My Third Eye

My last image was of a smiling island local, in a sense performing for tourists. In a sense, this picture is related: it depicts an employee of the BVI resort where were stayed; part of the job involved just sitting during quiet times, alone with one’s thoughts. For both of these men, are their lives defined for just being there for rich tourists?

At lunch on an island, a local hanging around the restaurant posing for photographs and getting free drinks. This image for me distills the experience.

I was struck by the way this boat jutted out, like it had been thrust onto shore. Originally shot in colour with my D90, I used Silver Efex Pro 2 with a heavy red filter setting to darken the sky as much as possible. This plug-in really helped me go from what the camera recorded to what I saw.

Back to digital for this one: one of the more interesting sites on Virgin Gorda is an old copper mine from the 19th century; on the top of a hill by the ocean, there are amazing images in every direction! This image was captured in colour, then converted to black and white with Silver Efex Pro 2.

In Virgin Gorda we passed this stand of trees every day, and every day it caught my eye, as it seemed like a corridor in a cathedral. I took many pictures of it, and I think this is the one that best captures the impression it made on me. For this image I used my Mamiya medium format camera, 55 mm wide angle lens, and Ilford Delta 100 film.

There were a lot of fascinating trees in Virgin Gorda, including one that had basically taken root and grown on top of a boulder. I couldn’t get a satisfactory shot of the entire tree that I liked, so I went in closer to focus on the gloriously messy root structure. I used my Mamiya, and a combination of Ilford Delta 100 film and Xtol developer; this could become my goto combination for a lot of photography!

This image was created on the only cloudy day we experienced on VIrgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. On a island known for sandy beaches and sun, I found this rocky beach fascinating. Much of the smaller rocks are actually old weathered pieces of coral that have washed onshore, along with small shells or broken bits of larger shells. Amazing textures, that demanded to be captured in black and white, so out came the medium format Mamiya, loaded with Tri-X.

I am continuing to work through the images I took in the British Virgin Islands, and while many of the photos are colour-centric (to be expected in a place where the ocean is a melange of breathtaking shades of blue), I do like the black and whites images I took. I’ve only had time to develop one roll so far, which contains images taken at “The Baths”, a famous beach on Virgin Gorda.

Virgin Gorda is not only a place of amazing colours, it is also a place of  amazing textures and shapes, and I am looking forward to developing the other black and white rolls I shot during my week in paradise.

Last night I got back from a week in the British Virgin Islands. A business meeting, but no shortage of fun, and time for photography! (Both film and digital). The image below is one of my favourites from the trip: a couple living and loving the moment. Just for a moment, I felt like I had bottled joy.