Anna and Amelia Island

When I arrived at Amelia Island, we had bad weather, but we already knew that from the forecasts.  The idea was to take indoor pictures during nasty weather and to be outdoors if nice weather appeared. Celeste from CVB (the Convention & Visitors Bureau) was my guide lengthwise and crosswise around Amelia Island. We became good friends—and for once, there was someone to take pictures with my still camera...

The idea of the whole thing was to record material to a promo video of around 3-4 minutes. So the first day was rainy and the next day there were unexpected warnings for a tornado (!) so the weather wasn't at all cooperative. Because of all this I had to stay one day extra.  All in all, I was there for 4 days (including traveling). And we were all over Amelia; we had to visit many places several times in order to complete the material. After a while, I was fascinated by the amount of shooting that they wanted to include. Time after time, I told Celeste that everything wouldn't fit in the video and she probably didn't understand why, so  I stubbornly kept telling her that over and over. The last day, I reached the understanding that someone had made them the false promise that CVB could have all the raw material, and that this was the reason for racing along the way we did. But at least I got to see the place thoroughly and had quite a lot of pictures to choose from in the editing!

Amelia Island has beautiful nature and a fascinating history. There has been quite a lot of fighting over her over the years; 8 different flags have swayed over her and pirates have used her as their getaway (during my time here in Florida, I have discovered how crazy I am about pirates, in a childlike sort of way!)

The name of the town on Amelia Island is Fernandina, and it has a large neighborhood of old historical buildings. They are built with a lot of fantasy, with towers and crenels.  A Pippi Longstock movie once was recorded in one of them. The museum of history is located in the old prison—and on 'Center Street' (which is the main road in the old part of the town) you can still feel the touch of history in the architecture and the pirate theme that is used to a lot of things.

The most exciting adventure was probably a close encounter with a swamp that nearly made me lose both my shoes into its depth...

A couple of weeks ago, I was on another trip to the "Palm Beach Boat Show". The Video Marine Group didn't get enough orders for promotion videos to travel, so I was sent off by myself to see the whole thing and to leave a report from the event. There was a lot of work to find all the novelties that were worth showing from the show (mostly new boat models) and also to find good pictures that would tell the story and a few voices. To be able to interview somebody here and to take pictures of people (if you focus the picture on them), you have to have them sign a form, so it's more of a hassle than usual and it takes more time to do the work. One day, I had time to have lunch with a friend who lives in Palm Beach.  Other than that, there was only work. (I think I was writing that only so that my colleagues back home won't be jealous and give me all the bad shifts when I get back!)

After this intense but enjoyable trip, I took the chance to see Key West for a couple of days.  Everybody has been talking so warmly about it. It's quite a drive but it was well worth it!

I don't know if I can really describe what was so special about it but it has a nice laidback feeling and is close to the ocean (not the least) and there was lots to see. Old magnificent houses and a history that went way back and, of course, pirates to spice things up... Nice restaurants too (I found an unusually good vegetarian one!) and loads of shops that you couldn't resist finding your way into. Every night, people are gathering to see the sunset over the Mexican Gulf. Sometimes you come to a place that you really want to return to and Key West was simply that kind of place for me.  It had a lot of the good stuff.

Right now, I'm back in the office at Winter Park. Yesterday, I was standing in the water of a lake up to ¾ while shooting watersports, and that is probably as close as I will get to my much longed for underwater footage—at least during this trip. But I cannot explain enough how grateful I am to have experienced all the things that the 'GROW' program has brought me!

Photo Gallery: Anna Essling at Amelia Island