I didn’t think it would be this hard.

Since I was released from the hospital (wow, that makes me sound like a wild animal, doesn’t it?), I’ve been cooking for myself regularly.

Which is fun. I love cooking, and it’s the easiest way for me to manage my restrictions and make sure I’m eating healthily. Is that a word? It is now.

So I thought I’d start filming me making some of the dishes that I enjoy. Quick, flavorful stuff like ramen or curries- things that make your tastebuds happy, but won’t take up all of your time. But I’ve run into a couple problems.

All my previous vlogs have been shot on my laptop. There’s no real way to set up my laptop in the kitchen to film a cooking vid. There just isn’t. So I can shoot it on my phone – I have a tripod and an adapter to put my smartphone on the tripod.

But then I just keep running into more problems. Our kitchen is narrow and not exactly set up in a way where I can put the camera where I want it, so most of the video would need to be my back to the camera. Then, the lighting in the kitchen is terrible – so I want to rely on as much natural light as possible. Which only works if it isn’t overcast. And it’s Southern California in February – it’s going to be overcast.

Plus, I have no control over the camera if it’s just me shooting it. I can’t see if I moved out of frame (which I did in my test shoot last week)

So…. what have I learned?

I need a camera person. I need to figure out a better angle. And apparently I need to invest in some sort of lighting that I can diffuse to so that it looks natural.

Adding all of those to my to-figure-out list.