A letter home...from Meg Campbell-Back

Once upon a time...

 

...a handsome Fijian from the backblocks met a very attractive French Canadian girl. They fell in love, had a baby, got married in Fiji and returned to Montreal to live happily ever after... and watch and wait for their wedding pictures! Well they are all completed and I will burn to disc and post and begin the album design, but in the meantime I know everyone has been waiting to see some of the shots of this beautiful wedding...(these are all obviously available in good old normal colour shots too- the blue colours Mylène chose were beautiful)...

Today: some getting ready shots... Mylène and her friends and relatives got ready for the ceremony in a room full of ambience, their favourite music playing on the laptop, the shutters closed, and just some bedside lights and the light of the adjoining bathroom area. It was serene and there was a happy busy feeling of anticipation. So I turned the flash off, I just felt it would've been too intrusive. 

 

When I meet elegant women like this I always feel so bad my french is so lousy! Je l'apprende pendant quatre ans à l'ecole mais j'oublie beaucoup tout! I have written that out of my head without the help of one of my favourite sites babelfish... I'm sure Sarah can pipe up and correct that for me!

So I used the light coming off the mirrors and lamps and really it was quite nice, I thought. I also used the sigma 30mm f/1.4 and nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lenses- good fast glass which helped alot. Usually I'm not so big on actions (for you non-photograhers these are small programs for photoshop which process your photos for you to a certain look), I have written some of my own which allow me to automate things and save a lot of time, but apart from that I don't really buy many. However for these plays I have been using some which have been recommended to me many times (!) the totally rad actions by Doug Boutwell. Actually I haven't bought them yet, but I will: get this! when you visit the website you can get some sent free to you to try. Which I did. and they're awesome. Good on you Boutwells, I'm recharging my credit card in preparation for a purchase...(maybe don't tell GB). I have combined their action called "bitchin' black and white" with a touch of extra brown tone. The partially coloured ones I have played with some overlays (all my own work so please don't blame the Boutwell's for those!). 

But you're asking "where is the bride?" eh? Picture one with everyone fussing over her is an action Laureen had which I tried while she was here. Different huh? Its "honey" by Lilyblue. OK actually probably you're not interested!! Sorry!! On with the bride pics...

(this shotis from a whole series and is also stunning in black and white...) And this is one girl who didn't need her hair done!

I love the emotion in this one... (it's time to go...)

So we're outside, blinking in the sudden daylight and waiting for Mylène...

and we're off...

to where Jim is waiting... (to be continued!)

Ho Ho Hoe...

I remember an episode of Frasier I saw once, it was set near christmas, and Roz and Daphne were sparring (verbally)... I laughed out loud when Daphne strides out with the closing statement "and you're a Hoe Hoe  Hoe"!! I thought that was just hilarious, but ho ho, that's because it wasn't directed at me obviously...

Fast forward to our first ladies road trip away, not the one to Oarsman, but an earlier one I still haven't posted the photos of (hey who said it had to be in chronological order?)... This time Dot, Tracey, Lisa and I took the kids (ten of them) and took over another dorm; up at Heaven's Edge (Vaturu). We were sitting back, enjoying the tranquility just like Darryl Kerrigan (ah the tranquility!) when one of us (while I recount the story I have to admit I can't remember who actually said what) noticed our cell phones weren't working.

The conversation of the four of us then went something like this... 

"Hey there's no cell phone signal up here"

"So we only need our cell phones to see what time it is?" (most of us no longer wear watches- a fiji thing)

"I know! why don't we put our cell phones and watches away like the Wild Hogs!" (or maybe it was "throw away our watches and cell phones like the wild hogs)

"then that would make us the Wild Hoes!!!!" 

 

above pic: Wild Ho's surveying their environment and congratulating themselves on their driving skills on the gruelling road up.... It was easy to greet each other for the next few days "hey ho!" "hey ho!"....

Then I changed to the mac, and bookmarked a few sites on the whizzy bookmarks bar thing for easy access. I looked at it... it truncates the longer names and....eeek!

A letter Ho? I'm a letter ho? Well I suppose I'm the ho that uses this blog instead of actually writing letters to her friends and family. But the worst was yet to come. One day as I emptied my husband's pockets to put his stuff in the laundry (no I wasn't going through them :P ) I found....

Gasp! I showed it to the Wild Hoes after combat class that week and (after they stopped laughing) they said I was right to be worried. My surname is "Back", I'm meant to be his Back Hoe! Was I being replaced? I consulted friends Howie and Liz: after all they're farmers. Howie considered the crumpled ad carefully. "Well" he said "she does come with her own spade"...

To console me Dot sent me this handy example of some signage in China.  Ho is obviously a very respectful term over there, they even have their own clearly marked doors so as not to have to mix with the plebs.

So we come to the first picture of this post. That person riding off into the sunset with his backhoe is indeed my beloved, working on the new pool (and tractor driver isn't even his job description). But I told him after 8:30pm he is to come home. The only hoe he gets to hang out with after that time is me. I have added to the sidebar a little music track to match this post. As the ridiculous series of coincidences continues the next is due to Noel Coutts -the brilliant musician who sang/played at our wedding. I went to i-tunes to replace our much beloved and battered CD of his music and... he has a song out called "slapper hoe dog"! If you like blues you'll love Noel's stuff, and with the magic of the internet you can of course buy it online...

and today... dealing with the scourge of today's insecticide resistant hair friends who love little girls with long clean hair and lots of friends I bought a new brand and...here:

look closer....

There are "Hoe Family Care Products"!!!!! Who knew!!! So before I have to rename this post "Hoe No" I will  finish... like the pool!!! It's finished!! (long hours and big effort went in there as the photo in the sunset shows) and it looks great. But that's a story for another time...  

Why should you....?

...have your 12th birthday at the Hard Rock Café, Port Denarau, Fiji? The above photo is a clue! I'm not big on birthdays and (while I'll go out of my way not to have a clash with them) I don't really go for the huge "lets invite everyone and do lots of expensive things" type of party -I'm totally happy if all they want to do is go to MacDonalds (known here as the "American Embassy"). But it is important to us to share a special meal with at least the family members. So we finally found a date where GB would be around and nothing else that we knew about on, and took Alice and friends to the Hard Rock Café. 

What fun! It was a lunch hour, but they put us upstairs and kept the food and drinks coming. It was good that there weren't many other diners upstairs- in the daytime they tend to be downstairs and outside...

Elly says 12 is a great age, you not quite a teenager, but not a kid... eh Grace!! (don't ask... you know your Aunty Andrée reads this? This'll leave her wondering what you are doing that they are laughing at)

Since it's a birthday some of the staff put AK on a chair and shouted at her while she held the ceremonial muffin with a candle...

We couldn't get our usual cake made out on the island- its full and really really busy. Housekeeping have even taken some beds out of our house. So we made one out of eight iced muffins...

Some parents arrived... (this photo is also for Grace's aunt!)...

er... sorry about that...

But Maxwell has an plan to work the sugar back off...

its called the YMCA...

and apparently it works best on the bar.....

Probably lucky Dad has just headed off to the rugby game.

When something's a success in a small town word of mouth marketing is very powerful. One parent booked another birthday party on the spot as she picked up her daughter, and T bought home another invite to go there for his friends party on saturday this week. And the YMCA? its odd that although it comes from our era, its really now reaching well beyond that. Take for example this cheeky pic I coincidentally received in an email this week (don't look Wendy! vosoti au...my apologies to Christians and art lovers):

and then a note on facebook from Mark included this little clip, also with YMCA references and so funny! As Bunty said: "If you know me, you'll know the saying 'if you must be a bush not a tree, be the best bloody bush you can be. This guy is a living example. A bit long, but worth it."  Made my day anyway (and it's only around 5 minutes)...

 

Renee tagged me last week with this. It's also about making someone's day- with a blog... "Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! (leave them a comment on their blog to let them know ) Beware! You may get the award several times!”

presumably you don't have to respond several times!

So the first person on my list is Renee Oakenfull, who tagged me, of both Vibe (actions, presets, logos and all sort of handy things) and Urban Pulse photography. She is a bundle of talent, and funny too! Check out how she tortures her husband to get the perfect ominous night rain shot...Those cute brown frames from 2 posts ago were from Vibe (and they were free! but you'll have to look for them..).

Second up is Bah of Bahrageous who really makes me laugh. Even when her post is sad the writing is so good. Read this post- now! haven't we all been there? Too funny...

Next up has to be Albie, not because he made my day (though I like his posts) but I "borrowed" (sorry Albie) his illustration "be happy" illustration to cheer up Bah! which it did. Albie is one very talented graphic artist, so someone please give him the job he deserves...(most of his illustrations do not have the coarse language of the one I sent Bah!)

Number 4 and 5 also go to Fiji blogs which are worth a look. Paradise Not Found- i don't know who Wilson is but every post is a treat. For a bit of fun click on the tab ("label") Engrish. That's a very funny collection.

and Babasiga -Wendy and Peceli keep us up to date with "the North" (Babasiga country in Vanua Levu) via their base in Geelong, Australia. News snippets and occasionally the real treat of Wendy's writing. 

OK I have to stop at 5 tonight. and post the next 5 another time...I can say they will most likely be photographers. If you are in a surfing mood check out also Lunch in Suva, and Oceanic in my sidebar under Fiji blogs. Lunch in Suva is a classic! Have you ever gone to a foreign country and wondered if that food court is the best place to eat or the fish and chip shop down the road? thanks to Lunch in Suva you not only can check out these places the posh restaurant reviewers won't go to, but you can see on google earth exactly where they are! Letter to Home gives Lunch in Suva two thumbs up... And Oceanic is always interesting, but Jonathan's musings from the USA at the moment are well worth a read. But I won't tag either of these two (they're not those sort of blogs). Actually I won't tag Wendy either (Babasiga) but it's worth saying it does often make my day... 

Right it's not day now, it's night. And to post three times in a week is unheard of for me. So I'd better stop and go to bed...

Leaving the Awesome Oarsman's

...yeah I know, "awesome Oarsmans" spac comment/heading, but I had to do it... So we started the last day with Tai from the Nacula Village walking around to teach the kids how to weave bracelets- too cool! (nb her name is not Tai- that's the formal address I was using and means Grandmother. Actually it's similar in context to "Whaea" in Maori. But the problem is that using "Tai" meant I forgot her actual name. If anyone from there cares to email it to me I will edit this).

Of course before then we had to actually get up. If you hadn't gathered this already we had taken over the dorm- and I defy you to find a dorm with a more spectacular view! And of course we had more than a bit of tidying to do...

Yes well spotted, this pano is of course the night before. The comment about the mess obviously still stands though. Lisa has a most classic photo of our little area. Lucky she can't post it in the comments... (she can't can she? Dot do not help her with an html code thanks)... As I said the dorm was very comfy with working mosquito nets on all the windows, and fans, with the option of nets for over the beds.  I didn't use mine, but T really liked his. 

There's not a big call for veil shots in Fiji wedding photography. Generally the outfits are less formal. But I thought the above shot of T was good practice! 

The kids were well occupied weaving while we settled up and tidied up. And look at One ("Onnie") ... yes she's smiling now (actually she smiles most of the time). That's because she has finished sorting out the huge muddle of various charges that we had run up. And maybe glad to be free of our demands (more ice! our drinks are getting warm!). Like Ron in the mainland office One is wonderfully efficient.

Then it was lunch and "isa lei" (the Fijian farewell song) before hopping on the boat. Lunch was pizza with cucumber and egg on top. Oddly enough we all declared it delicious and had seconds! Then we grabbed one last photo of all of us on the steps. This is with my camera, I set it up in manual for Tomasi who snapped the shot. See how we're all laughing? Its a fixed focal length lens, so he has to step backwards untill we're all in. But between me setting it and him taking it a dog has decided to relax in the crucial spot. Tomasi has walked backwards and tripped over it. But he's a good boy. He held the camera up as he fell...

We pile in the boats to go again... what a circus. You can't really get a feel here for just how silly this is, as you can't see me standing up at the end of the longboat balancing to get the photo! Then we all settle down for the trip back round to rendezvous with the South Seas Cruises / Awesome Adventures boat...

Ok to finish with here's a little quiz from breakfast time... 

Observe very cute kids 1 and 2...

Now the question. Which one of these two women is their Mother!! 

Clearly that cute look is hereditary... Now don't be fooled by the unflattering lighting in that photo above. Chrissy, Rach, Shiv, Marilyn and Lisa would be just about the worst women in the world to travel with. They all look outrageously good even first thing in the morning with no make-up or hair done, straight after an oarsman's special cold shower. And you wonder why I'm behind the camera.... (final photo by Lisa). Bye for now!

Nacula School

...and where we have told the kids they will go next year!

 

Nacula School (say Nah- thu- lah) is situated on the edge of the village and is actually a boarding school for a large part of the district. Children come in on Sunday afternoon from surrounding islands and commute home on Friday afternoons. Parents from the village help out with the cooking for the boarders. When we visited one class was nominated to sing for us. Our kids LOVED it, especially the younger ones. Little S amused herself by making faces at the class which cracked them up. It was a happy school and full of spirit. 

Now before I post some more of my favourites here's my public service notice: In NZ and maybe Australia too school books, in particular the school journals are retired at around 10 years old. Over here most schools do not have access to the readers our kids take for granted, in fact we have observed classes reading the same books, but off a large poster on the black board. This puts any children with vision or hearing problems (which lets face it are unlikely to be diagnosed as they would be back home) at an immediate disadvantage. When we lived in Rotorua the librarian at Lynmore Primary School, John, saved all the retired readers, and there will be other school librarians who do this too. When we were coming over for a holiday we would carry about 20kg of these and give to the local school. Please do this! If you are coming over see if you can get some retired readers from a local school, and use your spare luggage allowance to bring them over and donate to a school... When GB was interviewing for the job over here he told the children he was visiting his friend Mac in Auckland, but they suspected he had been in Fiji for the weekend: why? Because he had raced into the school on the Friday with his overnight bag and John had filled it with retired school journals!

 

Curious children looked out as we walked past, me saying "kerekere na taba?" (please a photo? -my Fijian grammar is not too hot) each time someone looked out at us. Disruptive? yes probably, Vosoti Au... (I'm sorry).

The school had inspirational messages painted on the walls...

That's all from Nacula, I must just add that those frames that work so well here are by Renee Oakenfull of Vibe...

"One" from Oarsmans (a photo in my next post) tells us there is also a very good Catholic boarding school on Turtle Island. So I told the kids that's where they could go next year- one of those two schools. We would put them on the boat on Sunday afternoon, and pick them back up off it on Friday at 5pm. They weren't so keen, but really they're quite safe and have no need to worry that we would send them away. We would miss them too much...

I've got to go to town on the big boat now (the "Cougar") so I can't be late and miss it- it won't wait... So I will stop here and post again tomorrow, I know, what the!?? Before we leave Oarsmans there are 3 or 4 more photos, also Renee has tagged me, and I've got two birthdays to share including why 12 year olds like the Hard Rock Cafe... Then of course the beautiful wedding of Jim and Mylene. The photos are done (well my ones are), I'll pick a few out and show them (gorgeous couple!) then burn the disc and mail to Montreal...

Nacula Village

Flash back to three posts ago: our intrepid travelling kids have come off the little boat, the rain has cleared, and they are wading towards the path to Nacula Village. Nacula Village has some points that had us interested to see it, to put it simply it's quite remote and quite big and quite historic... But the family group who own Oarsman's Lodge are also from this village, to quote the website "The Mataqali Natia, as the chiefly Mataqali is situated in the village of Nacula, which is approximately 25 minutes walk away form the Resort. Oarsman's Bay Lodge is owned and operated by Mataqali Natia."

While Treasure Island was the first major resort to be half owned by the local land owning group, the Nakelo (who remain half owners of Treasure Island and Bounty Island Resort businesses today, in addition to owning the land); it's probable that The Oarsman's Lodge was the first fully locally owned resort in Fiji (more about it on their website here). At Treasure it's apparent that having a vested interest in the business makes for amazing staff, and at Oarsman's they were pretty cool too.

So our guide Tomasi is walking us from the beach to the village...

We come through the gates of the village and pass traditional houses...

 

We popped into the chiefs house- but he wasn't home...

The building that really amazed me was the Catholic Church. It was seriously old dating back to some time before 1850, when it was built by French Catholic missionaries out of coral. What happened to them after building the church I don't know. I asked several people (or as they say over here "aksed") but all I got was a mumbled answer "err they went away". I was intrigued and did a bit of a surf for more info, but didn't really find anything. Interestingly at Whakarewarewa village in NZ they put the Catholic Church at one end of town, and the Protestants at the other. I'm not sure where the Methodist Church is at Nacula, but what I did find out is that although the French got a foot hold in Nacula early it didn't stop the inevitable competition for the villagers' recruitment or should I be saying for their souls... 

No jokes about Jisu being "armless" please... And in this next one I love how little B's dress matches the mat...

It's quite a coincidence that as I was trying to find a bit more out about this church, our dictat 

interim primeminister appeared in the papers meeting the Pope. I wish I had been Fiji's official PR photographer person for that trip (want to go to Italy? H*ll yeah! oops I mean goodness yes!) Instead I have to be satisfied like others trying to guess what they may have been saying... ("what happened to all those brothers we sent over to Nacula?" "errr they went away").

I know, Wendy's guess is more fun (Bula vinaka Mere! One of my predecessors visited Fiji one time. I wonder if Fiji is still the way the world ought to be eh?)

So if I was the Pioneer Woman I would now run witty "name that photo" competiton. But I'm not and I don't have any prizes to give away and anyway any suggestions that got risque would have to be deleted... All I can say in defence of my sad blogging skills is come back soon, and I will post some pics of the next school we are sending our kids to. The kids hope we are joking...

Not so inspiring...

Long time readers may be wondering where my longstanding banner has gone. Can't even remember it? Here you go...

This was originally a "challenge" on a message board I belong to from Tony Bridge, the essay it is from is about panorama, the wider discussion was about landscape photography:- 

"For the last couple of years I have given my students an assignment using the panorama as their format. They have to create a narrative about their life and self-perception. What makes it a little trickier is that they have to appear in it at least 3 times, each time doing something different. They can make it as long as they like, that is, choose the amount of time they will incorporate. Thus they become the actors in their own story. Unlike the conventional panorama, in which the camera is at the focal point of the image, it possible to use multiple viewpoints and still create a panorama.

They shoot it with their digicams, stitch it in Canon Photostitch, and print it across multiple pages. They then join and mount the images. The results can be amazing. They are part movie, part still. They break the boundaries of what constitutes a still image. Some, of course, do not go that far. But they have all begun to get a grip on the concept of narrative in the image, of telling stories. 
Why not try it yourself? " 

Well how could I resist the challenge to not only have a little fun, but maybe improve my (admittedly rather weak) landscape photography skills? I stuck the camera on the tripod for the day and quite liked the little slice of Fiji life that eventuated (though I am only in it twice). Sadly as I only had photoshop 7 at the time- which doesn't have the sophisticated photomerge of my shiny new PSCS3 -it took quite a while to put it together. But GB didn't like it, as he felt it was unflattering to him. Actually he has just got back from a funeral and has just taken off his black tie. Those of you outside Fiji may be startled to see he is wearing a skirt- this is the sulu vakatana- the Fijian equivalent of a business suit. Note also the other little Fiji idiosyncrasies (ok its pretty small, so maybe only if you have good eyes or imagination) -our nurse Militia Bau with bare feet (AK is home with ear ache), and the kids coming home from school with their good school shirts stuffed in their bags (it's too cold to do that in Dunedin)....

GB agreed that I could put it up as a banner, but only for a week. But guess who doesn't read my blog!! Regular readers will attest that it's been there at least a year now... Sadly last week GB attended BFTE- a big tourism show, and one of his colleagues (who can remain unnamed but could possibly be "bosso" here) teased him about the image of him slobbed out on the couch, blowing my cover and resulting in a rushed banner change.

So yes, I think the current banner is a little lame. I tried to zoosh (how do you spell that? you know, the word that means "make more flash eh") with a bit of a texture-y yellow-y  through the lens sort of effect, but then I read that clear blue will come back in, and although I have wonderful intentions of putting up something better soon you know me... (well friends and family certainly do)...  

But I did feel a bit better about my new banner, well a bit better in general after reading Wilson's analysis of Fiji's new coke can. Very funny, but you must also read all the comments... I mean Coke what were you thinking? 

I did really feel bad about having a part of the photography discipline I was so inept at, so last year in an attempt to get better at landscape photography I studied with both Tony and Mike and Jackie of QCCP. Both groups run fantastic courses which are quite different from each other and equally good. And I'm not just saying that to keep everyone on side! When Laureen was here last week we had an abrupt and incredibly low tide. I mean low, I have not in almost 2 1/2 years seen it that low. I have seen the coral sticking out before, but not this much. So we went out to try and get some meaningful landscape shots. I wanted to capture the moodiness of the heavy sky contrasted against the vulnerability of the coral so exposed... yeah right. It kept raining every time I thought it might clear, and I stood out there in the (warm) water with my camera tucked under my t-shirt while Laureen instead was very smart and went off and had a nice lunch instead... 

This was the result...

FYI according to the charts which I got Jim at the marine shop to read last wednesday, thursday and friday were 2m tides...

 

Laureen, the smart one, simply went out the next day and got this:

,

how cool is that?! We had to catch the big boat the long way round to go to netball practice on thursday in town, and to our surprise it couldn't go all the way to the wharf at Mana as it usually does- the tide was too low. I'd never seen that before either. Anyway so here's one more pano...

And at least now I get to use PSCS3 to do my photo merge. Hey maybe I could add some words to balance the little boat trying to shoot out of frame and use this as an emergency banner? Nah, best I start to work on a new one... Better go...

Touché...

Laureen and her husband and children have been here from Canada; their three boys are almost exactly the same age as ours. You can read more about their experience here; today I just wanted to discuss a meeting of the children of three different, but similar cultures.

To cut to the chase our six children and the very charming Marshall from Australia, who is also of a similar age were comparing their faves on you-tube. So we have kids aged 7-12 from Australia, NZ (but living in Fiji) and Canada. It was then decided to give the Canadians some Australian know-how via YouTube  as that's where they were heading next... The one with the extensive use of the swear word was condoned by the adult at home (OK that was me) as it is not as bad a swear word in Aus as it is in Canada and they probably had to know that (well that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

So first up was this little Aussie classic...

 

Now when I say Aussie classic I must add that although Aussie's have taken this ad to their hearts in the same way as they took Pavlova, Crowded House and Russell Crowe (OK they can have him...he seems to want to stay there) it was actually made in NZ by Saatchi and Saatchi. Apparently while they were brainstorming ideas one of the guys in the creative team wanted the ute to pull the head off a cow. The others kept telling him it wouldn't happen... 

Then the downunder's showed the Canadians this little beauty... Well some of the kids are on the cusp of teenagehood (is that a word?)...

 

and they retaliated with this. Cruel... 

Two Seasons in One Day

When I reviewed the photos (I have actually finished with them now, so the other girls can finally have theirs on disc) of us visiting Nacula Village I initially thought "oh! four seasons in one day!" but of course I had to revise that. NZ is the country that really can do four seasons in one day; Yvette and I for example went from 30C in Queenstown to having our plane delayed because of a heavy snowfall within 24 hours- Fiji simply can't get cold enough to really do 4 seasons in one day. But two types of weather? Yep, it can do that! 

While at Oarsmans we were offered a trip to the village of Nacula, which I will put more about in the next post. Its really cool and quirky and has some truly surprising bits. But as of course I have far too many photos I'll start with the funny weather on the trip to and from the village... As we set off it was raining, so we all sat to one side of the glass bottom boat, and as the rain was actually coming under the sides I hid the camera in a bag and put my spare sulus (sarongs) over the kid's shoulders. The other adults had flagged the village trip, and were saving their energy for a snorkel in the afternoon, so it was me and the mob + of course our guides. As the rain eased off a bit I got the camera back out. As you can see Tomasi is already wet. But not so wet his so called "mate" can't get him a bit wetter and amuse the kids at the same time (check out the water in the bottom of the boat too- you can see it really has been pouring)...

hey who's steering the boat? and back to the serious business to hand...

As we got to the village it was rapidly clearing up! Look at this:- (which is lucky because of course I have to take my sulu and put it back on over my shorts as we are going into the village now...)

We'll cover the village in the next post-  I still have many rellies on dial up or slower connections and these posts have been getting a little big... But anyway it was lovely and sunny, and then as we went to go...

That's our boat waiting for us... This is the view out to the island...

here we are heading out toward that island...

and here's the weather coming... or is it going? I can't remember...

I do know what this is... this is photographer's child syndrome...

...and as you can see in the first photo of this post the sun is rapidly cutting it's way back through the clouds in the most spectacular fashion as we get back to Oarsmans, and the view for the afternoon was again... this! 

Maybe it was a boat thing?

 (PS friends of Mylene and Jim: I have finished their photos too, and I will post in the next... quarter?! no seriously I will finish the oarsman posts and get them up soon, internet connection time permitting)

Life's a Beach

 

Nearly lost that! Ok I'm really struggling right now, typepad has a new post body template. It looks amazing, and I love having the option to write in html again. But phew! I am a little confused. Still it is time to post again and get the rest of the Oarsman photos up, and this afternoon is the best time to do that, as my hubby is off island and I can use the connection in his office. My blue internet umbilical cord which connects me with the outside world, and indeed sanity has a precarious journey from the satellite dish (or whereever it is it comes from) over to my house via several building roofs and of course when one of them was being replaced this week I was going to be cut off. I think its the army training many of the Fijians here have had. They are masters at disabling communications links... That is why they are sought after for peace keeping missions the world over... When I said "I nearly lost that" I was referring originally to the above photo; then I nearly lost my post dealing with the flash new typepad stuff... oh the cruel irony. 

This is what happened in the photo: we were sitting on the beach relaxing as the kids played in the late afternoon sun, and I decided to photograph my vodka and tonic (expertly poured by Lisa) as the waves lapped around it. So I placed it sort of near where the waves had been "lapping" up to. Of course the tide picked that moment to demonstrate it really WAS going out, yes that moment when I was laying on my stomach with my camera held out in front of me waiting for the waves to come back as my "friends" heckled me. There was quite a debate raging- those that felt I was in the right position (OK maybe that was only me), those that felt to get a wave anywhere near lapping around my glass I would have to move further down the beach. As we discussed it and I contemplated getting off my stomach and moving suddenly! you guessed it! wave comes racing up the beach, panicked shouts, drink is nearly knocked right over (the sea came so close to adding a je ne sais quoi but I bet it's not good) and camera snatched out of the way just in time... and the above photo was the result...

It was really nice being away and relaxing and taking my fave sort of photos again- sort of photodocumentary editorial stuff- I think it's probably my scrapbooking background, and of course that first QCCC course on the same subject that inspired Yvette and I those years ago. When I read magazines I'm one of those people that also peer at the spine checking out who took the wonderful photos, so I was shaken out of my complacency when Rach said she was close with a NZ photographer: Kevin Emirali (here's an e.g. here of his work)- what? I definitely have seen and liked his work in publications over there! "Damn" I thought to myself "I hope Rach doesn't want any files, she'll be used to far too high a standard..." (Its alright, I'm over myself now, I'll burn them on disc for you as soon as I get around to it). So though I'm no Kev Emirali here's our afternoon on the beach at Oarsmans...

The sunflare was deliberate! true!

Did you see the fish? And this next one the girls are yelling "wrong camera! wrong camera!" I think they are referring to the fact that if I'm going to go into water up to my tits after a vodka I really should take the pentax w30 instead, due to the fact it's waterproof to 3m...Actually you can't tell how deep I was because the water's too damn clear!

(every resort should have one of these on the beach- for hanging stuff and fun photos... actually Lisa's beach stuff tree photos were the best, I must grab one off her picasa album... You can see the afternoon's getting on now, but we're still sitting on the beach...

That was good of Shiv (Siobhan? Shiv how do you spell your full name?) to wear a sulu/ sarong that matched the sunset, wasn't it? And here's the last one... its dark now, we're going in for dinner (yes you eagle eyed photograhers, it IS actually the same time, just a different exposure. But it works for the effect...)

Now when I tried to upload this before the internet suddenly slowed right up and it wouldn't save...I had visions of sneaking around the office to try and find the unauthorised movie download that was jeopardising the island's bandwidth all of a sudden (and sabotaging it, mwhahaha.. yeah right, the problem was probably from the town office anyway, so vengeance wasn't to be mine tonight). Anyway cross your fingers, here we go again...