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Moment Farm Podcast
# 12 A Black Sand Beach & When Exploring Pays Off
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-17:39

# 12 A Black Sand Beach & When Exploring Pays Off

A morning on the Pacific in Costa Rica.

Transcript

[00:00:00]

[00:00:16] Kelly: Okay, Joseph, we're gotta talk about one of my all time. Favorite days we are in Costa Rica. It is Christmas and we stumbled upon a beach at the end of a little peninsula. It's an outlet of a river and it turned out to be an extraordinary morning. And then a repeat, we brought back the whole family.

[00:00:38] To set the stage.

[00:00:40] We're south of Tamarindo. We're standing in a little house and farther south is this beach area, uh, Junquillal, and it's gorgeous.

[00:00:55] Joseph: Absolutely gorgeous. I think the benefit of having really great cameras is coming true here. You, you had brought this one up and you're like, Hey, uh, black sand beach. I was like, yeah, right.

[00:01:08] Yeah. Uh, which one? Because we've seen a few. And, as these photos came up, right? Yeah. I started painting the memories myself, but as the photos come up, like, whoa, right. Remember. The colors are rich. The contrast is high. The faces are smiling, right? The kids are running. There's a lot of texture that I remember and, and even more in these shots, that makes it, you know, more alive.

[00:01:41] Like I'm excited to post this and, and give it to the kids. Hey, remember this? Right. Cause they still talk about Costa Rica for sure. And this day and, It was wonderful. And this is all before breakfast.

[00:01:58] Kelly: This for me, when I think back there, when I think about, do you leave or do you stay, this is the one memory of get up, get in the car, get out of the house.

[00:02:11] Cuz I, I had two choices that morning when this beautiful house overlooking the ocean, I could make my coffee. Grab my computer and go and sit and edit at photos from the day before or get in the car. And I think we were three or four days into this trip and everybody's a little smoked and tired. And I jumped in the car and I went south and found this beach and it was just incredible.

[00:02:34] And I just hustled back, like, go, come on. We gotta go, like get back in the car. And what I love about this area of Costa Rica and one, the, the area. While it's expensive, it's actually very poor area. So you're gonna go through a little bit of remoteness a little bit, and it actually makes me a little bit sad.

[00:02:54] I'm really glad that we, we opted to not stay on some big resort. We stayed in a house when you drive down, they're all dirt roads to get to this beach. You're gonna pass through a handful of little surf hotel/motel host. And then you're gonna be on and get into the end, and then fortunately we took full coverage, and then you just, you drive into the, you drive into the bushes and up and around, and then you just creed and it was before the wind started.

[00:03:22] And it was incredible.

[00:03:25] Joseph: Yeah. I don't remember seeing the human that drove the motorcycle there. No, but there was a motorcycle at the end and. I think authentic, authentic Costa Rica is an accurate description. It took us a few days to learn that there were other places to get food that weren't 45 minutes away. But it was remote in a way that was refreshing and authentic.

[00:03:55] Kelly: When you think about that morning, there's some interesting photos here with you with your little ones. What, what kind of emotions come up?

[00:04:04] Joseph: Yeah, there's a shot from behind us on a trail that I didn't know existed and I'm holding. He must have been what four, you know, five years old. And I think the, he doesn't have his shoes on, so I bet sticks were poking his feet or something.

[00:04:26] Right. And the sandals are probably in my bag and this was the first trip we drug him out of the country. Mm. And I don't think they, for the fear that we had in bringing out of the country, they certainly, they didn't know any better. Uh, "thanks guys." So, lots of trust that kids have and parents to make good choices and to have found a place to build these kinds of memories.

[00:04:52] Mm. Um, super special. And our family loves the water. The pool at the house. They still talk about being able to walk down onto the ocean and watch the sunset every night. And, I think about how lucky I am that we are to be in a position to do these kinds of things. Mm-hmm and, um, how wonderful it is to have had the connections with the kids and to do that with our families.

[00:05:24] Kelly: When you think about this was your second trip, maybe third trip with your drone and you have some pretty good shots here flying the beach. How do you think about shots now? Cause we'll share some. And what would you do differently? Now, knowing what you know, and capturing the moment and being present at the same time, but also how do you frame things up?

[00:05:48] Like technically speaking, how do you think about it and what do you go for?

[00:05:52] Joseph: Yeah, on this one, I didn't have, I still just had an iPhone and that D 90.

[00:05:58] Kelly: And you, you flew drone too? No.

[00:06:01] Joseph: Uh, yeah. And, and the drone. Yeah. Um, There's there's a standard set of shots, like lay a person on the ground, hover over them and zoom up and down kind of thing.

[00:06:14] I think, yeah, this is a reps issue. The more tools you have, the more, kind of skill you have at seeing the shot come forward. I'm to the point where I don't have a camera on me, I'm more aware of my surroundings now in a way where like William came up.

[00:06:35] We were at a pool the other day, and he's like behind some grasses and there's an umbrella and the pool's behind him and I'm sitting on a chair, but he's down below me. And he walks into the frame. Like I, I live now with a frame in mind. Where the rest of the periphery can be cut out and I can just go, that's a good shot right there.

[00:06:58] That's a good shot. Hmm. And that kind of repetition, uh, I didn't have at the beginning, but I certainly do now. Walking around the neighborhood or the lakes, you can kind of pull up on spots and go, oh, that's a good shot. And then go back and take it. Mm-hmm. Or know that it's coming

[00:07:17] So that practice, was just growing here. And once, once you add access to it, you put a drone in the air. You can go up and down left, right sideways. Those are such fun times because, for me, my brain goes into the drone and you, I get a sense of freedom as a result of flying. And I remember. Cruising this coast, trying to get behind the kids to get the sun, to show them as silhouettes and then, you know, fly by, down low, pan around them.

[00:07:56] Just because the scene was so beautiful.

[00:07:59] So those are some of the things that have changed. Over the five years we've been doing this in terms of just daily life, being able to see shots and then being able to anticipate them. And when your head's in the drone, it's 3, 4, 5 X as intense as when you're just moving your feet.

[00:08:21] Kelly: Yeah. Do you, do you have a preference on, now being where you are with your photography, do you have a preference on drone? No drone still?

[00:08:32] Joseph: Yeah. It's a good question. I have seen these drones, the size of your hand hit the market. And if there's anything about the drone I don't like is that it changes the setting and the scene, for the people in the scene in a dissatisfying way. Mm. Where the sound of the propellers and the rotors and the like having to take it out.

[00:08:56] And the controller is loud. I don't like those parts. I love having the videos afterwards. And I think, um, what the drone is five years old for me. I think about getting a smaller tinier, lower impact drone to run stuff. That's closer, like nearby stuff, right? Mm-hmm , doesn't need to go a mile or a half a mile or a quarter mile.

[00:09:25] It needs to go. Mm-hmm, a few hundred feet. So that's how I think about it. How about you? Where is your part photography come from? How do you think about it? Different.

[00:09:34] Kelly: Less is more, less tools, less stuff. Uh, I got really lucky on this day in, in this beach. I don't, I don't know that there's a more, there's maybe one or two more special beaches for me that they're all from my childhood, but this one is interesting. There's a shot of a crab that comes up out. And for me to get that shot, I, I sat down.

[00:10:00] And I laid down and then I was there for like five or 10 minutes with that crab, just me in that crab, just like one on one. And it's a really interesting shock cuz you see the crab's eyes and their high kind of like SpongeBob and you can see my reflection in the crab and I'm not, I'm not using a macro or I'm using an 85 millimeter and just laying down to do that.

[00:10:20] And then really, really. Um, like 1.4 and then the same thing. There's a shot of a seashell too. The same thing, just it getting low and down and close on the, on the photography side.

[00:10:36] And now on the drones, like this was just one of those, like this beach, like anybody could fly it. Like, it's just, it's a point and there's waves and there's kids running around and it's like, you could, you had no idea what you're doing and you would just get this right.

[00:10:51] But what's interesting is how do you find the things, and maybe this is true for life too. How do you find the things that no one else is seeing? How do you find the colors? How do you find... there's another interesting shot of the, of the waves breaking and it's not the waves breaking or the curl or any of that while there's some epic ones of that.

[00:11:09] It's the after wash of this dark green on this white. And yeah, that's what I, that's what I would say. Obviously the sun matters and just all of those things. I, I really love this day because we got the whole family out there. I think everybody loved it. And, I think we have some really great memories that we created and we stayed pretty present in doing it too.

[00:11:36] And. Yeah, who's this is the home run like this perfect beach on the end of this thing. There's nobody there in the morning. Yeah, that's what I would say. That's what I would say.

[00:11:46] Joseph: That's awesome.

[00:11:47] So happy to have had the chance to, to be there, to travel with you guys to make the memories and now five, some odd years later, look back on them.

[00:11:58] Kelly: Holy cow. Yeah. Uh, I would obviously highly recommend it, but it's also, you know, if I were to do it over again, what would I do differently? I don't know that I would do anything differently. Um, It was, it was a while...

[00:12:11] Joseph: I wanna use the local grocery stores.

[00:12:14] Kelly: Oh, no, I, the whole trip, forget about that. That's a whole different story, but this one just this morning is what I'm talking about.

[00:12:19] It was, and honestly, it's interesting, like you had to do it in the morning. I actually don't know that we could have done this in the middle of the day because of the sand. It's truly black sand

[00:12:29] Joseph: Different.

[00:12:30] Kelly: It would've been all different.

[00:12:31] Joseph: The sand would have been super hot.

[00:12:32] Kelly: Yeah. For me, forget about the photos. Just like the kids walking on the sand. I don't think it would've, it would've been a non-starter and then it was interesting that the, the sand is also magnetic there. So you came back and any of your clasps that were magnetic were covered in sand, which is, uh, which was neat. Yeah, there's just there's for me, this beach is. Quote "at the end of the world," really hearkens back to my time as a kid in the islands, like this was what it was like, like that kind of just raw out in the middle of nowhere.

[00:13:04] Nobody else there, but locals, which isn't true. I mean, you know that there's tourists there, but yeah. Uh, and I don't like to go back to the same places over and over again, but I would do this one in heartbeat.

[00:13:16] Joseph: Yeah. I think it would be amazing to see five years on each kid. yeah. Running around on the beach.

[00:13:23] Kelly: Yeah. If you can get 'em to at this point, right. Would they find as much joy? That's the question?

[00:13:28] Joseph: I don't know. We might need some Roblox. Yeah. Some Roblox blocks bucks to build some persuasive.

[00:13:36] Kelly: Yeah. It's interesting. Like we're lucky that we take these photos. It's just, I wonder, I almost feel like how do you get normal families to be able to pick up a camera and be able to capture some of this stuff and...

[00:13:49] Keep picking out your phone and you're doing it. And I think there's a bunch of tips we could give people on how to do it with your phone really well. Yeah. But there's something different for us that we've got this level of quality to look back and go, "holy cow," because it is, it is high Def gorgeous, all of the things.

[00:14:06] So, um, maybe it's a thought, like how do you give people just a simple, here's some tips on how to do wonderful. I understand. It's also natural and to your very, very valid point, this is a reps issue. You take in a quarter million photos, you're gonna be better.

[00:14:20] Joseph: Yeah. You can set it up. You can cast it. You can instigate motion, right? Yeah. Because you kind of know what you want. You can see other shots. Like it you're

[00:14:32] Kelly: Like that photo of there's an amazing photo of your daughter that I got to take where she's like half squinting because the sun is super bright and you don't ever put people's face into the sun. But I did on purpose and she's got some of the black sand on her face and it's top 10 photo for me.

[00:14:50] And then the other one is her because she's really pale and she. Incredibly beautiful, like almost white hair laying on the black sand beach. And that was intentional too. It's to your point, it's not just to like lay down and look up. Lizzy laying down, looking up is what, what I think made it, made it really different and she's very gregarious and she's effusive in her facial and her body and all that stuff.

[00:15:17] So really interesting. Now, if I could go back and get her doing some results on this beach, that would be cool.

[00:15:21] Joseph: She's built those skills since then. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But her teenage self would be embarrassed by the closing choices, but yeah, I will cross that bridge. Yeah.

[00:15:36] Kelly: Well, I think the, you know, a couple lessons for me here interested to hear yours is a, the coffee's good, but take it in the car and go and explore. Cuz you might find something that you remember for the rest of your life.

[00:15:46] B. And I've been faced with the scenario a couple of times where I've done that and ended up by myself. Fortunately, I was able to grab the folks and go and experience together. Cuz there is no way there is no way this has the same place in my heart if I've done it alone.

[00:16:03] So A explore B try not to do it alone.

[00:16:07] Joseph: Yes. I, I think, being able to pace out what you're asking of the family to do. Because days before this, there was a zip lining thing. And if this morning would've been after the zip lining, we would not have had humans pile in the car and come with. But it was spaced out enough that there was time for another adventure.

[00:16:32] I think we've built enough trust with them that when we say no, no, you gotta come. They kind of like, well, okay, "is there internet?" No, but you're coming. And then they come and, uh, and that's about reps too. Right? Build that trust. You kind of get a sense of, uh, this, this one's a winner. Let's, let's pull the humans along.

[00:16:55] Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, let's book it. Let's go back this year. It's an easy decision. Let's get some mountains this time and we'll get some beaches.

[00:17:05] Joseph: I'm in. We're in.

[00:17:07] Kelly: Yeah. Cool.

[00:17:09] Joseph: Sounds good. And while you're out there, if you happen to go to this beach or have one like it, we're ready to hear. We'd love to see photos and to hear your reflections on travel, impacting life and family and your memories of those ex exchanges.

[00:17:27] Kelly: I agree. So, okay. Till next time.

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Moment Farm Podcast
Welcome to the farm. This is where we cultivate the moments that are important to us in our life. We share the places, the people, the products, and the ahas we bump into along the way to growing more joy in the world.
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Kelly Vohs
Joseph Rueter