Ia Orana Ia Oe!

[Ken Jackson]

I figured that this would be the first place I would post before I move into the various forums.

I am a retired US Navy Chief, Naturalized French and a Citizen of French Polynesia. My family are Tahitian, and I have pretty much went native also. I make my home on the Island of Raiatea, the sacred island of all of Polynesia, and the island from which the Hawaiians and the Maori's of NZ are originally from.

At present, I find myself in Orygun, the land of lichens and rain. I am in the US only to provide care for my 90 yr old mother. During my time in the military, I never took any photos. Perhaps it was the travel light attitude, or lack of knowledge that kept me from doing so. Upon returning to the country of my birth, my wife and family wanted photos of where I was living, and the scenery of the places I would visit. In Tahiti, my wife has photo albums of all the family, friends and scenery, and she suggested that I buy a camera and start doing the same.

My first camera was a Minolta maxxim 3xsi, which I still have loaded and hanging on a hook, along with 2 Olympus OM-10's, 2 Zeiss Ikon TLR's one is the Favorite, and the other is the prototype of the Favorite without the light meter.

My first venture into Digital Photography was with a Minolta Dimage 7i, which I used for 2 years and gave it to my grandson as his learning camera. I now have 2 Nikons, a D70, and a D200 along with a rucksack full of lenses and other "needed" accessories. I am still an amature photographer, and if I ever decide to grow up, I hope to be a pro one day.

I prefer to go by the name given to me when I married my wife. That name is Maheanuu, and I pretty much use the diminutive Mah.

At present I do not have too much time to get out and practice the craft, as I am either taking care of mom, or driving her best friend back and forth to chemo and radiation treatments. Things should be pretty well back to normal next month, which means I will be able to get out on the weekends and do some shooting.

I will post some of my favorites in the various subject forums, and hopefully I will learn a lot more about not only the craft, but about the equipment and capabilities I can only dream of at present.

Thanks in advance to all of you, I am sure I will enjoy my membership here.

Maheanuu Tane
CPO USN Ret
Citizen of Tahiti

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Welcome to OPF

I look forward to your photos being shared here. The islands of Tahiti are very beautiful - I can see why you would want to live there for many reasons beyond it's beauty. I added a few of my snapshots to your thread. When we were there in 2005 while sailing on the Paul Gauguin, we had a performance by the Children of Raiatea on board. Our tour guide was a former US Citizen from San Diego who married a Tahitian and gave us some wonderful stories of adapting to life in the Islands. I hope to go back again in the next few years. Welcome!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Well Maheanuu.

I love the sound of this wife-given name of yours. Welcome to OPF! We do not believe that, for art at least, that the camera defines your art as each camera today is really very capable, and that includes $200 digicams. For specific targets, like a bird high in a tree, yes, a special lens is needed. However for many parts of photography, even one lens between 28mm and 80mm will serve you well.

We're looking forward to seeing your work! Whenever you can, introduce the picture so we can see it from your perspective, even though, may pictures may appear to speak for themselves.

Asher

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Sounds like you've made a nice life for yourself in Tahiti. My wife grew up in Honolulu, so we get to Hawai'i once or twice a year usually, and I've spent a fair bit of time photographing the landscape and sacred sites there, mostly in B&W. We'd really like to get to Tahiti and some other parts of Polynesia someday.