Welcome Back..... Again!

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I am officially back from my trip in Costa Rica and it was a blast! There was so much that I learned while being over there, it was like an entire semester of work that I developed while I was over there. Everything that I participated in during this trip enhanced my learning and allowed me to develop more skills in what I love to do.

This program also developed a new found love for me in digital photography. I thought through and figured I couldn’t just capture everything with just 60 minutes of tape, so stills and photography also helped in my experience. Still, shooting video in an unknown area, going through rain forest with a camera to my hip, producing interviews, capturing birthday parties in Spanish, is still my favorite job ever.

I experienced shooting video in an area where there are no production houses, TV studios or any other type of multimedia production company. The closest and only media producing company was in San Jose which was five hours away from my host family’s home. You can imagine me holding a large HD camera on my shoulder in the small rural town of Nicoya and every head turned to me looking for the action.

Almost everyday I was asked how much did my camera cost, or where was I from that I could afford the camera. This didn’t prevent me from doing what I knew how to do, in fact, citizens in the states ask me what station do I work for or ask where did I buy the camera. The C factor of all of this is I can explain myself here and my purpose of why and what I am shooting, in Costa Rica it was a challenge in Spanish. My speech changed often depending on the words that I learned in class that week or what words I looked up the night before.

Anyhow I made it work and every challenge I was faced with I learned from and I can apply to the future. As for the future I will still be shooting, editing, and producing video, I am sure. I hope to continue to blog and document my experience as a videographer and a student here at IUPUI. The program suspension in Mexico was lifted and there will be students attending that this summer so who knows next. In the far future I would love to go back to Costa Rica and see the city side of San Jose and possibly document Meghan during her study in at the University.

Until next time, adios amigos!