safety, security, and updates

Some of the challenges I'm being faced with, as a videographer, is being able to capture the honest and true motives, thoughts, ideas, feels, and moods of particular situations. Because the type of work we are documenting is highly sensitive and could possibly put people at risk,

we have no choice but to intentionally turn the camera off during several portions of our day. We will reflect on our moments in "the field", but we will not knowingly put people in danger with our good intentions. The people and organizations we are working with have been more than gracious to even let us show up and ask questions, and the answers that they have given have changed us. The stories that need to be told cannot really be broadcast, and yet, they need to be heard. My job is to find a creative, honest, hopeful way to tell those stories.

As far as updates are concerned, we had different expectations as far as our connectivity is concerned, and the internet is an elusive creature, clearly not indigenous to the Bengal region. I bought a cellphone in Delhi, and I can give simple text-only updates limited to 140 characters. I do not have the capability to upload photos or videos unless I happen to find a wifi hotspot, and those are extremely rare. The videos that I am able to upload are taken with a cellphone camera, and are just for keeping people in the loop and giving them a taste of our raw experience in these beautiful cities. We do not have the clearance or the capacity to release any of the documentary footage until we return to the United States, but believe me, it's amazing.

I am currently typing this from the closest thing to a Starbucks that we'll find in Kolkata, and it's taken us three days to connect to this wifi.

Please track us in real-time on twitter or see our location, photo, and video feed updated automatically every hour at hopeUPDATES.com