Releasing My Costa Rican Documentary and Moving On

(My Instagram feed @justnlstewart)


Sometimes, you have to let things go. I have to let go of this.

Video is a difficult, time consuming beast. There are so many levels to it that the average joe will never fully understand. I can't tell you how many hours went into this.

I shot this video over the course of spring break in 2015 when I traveled to Costa Rica with professor Bill Allen and other students to help train firefighters working in the ÁCG how to fly drones. They had purchased a drone which we were bringing them and wanted to be trained to fly it so they could use it for various aspects of conservation.

Assembling the film took about a week of editing all day, every day. Then, I was fortunate enough to get help with translations from friends new and old. I've had to do "small" touch up edits right up until yesterday when I was uploading.

It was a hard process. I had to come to terms with footage I didn't have and edit around such restrictions. There was no reshooting possible. I had what I had and that's what I got to work with.

I'd love to re-edit this into something better, but it's time to put it to bed. It's been trying to find a home somewhere unsuccessfully for nearly a year. I've got a to-do list that nauseates me every time I look at it and I'm just out of time to tear this thing apart and reassemble it.

I got to learn a lot through this process and I've got no real regrets (maybe one or two). I'm better for having done it and ready to take on more work. This is the largest, longest piece I've ever worked on and that alone presented a huge opportunity for growth. I'm excited for the next opportunity I get to work on a larger video piece, hopefully with more people so I don't get crushed by the workload again.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped me along the way with this. I had some great help from some amazing people and wouldn't have ever even made it this far without all of them.

So, here it is; my longest piece I've done and something I call a short documentary. On to the next one. Also, if you know of a home, it's still looking...

You can also watch the Spanish version here: SPANISH VERSION


Learning to Fly: Drones in the ÁCG from Justin L. Stewart on Vimeo.
Students at the University of Missouri teach firefighters the fly drones in ACG, Costa Rica to aid in their conservation efforts.

Costa Rica (January 2015)

At the beginning of the new year, I was fortunate enough to spend a few weeks in Costa Rica in a short study abroad class. We learned vast amounts about the environment, tourism and the history of Costa Rica. Due to the speed at which we pushed through everything, I wasn't able to spend a day working on a photo story that interested me, but here's a large edit of the photos I shot while there.

I think the coolest picture I got might have been of the night rainbow, better known as a Lunarbow or Moonbow. I've never seen one of those and had no idea such a thing existed, so that was magical to stumble upon after a night tour through a forest.

My biggest disappointment was not being able to spend more time photographing the local fishermen and the story behind the low tide that effected when the boats could go in and out. It was a picturesque area with an interesting story related to a company deepening one of the river feeds into the bay to get a new, large ship out to ocean. But I digress...

Hope you enjoy the images.