The Journal
Hossegor ↔ Santa Teresa
27 Oct 2026
The Questions I Ask Before I Ever See the Property
When the owner is abroad and I've never been to the house, a handful of questions decides the shooting day. Here they are, and why each one matters.
The branches
Each branch has its reference page and its topics.
Real estate video
7 topics- The Questions I Ask Before I Ever See the Property
- One House, One Morning: How a Property Film Gets Made
- "Drone Real Estate Video in Costa Rica: What Actually Adds Value?"
Surf & sport video
6 topics- Sharing the Water: Where I Put a Drone on a Busy Beach
- "Filming Surf, Lifestyle and Travel in Costa Rica: Creating One Coherent Story"
- How to Create a Surf Film for a Costa Rican Brand
Websites
6 topics- How People Actually Find Me, and What It Taught Me About Websites
- "French, English and Spanish Websites: How to Handle SEO?"
- How to Build a Website for a Surf Camp in Costa Rica
Documentary & film
6 topics- Recording a Place Before You Understand It
- Why Some Images Stay With You
- Why Sound Design Matters in a Surf Film
Latest
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22 Sep 2026
Recording a Place Before You Understand It
I spent fifteen years in music before I filmed anything. It's why the first thing I do somewhere new is record it rather than shoot it.
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20 Sep 2026
Sharing the Water: Where I Put a Drone on a Busy Beach
A kite sail came into my frame and hit the aircraft. It recovered. Here's how that day changed the way I choose a flight path.
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18 Sep 2026
How People Actually Find Me, and What It Taught Me About Websites
My main channel turned out not to be search. It was clients coming back to download their own videos, and that changed how I build sites.
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16 Sep 2026
One House, One Morning: How a Property Film Gets Made
A real shoot on the French Atlantic coast, in order, from the first walk-through to delivery, including the shots I didn't get on the day.
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14 Sep 2026
Why Some Images Stay With You
Two shots of the same thing, filmed the same day. One is forgotten by the next scene, the other is still there weeks later.
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12 Sep 2026
"French, English and Spanish Websites: How to Handle SEO?"
Adding languages to a site is easy. Getting search engines to serve the right one to the right person is where it usually goes wrong.
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10 Sep 2026
"Filming Surf, Lifestyle and Travel in Costa Rica: Creating One Coherent Story"
Three kinds of footage from the same trip usually end up as three unrelated edits. How to shoot them so they become one film.
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8 Sep 2026
"Drone Real Estate Video in Costa Rica: What Actually Adds Value?"
Aerials sell a property when they answer a question. Which four shots do that, and where flying stops being useful.
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7 Sep 2026
Why Sound Design Matters in a Surf Film
Most surf films are carried by music. The recordings that cost nothing to make are usually what makes one memorable.
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5 Sep 2026
How to Build a Website for a Surf Camp in Costa Rica
People book a surf camp on two questions nobody puts on the page: will the waves suit me, and who will I be sharing a week with?
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3 Sep 2026
How to Create a Surf Film for a Costa Rican Brand
What a brand actually needs from a shoot, how a day is organised, and how much material it should produce.
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1 Sep 2026
How to Film a Tropical Villa So It Looks Like Itself
Every villa on that coast shares the same jungle, the same ocean and the same light. Finding what belongs to one house in particular.
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31 Aug 2026
"From Reality to Story: My Documentary Process"
How a documentary actually gets made, from the first visit with no camera to the sentence the whole edit is built around.
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29 Aug 2026
How to Build a Website for a Boutique Hotel in Santa Teresa
A small hotel's site has one job the booking platforms can't do for it. What belongs on it, and in what order.
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27 Aug 2026
"How to Film Surfing in Costa Rica: A Practical Guide"
Seasons, tides, what to carry and how to plan a day. The logistics side of a surf shoot on the Pacific coast.
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25 Aug 2026
"Real Estate Video in Costa Rica: What Makes a Property Stand Out?"
Most buyers are deciding from another country, on a screen, without ever standing on the terrace. What the film has to do in their place.
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24 Aug 2026
How to Create a Short Documentary About a Local Business
Not a promotional video with nicer music. A short film about the person who runs the place, and why anyone should care.
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22 Aug 2026
"Web Design in Santa Teresa: What Makes a Website Convert International Visitors?"
Your visitor is booking from another continent, in another currency, on a phone, before they've ever met you. What that asks of a site.
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20 Aug 2026
"Surf Videography in Santa Teresa: How to Capture the Tropical Light"
Near the equator the sun sits overhead at midday and the evening closes in minutes. How that reorganises a shooting day, and what I carry.
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18 Aug 2026
How to Film a Luxury Villa in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
The light is vertical, the house has no walls and the lens fogs. What I'm changing in my method before I get there in September.
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16 Aug 2026
Documentary Filmmaker in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Short documentaries about people and the places they work, how I approach them, what sound does, and why I'm putting this up before I arrive.
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16 Aug 2026
Web Design in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Websites for businesses on the peninsula, how I build them, why the images come first, and what changes when your visitors arrive from four countries.
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16 Aug 2026
Surf Videographer in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Filming surfers from the water, the sand and the air, what's in the bag, how a session is covered, and what the Pacific will change for me.
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16 Aug 2026
Real Estate Video in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
What goes into a property film, how the edit is built, and what I'm adapting for the Nicoya Peninsula. I'm based there from 25 September 2026.