Mon - July 14, 2003

A Job in the Cook Islands (yes, life is hard)



Todd working hard and sporting the extremely cool photo vest.

As I mentioned once before I rarely work as an assistant. My big exception is Tracy Kahn and this time it was definitely worth it. The job was for a tanning products company, Fiji Blend , based in Malibu but the shoot was in the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,800 miles northeast of New Zealand. The flight was 12 hours with an hour layover in Tahiti at 3:30 in the morning. we got to Raratonga (the main island) at 6:30 am and then took a shuttle flight over to Aitutaki where we were shooting.

The day we arrived was reserved for recovering from the flight and getting the gear ready for the 2 days of shooting. We rented scooters to cruise around the island and had a nice dinner. The next two days were long and hectic. We had 14 shots to get and the weather was not cooperating. Tracy and the Fiji Blend people had been there for several days scouting before we (the crew and models) got there and the weather had been perfect. However, now that we were ready to shoot it was windy, cool, and cloudy. Much of the energy of the shoot was spent in trying to hold the 4'x4' reflector in the wind and waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds. Another challenge was keeping sand and salt water out of the photo gear. Fortunately, I decided to risk ridicule and brought my goofy "I'm a photographer" vest. What it lacks in style and cool points, it makes up for in pockets and utility. The two days were stressful for everyone but we pulled it off and got all of the shots. With everyone having there own digital camera, we had plenty of evidence of our hard work and hard play.

Our flight back to Raratonga wasn't until 6:30 pm so Terry Katz, the client, chartered a tour boat took us all snorkeling. The water was chilly (it is their winter) but clear. We went to a giant clam farm. The water was only 12 feet deep so I could easily dive down to see the clams. Some of them were 5 feet across. It was hard to believe they were real until I touched one and it snapped shut. We had lunch on the boat, stopped by a small islands for a few minutes to warm up in the sun and then headed back. After a taking a shower and packing our gear the bus came and took us to the airport.

Oh yeah, the good part. Since I was going to be there anyway and since my flight was already paid for and since she hasn't had a real vacation in years, I decided it would be great if Inge could fly down and we'd stay on Raratonga for a week. She had arrived on Raratonga that morning. The crew wasn't flying out until 11:15 so we decided to go have dinner. I called (a 2 minute call to the other island that cost $4) before we left and asked her to meet us at the airport and then she and I would go to our hotel together.

Dinner was a bit load and chaotic. The crew was decompressing from the shoot and dreading the long flight home. Inge was a bit overwhelmed (loud strangers are not her cup-of-tea). Around nine they headed of to their flight and we caught a bus to our resort.

Posted: 07:34 PM   Home    

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