by Franck Gazzola | Feb 20, 2014 | Daily Updates
''If only it could be just one foot bigger…'' – Chris Friend
If only, then it would have been THE perfect morning: an amazing sunrise, glassy waters, and waves. But really, on the first two are on offer this morning. Waves are one the microscopic side.
But even if I know surf is generally your fix, today's sunrise was the substitution substance: a show of colours and textures. This sunrise only should normally have made your day if you were up on time for it.
I must say that between last night's mysterious lights and crazy rainbow (see my insta: @franckgazzola) and this morning's fire in the sky, we've been pretty lucky. This kind of compensates for the lame mornings that we've had this week.
I also wanted to make an announcement: I've now (re)launched my personal websites, as I sometimes use my cameras elsewhere than at the beach 🙂 :
www.franckgazzola.com, which compiles most of my work & www.franckgazzolaphotography.com, focusing on weddings & portraits – Go check them out ! I hope you'll think about me for future commercial work, weddings, or portraits.
I hope tomorrow is going to bring us again our share of colours, waves and sun.
Franck
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 18, 2014 | Daily Updates
Another grey morning in Bondi today…not very inviting, especially after 2 weeks of paradise perfect !
I must say that shooting this morning at Bondi was a bit challenging. I had to re-adjust a bit. Waves were shifty, people droped in on each other, waves were closing out…all the opposite of what I've been experiencing lately with perfect uncrowded reef breaks. But hey, where else can you surf in the morning before going to work in a big City ?! Not that many places !
Tomorrow and especially thursday should be highlights of the week.
Go and enjoy the morning surfs: they're not here for too long anymore…
Have a nice day !
Franck
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 17, 2014 | Daily Updates
This is a wrap up of an amazing couple of weeks in Paradise !
There was sun, there were waves, there was fish, there was wind, there were tons of smiles, liters of Fiji Bitter, numerous BS conversation, zillion of jokes, hundreds of grateful locals with new teeth, and hundreds of pictures that have frozen those moments.
If you haven't yet put Namotu on your bucket list, then visit www.namotuislandfiji.com and I am sure you'll add it right at the top.
I am now back in Sydney, not really impressed by the weather nor the waves. I hope to see you guys at the beach tomorrow morning…if my pelican case full of cameras finally makes it home.
Have a great day.
Franck
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 14, 2014 | Daily Updates
It is difficult to summarize in 7 shots what I have witnessed and had the pleasure to document this week for the Fiji Dental & Medical Foundation.
Those pictures should give you an idea of the overall project, and how it concretely works: help the locals with free dental (and medical) treatments, in a temporary built clinic, and try to prevent further issues, most of which could be avoided with a decent dental hygiene.
So, after an early boat ride from Namotu, the dentists and doctors have treated more than 500 patients (!!!), extracted more than 200 teeth, created dozens of new dentures on the spot, and distributed heaps of tooth paste, brushes, and floss, including in the schools.
They've witnessed the increasing skin issues, high blood pressure (more than 50% of adults) and diabetes of the locals, due to high sugar foods and relatively low regime of exercising past a certain age, however young.
Once again, this project has helped the Fijians, even more than what they were able to achieve last year. How ? Because they convinced more doctors, and tried to raise more funds to get more supplies and equipment. Because this time, they also came with doctors. And what about next year ? Well, with your help, they're already thinking of doing the same, in an even better version. Maybe bringing some dermatologists who could help as well, since the skin problems are not a rare commodity…
This assignment was amazing to do, and I would work with those guys again tomorrow. It's been 4 very intense days, extremely busy, for them and for me. I apologize about not being able to shoot an update yesterday. When you depend on boats, to get back ''home'', things don't always pan out as planned.
So if you want to support them, contact fijidmf@gmail.com. ''Support'' does not necessarily mean ''money'', but it can mean ''supplies'', or it can mean ''I'm a dentist or an oral surgeon and I am keen to help'', etc…
Soon flying home…Bitter sweet.
Franck
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 12, 2014 | Daily Updates
Let me tell you a story quickly.
This is the story of 3 dudes who've been coming to Namotu for 25 years, for the waves, the climate, and the people of Fiji. One of them is a dentist back home in the US. And after about 20 years of enjoyment of the waves, they realized that their love for Fiji was going way beyond the waves & the surf only.
So they looked at how they could give back to this land that has given them so much. Being a dentist, Greg (one of the founders), realized how difficult (not to say impossible) it is for the fijians living on the islands to get any kind of dental treatment. They need to take 2 days off work, get a boat to the mainland, then taxi, then pay for the consultation, then sleep over somewhere before they can head back to the island…As a result, the dental health and hygiene here is pretty poor and a lot of the islanders suffer, often in silence, but sometimes very badly and need evacuation.
The next thing they know, they're spending all their free time and energy to raise money in the US to be able to set up a temporary dental clinic on one of the islands here. Once a year. 4 days. So they rallied dentists, GPs, & hygienists from California who all pay for their own trip, take a week off work, and donate to the association, in order to treat as many as 400 patients in 4 days (that was last year. This has been over-achieved already this week).
So in the last couple of days, I've been working with these amazing team of good hearted people who try to make a difference, at their level, with a very targetted and concrete project, that make people's life a lot healthier. I have been working alongside those guys, and tried to document this great initiative.
This week in Namotu is not your typical week of surf, sun, fish, dive, snorkel. The focus is on the people of Fiji, and that's great like that.
I'll try to share some of this work in the coming days.
Cheers
Franck
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