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The Travelling Photographer
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Unless you're a successful pro who has spent so much time roaming the world that you're happy to stay put in your rocking chair, chances are that travel is one of the main activities you like to combine with photography.
For most of us at photocourses.com, despite having covered photo assignments all around the world, just a whiff of jet fuel gets us in the mood to hit the road. Each month or two, The Travelling Photographer will touch down at a specific location and cover some of the opportunities for photography you might encounter in that location. Perhaps, the introspective photographer will also share with you the opportunities lost, "opportunities tossed away and into the blue" to quote Pete Townshend. That means we're going to tell you about photographs that might have been taken but weren't. Perhaps those photos are still there, waiting for you! This month and next, NYI Dean Chuck DeLaney recounts an idyllic week in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Let me be frank, this trip was as far from a photo assignment as you can get. Some friends had rented a large house for a week in late February, in St. John, one of the three islands that make up the U.S. Virgin Islands. Would I like to be their guest for the week? Bear in mind, I love New York in the slush, I hate to take time off, and I had a lot of work to do. On the other hand, there were a few new photo items I was longing to test, so I reluctantly said, "Perhaps." Hah! No way. I said "Yes" in a heartbeat and marked off the week in my calendar. But, I was busy at the time, so I didn't really get a chance to prepare much for the trip until a few days before departure. Three Days Before Leaving...Where Am I Going? Over the years I've had the pleasure of visiting the Caribbean a number of times. Years ago, I made a number of trips to Jamaica, back when Negril was just a couple of hotels and miles of empty beach, and the nearest public telephone (I am not making this up) was a good thirty miles away. I've been to Aruba, Puerto Rico, and particularly that political hot spot, La Isla Nena, or Vieques, off the Puerto Rican mainland, which has been the U.S. Navy's favorite bombing site for many years until this year's protests put Vieques into headlines across the country. But, despite my love of the blue-green Caribbean waters and the gentle breezes, I had never visited the U.S. Virgin Islands. Now I was going. But wait, exactly where are these islands, and exactly why are they called the Virgin Islands? The where part is easy. Fly to south to Puerto Rico, make a left, fly over Vieques and buzz on another ten minutes or so, and in a little over three hours, my direct-from-New York flight was ready to touch down at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas. 
A Bit of History: There are, I learned, three U. S. Virgin Islands - St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John. St. Thomas is the largest and the only one with an airport that accommodates today's jets. Like any island, these three Caribbean islands are each really mountain tops that rises from the ocean floor. That means it's hilly and bumpy, "humpy and bulgy" as my 4-year-old daughter would say, just about everywhere. In fact, the St. Thomas airport is nestled in between the Caribbean and the mountain tops and it's not the longest runway in the world. That means as you arrive, the plane is just about dipping its wheels in the waves before you see anything that remotely resembles a runway.
Now, if you have ever flown to Puerto Rico on an airplane with a lot of people from Puerto Rico, you know that they have a wonderful custom. As soon as the plane lands, everyone in the plane applauds the pilot for having made a soft and safe landing. Puerto Rico is the only place I've ever experienced this. Perhaps it was my nostalgia since we had flown over Puerto Rico and Vieques, but when the pilot landed this puppy on the skinny, short runway at St. Thomas, I burst into applause. My daughter looked at me, everyone around me looked at me. I smiled and continued to applaud. 
Back to the history. These islands were originally spotted by Christopher Columbus in 1493, who named St. Croix Santa Cruz and claimed it for Spain. The islands north of St. Croix, he dubbed "Las Islas Virgenes." In the following centuries, the Danish came to claim the three islands, but 1917, they sold them to the United States for $25 Million Dollars.
I love it when you land at a little airport anywhere in the world and they announce over the loudspeaker system that we are going to "deplane from both the front and rear exits." That means that there's no jetway, and instead of leaving the stale atmosphere of the plane for some air-conditioned airport, I can actually climb down a set of stairs, stand on the tarmac and breath the local air-unconditioned, unspoiled, local stuff. Come to think of it, I don't have any photos of back plane stairs in my file. Why didn't I take a photo of the steps after I deplaned? In hindsight, the answer is simple. I missed this photo and the ones I'm about to mention because I was laden down with carry-on luggage and did not want to delay my fellow travelers. But isn't that the way when you're travelling with non-photographers? More on that later. My travel companions are eager to get out of the St. Thomas airport and try to catch the earliest possible ferry to St. John. Who can blame them? In hindsight, I can. I didn't take any photos in the St. Thomas airport. That was a mistake. As happens so often when you travel, it's a mistake not to photograph anything and everything that strikes you as the least bit odd or interesting. I should have at least taken a few pictures in the baggage claim area, which is a tin-roofed, quonset hut affair that in retrospect I recall as being quaint. If only for future stock photography sales, I should have taken photos of the area. In addition, there might be some possibilities for a fashion location. No photos for my clip file. The rest of the airport is early-California airport-Mission style and not remarkable. However, standing out front negotiating with the taxi guys to get to the ferry on the other side of the island presented another photo opportunity. I regret to report, I missed this one too. Remember, I was on vacation. There were these really ugly, unmarked brown military type planes taking off very regularly, perhaps every seven minutes while we were waiting to leave for the little ferry dock on the other side of St. Thomas. Should have photographed those as well. The little I saw of St. Thomas as our van/taxi zipped across the island was semi-industrial and mostly along the interior of the island. There did appear to be some narrow local streets just outside the airport that appeared to have a bit of a honky-tonk feel and a lot of colorful painted facades. That was the first time I really wished I could "get off the bus" and spend an hour or so taking photographs. 
Like most serious photographers, when I'm travelling with my family or a group of people I often dawdle behind and spend some time trying to find the angle for an interesting photo. I wish I had some answer for this dilemma, but I don't. When there's something that's particularly interesting to me and I'm going to be in that area for a while, I try to plan some time in my schedule where I can slip away from the others and photograph to my hearts content without driving my travel companions nuts. Sometimes I'll arrange to go off for a while in the early morning.
Other opportunities and locations that passed me by were the ferry slip in Red Hook, the closer ferry to St. John. The ferry crossing was perhaps twenty minutes and in another hour or so we had settled in our rented home in St. John. Accomodations in St. John. 
There are a couple of very expensive resort hotels in St. John. Driving around, I saw a few places inland that looked like they might be in the moderate price category. There's a very active and well-organized home rental market, and while it's expensive, it's worth considering. In peak winter season three bedroom homes with all the trimmings - telephone, washer/dryer, CD players and cable start around $3,000 and go up from there. However, I did see one outfit that had an active Website with last minute and off-season deals.
It's important to realize that about two-thirds of St. John is part of the U.S. National Park System. This means there are lots of great clean beaches and hiking trails maintained by the U.S. Taxpayers. The far end of St. John has a small town called Coral Bay, and although the island is only eight miles long, it's about a 45-minute drive from the main town of Cruz Bay. There appeared to be lower priced accommodations in the Coral Bay area, and a more casual feeling. When next I return to St. John I would look for a place to stay over in that area. Driving on St. John. Remember, the place is a mountain top. The roads are narrow and go up and down more than a roller coaster. Perhaps the best exercise of my eye was driving these twisty, curvy roads. The standard rental vehicle is a Jeep and it's the only local choice. Particularly when you're headed up a very high road that you've never traveled before, the ascent is remarkable. Some of the hills are so steep that you can't really see where the crest of the hill is. Turns out my friends were all to happy to make me the official driver. 
The one real hazard to driving stems from the large custom-rigged tourist vehicles that seat about twenty people. The open vehicles are mounted on a truck chassis. There are lots of these vehicles that seem to derive most of their business from giving tours of the island to day trippers who are visiting while their Caribbean cruise ship is harbored for a few days in St. Thomas. This is fine, the problem stems from the fact that the drivers tend to stop at scenic overlooks where there's really no place for them to pull over. This means that you can happen upon them coming up the top of a hill or around a sharp curve and be on them in no time. Fortunately, I'm very happy to drive along at 25 miles an hour. Be careful if you drive there. There's an occasional goat or pig that wanders onto the road, and that would be mishap enough. The thought to bumping off a few tourists from a cruise ship is really grisly.
One of the nice things about the Virgin Islands (and Puerto Rico) as well, is that it feels like you're in another country, but you're not. No need to exchange money, no language barrier. If you're faint of heart and don't think driving the roads is for you, there are taxi services. Also, we found well-stocked grocery stores, and since several of our members like to cook, the fresh fish, meats and produce were greatly appreciated. Next month, we'll hit the beaches of St. Thomas and cover some other aspects of these marvelous islands. Anyone with information about the U.S. Virgin Islands that they would like to share can e-mail us at info@photocourses.com. If you're interested in visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands, we found a lot of information on the Internet, and would recommend that you visit www.usvi.net and www.virginisles.com for more information. |
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