Being Perfectly Imperfect
Many years ago (more years ago than I care to remember), I had an extraordinary experience. Not only did I have this extraordinary experience, I captured it on video. As I was doing some other video work this morning, I stumbled across the video from this event. And the memories came flooding back.
When I captured this video, I had just picked up a new camera, lighting, and underwater housing. I was completely unfamiliar with it and how it would operate in the cold murky waters in Puget Sound. I also was new to video editing, with zero training and almost zero experience.
Little did I know that I wasn’t just practicing video capture and editing. I was about to be the first person to capture and edit a wild hatch event for a giant pacific octopus in high definition video. This “trial run” with my camera equipment ended up producing the most watched footage I have ever captured in my diving career.
What was the video, you ask? Well, I found a fully grown giant pacific octopus tucked away in a den at a popular Seattle dive site, and I followed her for almost a full year. The reason I knew it was a “her” is that I watched her lay 50,000 eggs and take care of them for many, many months… all the way through their hatching. The hatch was a week-long, truly spectacular event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2tZMhoq0nI
It’s interesting for me to watch the video now. I see it through the critical eye of experience - I notice the technical flaws, the camera jostle, the out of focus moments, the overly long run time, overlit moments, the amateur subtitling, the lack of transitions. Spoiler alert: go to minute 6 for the best footage. In video editing terms, six minutes is an eternity…
But. I also realized something perhaps more important as I re-watched the video. I can still feel the sense of wonder and joy from the event when I watch it. The video teleports me back to an incredible week of diving, discovery, and celebration. While technically imperfect, the footage and the editing captured a moment, feelings, joy, wonder.
And clearly, despite its numerous technical flaws, this footage resonated with people, because it ended up getting a lot of attention. It was featured on numerous national and international television and radio programs, and ultimately, much of the footage was picked up by National Geographic.
I think that there’s a lesson in all of this. Sometimes there’s a beauty to something being “perfectly imperfect” and that connects to us in a deeper way as opposed to something that is polished and perfect. I think that we inherently value the human-ness of imperfection. Subconsciously, imperfection opens the door for us to be vulnerable, truly human. We connect with that imperfection, realizing that we have value despite being imperfect, and we sense that it’s ok to be unpolished, authentic, imperfect… real.
The other lesson is that sometimes, when we don’t know everything, we do extraordinary things. When I shot and produced this video, it was done in a very pure way… I didn’t know how raw and imperfect the video was, I just knew that it contained a story that I wanted to share. I didn’t over-analyze my process or product, I just… created. I was just a diver posting footage on YouTube. And there is beauty and magic in that, the sense of which is captured in the final product as well.
My take-away from re-watching this video is three fold:
Don’t let inexperience keep you from diving in and doing something you feel passionate about, whether it is professional or personal in nature. The process of learning is never finished, and so waiting to do something until you know everything prevents potential magic from happening.
Being perfectly imperfect is what makes us truly human. Being vulnerable in our imperfection, just showing up and trying, just doing the things without knowing how they’ll end up… it opens the door to authenticity and connection with others. And those connections are beautiful.
The creative process doesn’t just teach us about design or technical skills. It teaches us about ourselves. I learned so much about myself, what I believed, what I could do in the process of capturing and editing this video. And I was changed by the process, and what I learned from it, for the better.
So.
Don’t know everything? Do it anyways.
Not sure how others will feel or think about it? Do it anyways.
When you just go do the things, you might just find the real YOU. Perfectly imperfect. Real.
So let’s celebrate and embrace imperfection. It’s what makes each of us human.
