Sunday 20 October 2013

Red October | Sarah Moore - Hills District Portrait Photographer

This weekend was a stark reminder of how fragile humans are when facing Mother Nature. With bushfires threatening all around us it was a sombre weekend.

Heavy smoke has hung over the city for the entire weekend, making for some gorgeous but eerie photography.









Tuesday 15 October 2013

Vanuatu | Sarah Moore - Hills District Portrait Photographer

If I had a bucket list - on the top would be to Travel. Anywhere.

I grew up with my head buried in books, and I am still a voracious reader. And I have dreamed about visiting all of the magical places I have ever read about.

Being able to visit somewhere as untouched and magical as Vanuatu was incredible. We stayed in a small locally owned and run resort, walked and caught the buses along with the locals, and instead of taking a tour around the island we hired three local guys to take us around the island. 

It was an incredible, gorgeous, romantic weekend. 

My diary notes from the weekend...

Today we flew to Vanuatu, landed with cows in what was essentially a paddock, piled into the dodgiest taxi ever, was amazed and humbled by the gorgeous friendly locals, saw my life flash before my eyes as the taxi driver told us there "are no road rules" as he overtook into oncoming traffic, ate the most delicious local seafood sitting on the water, shopped at an all night outdoor fruit market, negotiated our way around the streets, caught a local bus home that took us through the back streets of port vila listening to cheesy '90s love songs for $1.50, laid on our own private beach, gazed at millions of stars, and swam in the dark.

Today's adventure was a trip to the Mele Cascade Waterfalls. The trip in the bus had me with my head hanging out the window like a dog, I was in awe of how these gorgeous people live, they are eternally happy people, who take great pride in what they have. The waterfalls were magical, crystal clear (freezing cold!!!) water. We got thoroughly drenched in a flash storm and waited over an hour for a ...pizza. We then sat and waited for our lift and were able to watch the locals go about their days - men carrying machetes, kids playing freely and the women gathering food stuffs from the forest. On our return we decided to walk through the local streets were I was privileged to take some photos of local children who were so excited to see themselves on camera! Everyone we came across said hello, even the kids. We found a restaurant on the beach and sampled local seafood by candlelight - treated to some local dancing. Can't wait for tomorrows adventures!!

What a magical day. From being the first footsteps on an untouched beach, to swimming in the blue lagoon. To eating a freshly picked and cut coconut on the side of the road with our new friends (Chris, Simon and Timothy who had organized a whole day just for us!!). Or being welcomed into their village as they visited family. Standing ankle deep in mud, followed by plunging into hot springs. Massive banyan trees, dense jungle, WWII relics, ancient villages. Followed by sunset over the bay photographing a group of young guys dance and sing! What a day!!!

Brace yourself for LOADS of images :)