Enough of being beaten up the ants.  I took the day off – went for an early morning hike up a thousand vertical to view the Pacific; brunch at Derek’s for homemade bagels, fresh yellow fin tuna and Becca’s incredible Sweet Jesus mango hot sauce; lounged by the pool.  Forget the ants.

Well… later things turned violent.  Charlie and I ran into a Fer de Lance hidden in the leaf litter immediately by the trail we were on.  It was coiled up like a small donut, almost impossible to see, ready to strike.  Hero hubby saved the day.  He saw it.  I didn’t.  It was a juvenile, the worst kind, they deliver the most venom.

After that I stayed up for hours filming an ant war.  What a day.

This is my weeping blog entry.  I knew there would be at least one.  But, just when I thought I had it made, that shooting an ending for my “Antworks” video was easily within reach, the ants have presented an array of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Yesterday I roamed the area to check on the colonies I’ve been keeping track of for the past four years.  Of the six original large colonies, only two are left.  This is a big bummer – for them, for me, for my project.  The colony I worked with last year is one of the causalities.  It’s terrible when your actors die mid-movie.

I also wandered a good distance to collect the plant that forms the heart of the “Antworks” video.  It’s been a dry summer and many of these plants are sadly drooping, but there are enough in good shape to shoot my ending.  (You can see the time-laspe scene on my website.)

But, no, not another reason to cry?  This plant that last year the ants couldn’t get enough of, that drew in millions of them within an hour of placing it near their trail, so many ants I could hear them cutting with my naked ear, this year none of the remaining colonies will touch it.  It’s too strange.  Where is E.O. Wilson when you need him!

I have no idea what I’m going to do.

Somehow all this gear fit into the plane, with a bit of room left for us.

Canon 5D Mark II, Marshall monitor, Sony HD lipstick camera, 2 Zylights, 2 Kino Divas, 2 Canon 580 flashes, macro twin lights, batteries, chargers, enough cables to circle the globe, 8 tripods, 5 hard drives, sound recording equipment, reflectors, set building materials, laptops, second monitors…  On and on.  300 lbs.  And the videos are only 6 minutes.  Hum…  I did have room to bring a bathing suit.  Maybe I’ll even have time to use it.

Day 1 – preliminary assessment: the colony I filmed last year, which was under siege from its nearest neighbor, has been wiped out.  So, so sad.  I’ll have to finish the Antworks video using another colony.  And now that the war is over I wonder if I’ll be able to find another one for my War video.  I’m just about to head out to take a closer look at the five mature colonies I’ve been keeping track of for the past four years.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to start a blog.  Let’s hope this idea isn’t totally misguided.  I’ve been keeping an iDribble file for years where I explore and develop ideas (sometimes rant and rave) but mostly I use it to figure out what I’m doing in my creative practice.  Several people have encouraged me to post these musings, which is awfully flattering of them, so I’ve decided to give it a go.

I thought I would start now, get used to the process of blogging on a regular basis before I return to Costa Rica in February to finish the leafcutter ant videos.  Working in the jungle, lying flat on the forest floor for six weeks is always good for some entertaining posts, usually at my expense.  Last year I shared a few pictures and thoughts from the shoot on Facebook and I loved the feedback.  Thanks for the confidence to do more.  Stay tuned.

Attached is a picture of where I will be working on the Osa Peninsula.