Well its been a long time since I last wrote on here and I
think that it is probably due to the fact that my previous entry was going to
be hard to beat. After an accumulation of a few months I think I have enough
tales to suffice an entry worth reading.
In August I flew back to the UK for my sisters wedding with
the mission of being the official photographer for the event. I some how
managed to turn the event in to a well-timed mission, with no margin for error.
I woke early on the Saturday morning to see off that weeks
guests and to finish my packing. My flight was going to leave around 2pm so I
headed to the airport just after lunch and made my goodbyes. I checked in
without drama and in no time I was on my way to Miami, on schedule so far. The
usual pain of getting through customs was there to greet me when I arrived but
I am getting well trained at being patient with the American imigration system,
even if it drives me insane, I smile and do as I told.
I hailed a Yellow Cab and ask the driver to take me to
Electric Avenue, a very popular electrical store and there I would find my new
DSLR camera that I had pre-ordered over the net to save time. The guys in the
shop were fantastic and they had obviously been working there for may years.
Some conversation was had and we soon got on to the fact that I was on an
important mission with little time to spare. With great intrigue they listened
to my itinerary and were all amazed that such a feat would even be considered.
Walter, one of the three gentlemen, was most interested in my background in
underwater photography and gave me a business card to contact him. He has
invited me to give a presentation on my pictures at a meeting of his photography
club in December.
I left the shop with my new camera and jump into the yellow
cab, that was patiently waiting, and headed back to the airport (just as a side
note here, I have been wanting to buy this camera for over 6 years and I am
over the moon with it!!). I checked in and got some food then found a charging
station to get some juice in the camera as there would be no time when I
landed. With a couple of hours to kill I got settled in to the operations
manual. The reading continued into the night and I tried to get some sleep as
we flew over the Atlantic and into London. An overcast Sunday morning was there
to greet me when I arrived at Heathrow, forty minutes ahead of schedule!!
I jumped in my hire car and headed off to the midlands. I
arrived at the country manner that my sisters wedding would be held and there
waiting was my good friend Madeline, her camper van and my pressed suit and
shoes to get changed into. There was just enough time for us to stroll to the
venue and a quick briefing from the master of ceremonies. Quick hellos to
everyone present and it was off to work, all standing. The first glimpse of my
sister and my father was of them both heading up the isle. A cheeky grin from
my dad let me know he was pleased to see that my journey had gone to plan.
I had great weather for my holiday in England and managed to
cram a lot in to my two weeks, but its never enough and back to the Caribbean I
went. I had managed to pick up the new addition of an underwater housing for my
camera, again something I had dreamed about for many years. Upon my return,
after reclaiming my lost baggage that had my new housing in, things got back to
the same routine. Guests have come and gone and I continue to practice my
underwater photography. Our current captain will be leaving us this week, after
five years with the company, and our relief captain will take us to the Bahamas
for three weeks. I am learning a lot on this boat and I hope to learn a lot
more. Soon it will be time to holiday in the UK again and then early next year
we head to the Dominican Republic for the Humpback Whale watching trips.
Hopefully I wont leave it so long to write here again. If you want to catch up
on some of my new photographs head over to my flikr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonjameshigton/
