Krzysztof Filla   Photo Gallery

Photograps 2019

Costa Rica in Spanish language means "a rich coast". In fact it was always a poor country without much resources such as gold or oil. However in 1948 the Costa Rican government decided to abolished its military and together with other decisions, it resulted in transformation of the nation, now referred to as the Switzerland of Central America. After the demilitarisation of Costa Rica the money for army started to found hospitals, promote education, political stability and finally environment. In the mentioned year 1948 the forest cover of Costa Rica was 75%, but because of the rapidly rising population and growing demand in western countries for cheap meat and bananas, by the midst of the '80s the forest cover dropped from 75% to 26% in order to clear way mainly for pastures. This overexploitation of the priceless nature together with education has led to a fundamental paradigm shift in understanding the despairing benefits of the natural world and the increasing problems it caused. From the middle of '90s the shift in Policy in preserving and restoring its forests has led to the situation, that in 2019, 53% of the country has been forested again. Promoting ecotourism resulted in developing sustainable tourism as a very powerful economic boost that has turned to be the main income of the country.
During this journey I travelled across Central America from Panama to Guatemala with the main focus on Nature and I can truly say without any shadow of the doubt that Costa Rica has no match as far as the nature and wildlife is concerned. I think, in some way, my pictures reflect the situation despite the fact that some of them have been lost together with my stolen camera.

TYPE OF EXPEDITION: First 6 month phase of MY PROJECT in Central America.
DURATION: 46 days.
PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIAL: Digital - FF 26 Mpx and APS-C 24 Mpx.

Photograps 2017

I believe that by raising awareness and knowledge about Nature, we are closer to understanding the natural processes that are taking place around us and at the same time we gain more respect for the natural world. I see and think that some countries try to implement it and put their priority to protect their environment and the people of Costa Rica are one of them. I spent there slightly over 2 weeks and it is not enough to have a broad and conclusive opinion about it. But by comparison spending 6 weeks in Nicaragua and 2 weeks in Costa Rica I could see and sense the difference. Initially I was planing to spend the whole 2 months in this country but Costa Rica is an expensive place to live and travel in the long term. I decided to divide the time between Costa Rica and Nicaragua and as some people in internet indicated, the same nature exists on both sides of the border I definitely disagree with this. Of course, I have some reservations about how certain issues are dealt with but I may describe them when I spend there more time and have more to say. In the meantime I invite you to have a look at the pictures and find out more about environment we all share and have impact on this Planet.