to promote theirs?
I like to make videos that pair with text, so often the integration of a video into a blog helps it from growing dusty in my Youtube vault. Taking time to name and keyword the video thoughtfully is very helpful in the long run. I use Twitter and Facebook to catalyze organic views, but I don’t try to push it. Figure out who your videos are for, and try to market in a way that appeals to – not overwhelms – that demographic. StumbleUpon is probably a solid investment in time and energy to expose a wider crowd.
11. How long do you suggest a video should be 2min? 10min? A good length to keep people watching but not bore them?
Short and sweet is a safe bet, but it all depends on the content and flow. There are 6 minute videos I watch wide-eyed to the end. There’s one 3 minute video I’ve tried numerous times to watch in full but always get bored and shut it off. There’s no universal limit for me.
12. Why did you decide to make the big move to New York?
Living in Indiana, as comfortable, affordable, and friendly as it is, doesn’t offer the same creative job opportunities nor the diversity a travel-hungry person longs for. I analyzed tens of U.S. cities in terms of work, access to nature, climate, leisure, continuing education, friends, and travel costs back to Indiana. Chicago was a solid second and would have been much easier, but some people close to me made the unexpected declaration that I’d be crazy not to experience New York at this time and age. It’s a great hub for me for now.
13. Do you have an ultimate goal with your travel videos? Are you interested in having your own travel show?
I’m not that passionate about hosting, but I am about producing. My travel videos all have an underlying purpose: to speak to those who feel travel is pretentious, inaccessible, or too dangerous. If I can work on a travel show that accomplishes the same purpose with a wider audience, I’ll be very happy.
14. What’s next?
I’m keeping that lil’ tidbit a surprise.
We will be waiting with bated breath to see what you get up to next Lindsay! Thanks again for the awesome interview and maybe we will be colaborating on something together sometime soon! :)
~Cailin
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