Face to Face: Erich Briehl

Known around town as “The Video Guy”, Erich Briehl loves sharing his professional skills as a videographer with the Mérida and Yucatán community. His website intheyucatan.com contains a compilation of videos he has filmed in the region, as a way to showcase the activities in the area and the beauty of the state. He is available to film promotional videos for businesses, of course, but much of the work he is doing is just for the pleasure of it. You will see him at the opera, at a restaurant, in the mercado, and at art openings around town.

Erich grew up in Oakville, Ontario, and always loved to travel. While studying TV Broadcasting and Media Communications in Hamilton, Ontario, he knew he would move to another country sooner or later. “I’ve always felt that staying in one place might limit my possibilities,” he says. “I didn’t want to look at the world with blinders on.” Before he even finished the three-year degree, he had a job offer from a cable television company. He worked full time while finishing his degree at the same time.

His college professors and fellow students told him he had a good eye for video. “How’d you get that shot!!??” they often asked him. He thinks it may be partly due to the fact that he had done some acting and modeling when he was younger, so he knew what it was like to be in the camera’s viewfinder. He had often wondered what it would be like to be on the other side of the lens.

Part of his training took him on the job with reporters covering local stories. Once he had a good feel for journalism, in 2005, he decided to freelance his skills, and did various jobs for CNN, CTV, and Telelatino in Toronto and southern Ontario.

Two years later, a friend connected him with both CNN and Reuter’s in Tokyo. He worked on a Reuter’s story about the Korean community’s reaction in Tokyo to the North Korean nuclear testing program, and also did some work for Bloomberg Financial Services’ TV division, doing business news. He covered the G8 Summit in Tokyo from July 7-9, 2008, and also did a piece on the Canadian dollar reaching par with the US dollar on July 22, 2008.

In 2009, Erich and his partner decided to leave Japan and move to Mexico. During a stopover in Canada, they bought a house in Mérida “sight unseen”. Once the paperwork was complete, they hopped on a plane to Mexico with their bulldog Brewster.

With his website showcasing Yucatan videos to the world, Erich hopes to dispel some of the myths about Mexico. “I want to promote the good life we have here…the culture, the theater, the symphony. I like to hear stories from ordinary people; you can’t get around in this world if you don’t make friends. Outsiders hear so much negative news about this country which is now my home. I feel compelled to show the other side of the news. Live images help to achieve that.”

By Juanita Stein

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