Pumper Magazine

Back in October of last year, about a month after I officially launched my photography business in Redding, CA, I got an email from Cole Publishing asking me to do a photo assignment for them for their Pumper magazine, "dedicated to the liquid waste industry". They were writing an article for a local business and needed a local photographer for the assignment. I happily accepted their offer and spent the next few months working on the assignment.

The article came out in April's issue and they sent me a copy of the magazine for myself! I am happy to have my work published (even if it was right at the beginning of my "career" and my photos are quite simple - have improved lots since then!)

I scanned in the pages and here they are for your viewing:

Tahiti II

One of my favourite things to capture is people. Ever since I started taking photographs, it's what I've enjoyed the most. And candids are my top, top favourite. And I think candids of kids are up there too.

While in Tahiti, I snapped these shots of these amazing people.

Damali has the most gorgeous skin and her favourite colour is purple. She stopped to watch the fish descaling and de-gutting and I loved the purple of her pareo (Tahitian for sarong) and the darkness of her skin set against the gorgeous blue of the ocean behind her.



Tony is half Kiwi, half Maori and has the coolest tattoos on his forearms and legs. As I snapped this shot, I accidentally focused on his arm instead of his face. I've found that some of my accidental shots are the best, and I love this one. I like how it really focuses on his Maori culture.



This is Don, the father of the group and the ultimate joker. He was sick almost the entire two weeks we were there and yet he had the best sense of humour. As I tried to snap a shot of him, he saw me and stuck out his tongue. Yep, that's Don!

The Islands of French Polynesia

My husband and I just got back from a wonderful two week missions trip to French Polynesia. We visited the islands of Tahiti and Rangiroa. Rangiroa is a beautiful, large atoll, and we got to visit both sides. Tahiti, as most know, is the main island of French Polynesia. Despite being sick and badly sunburnt, which put me off taking photos for a few days, I was able to snap some fun shots of Tahitian island life. The first, my favourite, is of our taxi-boat driver. His tattoos, which covered his entire body, including his face, showed that he was a village elder and was of a high social ranking. We had just arrived on Rangiroa, and this was my first encounter with Tahitian culture. I thought it was beautiful and quickly snapped away!



The following three represent to me the fishing culture and lifestyle of the Tahitian islands. Almost every day on Rangiroa, our host's son and his friend would head out to the inner lagoon of the atoll to go spear-fishing. Once they returned, we would gather around to help descale, gut and clean the fish in the sea. That night, sure enough, we ate the delicious fresh fish they had caught that day. We definitely ate more fish in one week that I've probably eaten in a year!