St John Festival « Thoughts From an Island Photographer

July 7, 2010

Photo Monday 7/5/10

Happy Tuesday!

Having Photo Monday on Tuesday may seem weird to some , but hey – we’re on St. John and we celebrated the 4th on the 5th down here this year, so it seems quite normal to us. This week we’d like to share a few of the many photos we took yesterday in Cruz Bay. It was Parade Day, and the culmination of our annual St. John Festival (our island version of Carnival).

The delightful Gypsies are a perennial delight and always a colorful addition. They got everyone in the crowd on their feet and dancing alongside them as they passed.

Can rain stop a Carnival Parade….?

Not on St. John.

Off and on showers just made parade day cooler for everyone. So what if there was even a deluge at one point? Drink, dance, throw some beads at the crowd and be happy!

This marked the beginning of Caneel Resort’s floupe. (Parade troupes that have floats are called floupes – really.) Their theme was Guardian Of The Children and they led off with this dragon protecting the castle of St. John…or, is that the new entrance gate at Caneel? No matter.

The Westin Floupe theme was Birds of Paradise and they even had a caged beauty on their float! Of course there were lots of mocko jumbies too in the parade and one troupe even lined up to create a long tunnel through their legs which they invited carnival goers to walk through. You can see how doable that is by the size of the stilts on this lone jumbie.

The Shaka Zulus Troupe was on St. John in force - looking fierce and spectacular in their traditional garb. Others in the parade were not so fierce looking.

Can you say Princess? There were also queens and kings, majorettes and steel pans, reggae and salsa, and so much more. It was all very exciting.

It was a long day, so afterwards we retired to our little cottage above town, sat on our rocking chairs, set our cameras onto tripods and adjusted the automatic timer so it could take pictures for you while we took a rest and enjoyed fireworks like eveyrone else. Not bad for a mile away!

Until next week,

Bob and Karin Schlesinger
Your Island Photographers

p.s. – Look for many more photos of Festival to be posted on Flickr soon. Just look for “tropicalfocus” and be sure to share with your friends.

Filed under: General, Photo Mondays — Tags: Carnival, St John Festival — Karin @ 12:01 am

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June 28, 2010

Photo Monday 6/28/10 – On St. John

Happy Monday!

Where did the month fly? If you’ve ever wondered if it’s boring to live on a little island, we can tell you first hand- it’s not! (Sure we like to leave the Rock once in a while, but that’s a different story).

You know that myth about St. John having no natural water? Well, there are certainly waterfalls galore when it rains like it did last week!

Isn’t it amazing? This waterfall photo wast taken while standing on the North Shore Road just past the Cinnamon Bay Campground turnoff. The water was way too much for the roadway drains to handle. It was worth getting our sneakers in the water to take some rainy afternoon images. This next photo will give you some perspective on size.�

We weren’t the only ones out playing in the drizzle in between photos shoots. The waterfall was huge climing all the way up the mountain.

Island kids of all ages can find fun almost anywhere, yours truly included. There were plenty of snorkelers at the island beaches all week long – even in the rain. Why not? Since it only rained some of the time, there was plenty of time for other beach activities.

Everyone seemed to be making sandcastles last week. They were on every beach island-wide. We could use some of those busy hands in our garden right about now.

Our plants are loving the early summer weather and growing faster than we can keep them pruned. When rains and clouds pass through, picture postcard perfect days with crystal clear views often follow. We’ve had those too this past week with lots of puffy clouds and sunshine, and you know what that means.

Beautiful sunsets!

On this particular Saturday evening we were shooting the wedding of Thomas and Phoebe – two St. Johnians (congrats you two lovebirds!) at Gallows Point Resort. The sky colors changed from hushed muted pinks and mauves to blazing oranges and golds before nightfall was complete. A

Now that’s what we call a sunset! We feel blessed that we can regularly experience such beauty living here on St. John.

Yesterday we were at the new Seashore Allure property in Cruz Bay taking pool shots. Just as we were finishing up, we spied the beginnings of a singularly beautiful sunset from the rooftop spa deck with the promise of many pinks and reds.

We headed home, hoping to catch the last of the promised fantastic sunset from home, but as we drove ur our driveway looking west, we realized we were too late. For some reason, we both looked up to the night sky as we got out of our car and saw this.

It was the last cloud directly overhead - just waiting for us to say goodnight.

Next week we’ll do Photo Monday on Tuesday because St. John Festival’s Parade and Fireworks are on Monday and we plan to PARTY. We promise to take lots of photos on the 5th for you!

Goodnight for now,

Karin and Bob Schlesinger
Your Island Photographers