Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Travel Snap Tuesday: Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Mexican DiverI just had one of those gut-dropping (can't think of the right expression...) feelings when I searched the computer and couldn't find any of the original pictures from our holiday in Mexico a few years ago. Eek, I hate to think the CD of digitals was destroyed or lost in all of my robust condensing for the move... but it's not the end of the world, I have various ones on facebook and the like. I had this feeling quite a lot shortly after our massive clean out/throw away/garage sale saga. I was so shattered that day (I don't mean to use that word in the sense that I was inebriated, more so that I was pretty shaky and close to falling apart) and left my dear friends and family to clean up the mess while I went to photograph Tim and Judes wedding, which was amazing and beautiful and all relatively smoothe, thank goodness, or else I could easily have burst into tears and melted away. The next few days we were between houses as we no longer had any furniture to sleep on and without thinking I accidentally deleted half of the wedding photos!!! Thankfully I have amazing people in my life and Seb Trovato saved the day! Goodness gracious though, I was close to going mad at that point. It's funny to look back with a little distance now. Sort of.

Not long after our move here I would remember something treasured and think 'oh goodness, I didn't give/throw that away did I?' I would have these terrible pangs of saddness over my silly ex-stuff. I realised this was a very unhealthy habit to indulge and prayed a quick prayer asking God to take away what felt like a heavy (even if silly) burden. I stopped having those terrible thoughts, thanks Lord. I really felt it was important not to let those things haunt me. Anyhow, those possibly missing photos got me off topic...

I liked Little miss Moi's idea of sharing a favourite holiday snap every Tuesday. This is one of my favourites from an afternoon on the beach in Puerto Escondido - quite a famous surf beach my Joshua still dreams about. It is so satisfying to capture something at the perfect moment like this. This website has some funny examples of perfectly timed photos. Photography is funny like that. Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time. Today I saw a beautiful photo opportunity - 3 little girls chasing after each other on a green hill surrounded by cherry blossoms. I could already see the picture in my mind and it was amazing! I was too far away though and my bus pulled in. I was really torn but ended up jumping on the bus, and shortly after playing over in my mind how the bus driver would react if I ordered him to immediately pull the bus to a stop so I could go back and get 'that shot'. But I was also aware I'd missed it. Even if I went back the little girls would be gone and the moment was lost.

Anyhow, back to that sunny Mexican afternoon... I had such a lovely time strolling bare-footed along the beach this particular afternoon watching local families pull in their boats and wade in the water as the sun finished it's shift for the day. I saw these bold young men diving off the rocks and had a few moments to compose myself for the shot as they waited in anticipation for the waves to roll in. Ah Mexico. I do hope we meet again some day.

On a completely different but a little bit related note everyone here in Vancouver is talking about how amazing the summer will be. After arriving in the grey winter, and seeing the signs of spring I am excited about summer too. However a beautiful friend Beth who I met today (hailing from South Africa) reminded me that while summer is amazing for Canadians we have fantastic summers just about all year long in our respective home countries. Very true. Never-the-less, I am sure the change will be greatly appreciated - especially the long twilight hours.

And lastly, (I don't know how I let myself get so carried away...) I had mixed feelings recently when I came accross this site featuring my photo (in it's original form). They have given me credit which is generous, and I suppose that's what is required. It would just be yucky if someone used your work and claimed it as there own. Anyhow, all good press I suppose!
My photo in use

9 comments:

  1. blogger ate my comment! It was really long :( but I'll recap:

    - when I moved to ukraine, I wished so hard I had the 12 boxes I'd left in Oz, but in the end I didn't miss them at all and when I got back to oz I realised they were full of crap! I've acquired lots since I got back but I would happily cull quite heavily again.
    - I savoured the Ukrainian summers way more than I ever did an Australian summer, because it's hard work getting through cold, grey, snowy winters. And the weather is hot but the sun isn't as blazing and burning as the southern hemisphere sun. Trust me, you'll get caught up in the giddiness of summer!
    - Great photo!

    Fingers crossed it works this time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh it's such a bother when comments get eaten. Thanks for sharing your thoughts ladies!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did that site request you permission before using the photo? And as for losing photos, I often feel the same way and get a little upset when I accidentally delete a bunch, but I have also been challenged the last year or two about just enjoying the moment in memories. As nice as photos are, they can't make anyone else smell/feel/absorb the moment like you did when you were there. Make sense? I guess you might just have to settle with your memories or maybe even make another trip to Mexico and capture some more colourful moments x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I shared the photo on a Christian picture exchange site, so I assume that's where they found it.

    I absolutely agree though love, sometimes I know I can get caught up in taking the perfect picture, and miss out on taking in what is actually happening in real time. So I often leave my camera behind intentionally for that reason. There can be a false pretense with photos, they can have a bias like with anything because by we tend only to capture and show what we want the world to see. It seems with travel photos too that often times we want to stand in front of the Taj Mahal for example to get the photo more so than exploring the real culture of a place and getting to know the people. It's more about the conquest of a place than the experience.

    I've been thinking about how prevalent digital photography has become(in our lifetime) and how accessible it is. The result is almost wonderful and also overwhelming and I'm sure in years to come that doctoral papers will be written about how it changed our way of enjoying, viewing, experiencing and recording the world. xo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post. It's funny, the other night while at a letter writing event, i was chatting with some friends about photography and how sometimes you see the 'perfect shot' and think i will go back later to get it...but somehow you can never find it again...

    Also did you check out Mazunte while in Mexico?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Rhya! No we didn't see Mazunte, (I'm assuming that's a place) have you been there? One of my favourite places we visited was Frida Kahlos Blue House in Mexico City and the quaint city of cobblestone streets - Guanajuato tucked away in the hills. Mexicans sure no how to use colour and the food was amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've been to both those places...love Frida's house and Guanajuato. I heart mexico!

    Mazunte was really close to puerto escondido.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and for your comments and thoughts, it is really lovely to hear from you.