Becoming The Humanitarian Photographer & Filmmaker I Always Wanted To Be

I recently got to go to Cuba with a water charity to help photograph and film two volunteer trips. 

It was an incredible step back and step forward in time. A step back to the times when I was 23 and went to Africa for the first time by myself. A step forward to the part of me that is now so capable behind a camera that I can effortlessly make promo videos for companies. 

It felt like all the pieces of me got to come together on this trip. 

I went for two weeks in the middle of November and filmed for two 1-week volunteer trips, back to back. The second week felt a lot more exhausting, as myself and the two other staff members only had a few hours between the two groups, but it was a dream come true. 
I went to Cuba an organization called H2O4all that does incredible work around the world and this is one of my favourite ways of supporting causes I believe in.

I’ll share a few of my favourite photos here from that trip, and the video that I made for them soon. 

I remember those years of my life when I wanted to be a documentary filmmaker so badly. I wanted to learn how to use a camera properly. I wanted a story that I could give myself to and work really hard to tell. But at that time, I didn’t have a camera and the best story I could tell was my own. So I started with my cell phone and my story. 

Now, many years later, I feel that I have come so far. I know how to use a proper camera. I know lenses, f-stop and ND filters. I know how to navigate the emotional ups and downs of travel. I know how to lead a group. I feel so grateful that I got to do this.

I don’t know when I’ll get to do something like this again soon, but I was so grateful for every minute of this experience. Being a humanitarian photographer or filmmaker was one of those dreams I stopped dreaming a few years back, and then it came to pass all on its own. 

Although I don’t have any pictures of me, I hope these photos capture some of what make these trips so precious. 

Change is On The Horizon 

As I look ahead to 2024, there are some big changes coming. Sometimes it stresses me out as I don’t have all the moving pieces sorted yet, but I know it will come together in time. 

For now, I’ve been taking a look at this website and once again, dreaming of how I’d like to re-organize the blogs into more meaningful buckets of content. 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 10 years. I went “full-time” as a content creator when I finished my undergrad, so that means next year is my 10 year anniversary! 

This website and blog never took the crazy, “making 6-figures-as-a-blogger” turn that I wanted at various times. 

Instead, over the years, it’s mostly lived on as the repository and space for me to share things I’m learning in my personal journey. There have been short seasons where I got to do a lot of writing for this blog, but then they would get interrupted by other life events. 

I never wanted to put ads on this website, nor did it ever generate enough traffic to make money from sponsored posts like other bloggers. Instead, maintaining this website was just one of dozens of digital marketing skills I acquired that then helped me land other jobs. So in way, I have gotten to earn a living from this blog, just not in the usual “blogger” way.

For that, I am so grateful.

For that, I’m glad this blog never “took off.” It’s simply a sacred and personal space for me to post whatever I want. I’m never sure when exactly someone will read this or who will, I just know that I enjoy writing. I enjoy connecting with people this way, and God-willing, the writing will find whoever it’s supposed to. 

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Future Writing Projects 

There are a few writing projects I’ve been incubating and it seems that their time for ripening is drawing near. I’ll just share a little rundown of what I’m thinking. I’d love to curate my old blogs into a few key “collections.”

There are certain topics like rest, generosity, true wealth, rhythms of work and rest that I have been thinking about a lot about want to write about. 

There are also about 20 other blogs I wrote this year around my Mdiv that I haven’t gotten around to publishing because it wasn’t the right time for it yet.

I hope to start publishing these in mid-January and fleshing out the collections. 

That way, readers can find topics more like books on a bookshelf, rather than like thumbing through someone’s notebook with a lot of scattered topics, which is how the current blog setup feels to me. I want to do this because it will also just feel nice for my brain, and force me to streamline what I write about. 

Now that I’ve waited so long to write about these topics too, I am confident they have enough gravity in my soul. They are focal topics in my life. I feel good having a more permanent place for them on the next evolution of this website.  

More to come, my friends. Thank you for being here and I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Infinite Love,
Anita