Over South America

June 10, 2009

At 39,000 feet somewhere over the northern Columbian Coast of South America.

Experiencing far away places via TV or movies does expand the viewers knowledge, but one of the many things I love about actually ‘being there’ is that it expands the person. Every time I travel it thrills me, inspires me, changes me alittle and I get to meet wonderful new people along the way.

Right now I’m on an American Airways flight from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, which rests atop the Andes mountain range. We land at 9,000 feet with Cotapoxi Volcano rising above us to 17,000 feet. Tomorrow I fly to the Pacific Coast to meet my crew and begin photographing two projects. The first will be the new Casa Ceibo resort 30 miles south of the equator and near the coastal town of Bahia de Caraquez. The second project will be a fashion shoot. We'll be photographing part of the new collection for designer Maria Susana Rivadeneira. Maria Susana, the sweetheart of Ecuador, won Miss Ecuador and went on to win 4th place in the Miss Universe.

Just when I was trying to learn Italiano in hopes of photographing in Italy, I get a job in South America and need to switch to Espaniol. I did take some Spanish in college. My teacher was from Germany. I could hardly understand her English, let alone her Spanish. I suppose I’ll be speaking to the locals here in Italispaniol with a German accent. More to come…