Part 4: The Return

While in country if feels like a million things are happening at once; where am I? What am I doing here? And who are these people around me? It's hard to take a step back and look at your work objectively while you're still in the middle of it and your brain is going at a thousand miles an hour trying to work out the answer to just one, let alone all, of these questions. Looking back on your work and thinking about your experiences from the comfort of your own home leads you to see it in an entirely different way. Was this the best work I have ever produced? No. But did I do as well as I could under the time, cultural and personal pressures as I could? I think so. Did I improve from start to finish? Absolutely.

This hasty video shows where I was when I began this project. The ideas were there but the execution was haphazard. While I really do wish I had a usable version of this for my final project, it's a good starting point to show what I have grown from.

Looking back
In my first blog post I cast my eyes forward and attempted to predict some of the key struggles I imagined I might face. Personally I thought I would struggle with doing work while abroad- with so many things going on at once. As you may have guessed from my opening passage, this was something I did find difficulty in. The high quality hotels aided in mentally removing us from the hectic scenes in the streets below, allowing us a better opportunity to focus on our work. However no amount of clean white sheets or comfortably air-conditioned rooms could save us from the weight of our eyelids after days that began at 4:30am and often lasted until after 11pm. More than this the days were exhausting in and of themselves, we were constantly mentally drained from our work and communication with locals. And it was hot. These challenges are something that I will continue to face in this kind of work, and it will only get worse. I can only hope that as I gain experience I will develop ways to deal with this and get my overseas work to the standard that I produce at home, if not better.

Technically I was concerned by the noise pollution I might experience when recording interviews. This didn't turn out to be as great of an issue as I anticipated. My audio recorder was fine but Sam's iPhone was of about equal quality and more convenient so we used that most of the time. Given the areas we were in it was usually easy enough to move somewhere quiet for interviews.

The biggest technical problem I encountered was with photography. My camera is old and can still take good photos when you have the time, lighting and ability to get the right shot. However, while on the move I didn't have these luxuries so unfortunately I was pretty unhappy with the vast majority of the photos I took.

This is one photo that I don't mind

Photos that weren't taken in natural light came out grainy

Looking back on my errors now I see that a lot of my problems may have been avoidable with more research and better camera know-how. While abroad I made many basic photographer errors outlined by Meyer (2014) such as dismissing opportunities as missed because my camera wouldn't have been able to shoot what I wanted instead of trying to figure out a way around the problem. Additionally as noted by Meyer I perhaps should have utilised my tripod more and should have done more reading into the functions of my camera before taking it with me.

In my initial blog post I mentioned concerns for how I would be able to work effectively on my own and my fears for my equipment usage, I neglected to mention concerns over group work. This is likely because I had very few. I assumed that anyone on the trip wanted to be there and would be willing to put in the effort and therefore group work wouldn't be a problem. I was absolutely right in that everyone on the trip was dedicated and willing to put in the work required. What I failed to account for was the delegation of roles and a lack of communication within our group. University of Melbourne list these among many other tips for effective group work that would have been highly useful before embarking on this trip.

The role of my reflective practice
At the end of each section of the trip (before leaving, Vietnam and Cambodia) I reflected on how I was feeling personally and about the work I was producing in this blog. In short, the idea is that by reflecting on such things we are able to improve on our actions in the future and develop professionally (Hill, S. 2007). Expanding on the ideas of Dr. Ojomo (2015), reflective practice can be used effectively with internships and real world experience such as that gained on this study tour, as a way of improving ones work by applying theories and frameworks obtained in the classroom to past scenarios and analysing how they might be utilised in the future.

While I am quite introspective Hill (2007) was accurate in his analysis of the use of reflective practice in journalism. Journalists are, by nature, constantly working towards deadlines. As soon as one deadline is met it's all about working towards the next. This is very much how I felt about my reflections while abroad. While I tried to take the time to reflect on what I was producing I was still very much in the middle of producing it and that was were my head remained. It is only now after returning from the trip that I feel I have the time and peace of mind to fully reflect on my work and my experiences. 



References
http://newjournalismreview.com/2007/05/05/reflective-practice-for-journalists/
http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_5_No_4_1_April_2015/12.pdf
http://petapixel.com/2014/05/06/15-easy-ways-improve-photo-skills-without-buying-new-gear/
http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/lasc/professional-skills/tips-for-effective-teamwork