Young boy absorbed in his task.
Children have a single-minded absorption in a task that we adults have lost. This little chap in his bright red shirt was determined to dig, no matter what went on around him. The first photo I took of him, just seconds before this one, had a girl running past so close that the sand flew, but he didn’t even look up.
Swimmers at Balmoral Beach, Sydney
In this photo, taken at Balmoral Beach in Sydney, I like how the long exposure has blurred everyone except the woman standing in the waves, watching her children.
Men fish from a breakwater, oblivious to the giant A380 that has just landed behind them.
I was torn between calling this photo “Plane Spotting” or “Gone Fishing” — but since the people are paying no attention to the aircraft screaming along the runway behind them, I went with the fishing theme. This is Sydney, where the airport’s runways jut out into Botany Bay. The people are not quite as close to the runway as this photo indicates, as the lens’s zoom has brought the background closer.
Hand Slap on the beach, Fiji
I took this photo on my recent Fiji sailing holiday. We had visited the remote village of Daliconi on the island of Vanua Baluva, and were sitting around on the beach waiting for the boats to take us back to the ship. One of my shipmates introduced some of the children to the Hand Slap Game (also apparently known as red hands, slapsies, slap jack, red tomato or slaps). I wanted to capture the contrasts in their hands — large and small, white and brown, be-ringed and plain, clean and sandy.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Hands
Dragon dancer and head.
I was in Chinatown last week, tracking down the last three of Sydney’s “lunar lanterns” in my quest to bag all 12. (I’ll post some photos of the lanterns soon.) I was lucky enough to come across some street performances as part of Chinese New Year celebrations.
The backdrop for these dancers is the Goat lunar lantern.
Dancers, Chinatown
This woman was a wonderfully expressive dancer.
Other performers stood to the side, waiting their turn.
This photo seems appropriate for Valentine’s Day on Sunday. I was initially going to call it “Get a room!” because this couple’s behaviour was far too amorous for a public place! (You can see the ‘public place’ in this photo. They were on a chair on the left.)
These two boys are separated by far more than the physical distance between Sydney and Vanuatu. Caught unawares, neither knew I was photographing them so neither is posing for the camera.
