José Alcoy

First Documentary on Its Way I did it. On my recent trip to Paris, I shot the first mini-documentary of my upcoming series and an environmental portrait session with an Argentinian artist in his workshop. First observation: Trying to fit both into a single day of shooting was too ambitious. For the shoot, I used the Sony ZV-E1 as my main video camera and the A7C II for environmental portraits and as a second video camera. I’ll be sharing the results and key takeaways soon. In the meantime,...

My Next Project I’m thrilled to kick off a new long-term project—a blend of video mini-documentaries and off-camera flash environmental portraits highlighting pioneers, visionary individuals, artists, and those pursuing unique, nostalgic ventures in a changing world. I’m an impatient guy. With no release date for the Sony A7V, I decided to order an A7CII to reignite my passion for photography. While it has some limitations for flash photography, its compact size, improved autofocus, and...

Top YouTube creators spend a disproportionate amount of time on packaging—the title, thumbnail, and intro. I’ve internalized the importance of crafting intros and researching thumbnails, but honestly, sometimes they still end up as an afterthought for me. Take my recent video on deleting Instagram from my phone as an example. I published it on a Friday, and it got no traction—ranking 10/10 in views (the worst-performing video among my last 10 uploads). With fewer than 30 views after 48 hours,...