If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I can keep this article short. As a photographer and film maker I have had the amazing opportunity to travel around the globe.

Specifically, 14 years ago I was invited to Panama to screen a film I had produced. I was young, and it was a short trip where the highlight of our “down” time, was the Panama Canal. As amazing as the canal was, I didn’t have the time to truly immerse myself in the Panamanian culture nor did I have an opportunity to spend time with the locals.

Over the past few years I’ve worked with AAA - Auto Club Group as their Digital Content Production Specialist. In this role, I had the opportunity to adventure back to Panama for the Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Summit. For over 20 years, Tourism Cares has been working to unite the travel industry in efforts to positively impact destinations through conservation, education, and sustainable tourism initiatives. AAA is a proud partner in their continued mission. 

I found that the new experience and the people and organizations involved with Tourism Cares strongly support the idea that discovering a nation’s culture and identity is a crucial aspect of travel. They advocate for cultural activities and tours that allow visitors to authentically experience how locals live, work, and play. I truly felt like those in the travel industry I met at the summit cared about what we were doing in Panama, they cared about the people who live in Panama and each other.

This epiphany had an impact and plays a role in why I’m sharing this story.  As a storyteller, I have an innate desire to want to get to know people–who are they, what motivates them and how similar, or not, their lives are to mine. When I meet new people, I like to explore the deep waters of who that person is and what is their unique personal story. This has helped me to establish several amazing and lasting relationships over the years. 

On day three of the summit, after a long hike around the city of Panama, I found myself at a location designated for the group to have lunch. (Now, I’d like to share that the ceviche on this day for our lunch was the most delicious that I had ever had in my entire life.) While I was enjoying this delicious dish, Greg Takehara, the CEO of Tourism Cares, excitedly found me in the group. He wanted to introduce me to Carlos Vicente Tapia Mendez, an amazing local photographer that runs Mi Gente de Santa Ana, a non-profit focused on teaching and encouraging at Panama City’s youth to take photos around the city. The mission of Mi Gente de Santa Ana is to teach at-risk youth the art and techniques of photography to foster their creative expression, improve their self-esteem and open doors to educational and employment opportunities in the field of visual arts.

Before joining AAA, I worked with inner-city youth in New York City, which aligned perfectly with my experience. I saw this as a chance to connect with local youth through our shared interest in photography. I was introduced to two young men, Lucas Ramos and Imanol Grajales. Since they didn't speak English and my Spanish was limited to "no bueno," we used an interpreter to help us communicate.

The young men were excited to share their photography with me. And seeing the stories that they share through their eyes spoke to me instantly as a fellow storyteller. Everyone knows that art is subjective, and I’ll admit I can be critical at times, especially of my own but these young men really captured their life in and around Panama City through their lens.

Their photos told a story with their personalities interwoven into each image which I look for and appreciate in photography. I was impressed and moved both by the honesty and authenticity of their photos and their willingness to share their art with me. 

Since the small group of us were having a great time, I decided to take it a step further, and get interactive, the interpreter translated for me that I wished to have a photo challenge with them.

He quickly spoke to them in Spanish, telling them what I said, which was; “We come from different worlds, I don’t know your world and you don’t know mine, but today right now, our worlds come together, and we get the opportunity to share in each other’s worlds just for a moment.” As the interpreter continued, I watch as smiles formed on their faces.  “So, let’s do a photo challenge,” I suggested. “Let’s go outside and set up a photo session. You both will take photos of me, and I will take photos of each of you. When we’re done, we’ll look at them all.”

Like the famous canal connecting two bodies of water that slices through their country,  photography became the bridge that would bind us. With little else in common including our basic understanding of each other’s languages, for the next 25 minutes we connected, smiling, laughing and snapping away.

We were communicating on a deeper level, and I feel blessed by the experience because I believe we were all positively impacted that day. I’m grateful for the time that AAA and Tourism cares gave me to make a connection with other people and places. I’m grateful that Greg Takehara saw that opportunity and made the connection without knowing where it would lead.

But that’s how it works sometimes, we never really know how the connections we make while traveling will impact our lives or how art can impact us as well. If we take the opportunity to go deeper and to reach out, we can be changed for the better just like the mission of Tourism Cares and AAA. Each of us by our actions and what we share can, connect with locals in destinations we visit on a deeper level and help make a positive impact.