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Photography has changed the way I see the world around me.

Through it I discover new things and rediscover old ones. Like my island, New Caledonia.

This blog is just me sharing my world through my photography.

Hope you enjoy.

Posts tagged interior
TIEBAGHI VILLAGE

Koumac, Tiebaghi Village

With the corona virus (Covid-19) here in New Caledonia since last week and with auto-confinement in place since midnight monday, photo outings are no more. I’m lucky I have a stock of images to get through and share with you. This set is one of them. A trip to Koumac, in June last year, with the family brought back memories to my mum of her childhood in Tiebaghi Village. Her father, my grandfather, worked in Human Resources on the mine and, apparently, was well liked by everyone. I remember my grandmother telling me that he’d never say no to anyone but told them he’d see what he could do. Anyway, I deviated a little.

The above panorama shows the village of Tiebaghi. From the social club on the left to the bakery on the right. In-between are a couple of grocery stores, a chapel, a playground, an engine dock, a few houses farther down, etc and behind me, from where I took this photo, there’s the clinic. Plenty to see and visit and if you’re interested and there’s a three hour guided tour that you can book with a lot of history knowledge and humour. Check out the current dates of the visits through the Province Nord website. It’s a visit worth doing if ever you have the chance. It’s kids friendly and you don’t need a four wheel drive to get there, we were in a minivan.

The Tiebaghi plateau opened in 1877 when Chromite Ore was discovered and it became the largest Chromium provider in the world in 1941. It also produced Nickel during World War II. The mine closed for the first time in 1962 and reopened in 1982 before definitely shutting down in 1990.

All the instruments and objects photographed above, were found in the clinic. A power box for dentistry, x-ray command box, a telecom switch, really old suitcases, a remote control box for… something, a crank phone, a couple of calculators and another instrument I have no idea what it was used for. Very interesting stuff and there were dozens more things I could’ve photographed but I just wanted to get a few detail shots of a handful of things. The clinic is situated above the village and has a fantastic view as you can see from the panorama photo which was taken from there.

Just a couple of photos from the social club. It’s just a empty hall and there wasn’t much in it apart from this beautiful film projector. Spectacular north-eastern views as well from the club. There are a lot of photographs of past events in the hall. It’s great to see what life was like back then.

This wasn’t my first time visiting the Tiebaghi and because of that I didn’t take a lot of photos of the exterior even though there are very interesting things to photograph. This old, rusted truck, for example, with the company name on the passenger door. There’s also a small cargo rail and cable car for the minerals and whatnot. The engine dock is quite interesting as well with it’s massive equipments.

One thing we HAD to do was find and visit the house my mum grew up in. We found it, isolated on a hill with magnificent views of the valley and mountain range. Still standing and in good condition, apart from the roof, these houses were built to last. Evidence after a few tropical depressions and cyclones. It’s difficult to imaging what life was like on Tiebaghi Village but from what my grandmother told me, though hard, camaraderie was high amongst this mining community.

I think the best time to visit Tebaghi Village would be in October during heritage month. Over a weekend they have guided visits of the village and botanical path, artisanal stands and expositions and reopen the old bakery to make and explain how bread was made in the old days. I plan on making this visit this year, if all goes well.

 

SONY a7 III

full-frame, mirrorless camera (body only)

TAMRON E 28-75mm ƒ/2.8 Di III RXD

standard zoom, E-mount lens

SANDISK EXTREME PRO CARD

128GB SDXC memory card

GIOTTO CLEANING KIT

lens cleaning kit with blower, brush, microfibre cloth and solution

WANDRD PRVKE

31 lt. travel backpack

WANDRD INSERT

medium size camera insert for the WANDRD PRVKE backpack

 
EDO TOWN

Odaiba, Japan

In a little corner of Odaiba, near the docks, you’ll find the Oodeo-Onsen Monogatari. This is an onsen city, literally. With an indoor replica of a Edo Town (photo below), indoor and outdoor baths and spas, multiple rooms to meditate, sleep, relax, a food court and restaurants, boutiques, stores, stalls, games and a watch tower. Open from 11 am to 9 am the next day, you can immerse yourself in this absolutely amazing and gorgeous onsen theme park. So much to see, do and experience here.

This is where we came after our blue hour photography from the last post. There’s a little ritual entering this place. As soon as you walk into the main front doors, you must remove your shoes and store them in a small locker located nearby. You walk pass a small stand where they give you a pass and make your way to the front desk. There they explain how things work. They give you a bracelet with a key and a tag with a code bar on it (I’ll explain that later). From the front desk you make your way to the Yukata Shop where you get to choose your Yukata. Once chosen, you go into the change room (separate change rooms for men and women) where you strip down and put on your Yukata. Your clothes and anything else you don’t need, like your wallet, go into the locker (the key you received at the front desk). From the change room you enter Edo Town (photo below). Here you use the code bar tag for all your purchases. Whether it be food, souvenir, a massage, whatever you have to pay for is done with that tag. Leaving is the same but in reverse, with one exception, the Yukata is placed in a clothes bin in the change room. At the front desk they scan your code bar tag for all your purchases and add the admission fee. Once you’ve paid, they give you a pass that you hand over on your way out at the same stand you entered through. Oh and don’t forget to put your shoes back on. You kind of get used to walking around barefoot.

We only spent an evening in Odaiba and were very impressed by it but you really need a whole day, if not two, to visit everything. You can easily spend half a day in Oodeo-onsen Monogatari alone. This place and Odaiba in general should be on your bucket list when visiting Japan. A must visit.

28 mm, 1/30th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 3200

HIROSE

Kyoto, Japan

A very early start meant no breakfast before arriving at our destination, Saga-Arashiyama Station. We were visiting the Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama and Bamboo Forest this morning and now that we’d arrived in town, it was time for breakfast. Being hungry and the lack of coffee didn’t help with the frustration of seeing most places still closed.

Until we came across Hirose. Small, cosy, very affordable and wonderful atmosphere. Literally a mom & pop coffee shop. Most likely a couple, the old man takes care of the hot beverages and food while the old lady handles the cold beverages, the service and cash register. They’re very friendly and like to converse with customers. They serve very good coffee and the cinnamon toast is delicious. So much so, we had seconds.

As you can see, I loved the gorgeous sometsuke (blue and white pottery) cup and saucer so much I had to photograph it. Though, I wish I had opened my aperture by a stop or so, to get a slightly wider depth of field. I would’ve liked a little more of the image on the saucer in focus. Still love the photo and it will always remind me of this amazing little coffee shop, Hirose.

40 mm, 1/80th second @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 500