For 20 days in May, Paul and I traveled through Peru with a graduate course on Health and Development from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. I was hired as a teaching assistant for the course and also hired by the Dean’s Office of Communication to photograph it for Global Health Magazine. Having a research faculty based in Peru is a tremendous strength for the Department and the School, so they wanted to have photographs to use in publications, specifically, the School’s Magazine.
Paul and I naively anticipated two weeks of working during the day and then enjoying long, causal evenings where we would go out to dinner, see movies, and read books. It sounds silly in retrospect, but the fact is that I packed two novels to read during the trip. Neither were opened. In reality, the coordination of travel, daily scheduling snafus, and especially keeping up with the equipment and photography responsibilities were incredibly demanding. Our days were long and often began well before sunrise in order to reach a destination or activity. It was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives — from start to finish — and we feel blessed to have been afforded the opportunity. I learned so much about photography: how to approach this sort of assignment, what to strive for, how to manage equipment and supplies, and how to negotiate the two jobs concurrently. Unfortunately, I realized most of these lessons towards the end of the experience… I can only hope that I am lucky enough to secure a similar job in the future!
Paul and I fell in love with Peru more than ever; we cannot wait for the opportunity to return.
The Office of Communication seemed excited about the product I turned over… I am so excited about the upcoming article and hope that it draws great interest to Peru. Until then, I am turning over photographs with detailed descriptions and captions for viewing. I’ll post when each is open. I will probably be adding to them over time, but to start will be my favorites.
Cold Spaghetti » Blog Archive » Photohunt: Chipped | 25-Jan-09 at 7:58 am | Permalink
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