New Places Spark New Ideas

            I meant to write this blog post two weeks ago when I landed home from a getaway to beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I finally found some time to share with you what a unique experience it was.

            I know some you might be asking, “Ricardo, isn’t this a blog about film and television production?” Indeed I shall say. However, the reason I’m writing about my trip is because “taking some time to smell the roses” and getting away from your day-to-day routine refreshes one’s creativity. It doesn’t matter what department you work in, whether you are a director, a DP, or a sound mixer, it is important to visit new places. Places that will let you see things from a different perspective and will offer your ears new kinds of sounds. I hope you get what I’m trying to say. I could go on and on for paragraphs but don’t want to get too cliché; plus, people rarely have the patience to read stuff on the Internet nowadays.

            Anyway, some of the people my travel buddy and I came across, the landscapes we experienced, or the food our palettes had the pleasure of tasting sparked ideas for some good storytelling. Thanks to the architecture of places in historic Old San Juan, such as the San Felipe Castle or Mother Nature’s wonders in places such as El Yunque National Rainforest, gave us inspiration to capture some cool photographs. (Another reason I took a while to post this was because I had to go through the hundreds of pictures I took and select a few to share with you. I’m glad I took time with it).

            There is a good quote by Tim Kreider I read almost a year ago on post he wrote for The New York Times titled The 'Busy' Trap. It goes like this: "Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done."

            So now I would like to hear from you. Is there a place you have been to that has inspired you to write an awesome script, offered a different perspective in the way you shoot, or vented you for your next production management gig? Feel free to share and comment below.

All pictures were taken with a Nikon D3100. You may view them on my Facebook page by clicking here.