Costa Rica Travel News – New York to Costa Rica and back in 1,000 self-portraits.That’s the idea behind a 2:37 film by German photographer Tim Aßmann, who documented his trip to Costa Rica this fall using 1,000 selfie pictures he took along the way — from Manhattan, to the airport, all over Costa Rica and back to New York.
The film uses 1,000 selfie pictures — one taken of yourself that is usually placed online — of the trip. Viewer can experience the beach, hiking, swimming in a pool or hanging by a waterfall set to the song “New Town Velocity” by Johnny Marr.
Aßmann, 33, who uses the nickname Tim Panse in the film, told The News via email Wednesday he took the trip with his friend Dominic Romanowski, 31, from Stuttgart, Germany, for 23 days between September and October.
The photographer said he did a short version of a selfie album on a trip to Ireland in August, but decided to use the selfie style to make his first film, which he said is his first to incorporate so many pictures.
“I always loved old fashioned flip books and the way they describe a movement with only a limited amount of pictures,” he said. “And actually I always kind of disliked the habit of most of the people in online communities and social networks to take selfies in the weirdest positions and facial expressions, and placing them as profile (pictures). So I thought it would be fun to cartoon those selfie photographs in some kind of odd manner.”
“I have to admit it was quite some fun taking picture of myself during that trip, especially when finding out which creative potential lies within those pictures,” he said. “But to be honest, at the end of the day, it was all just for the fun of it.”
The filmmaker said his trip included the experience in the Latin American country, including hiking in the rainforests, kayaking on the Pacific Ocean, snorkeling, whale watching, surfing, climbing volcanos, bathing in hot springs and searching lost places.
And the selfies didn’t capture the most dangerous part of the trip when Aßmann picked up a tiny orange-and-red frog he later found out was a poison dart frog.
One risk that comes from taking so many pictures is the problem of photo bombing, someone jumping into the picture. Romanowski did a few times during the film without the photographer’s knowledge.
“At first I encouraged that, after a while there was no holding back and he did it all on his own,” he said. “Most of the time I even did not recognize him doing stuff in the background. So that was kind of fun, when I screened the photo material back home.”
By Joel Landau / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
