Oyster soup...

So last night was a full-moon, and I spent the evening on the beach, sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying the culinary delights courtesy of Yvonne. Full moons represent new beginnings, new journeys which I think is very apt considering in a few days I will be beginning my life back in London again. I also took the opportunity to have a few private words with the sea (yes I do talk to the sea, slightly crazy you may say, but she is a good listener), so I hope she took my questions and requests on board! 

One thing that I really wanted to do here was to meet and hang out with actual locals, as it seems all to easy to live here and only get to meet ex-pats and holiday makers. However last night I had the opportunity. Armed with a glass of red wine, Yvonne and I made our way down the beach to gatecrash a bonfire party and eat a local delicacy called Oyster Soup, drink a few (too many) cognac cocktails - caribbean strength and meet some really cool guys. Of course this morning greeted me with a case of dehydration, predictably! But I can safely say that that was one of the best nights that I have had since I've been here! 

So I'm aware that there hasn't been any photographic evidence that I was actually here. Anyone who knows me understands that I prefer to be behind the camera rather than in front of it, so if anyone manages to capture a photo of me they should consider themselves very lucky (or unlucky depending on which way you look at it). However one unlucky blighter stole a cheeky photo of me the other night whilst I was enjoying expresso martinis with a couple of friends at the bar, and it ended up in the local paper. Of course I can't remember this photo being taken, but before you pass judgements, this does not mean I was too drunk. It has more to do with my incredibly bad memory. Well that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it..

I'd like to add that despite the caption at the bottom of the photo (cute couples), none of us are in fact 'a couple', it's amazing what people assume!

Yesterday I spent the day editing my first ever 1 minute-film. OK, so it's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it was good to learn the editing process and to see where I went wrong, and what I could improve. I'll upload this 'behind the scenes' film in the next few weeks so we can watch and laugh together...

Anyway, bye bye for now!

xx

Maho beach at sunset (photo)

In the quest to find the perfect sunset, we found ourselves at Maho beach. Unfortunately there were too many clouds for this elusive 'perfect sunset', however the sight was pretty spectacular all the same.....

Cheerio for now..

Samantha x
www.samanthaeyers.com

Reflection...

As an only child, I've always been used to entertaining myself, and as a result, I'm very comfortable in my own company; too comfortable in fact. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very sociable person, I love to be around people, but I know that I need at least 1 hour a day where I have my own space. That space doesn't have to very big, in fact it can be the size of a broom cupboard, as long as I'm the only one in it for that 1 hour, I'm all good.*

*This extends to cockroaches and mosquitos of course, they are not allowed to enter my broom cupboard for .....ETERNITY!

 However, what I have realised is that there seems to be a very narrow time window between benefiting from having my own space, to driving myself a little bit crazy.

I know that in previous posts, I have eluded to the fact that I spent too much time on my own in Italy. At the time, I knew that this was not having the most positive affect on my life, but it wasn't until I came to Sint Maarten, that I have realised how much of an effect this time alone actually had and is still having. I often think that it is difficult to be truly introspective, and to have an accurate idea of any effects until you gain an objective view from an outside party. Now my boyfriend at the time had expressed that he thought that I was depressed, and at the time, I couldn't recognise this; not in the slightest. The symptoms of what I was feeling seemed very different to any low periods that I had experienced in my life before. I didn't have any trouble sleeping (apart from my very self-publicised battle with the dreaded heat and odd mosquito) nor did I have issues getting out of bed, which is always another sign that I am aware of....

 However, I have noticed one thing. Photography is something I'm passionate about. Thinking about concepts, the shoot process and the post-processing is something that makes me so happy, I can't explain it. I've not found anything else in my life that gives such satisfaction and joy (apart from the obvious of course, love etc), so when I find that I don't feel compelled to pick up my beloved camera, I don't feel inspired to think about concepts or to go and take photos; I know that something is up! Some people could call it photoblock!

 During my time in Italy and Sint Maarten, I have taken very few photos, very few, I would go so far as to say "ridiculously few", but then I'm also prone to a bit of exaggeration as you are probably already aware of. However, I think one of the most accurate views comes from someone who knew you from before. One of my good friends last week told me that when she came to visit me in Italy, she had noticed that apart from losing a lot of weight (yes I was living in Italy and yes I did lose weight, how is this possible I hear you cry!), I was "not myself' and didn't seem totally happy. As we all know, when you are in that frame of mind, you don't make great decisions, in fact you can make downright awful ones, based on a rather skewed mind. Things that seem like important things at the time, you begin to realise, really aren't.

I have 7 days now until I return to London. The first week here in Sint Maarten I learned a lot about magazine shoots, putting together quotes, negotiating with the client and how to hold a tripod successfully whilst standing in a swimming pool. The last 3 weeks I have spent reading a lot about photography and teaching myself a lot on photoshop and post-processing. I really have read so much during this time, that I now have big square eyes...a very attractive look.

 However, this time has also confirmed for me a number of things, and I finally can say that I know what things and which people are important to me and those that aren't. This realisation only took 38 years!! So, I'm going to be returning to London with a suitcase and a head full of ideas and goals. I really do hope that Air France don't lose my luggage again, but at least the ideas and goals are placed firmly in my head, so the only person to blame for losing my head will be me...

So, with all experiences in life, you have to take home at least one thing, but as I'm the queen of overkill, I've provided a short list of the things I have learnt over the past 6 months, in order of importance:

a) For me, too much time on your own is not a good thing unless you wish to flirt with the experience of having a crazy mind. Always dangerous if you already are a bit nuts (some call it creative, but to me it often comes hand in hand)

b) As friendly as you are, and not matter how easily you make friends, mosquitos will never be your friend. Accept it, and move on..

c) If its 40 degree outside , you are going to sweat, looking sexy and attractive is not an option. Accept it, and again, move on...

d) Often the people that you have only known for 5 minutes can have more of an impact on your life than those you have know for 5 years. People will continue to surprise you.

e) As good as it is to be spontaneous in many things in life, grab life by it's hairy balls, experience as much as you can, and take a chance. There are some things that require more time and consideration, so you won't lose anything by testing the water with your big hairy toe first, before throwing your body in the deep end.

f) Nobody's perfect, at least of all me. Focus on the positives of others, and try not to pay too much attention to their negatives. Note: If you possess a mental tickbox of your requirements in another person, throw it away. No-one will tick all of those boxes, believe me!

g) I hate mosquitos...(maybe this one should be at the top of the list)

Good day for now!

Big love to all xxxx

The search for Happy Bay..(photos)

Hello!

Here are some photos that I wanted to share with you of my trip around Sint Maarten today with my friend Yvonne.

Whilst taking lunch on the French side of the island, we had a fantastic view of these local children enjoying the sea.

Not bad eh....?

Whilst taking a break from the heat with an ice-cold orange juice besides the marina, this little fella came to join us and patrol the area...

Late afternoon, in our quest to find 'Happy Bay', we took a swim in the sea. I don't know what was in the water, but I felt at home swimming here; a respite from any worries or pain, as if the sea truly understood me....

A short drive later, after picking up a few drinks, we sat on Baie Rogue to watch the sunset. We were a little late to see the sun setting, but the colours were amazing. The scene looked like a watercolour painting. We sat here until the sand flies and mosquitos started to attack us with a vengeance..

So, for now it is a goodnight from me..lots of love xx

www.samanthaeyers.com

Annoying fonts!

Apologies for the funky/slightly erratic and very annoying change in font in the last post. I have no idea why on this occasion this occurred, and for some reason I can't rectify it !

Delroy leaves....

Well Delroy has finally left me. I can only assume that he has left me for another woman, one with scales. Normally I would find him sitting on top of the coffee percolator first thing in the morning, waiting for me. He had obviously sussed-out my morning routine; good boy.

                                          (Exhibit A: Delroy on his way to the coffee percolator)

I'm not going to lie, his departure has left me feeling even more empty that I already felt. My glass was half-full when he came along, now all I'm left with is some water marks and a lipstick smudge. I hope you enjoy the analogy..

Of course I can't blame him, what I could offer Delroy was limited in terms of what another sexy lizard could have provided. Wit, charm and the odd cockroach meal was obviously not enough for him; you can't please some people..

Anyway, what did 'greet me' last night was another bloody cockroach. I knew that this was a new addition to the family as he was different to the others. I know them on a first name basis now; the little sh*ts. This one took refuge under my bed, and regardless of it's little size, I may as well have Freddy Kreuger under my bed for the amount of mental torment I have through the night knowing that it is 'JUST THERE'... In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that I think I would prefer it if it was Freddy Kreuger. At least there is more chance of getting a decent conversation out of him. 

So yesterday I was assisting on a shoot for a campaign for a telecommunications company here on the island. It was a good day as the production team and the models were all lovely! The models in this case were all people from the island who were well-known for their contribution to the community, so when you are not working with actual models, there will always be some people who are not comfortable in front of the camera, and need to be 'worked on' a little.

We had one such model yesterday. The photographer tried and tried to get this guy to smile, with no avail. I even performed my crab dance to try to get a smile out of the guy, but again, my sweet moves failed to impress. So, the conclusion was that a 'female touch' was needed. Maybe this guy would feel more confortable if I took the photos? mmmm...

Well, after about 10 minutes of clicking away, trying to make him laugh (I'm obviously not that funny) and telling him to give me a nice big smile, he left, and we were without that 'big smile' that we were after. Now there are times in your life when you wish that the ground would rise up and swallow you, and this was one of these occasions. Reason being, is that shortly after this guy left, we were informed that he didn't possess a set of TEETH!!   So were were certainly 'flogging a dead horse' on this occasion...

So currently I'm working on my concept book. Basically my concept book is a BOOK (funnily enough) where I write my CONCEPTS. Concepts for photography ideas. For those of you lucky enough to have seen my CONCEPT BOOK (it's so important that it warrants capital letters) you will also have had the chance to see the beautiful illustrations (stick men) that I draw to bring my concepts to life. Van Gogh eat your heart out (or your ear).....

(Exhibit B: This is not one of my actual concepts, as I don't want to give away all of my ideas, but I thought that you would appreciate my artistic talent)

Laters potatoes, chat soon....

Big love xxxx

Delroy....

Well my battle with mother nature continues, although I can't moan. I do receive a free of charge early morning alarm call from the singing cockroaches at about 4am, who needs lie-ins anyway? It doesn't have the same 'ring' to it as being woken up by the sounds of birds singing, but beggars can't be choosers...

I've certainly learnt about the art of survival in the past few weeks, as most people who walk within 1/2 mile radius of me will already know. Who needs to spend tons of cash on expensive perfume when you can douse yourself with 'eau de DEET' and not only smell fantastic, but feel safe in the knowledge that your blood is safe, and free from the threat of violation? So I can safely say that I am well and truly ' knocking the locals dead with my presence'. This perfume certainly has the 'Lynx effect', as for the first time in my life everyone turns round when I enter the bar, shortly before holding their noses...

I seemed to have a made a very good friend here in Sint Maarten, and he is called 'Delroy'. I found him in my apartment after I had taken a late afternoon stroll on the beach, and he was here, waiting for me. I'm not a spiritual person, but I do think that someone or something sent him to call round to cheer me up, and he certainly did that; mission accomplished. Here is a photo of my beloved Delroy...

So life is all about choices and decisions (if you are lucky to have them of course!), and as you know, I'm not very good at making them. However, the one thing I do have at my disposal is a heart, and rightly or wrongly, I tend to make my decisions based on this vital organ. Although I'm still not talking to my heart right now, as I feel that she provided me with bad advice (can you sue a heart?).  She is however, telling me that as beautiful as it is here, this is not the place where I will be. For every person that you meet, and every place that you visit, you come away with something; positive or negative*  and from that you become richer as a person. I've already learnt some things in my time here, both photography related and things of a more personal nature, so I can't moan, but my journey will continue beyond these shores, hopefully with a richer brain and a fuller heart.

(*maybe in this case a leg full of mosquito scars)

So it's a goodnight from me and Delroy from now..

Big love xxx

From Italy to Sint Maarten

Ok, so I will have to admit that I didn't come through on my promise from my last update that you wouldn't have to wait so long for my next instalment. I'm not one to deliver empty promises, so I hope on this occasion you can find it in your hearts to forgive me; well on this occasion anyway..

So since we last met a lot has happened. I completed the 5 months in Bologna, well 4.5 months to be exact, and although I have no regrets; to summarise, I can safely say that it was 'bloody hard at times'! Learning a new language is no 'mean feat' but when you are creeping towards the big 40 (and believe me I'm not running towards it with open arms :)), learning a new language ain't that easy! One thing that I didn't factor in was the adjustment to going 'back to school' after 20 odd years. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as many times as I wanted to pick up my school bag and leave, but there were many occasions when I felt like the classroom 'dunce'. It's also important to add that the teachers at the school were absolutely lovely, and went out of their way to provide you with encouragement.

They say that time alone allows you to really get to know yourself. ..me, myself and I. Well, I can safely say that we have the perfect love/hate relationship. It's great to hang-out with myself ever-so-often, but she does have a tendency to get on my nerves at times. Laughing at your own crap jokes can wear thin after a while...

OK, OK, I know that I'm starting to sounds like I suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder, but anyone who knows me will know that this self-deprecating manner in which I speak should be taken with a pinch of salt * and about half an ounce of jest. (for those using metric, that's about 14.79 ml). 

*Of course I don't recommend exceeding on your daily salt intake

I met some lovely people during my time in Bologna, some of which I cal call friends. I should change the names to protect the innocent, but I'm going to be cruel and reveal their identities..

So firstly there was F.A. I met F.A. through a conversation exchange that I joined when I feared that I wasn't meeting any other people to hang out with at the school (and of course to practice my Italian). Like very few people that I meet in life, I found an instant rapport with this reggae-loving half Israeli, half Italian guy. F.A. had an insatiable interest in almost everything, which in turn made him pretty wise in such a young body. There are some people in life that have the tendency to suck the life out of you at times, but he was the opposite. If you ever needed someone to lift your spirits, and help you put things into perspective; this was your guy.

Then came the lovely Giorgio, the singer, actor (and sometime drag artist) with the biggest heart. On a few occasions he would ask me to listen to one of the songs he had written to see if there were any grammatical errors, this task was always a great pleasure. He also had a very impressive selection of make-up and make-up brushes, and although i'm not a girly-girl, this kind of thing can leave a girl green with envy. :)

There was also a few other nice guys that I met along the way, Nunzio, a great guy who really put my Italian to the test with his high-speed style of talking, and Luca, a guy I unfortunately only had the chance to meet in person once, but you have never met a guy who loves his dog so much until you have met Luca. A few times I was sent some very sweet photos of Luca with the love of his life...a cute yorkshire terrier called Lulu. 

One lovely guy who remained in London during this time and provided me with a lot of support was my boyfriend at the time; the lovely Adrian. Despite the fact that his girlfriend had decided to spend 6 months away in Italy and then a month or so in Sint Maarten, he always provided me with encouragement, and for this I appreciate him dearly; even if I didn't always show it.

So, my original plan was to stay in Bologna til the beginning of September, and spend a month travelling down to Sicily. However, plans are 'made to be broken' (or is that rules...?) and I cut short my time in Italy by 6 weeks to change direction. Before I go into my reasons for doing this, I want to give you some advice; so don't say that I never give you anything! If you decide to visit Bologna, I seriously recommend that you DON'T go in the summer, unless you have accommodation with air conditioning. Bologna in the 38-40 degree heat and positioned 1.5 hours from the nearest sea, should win the award for 'furness of the year'. I spent many hours spread-eagled across the bed (no rude thoughts here please, this is not the time not the place) doing a fantastic impression of a squashed insect. This was my futile attempt to increase my body surface area to the point where I could expel some of the residual heat that my lifeless body was having some issues disposing of. I bought a fan for about 15 Euros, but it didn't quite 'cut the mustard' unless the fan was literally on full blast and lying on top of me. 

I've also learnt that I attract 'mozzies' like no-one else (endearing term for mosquitos, not that they deserve it). The little fu**ers smell my sweet tasty blood a mile off, maybe I should cut down on my sugar intake. So, with my ongoing battle with the heat, I declared war on the mozzies as well. Important decisions had to be made every night, such as:

 A) Door open, mozzies in, let the hunger games begin... or

 B) Door closed, no bloody air, prepare for 50% loss of body fluids. I often opted for the later...my blood is important to me, after all, they do say blood is thicker than water.

So, tired from this ongoing civil war, I decided to use the remaining money that I had to pursue the one thing that I love doing (photography) and come to Sint Maarten to visit a photographer friend of mine called Yotam, 'bleed him dry' of his knowledge and experience. He has regular work for a magazine here, as well as others things in the pipeline, so already I have had the opportunity to see what goes on in the production of the next edition of the magazine.

So, in my quest to evade getting sucked- back into clinical research on my return to London...I'm here!

I can safely say that I live in paradise. I'm staying on the beach, I fall asleep to the waves and wake-up with them, but paradise comes with a cost, and this cost comes in the form of creepy crawlies. Just when I thought it was safe to go back outside, in comes the.. (wait for it..) DAY MOZZIES!! These little sods don't abide by the dusk/dawn curfew, oh no. They like to 'hang-out' during the day and physically and mentally torture people like me. They are the 'hoodies of the insect world' and I'm in my right mind to issue them with an A.S.B.O. * or even a little bit of Jihad.

    *For those outside of the U.K., A.S.B.O. stands for Anti-Social Behaviour Order, which are like the B.M.X. bikes of the 1980's; every teenager wants one.

I, of course appreciate the requirement for these little blighters to exist in the circle of life(I feel a bit of Elton John coming on..Hakuna Matata), but all I ask is that they exist in someone else's circle. That's not too much to ask is it?

Anyway, enough about pests and hoodies, I think I have devoted too much of my time to them already.

So, in a nutshell, I've assisted on a few shoots already (Bikini shoot, cover-shoot, etc) for the October edition of the magazine. I'm trying my hand at doing some video shorts, a kind of 'behind the scenes', not Quentin Tarantino in me just yet. So, that's enough from me for now, cheerio!...Big love xx