Of course the world was never going to remain captive to a 16mm frame. Yet I find the revolution in both recording and broadcasting technologies somewhere between inspirational and overwhelming.
Movies on still cameras, photographs on mobile phones. We used to say that they would never replace film because you cannot project videotape. Ranks up there with the one time forecast that the global market for computers was five.
It was coincidental that I left Channel 3 during the early stages of the transition from 16mm to videotape as a news recording format although my decision was more about chasing a dream than any rejection of technological change.
I had always wanted to get something on the big screen, cinema, and naively thought the best way to achieve this without leaving Newcastle was to try my luck as a freelance cameraman. Although Don McAlpine and Russell Boyd successfully made the transition they were located in Melbourne and had already crossed over into the egotistical world of commercial production.
If realising the dream meant leaving Newcastle then the dream was only ever going to remain a dream. And so it was. It had to take its place with the reality of generating an income to support my young and growing family having left my previously secure employment.
So Barry Nancarrow Productions was created to address the reality of paying the bills while creating (hopefully) opportunities for me to pursue my dream.
Pragmatism however was the order of the day and the dream was shelved while I tried to sort out how to make a quid with a camera.
Thankfully youthful exuberance and sheer determination sustained me. Had I known then what I know now I would never have undertaken such a venture.
However ignorance can be bliss and that ignorance allowed me to successfully run a small business for seventeen years ..... but that's another tale.
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