Just Another Day in Paradise

The ship stays in Moorea for 2 days, and the second day I went on a Photo Adventure Tour of the island with Renaud, a professional photographer. He offers photographic tips and interesting information about the island.

Here he's explaining the "Rule of Thirds." Although he probably didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, he reminded me to do a lot of things I forget to do. With digital photography, I tend to just shoot and fix it up later.


Here's my attempt at demonstrating the "Rule of Thirds." I should have ducked down a little.


We then went to the same pineapple fields we went to the day before -


But this time there were men picking the pineapples. Sorry, Renaud, this is a drive-by shot. By the time we stopped, the men had moved too far away.

Pineapple plants (and the pinapples) are very sharp and prickly. The pickers need to wear thick overalls and gloves.


I did get a shot of a baby pineapple in bloom, along with the back end of a bee.


Reynaud then took us to the only river in Moorea, where he showed us how to pan and use a slow exposure to get a shot of our truck zooming through the water, where the truck is in focus and the background is blurred.


Then we went to Belvedere, where I got a shot of the 2 bays with the beautiful mountain Rotui in the middle. Since I didn't have a really wide-angle camera, I had to put 2 pictures together.


I got a shot of Bali Hai -


And one of a local rooster. Renaud said no one eats the wild chickens on this island because they are really tough.


We then stopped at another place with samples of jams and jellies. Not too exciting, but it did have a bathroom.


We stopped at a garden where I was enthralled with this plant Renaud called a "Bird of Paradise," although it was different from those in the States. I liked how it captures the rain water.


Renaud carefully composed this shot showing the whole bloom in the background.


We then drove up to the top of "Magic Mountain." These two strips of concrete are the road!


From the top, you have a great view of the town of Papetoai, the barrier reef, and if you zoom in -


You can see the oldest church in French Polynesia. Built in 1822, it has been restored a few times.


Looking back at Belvedere, it's raining there while we're in sunshine. But all in all, we've been really lucky with the weather on the cruise.


Reynaud took this professional shot of me at the top for Mara and Jonathan. I don't want them to forget Grandma!



While I was on the photo tour, Phil went scuba diving with the sharks. Is he crazy or what?