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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 ruins
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

 
TRANQUIL LEMONS

Noumea, New Caledonia

I was doing a bit of cleaning up in my Lightroom catalogue and came across this photo. It dates back to March 2018. I was using a Canon EOS 1300D with a kit lens that I had won in a photo competition. I remember I was out at La Baie Des Citrons (Lemons Bay) trying to capture a sunset. Nothing spectacular happened but I stayed through blue hour trying long exposures.

Blue hour, on the other hand, was beautiful. With everything blue, I remember imagining this photo in black & white before I even took the shot. I wanted a long exposure so I went with the maximum the camera would allow without a remote, which is 30 seconds. To get the cleanest image possible, a very low ISO is necessary, in this case 100. An aperture of ƒ/6.3 gave me the exposure I needed to capture the photo I wanted. The thin clouds are totally smoothed out, the water as well though it was already pretty still. Plain and simple.

Post-processing was a matter of simplifying the image further. Getting rid of all distractions like buoys, sail boats, birds, stars trails and dirt spots from my lens. All that’s left is the ruins of a wharf and the marker, perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted, a minimalist image. I might get this one printed.

All my research about this dilapidated wharf were in vain. The remnants show it used to start from the Four à Chaux (Lime Kiln) of La Baie des Citrons. I’m guessing it may have something to do with that. I would love to get some information on it so if anyone knows something, please drop me a message over on Twitter (@Hervouet) and I’ll update this post with the info. Thank you.

GENBAKU DOME

Hiroshima, Japan

Officially named Hiroshima Peace Memorial, this landmark is more commonly known as Genbaku Dome. Translated, it is what the rest of the world knows it by, Atomic Bomb Dome.

This photo has become one of my favourites from my Japan trip. I wanted a photo of the ruins with the Motoyasu River in the foreground and I thought I had it from the Aioi Bridge. Unfortunately, it was low tide which change the composition and mood of the photo. I did notice a small dock area and beginning of a path that lead underneath the bridge. Once down here I just loved the composition. I still wish I had a wider lens though, just to fit a bit more in. It looks a little cramp to me but nonetheless, one of my favourites. To me, black and white was the only way to go with this image. The sandstone lantern and wall, the carved rock and the Dome made me think of an era long gone. Once the black and white was done, I slapped on my split-tone preset, tweaked it and, oh man, looove it! I think I’ve captured a unique image too.

The Peace Memorial Park, which is build around and opposite the river of the landmark, is beautiful. There’s also the Memorial Hall for the victims, Memorial Museum, the Gates of Peace, not forgetting the flowers and sculptures. We didn’t get to see all of it but from what we saw, it’s well worth a visit. Well, it’s a must really.

28mm, 1/80th second @ ƒ/16, ISO 100

HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL

Hiroshima, Japan

Continuing from my last post, once we had finished lunch, we made our way to the Peace Memorial Park to see for ourselves the remains of the atomic blast of 6th August 1945. The Atomic Bomb Dome or officially the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

We checked both Google and Apple maps for directions and they both us it would be a 25-30 minute walk. It took us 45 minutes. And we weren’t dragging our feet either. Go figure. We did get to see the city and especially liked the side streets with their small restaurants and boutiques, and beautiful old buildings.

When you think about the impact of an atomic bomb and the sheer destruction it can cause, you start to wonder how it is possible for this building to still be here, standing. I can understand why some would want it torn down but am glad to see it stand. A memorial of the bombing and a symbol of peace. To me, it’s also a reminder of how far mankind is willing to go to destroy each other. Very sad.

This photo was taken from the Motoyasu Bridge looking through it’s guard rail. At the time of taking the shot, there was no way of avoiding it, I wasn’t content having the modern building as a backdrop. Once home though I quite like it. Actually, now I’m a little pissed at myself for not having centred the dome with the Hiroshima Chamber Of Commerce building. Too late now. I went with a split-tone edit after I had edited another photo of the Dome beforehand. I liked it so much I applied it here.

40 mm, 1/640th second @ ƒ/5.6, ISO 100