I am in South Africa to observe a commercial on a skin care
product.
Why South Africa?
The light is really “real” here. When shooting on film, there are many lens
filters, but these days with the Red Epic, hardly necessary to dim a light or
increase the vibrancy – Cape Town has the rays and density to filter any
lens. This is its specialty.
The team flew in from the West whereas I flew from the
East riding the equator and then heading
south to Johannesburg. A quick turn
around and on the horizon Table Top Mountain majestically draws nearer.
Cape Town, besides its distinctive wine is also widely known
among movie-makers for its clear “light” unclouded by sea mist, ozone layers,
or city pollution. It is as if the hues are taken from a color
palate making the sea a deep blue, the grass an emerald green, the sky at
sunrise, a stunning orange bursting through the horizon.
Looking out to sea, sipping the South Africa’s Hamilton’s
best prize chardonnay, I am experiencing the sun setting with its intensity of caramel
orange disappearing second by second.
This is definitely what DP’s talk about
(Director of Photography) if you didn’t already know. It’s the thinnest spot of the Ozone hole.
The King Protea’s pink petals were shockingly pink, the emerald green grass, so
bright like a spilled can of paint. The
sapphire blue sea, implied incalculable depth, suggested God was involved in creating
this planet. It is us humans, that have
spoilt global beauty with our pollution requiring a movie crew to fly all the
way from America to South Africa for its “light” so real – difficult to capture anywhere
else.
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Smoking: The double volcano on the island of Ambrym in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu.
,
I am here in Vanuatu to plunge myself in volcanic mud and drink their
elixir called Kava
The short 3½ hour flight from Auckland on Air Vanuatu’s 737-300 illustrated the narrow scope in my mind of the vastness of the Pacific ocean. Freaked out by the smallness of me and my 737, however this feeling never surfaces when travelling over land mass; the finite of the ground below serves to make me more part of the earth.
The breezy tropical hot wind whips the ocean salt as I step
out of the aircraft in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Déjà vu is what hits me, and I am transported
to a very happy time in similar atmosphere several decades ago.
The mud and elixir specifically found in Ambrym island, is
yet another 60 minute flight from Port Vila to Ambrym on a Turbo Prop. An eight seater, my team were the only people
on the flight, this equally small aircraft unnerved me just a tad. The
short grassy runway and the little shack was the airport. Our guide, Samuel was there, waving to take
us to the guest house. This is so “way
out” of what I am used to and very apprehensive of being stuck in this extremely
small dot in the middle of the Pacific.
The village children smiled and waved, clad in shorts, we must have
appeared strange, with backpacks, cameras with odd-looking shoes.
My trip to Mt. Marum will need the assistance of Samuel and
John, our expert guide. Ambrym
is an amazing volcanic island in the centre of the of Vanuatu archipelago, when
Ambrym blew up a thousand years ago, it ejected 25 cubic kilometres of earth
into the atmosphere. When the eruption ended, these vents sealed up, but left
very distinctive crater shapes called maars, in the landscape. These are the
black half moon and circular shapes in the diagram.
After
a long and arduous trek, we were able to see Mt. Marum boiling underneath. The site of the lava is surreal.
Watching liquid rock boil as if in a large natural pot is intense. Every
few seconds an explosion and a burst of lava spews into the air. The stench of
the gases is incredibly putrid. The
view is amazing and being one with nature makes faith in God’s creation all the
more real.
I
plunged and emerged feeling totally and inexplicably renewed.
Now for the Kava.
Now for the Kava.
Kava
comes from the root of the yaqona (piper methysticum) bush, a relative of the
pepper plant. The root is ground up and then strained with water into a large
wooden communal bowl (or sometimes a plastic bucket, depending on what you have
on hand). Simple preparation for a simple drink. Kava Does NOT Taste Good, in fact it is similar
to drinking a bowl of dirty water, like mud, bitter, peppery mud. My mouth was numb and although offered a
second cup, I declined. Body relaxed,
mind relaxed, I am renewed from the depth of the earth.
