Back Issue - "Solo in South America"

Friday 05.06.05 [9:47 pm]
I went to see a show last night by a local photographer named William Jans (/). He's a photographer that travels the world, takes pictures and video of his experiences, and puts together a show about it. I first learned of it from a friend of mine whose husband traveled with William to Nepal. I was expecting a glorified slide show with some stories thrown in. I was wrong. In one word, the show was "amazing". Complete with costume changes and city safety ratings, it was a highly entertaining and dynamic presentation.
The show last night was called "Solo in South America". He went to Brazil for Carnaval and to trek through the rainforest, Peru to climb Machu Picchu, Bolivia to tour the salt mines, and the Galapagos Islands to chill with the turtles. His photographs were fantastic - they seemed alive, even without the stories to go with it. The videos were hilarious. All of his pictures and videos are self-shot - you can always see his arm outstretched in the picture or in the video. He had this one clip where he was taking video of himself in a crowd of people during an Easter celebration. As he's pointing the camera down at himself and the rest of the crowd, you can see that the guy behind him is picking his pockets - and he got it all on tape. Crazy!
I would love to see his "Trekking in Tibet" show as well as any other ones he has coming out. If you ever get a chance to see him, I highly recommend it. This is definitely not your neighbour's vacation slide show!