TL;DR Seeking any advice on making documentaries about things around me!

I’ve done a couple of short videos as a hobby between jobs. I’m a programmer by trade. It was really fun to make these in particular:

• a short documentary Backpackers In Cairns, Australia During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• a group profile of the NSW Carriage Driving Society.

But these take time that I don’t really have any more; I’ve got a girlfriend and we don’t want to spend all that time on the road! I tried to shoot a couple of 90-second news packages for a local news website but it was really hard. I hate politics and I hate that breaking news cycle.

Off the top of my head, here are some things that I think would be fun to shoot and edit:

• Documenting local organised events. Not just the highlights; from setting up and packing down again, mishaps along the way.
• From bin to…? Where our rubbish goes
• Cancelled buses: why bus drivers are so hard to find

I feel embarassed to speak to people about these things. The word “imposter” comes to mind. I don’t have any political agenda and I don’t care about getting clicks via outrage. It’s about discovering how things work - how things really are - and sharing that discovery.

Alternatively I thought about shooting footage and uploading it “raw” to YouTube and/or editorial footage stock sites. From there I could pass it on to local news publications.

Keen to hear any advice on what I could do next. Any YouTube channels which cover this kind of thing in a similar tone?