EUROPE
REPORT

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Deliverables

BEFORE THE TOUR

  1. Worked with TA to create branding, print cards and handouts
  2. Research artists, techniques, and locations 
  3. Planned the travel itinerary

 

DURING THE TOUR

  1. COMM 300 CLASS:  Shared work and taught my class during the Enlighten Tour
  2. WEBSITE & FACEBOOK:  Shared live images and videos on website and Facebook
  3. INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT: 50+ Daily Instagram posts with free on-location Photo Tips – My Story videos – Increased followers from 2100 to 12,100.
  4. YOUTUBE CHANNEL:  50+ Free Videos on YouTube Channel to share the stories of people and teach photography techniques.

AFTER THE TOUR

  1. Finished videos
  2. Created shorter videos of Instagram photo tips
  3. Created the Enlighten Website to share highlights
  4. Prepared this report
  5. Created and incorporated the following teaching materials in Comm 300 and 316:
    1. Slideshow in Comm 300
    2. Print display in EISF Professional Division
    3. New projects:  Landscape Perspective, Cultural Enlightenment,
    4. Enlighten Presentation in Comm 316
    5. Instagram Training

YEAR-END & BEYOND

  1. NOV – DEC:  Blog posts
  2. NOV – Asked to present Travel Photography Workshop to Share the Enlighten Project at the Idaho Falls High Desert Photo Club
  3. NOV – Framed print display – Spori building
  4. DEC – Hardbound Book:  Journey of Enlightenment
Overview

The Big Five: Holland – Germany – Italy – France – Belgium

Landing in Amsterdam at the start of a 40-day tour on my 57th birthday was the best birthday gift ever. Staying a few days with the De Dreu Family was a like coming home to family. Jip de Dreu lived with us after her senior year, through the student exchange experience and we fell in love with her entire family!. So it was a happy reunion to see them again, this time in their Holland homeland.

It was grounding to revisit the German towns and forests where my parents found evidence of our ancestors 46 years earlier.  It was familiar to tour the peaceful, rolling hills of Tuscany and see the sights of Venice and Rome. I thrive on seeing the famous art and ancient architecture in the larger romantic cities of Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Paris and Brugge. But whenever possible I chose to stay in smaller towns where things never seem to change. For example the Cinque Terre of Italy and Cassis, France were two of my favorite locations. Brugge is by far the best city because it felt like a small town and we rode bikes everywhere. Next, I found Amsterdam to be surprisingly fun.

Overall, Italy was my favorite country and the Italian people were the most accommodating. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved the French countryside in the Provence region and it was thrilling to see the massive French chateaus. But I felt shortchanged when we finally reached Belgium, since we were almost out of time. So I drank in every moment during those few days in lovely Brugge. Biking around the canals, swan-laden ponds, city cafes and tapestry shops was like living inside your favorite fairy-tale movie.

Next time tour I will spend more time touring inside more of the castles. I will plan time in Switzerland, hike the Italian Dolomites, travel the southern Italian coast and romantic islands, return to Belgium and discover Spain.

 

TRAVELING ROUTINE

2 Nights in each Location – Free Parking – Free WIFI – Free Breakfast, when offered

My husband and I rented a car in Amsterdam and we drove a big loop down through Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and back to Holland. We also stayed for a few hours in Austria, Monaco, and the Vatican for a total of eight countries. But since most of our time was spent in the “BIG FIVE” that is where I will focus my report.  Driving gave us the freedom to stop whenever I saw something interesting, or when the light was just right for a golden hour landscape shoot.

My husband accompanied me on the first half of my 40-day tour. Then when we reached Rome, he needed to fly home to work. So my friend, Kris, came to see me through the rest of the Enlighten tour. Neither of them had been to any part of Europe, so it was fun to discover things together. They were both excellent drivers and ever-willing to pull the car over on a dime when I saw something to explore. This also allowed me to work some in the car while we drove during the harsh afternoon light.

Exhausting Schedule

To keep up with the itinerary and my live publishing goals, my average nighttime sleep was about four hours. The nighttime hours were my most productive time with good WIFI to sort, edit, post photos and send video footage to my teaching assistant in Idaho. Each night I also made hotel reservations, planned routes and researched the hot spots for the next day. I wanted flexibility to adjust our itinerary when I got location tips from the locals. So I used mostly AirBnB and Booking.com to find the best deals, about two days ahead. I stayed with my goal to average around $75 a night for lodging. This would not be possible during the highest tourist season of July and August, when advance booking and higher prices are the norm.


Pacing – 2 Nights in Each Location

I found a pacing that worked well by staying in one location for two consecutive nights whenever possible. This gave me several opportunities to shoot during the morning and evening golden hours and gave my traveling companion a break between the longer drives. This routine also allowed me more time to find the right people to interview. I was not afraid to roam the streets alone during the daylight hours. It seemed plenty safe. However there was a terrorist tourist attack in Paris while we were in Rome, so that inspired me to be more cautious. After staying in a nice, but older hotel right in the center of Rome, we experienced the cray Italian traffic. When touring Venice and Paris, we enjoyed staying in the smaller suburb towns of Noale, Italy, and Moret-sur-Loing, France. This way we could catch a train to and from the city in less than an hour and stay overnight in a slower-paced village, which I much preferred.

 

 

EXPERIENCING RAPID INSTAGRAM GROWTH: 2100 to 12,100

Daily Posts + Free Photo Tips + Personal Videos on My Story

You will notice from the INSTRUCTION page on my website that I posted an average of one image each day on Instagram throughout the 40-day Enlighten tour. My followers grew rapidly when they noticed I was sharing free tips of imagery I was capturing live in Europe. On May 17, I started with about 2100 followers and ended up with 6100 at the end of the six week journey. I was sharing daily Instagram video clips on My Story of my casual musings along the way. These only stay live for 24 hours, but I saved many of these vertical videos as my travelog journal. From what I understand, these 16-second video clips showing the more personal journey were part of the reason for my rapid Instagram growth. I learned that people like to see the inside story, the everyday happenings, lodging accommodations, sorbet shops and sidewalk sights. It was fun to read the feedback and see what people enjoyed seeing the most. Now, in early October, as I finish my report on the Enlighten Tour, I have 12,100 Instagram followers and I am still posting images from the trip with free photo tips with each post.

Creating 50+ Videos on my Youtube Channel

I chatted and spoke regularly with my talented assistant, Alex, while in Europe so he could process my videos while I was live on location. He sorted through my video footage and put together dozens of video interviews and on-location video tutorials. He published the videos on my YouTube channel at a regular pace and we ended up with over 40 3-7 minute videos. Once I returned home, we also put together 1 minute, square versions of many of my favorite videos showing photo tips, which I posted on my Instagram feed.

 

Designing the Enlighten Project Website 

Once again I have to give credit to Alex Brown who suggested the fullscreen visual layout of this website report. He is a genius and worked with me to display the highlights from my Enlighten project through my creative imagery,  videos, photography instruction, writings, this report, and the artwork study.

 

Lifelong Application

The experience I have had with this Enlighten project will stay with me the rest of my life as I continue to celebrate the people, cultures, and landscapes at home and abroad.  This project will also live on through my students’ work and social media followers.

Mentoring
As I’ve worked with Sister Esplin over the duration of her Enlighten project, I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve learned! Sister Esplin has been an excellent mentor and has provided me learning opportunities beyond what I expected especially with instructional development.

As Sister Esplin taught her students in her COMM300 class the master lighting techniques in camera and her revolutionary post-production workflow, I have been able to apply them myself within my own skillset and portfolio and help others learn them as well. For example, I entered 10 prints into the Eastern Idaho State Fair, where I earned 3 first place ribbons, 1 third place ribbon and 1 honorable mention for the overall sweepstakes.

One of my first place prints was one I took towards the right of Schwabacher Landing at Sunrise. In camera, I wanted to find a shot that was different from what everyone else typically gets, and one of the many things I learned from Esplin was to look around and don’t miss anything behind you. In this case, the winning shot was off to the side. I think perhaps the most amazing learning experience I’ve taken away during the Enlighten Project is the Esplin Effect, where you go in and darken the shadows and lighten the highlights to create contrast and bring out depth in your photographs. I edited this image using this time intensive technique, and the reward was magic!

One more thing… An officer of the Visual Society reached out to me and asked if I could come talk about my “growing” video editing business. I informed them that I primarily focus on graphic design, web, and photography, however I was working with Sister Esplin for her Enlighten project. I later asked her how she associated my name with Video and she said the Enlighten project! This is a true testament of the expanding  versatility I have developed from this project.

I can’t wait to continue to grow as a designer, photographer, teacher, and disciple of Jesus Christ as I continue to work with Sister Esplin on the Enlighten project.

Alex Brown

Enlighten TA, BYU-Idaho

I have been Sister Caryn Esplin’s TA for her COMM 300 digital imaging class for the last two semesters. I have known her for much longer than that and she has always been an inspiration and a valued mentor of mine. During the enlighten project she mentored me to help run her class electronically, improve my photography, design and communications skills, and helped me complete my senior project all while she was studying and developing learning tools in Europe.

I feel very privileged to have been able to be her TA during her enlighten project because I learned skills that other TAs at BYU-Idaho may never learn as students. Esplin helped give me the confidence that I needed to market myself and feel confident in the education that I received at BYU-Idaho. This confidence helped me to fulfill my senior project requirements in ways that I did not think of.

Esplin is not a teacher who just counts on you to do what is required, she knows how to push you to fill your entire potential. She recognizes the skill sets of everyone around her and finds positive ways to build and strengthen their character.

During the course of the enlighten project, I learned from the experiences that she was having. I learned how to get to know the people of the world by understanding their customs, culture, and beliefs. This is a valuable skill to learn as a communication major at BYU-Idaho because we will not only need to communicate with Americans in our careers but with people from all parts of the world.

Janae Harker

COMM300 TA, BYU-Idaho

In February of this year (2017), Sister Esplin contacted me with an opportunity. She had come in contact with Marie Eckstine, that is running a nonprofit out of Cambodia. She works with young women in Cambodia, helping them sew clothing which she would sells in the United States. She had a website up and running to help sell the items, but the website had many issues that needed to be resolved.
Sister Esplin knew that I am developing my web design and development skills, and knew that I would be able to help with the site. We were able to work together to improve the design and layout of the site. Sister Esplin’s experience with e-commerce and design definitely helped improve the website. As I became more involved in the project, it was natural for me to begin working directly with Marie, and Sister esplin stepped aside. This is a testament to Sister Esplin’s training and selfless service. She decided to donate her time to the project and passed it off to me. I continue to work with Marie with various improvements on the site and it has added a good portfolio item for me as I enter the work field. You can see the site at red-dirt-road.org.
While working on the Red Dirt Road website I came to know of all of the preparations Sister Esplin was making for the Enlighten program. She showed me the booklets that she was preparing and all of the things that she hoped to learn and share with her students.
Sister Esplin is the most dedicated teacher I know. She places her students at the forefront of her career, and sacrifices immense amounts of time and effort making sure they have the most accurate information, and hands on experience possible. I’ve been lucky to know and work with her throughout the years.
Ben Harker

COMM 316 TA, BYU-Idaho

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