DebDocs

Special Olympics Volunteer from Deborah Acosta on Vimeo.

This is the second of three videos I shot at the Special Olympics in Idaho.  This story was very difficult to piece together because somehow my first tape (more than half the footage) was corrupt.  When I went to look at it, all I saw were little blue squares.  It was a terrifying sight, and something I don’t wish upon anyone.  Thankfully, all of the interviews were on the second tape.  It also didn’t hurt that my partner, Eileen Mignoni, is a wonderful photographer.

Another huge challenge was the fact that the athlete’s sister almost refused to be interviewed, and when we finally coerced her to do it, she would say: “No, I won’t answer that,” to most of the interesting questions.

I decided to interview the volunteer at the last minute, and I’m glad I did.  She was very inspired by the Special Olympics, and it was a joy to speak with her.

Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job, considering all of the challenges.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Special Olympics Winter Games – Every Day is a Feast from Deborah Acosta on Vimeo.

I made this video along with two others while I was at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Idaho.  My group and I were covering the Middle East, and in this story, we followed Rabah, who’s from Lebanon.  Right when I met him, I was struck by his presence.  He’s an extremely energetic, friendly, funny guy, and he was a complete joy to work with. 

His mother was also wonderful.  She was so excited to talk about her son, and how proud she was of him.  Her love for Rabah was a magical thing to witness.  I’m glad this was the case, because I was so tired while I was there.

I had worked on shooting and editing the opening ceremony footage the night before, so I was working on no sleep that day.  My teammates actually came to pick me up at the newsroom at 6 a.m. that morning, and we went straight to the mountain to shoot Rabah.  But what a beautiful mountain it was.  It’s called Bogus Basin, and we got to revisit it again on the last day, when we went snowboarding.

The trip was an exhausting, exhilirating, rewarding experience.  I learned so much about so much while I was there. And I met some really cool people.  I definitely see myself going to Greece in two years for the Summer Games.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Special Olympics – Ramon from Deborah Acosta on Vimeo.

Popularity: 13% [?]