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David Broda
@davidbroda
Best of the week 10
"How to become a passionate video maker and travel photographer in 3 years, pretty much unintentionally."
That is how I would call the last three years of my life.
The major part of this story started with a decision completely unrelated to either video or photography. In 2013, I told a friend of mine that I would like to take up another language. He jokingly suggested I should start learning Chinese. Being a curious person who likes challenges, I didn’t hesitate. I immediately began searching for a teacher and took my first lesson the following week.
By 2015-2016, I’d become skilled enough to teach a friend of mine some basic Chinese words every now and then. At the same time, another hobby of mine started to develop. The social platform Vine used to be very popular back in the day and after seeing the well known internet magician Zach King there, I got very intrigued by learning how to make simple visual effects in Adobe After Effects.
At first, I would create some basic Vines following tutorials at the University of YouTube but as I got more and more interested in making those short videos, I quickly got an idea that I truly believed could blow up!
That guy, who taught me Chinese, Filip – nowadays a great friend of mine, had this educational project called Chineseffect. It was focused on teaching Chinese in a different way than textbooks can offer.
I decided to join him and offered that using my own knowledge and his guidance, I could create a bunch of Vines on Chinese characters. No one did educational Vines at that time, so it seemed like a really good idea to try to fill that gap. We put a lot of effort and energy into it and really felt like we were onto something. But then Vine got shut down. Never mind, we moved over to YouTube, Instagram and tumblr and continued creating educational content out of our passion for Chinese.
"In 2017 I felt like I should find a way to improve my Chinese level and so when I got an opportunity to go study at the Temple University in Philadelphia, US, I seized it."
I looked up all the courses there and Chinese was an option. My major at my home university (Charles University in Prague) is International Studies, so I threw a bunch of classes on politics etc. in so that no one really cared about my focus on the language. What I now consider as the major turning point in my way towards becoming a full time video maker and photographer happened in Philadelphia.
"I met this girl named Anna from South Korea who was very similar to me in the way that she just wanted to create."
We both had theoretic majors and while we enjoyed studying, we felt like we needed to create something we can look at or something we can touch in order to feel active. Luckily for me, Anna was really good with the camera. I’d never had my own camera at that time, so I had pretty much no clue how aperture, shutter speed, ISO and such worked.
She explained it all to me and took me on a bunch of shoots so that I could try it out. We became great buddies in no time and we would go on those spontaneous photo adventure anytime we could. Conversations like “Hey, did you notice that levitation photography? Pretty cool, right?” “Yup, wanna go out and try it?” “I already got a couple of ideas!” or “Check out these smokebomb photos!!” “Wow, really impressive, we should give it a try!” “Well I’ve already ordered a box of those off of Ebay, so you bet we should!” were a daily business for us.
"After finishing the entire study abroad programme in Philly, Anna and I went on a trip to Puerto Rico together with another friend of ours and our goal was to shoot vlogs and travel videos there."
In Philadelphia, we would always just take pictures and while that was great, we felt like we should get into video more. I had some decent experience in making videos thanks to my After Effects knowledge but I didn’t really know how to shoot well. In May 2017, the time ran up and Anna and I had to say goodbye as we both had to go back home.
When I got home, I faced two major problems that I needed to solve. First, I didn’t own a camera and going back to shooting everything on my phone was not an option. Second, I’d just got back from an amazing travel journey where I met tons of awesome people, several different cultures and got to see beautiful nature both in the US and in the Caribbean. I knew I had to set off again ASAP!!
Fortunately enough, the first problem solved itself. I didn’t have enough money to buy a decent camera but one day, a guy bumped into me at the traffic lights, causing some dents and scratches on my car. Once I got the insurance money, I knew what had to be done. No, I didn’t have my car repaired. Instead, I used the money to buy the camera! Problem solved.
The second problem took just a little bit of planning and was checked off the problem list, too.
My good friend Benny and I went on a trip to the beautiful Faroe Islands. We’d already went to Norway together in 2016 where we both fell in love with the nordic nature. That’s why we chose the north this time as well. But this trip was so different from any of my previous ones.
It was the first time that I went somewhere not to take pics but to do landscape photography. At least try. I took it really seriously and felt like it was more of a mission than a trip. We decided to go to the Faroe Islands with only hiking bags and a tent. No car, no hotel, nothing.
I believed it would enable me to take unique pictures because hiking around the islands without a car would enable us to get to and really spend time at spots that you just can’t make it to if you have a car you gotta get back to eventually.
"It all paid off and we had an amazing adventure on the islands. I became addicted. Addicted to traveling."
However, in order to keep traveling, one has to make enough money to pay for the travels. When I got back home from the studies abroad and my first real photography adventure, I felt skilled enough in both video making and photography that I started reaching out, asking for little gigs here and there, sometimes doing stuff for free, sometimes landing a really well paid project.
By the beginning of 2018, I’d met a lot of very important people I’m cooperating with up until now, thanks to whom I’ve been able to make a bunch of regular clients and it all started to make great sense.
Here, in the Czech Republic, I started working as a full time video maker, which enabled me to spend the money I made on traveling to get inspired by the people I meet and the places I see in order to get better at the job I’m doing. Basically work to travel and travel to work.
"I also raised the challenge many times, for example going to Lofoten Islands above the arctic circle with my friend Syky in winter to tent there. Another great opportunity for unique pictures."
The challenge then was to minimize the distinction between work and travel and try to somehow connect these two parts of my life. Right before my trip to Iceland in June 2018, with my friend Syky again, I got an idea on how to accomplish this.
One of the clients I’d done many videos for was the Czech branch of Toyota. So I asked them whether it would be possible to arrange a car for me in Iceland in exchange for promotional pictures and videos. They agreed and set up everything, which helped us tremendously! Amazing. They did the same thing for us during my second trip to Faroe Islands, which I’ve just returned from.
Right now, I feel even more addicted to traveling. Addicted to that feeling you have when you’re sitting on a cliff in Faroe Islands cooking the simplest pasta you can fit in your back but you’re so hungry it tastes as if it was a master chef who made it. To that feeling when you’re crawling in your tent in Lofoten Islands when there’s a snow storm raging above you but you’re safe inside, having a conversation with you best friend. To the feeling when you’re standing still, holding your breath as a bear passes by in Canada. Addicted to the freedom you experience while traveling.
"And being able to connect work with traveling? That’s a dream come true. I still feel like I am at the beginning and can’t wait what the future holds for me. I really wish one day I’ll be able to work full time on the road."
