Gary and Patty Hiney work at Samuel’s House – a children’s home in Venezuela. 30 children live in 8 homes that are managed by “house parents”. The children grow up in a family-like environment and are given the opportunity to attend university when they leave.

After a 15 hour flight from Dallas to Brisbane I boarded an Air Niugini flight for Port Moresby. When I told the passenger sitting next to me where I was headed he was quick to apologize but assured me that the people are “quite friendly”. He was an Australian on his way to Brisbane from Houston. He worked on oil rigs told stories of living in the jungle where the people built huts and had never seen a white man. “Wear plenty of repellent, mate” he suggested. Malaria was common in the area and I had neglected to take any antibiotics.

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During the flight it became clear that my traveling companion wasn’t the only one working in the industry. The plane was crowded, full of middle-aged men wearing buttoned-down shirts with company logos. “Some people who hear I’m in the logging business are surprised”, I heard from the row behind me. My in-flight magazine was full of company ads with slogans like “opening the country for business” and “helping develop PNG”. Apparently a lot of investment was pouring in the area and I wasn’t the only one interested in what the country had to offer.

Going through immigration I was greeted by a large mural depicting some of the 800 different people groups in the country. They wore elaborate headdresses with painted faces and piercings – just like in the magazines. Behind me men were stocking up on cartons of duty-free cigarettes. From their dress and equipment I assumed they were headed for “the bush” and this was there last chance to buy them.

While on my connecting flight to Wewak I stared out the window to catch the first glimpse of the land peek through the clouds. It was vast and green, split by meandering rivers and dotted with remote villages.

My expectation of village men with headdresses and women in grass skirts was quickly dismissed. Everywhere I went, even in remote villages on the Sepik river, people wore shorts and T-shirts. I felt deceived, at the least mislead, by how PNG was portrayed in magazines and periodicals. My guide informed me that in some isolated areas villagers still dressed traditionally, but they don’t represent most the country. As our boat approached the village of Avatip I was told they had a welcoming ceremony planned for us. There would be singing and dancing, but they would not be wearing traditional clothes or singing traditional songs. This tribe, I was informed, had been evangelized.

I could see the crowd in the distance as we approached the shore. They had decorated the landing site with palm leaf branches and stood in front of the village church – the only steel structure in the area. I dismounted with my traveling companions and we stood in a line to receive colorful garlands made of candy wrappers. The procession began and we followed them into the church for formal introductions.

The time-lapses were created using a Canon T2i and intervalometer.

The results of a Canon G12 time-lapse test using an intervalometer. Shot at 5 min intervals over 24 hours. I used manual focus with the LCD off to preserve battery power since no D/C power was available. Because the captured images were full resolution, I was able to split the images into four separate segments to show different parts of the plant without compromising video quality. The flowering bud was cut off a tree, placed in water, and put in a light-tight box.

For anybody who loves people, culture, and film, it was a visual paradise. I spent hours wondering streets, meeting friends over chai, and riding in rickshaws around the city. On more than one occasion I wandered into a temple, drawn in by the sound of Hindu worshipers ringing bells and chanting “Hare Krishna”.

Unlike the metropolises of New Delhi and Mumbai, I’ve been told that Jaipur is one of the best representations of “old world” India around. The video was shot on July 9th, 2011 during a trip on assignment for AGWM.  The video was edited as a snapshot of my experience there.

Produced as a college capstone project. Winner of the 2008 Sustainable Energy Film Festival at Notre Dame University.