With the shop now in a new location on the ground floor, the place where I used to do all the video work upstairs has now been dismantled ... Here's a candid shot of the new setup, taken just at the end of a long day of video work (done on a Tuesday when the shop was closed):

The place where I sit is still a bit 'bare' compared to the old shop, but I am sure that this 'problem' will take care of itself in due course:

Facing me from across the room are the lighting unit, and the camera/teleprompter combination:

Here's what I see as I look towards the camera. I can't see the lens itself, but I know it's behind there somewhere!

The view in the teleprompter is actually a bit clearer than what you see here. From where I sit, it is quite clear and readable:

As you see in that photo, the teleprompter isn't feeding me an exact script. It's just the kind of thing that would be written on a set of index cards - the point being to try and keep me 'on track' during the presentation.

With the heavy towel removed, you can see how the teleprompter works: it's just a flat monitor laid on its back, with a piece of glass standing at an angle on top of it. The camera shoots through from the back ...

You can also see that the lettering on the monitor screen is reversed ... but not right-to-left ... it's flipped up-down ... so that the reflection on the glass will appear in proper orientation to me as I read it ...

And one more thing ... In some of the previous videos I've made, you might sometimes have seen my hands moving a little bit, just slightly out of view. I was touching the trackpad on my computer, adjusting the scroll speed of the teleprompter, trying to keep it roughly in line with my speaking speed. This time around, I have a better solution for that - a foot pedal!

But the pedal comes with a major defect ... it's really noisy, making a giant double-click sound no matter how carefully and softly I press the pedals. So ... the area around my feet is stuffed with a feather futon! It got very hot down there during the recording session ... but it's all in the name of our art! :-)