Sunday, November 23, 2008

On travel photography and breaking and entering*

Back in May when I was on Hawaii's Big Island, I was tasked with shooting a locally owned farm. I called the owner and set up an appointment to visit the farm on a Sunday - a day when they are traditionally closed. Due to some confusion, the owner was a no show at the scheduled time and unreachable by phone (worth noting was that I had to drive 2 hours each way to get to the farm). This was my last day on the island and I needed to get the shot, what to do? Figuring that I had the owner's permission to shoot and be there - sort of - I engaged in a little breaking and entering*.

Ever wander a 600 acre farm alone? Completely alone? Talk about creepy! The farm was nestled on the slope of a mountain on the east side of the Big Island (past Hilo) and aside from the occasional rustling of wind, the silence was incredible. The neighboring land was all either farms or countryside, so there was truly nobody around! It was beautiful, but I kept waiting for someone to show up and either bust me or scare the heck out of me.

Eventually someone did show up (and I managed not to have a heart attack!) It was the farm manager who was coming to check a finicky water pump on his day off. He saw my car at the foot of the drive and called the owner on his home number (which I didn't have) and they figured out what was going on. The manager found me wandering the farm and gladly helped me get the shots that I needed.

Entertainingly, the magazine ran only one small shot in the story. Such is life, right? Check out the December 2008 issue of ISLANDS Magazine to see the shot!

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*This involved ducking under a swing arm gate at the head of a drive way and pretending I didn't see the huge "No Trespassing" sign. I didn't enter any buildings, merely wandered the grounds, taking photos. I did have my editor on speed-dial and a promise that he'd bail me out, should I get hauled away to the pokey.**

**Yes, I said pokey. Jail, prison, the clink, whatever you want to call it.***

***But honestly, if you're gonna be in jail somewhere, there are probably worse places than Hawaii.

2 comments:

Christine @ 12,450miles said...

This is hysterical! I can totally see all of this happening in my mind as well... too funny!

Anonymous said...

I totally know that feeling of "uh-oh, I have to do this but I am sooooooooooo gonna get in trouble". LOL. I love your narrative. You have a definite voice in your writing style. :)