Some of you may (or may not!) know that in 2008 I published a photobook via Blurb called "Xefina Island". That book was made using photos shot over a two year period, from 2007 and 2008. I had been visiting this small sandbank of an island for much longer than that, and have managed a few trips back since my book, although the last was in early 2017... What could more that 3 years do to an island already ravaged by the forces of nature? A lot, as I learned this past weekend!
However the island continues to live in an eerie calm, just perched at almost walking distance from the Costa do Sol beaches of Maputo. Although it maintains it's mystery for most Maputans, except for a few intrepid kiteboarders, it is a habitual haunt for a significant number of fishermen that use it's beach as a launching point for their expeditions. A small village is home to some of the poorest people in Mozambique, though rich in pride and humility. I was fortunate to have had had a nice interaction with some of them while taking these photographs.
I have to confess that the impetus for this trip were a photographer friend, Nii Obadia, as well as my wife. Through the former's insistance and latter's organisation, we were able to make it onto the island. Here are some pictures from yesterday's trip. Hope you enjoy.
For the technically minded these photographs were taken with a Canon 1Ds mark III, which was released about the time I started photographing this island (2007!). Coupled with this camera were two Nikon (!) lenses, a 17-35 f2.8 and an 85mm f2.8 Tilt and Shift lens. Other photographs (not shown yet) were taken with a Hasselblad 500CM with a 50mm f4 Zeiss lens on Kodak Plus X 125 asa film. Oh, and for the record, I used the Gitzo tripod I saved from oblivion as reported in this blog page.
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