Shadowing Practice: Shooting photos for National Geographic - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
I recently traveled to Peru to shoot for National Geographic,
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I recently traveled to Peru to shoot for National Geographic,
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which is easily the craziest sentence I've ever said in my entire life.
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Yeah, it was a week I will never forget.
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Over all those days I came away with a ton of photos.
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Peru is so rich with history, color, texture, beauty.
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But I don't want to get ahead of myself.
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I want to bring you back to the beginning.
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Day one.
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We started at a textile center 12,000 feet up in the mountains.
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In this courtyard, women weave all day long,
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making unique garments one by one, by hand.
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Some work alone, some work together,
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and some work alone together.
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There was a photo everywhere in this beautiful place.
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And watching these women do such meticulous and meaningful work was quite special.
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It was really a way to start off the week.
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I would argue that the most noteworthy element of any good Peruvian textile is the color.
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It's just undeniably powerful.
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And we got to see firsthand how these colors are all obtained exclusively from nature.
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whether it be from a grain,
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a leaf, a flower, or this moldy powder growing on a cactus leaf.
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You'd never know things like that can make colors like this.
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Speaking of color, I wanna talk about that because
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that may have been the most important thing in my head when considering what cameras what gear to bring on this trip.
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I knew I needed these colors to really pop
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so you bet your bottom dollar I lugged my GFX and I don't regret one second of it.
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I also carried around an XH2S just as a second body and second focal length option.
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I actually mounted a beastly lens on that thing.
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It was a 200 millimeter,
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it was an F2, a stunning gorgeous piece of glass.
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And this thing was heavy and big.
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It actually injured me quite a bit.
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My legs were incredibly, incredibly bruised after this week,
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but the photos I got with it made it all worth it.
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Next, we got to see a Peruvian Paso horse show.
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It's a story of friendship and love played out by three Peruvian horses,
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their riders, and this magnificent dancing queen.
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I was watching all of this from my viewfinder with my jaw literally dropped.
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Wow, sorry, it's hard to talk.
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I busted my lip.
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Oh, it looks way worse than it did this morning.
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Am I okay?
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Okay, we're going to make it.
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We're going to make it through.
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It's going to be okay.
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This is a good time to just take a pause.
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Okay, so we're going to take a break
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because now's as good a time as ever to say thank you to the sponsor of today's video.
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The lovely Dracula.
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Ta-da!
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Trickity track track track track club.
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Now I couldn't help but notice that recently all of y'all have been talking about the music in my videos.
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It seems like you're liking it and while I'd love to really just pat myself on the back for that,
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I can't really take the credit, right?
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Because it's really these musicians who are making good music, okay?
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It's...let me tell you.
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I just remember when I found Junie on Track Club,
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I couldn't believe it was the first time I was hearing that voice.
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I run into songs like that on Track Club
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and then I get to stream them now and sing them and hum them every day.
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the songs just are becoming permanently imprinted in my brain because they're so good
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back to business people
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to end the day we got to see salt mines this
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is a hillside of about 4 500 pre-incan salt wells that that are kept up to this day,
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each plot tended to by a different family.
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The scale of this place gets a little more real when you see it on 200 millimeter.
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I wish we could have seen this place in the sunshine and with clear blue skies,
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only because the plots really do reflect what's happening up in the sky a bit.
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But luckily the storm started to sort of clear up right as the sun started to set.
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and we were at the top of this really kind of gorgeous valley and so
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we were pretty lucky to catch the sunset here.
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The next day we took a train to Aguascalientes which is the town you actually get to Machu Picchu from.
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It's this storybook town nestled on a river with small bridges and cobblestone streets.
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We didn't get to spend much time in this town,
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but I've thought about it since getting home.
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It's definitely one of those places that I would like to go back to and have a few days in.
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After a twisty turny drive up this kind of wild road,
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we got to see Machu Picchu for the first time.
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Some of these photos are lined up for 15 minutes.
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Some of these photos from the Machu Picchu site ended up being some of my favorite.
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I wasn't particularly expecting that,
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only because tourist sites can sometimes just be not that exciting after you've seen it so many times.
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But there was something about the colors this day and the way the GFX registered them and the light.
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And it wouldn't have been maybe my ideal time of day to go there and shoot,
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but it ended up being absolutely stunning.
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It was interesting to see when I posted these on Instagram how many people asked what film stock these were.
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A digital camera with really,
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really, really good dynamic range to sort of match the good dynamic range in film.
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That's where you can really start to emulate that look.
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The next morning we got to see Machu Picchu again,
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but this time actually we hiked above it.
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We hiked a mountain called Huayna Picchu.
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This hike is up this really thin spine,
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and it consists mainly of stairs.
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Just straight stairs for quite some time.
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It's really truly not for the faint of heart,
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but it was worth it, that's for sure.
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Also, this pup sort of latched onto our group at the entrance gate
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and sort of guided us up to the top and then
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when we got up there he just like passed out on this cliffside.
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Ugh, this little angel.
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We hung out at the top for a good while,
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we had interviews to film,
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people needed to eat and rest and enjoy the views
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and then we finally started making our way back down
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which was surprisingly just as challenging as the way up but just for different reasons.
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You have to remember these steps were made for Incan people who were really,
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really short and had really small feet.
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So you're climbing down a really small staircase on the side of a mountain with like camera gear.
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I was getting a little bit of vertigo going down
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because you don't stop to like look up and
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so I was starting to get like dizzy and lightheaded and you're up at high altitude,
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I mean it really is quite an experience.
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And then to just make it all the more interesting you
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actually have to like crawl through this like black hole it looks like from afar.
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I was like where are we,
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what are we walking into right now?
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This is crazy!
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What on earth?
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What the heck?
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Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.
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The next day was our last shoot day,
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but it did not disappoint in the slightest.
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We went to a sort of remote llama farm out in the mountains and we got to witness a really,
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really beautiful ceremony there.
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I'd sort of been waiting all week for my moment to be able to take some portraits and this was finally it.
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so So
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this whole week I was shooting amongst my team at Sunny 16.
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So we were filming, it was a full-blown like film set with crew and talent and everything.
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And one of the people we were with all week is actually a National Geographic photographer.
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This is Juan.
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So Juan, after the ceremony at the llama farm,
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sort of starts talking to the little boy in the ceremony who we find out his name is James.
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I sort of catch this moment happening sort of off to the side,
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you know the ceremony is sort of broken up,
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everyone's kind of going their own way.
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And I see Juan and James and they sort of break away
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and they have this like 10 minute period this really sort
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of beautiful window of time where Juan actually let James hold his camera
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and this is the first time James has ever held a
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camera in his whole entire life the way these two sort
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of like broke the ice with a camera I don't know it was all really just
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so sweet and so special to see long live James we shot one more location
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that afternoon and then we were straight to the airport.
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This is a first right?
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Yeah definitely never done this and I also really hope it doesn't start raining.
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Same like look at this.
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We had sort of a funny moment here where we're having to organize
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and clean and divide all of our gear we're also downloading all of our footage
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and photos outside just in the parking lot at the airport.
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And just like that, we were on our plane rides home and the week was over.
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I remember sort of getting home and sitting down and kind of being like, Whoa.
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We just did that.
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Pretty cool.
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Don't you take your smile away Baby you're beautiful
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How do I tell you I love that you're different And the moment I know
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Is when we lay down under the moon Look to the sky,
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cause there's a billion stars They look the same,
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but you stay who you are Done so much and you've got far to go
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Don't wait on the world to let you know Baby,
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you're beautiful Baby, you're beautiful Don't you take your smile away
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Cause baby you're beautiful You've got something special I understand sometimes it's hard to see
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When the world is hanging on your shoulder Baby, can you trust me?
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Look to the sky, there's a billion stars But none compare to who you are Times get hard,
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you're natural You can conquer anything,
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but don't let go And remember,
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baby you're beautiful Baby you're beautiful Don't take your smile,
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baby Baby you're beautiful Do-da-da-da-da-da,
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ba-do-da-do Ayy Ba-do-da-da, ba-do-da-da-do Ba-do-da-do,
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ba-do-da-do Ya Ba-do-da-do, ba-do-da-do, ba-do-da-do Ya don't wanna know this Ba-do-da-do,
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ayy Yeah, yeah, yeah And baby,
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you're beautiful Baby, you're beautiful Yes,
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you are Don't you take your smile Cause baby,
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you're beautiful Yeah Yeah
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Thank you.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English speaking skills by focusing on a fascinating travel experience shared by a photographer who documented the vibrant culture of Peru for National Geographic. As you engage with the content, you'll enhance your ability to express ideas about travel, photography, and cultural experiences while improving your overall English pronunciation. This exercise is particularly useful for those preparing for the IELTS speaking test, as it emphasizes storytelling and descriptive language.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Textile center - A place where fabrics and garments are produced, often involving traditional methods.
- Unique garments - One-of-a-kind clothing items, often handmade and distinct.
- Color - In this context, it refers to the vivid shades derived from natural sources, essential in photography.
- Meticulous - Showing great attention to detail; very careful and precise.
- Peruvian Paso horse - A breed of horse known for its smooth, rhythmic gaits, often featured in cultural displays.
- Viewfinder - A device used in cameras to display the image that will be captured.
- Experience - The firsthand knowledge or involvement in an event or lifestyle that shapes understanding.
- Photography gear - The equipment photographers use, including cameras and lenses.
Practice Tips
To effectively use this lesson for your English speaking practice, consider using a shadowing app to listen to the video transcript and repeat the phrases in real-time. This technique allows you to mimic the speaker's intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation, leading to a significant improvement in your English pronunciation.
As the video may feature quick dialogue and exciting narratives, it’s beneficial to start at a slower playback speed. This will allow you to grasp the nuances of the speaker's tone and emotional cues before attempting to mimic them at their natural pace. Focus on phrases like "the most noteworthy element" and "watching these women do such meticulous work", as these contain rich vocabulary and expressions that can enhance your IELTS speaking practice.
Remember, the goal of shadowing is not just to repeat but to internalize the language structure and vocabulary. By practicing these tips regularly, you'll not only enrich your vocabulary related to travel and culture but also confidently describe your own experiences in English.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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