ST. KITTS - Gourmet Traveller - For Food and Travel Magazine - December 2015 Issue

In the shops Now! Gourmet Traveller - For Food and Travel Magazine - December 2015 Issue :

"KITT & CABOODLE" - St Kitts - The real Caribbean... 

Great food is never far away in St. kitts - an island whose cuisine is at the core of its reinvention, a decade after the sugar factories closed for good. Today, reggae, rum and fine dining by the beach are drawing the crowds... Words by Judy Bastyra, Photography by Gary Latham.

Sunset Views of Saba Island from Kittition Hill - St Kitts

The first farm to table produce at the newly opened Kittitan Hill Property - St. Kitts

Delicious lunch of fresh lobster in the kitchen at Littition Hill - St. Kitts

Nursery-Nurseryman Winston Lake  - Kittitian Hill

Just one of many abandoned sugar plantations - St. Kitts

The capital Basseterre-Saturday Morning Vibe-St. Kitts

Judah Fari Owner at Ital Creation a Rastafarian Farm on the outskirts of the capital, Basseterre-St. Kitts.

Bellevue area-St John's Anglican Church-St. Kitts

View of St.Kitts & Nevis from Barefoot hill

The Pavilion-Christophe Harbour-Interior room view-The Peninsula-St.Kitts

The Pavilion-Christophe Harbour-The Peninsula-St.Kitts

9th Annual Black and White Spider Awards - Nominations Winner

Gary Latham, award winning freelance travel photographer wins four nominations in the 9th Annual Black and White Spider Awards:

Gary Latham Photography has achieved three nominations in the 'People' category of the 9th annual B&W Spider Awards - http://www.thespiderawards.com/gallery/9th/gallery.php?g=w&x=p&cid=260&fid=138514 and one nomination in the 'Fine Art' category - http://www.thespiderawards.com/gallery/9th/gallery.php?g=&x=p&cid=257&fid=138510

All images were shot durring the 2014 photo-tour of Burma that he leads with tour operator 'All Points East'

Boatman-Inle Lake-Burma

The Ice Man-Yangon Fish Market-Burma

Yangon Fish Market-Burma

Boy on a Boat-Lake Inle-Burma

St. Kitts! Where Time Travel is only nine hours away!

St. Kitts! Where Time Travel is only nine hours away!

"What are you doing..." say's Judy to the waitress at Timothy Beach Resort, "Why Mam, I'm just tying your shoe-lace, I don't be wanting you to be tripping and have an h'accident!" "Nobody has done that for me since I was a little girl..." say's Judy, "how kind of you!"

That is just typical however, of the kind-hearted spirit of hospitality that pervades the every-day life of this small but beautiful Island. Where the routine is; Liming an a Friday, recovering on a Saturday and Church on a Sunday!

Once a collection of vast sugar plantation's St. Kitts is now a sleepy, laid-back and rather English place, that is if you think England circa 1960. 
Often thought to be in the shadow of it's very near neighbour Nevis, all that's set to change as St. Kitts gear's up to be the latest playground of the super rich, with luxury resorts like Kititian Hill and Christophe Harbour, rapidly taking shape at opposite ends of the 'chicken drum-stick' shaped island.

Belle Monte Farm, Kittition Hill, St. Kitts - Pool with a view - looking towards the island of Saba.

The ambitious organic farm at Kittition Hill Resort - aims to be the first truly farm to table resort on St. Kitts and will boast the first 'edible' golf course.

At the other side of the island, Christophe Harbour is hoping to appeal to the  yatching scene with luxury developments like, The Pavilion and Salt Plage.

The pool area at The Pavilion - aimed at the yatching crowd.

Salt Plage, part of the Christophe harbour development is a great place to watch the sunset with a rum punch.

INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER GARY LATHAM FROM LONDON, UK.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER GARY LATHAM FROM LONDON, UK.

LOS ANGELES 18/04/2015 - Professional photographer GARY LATHAM of ENGLAND, UK was presented with the 8th Annual International Color Awards Nominee title in the category's of 'People', 'Children of the World' & 'Ariel' at a prestigious Nomination & Winners Photoshow webcast Saturday, April 18, 2015. 

The live online gala was attended by over 8,000 photography fans around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the industry's most important event for color photography. 

8th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from Christie's, Paris; Frieze Art Fair, London; DB Agency, Milan; Clair Galerie, Munich; Edinburgh Film Festival; Art Beatus Gallery, Hong Kong; Gup Magazine, Amsterdam; and Eyestorm, London who honored Color Masters with 541 coveted title awards in 33 categories.

"It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 7,358 entries we received this year," said Basil O'Brien, the awards Creative Director. Gary Latham's "Photograph's are exceptional image's entered in the Category's of 'People', 'Children of the World' & 'Ariel', represents contemporary color photography at its finest, and we're pleased to present him with the title of Nominee, in three categories"

INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in color photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in color photography. www.colorawards.com

Nominated in the 'Children of the World' Category of the 8th Int'l Color Awards, 2015

Nominated in the 'Ariel', category of the 8th Int'l Color Awards, 2015

Nominated in the 'People', category of the 8th Int'l Color Awards, 2015

Contact: Gary Latham Photogroaphy
Telephone: 07958 302161
Email: info@garylatham.co.uk
Website: www.garylatham.co.uk

The Baining fire dancers of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Introduction: 

The Baining people are among the earliest and original inhabitants of the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. They get their name from the Baining Mountains which they inhabit. Their incredible mask's are laboriously made from bark, cloth, bamboo and leaves, used just once for the firedance ceremony before being thrown away or destroyed. The purpose of these firedance ceremonies was to celebrate the birth of new children; the commencement of harvests and also as a way of remembering the dead. The Baining firedance is also a rite of passage. Paricipation in the fire dance is a men-only event.

FIRE - Walk with me!

It's well after dark when we arrive at the Baining village somewhere in the mountains near Rebaul in East New Britain and the milky way is resplendent above us, there are no lights except a few torches in the hands of the village attendants. 

We sit a little bemused but expectant on a viewing bench next to the village musicians, as piles of firewood are heaped into a huge bonfire and set alight - we know little of what is about to happen - just that the Baining men are famous for their fire dance in masks that resemble a Daffy Duck - on acid, with huge painted, startled eyes. 

The Shamanic figure appears from the darkness to lead out the spirits of the night.

As the fire is stoked higher and hotter by the village attendants, a shamanic figure appears at the edge of the fire sporting an extremely long feather in his conical hat-mask. His purpose is to summon the spirits of the night and to entreat them to commune with the dancers - we are in no way prepared for what is about to happen...

Already in a semi trance like state the spirits are led into the fire circle.

One by one the fire dancers appear on the edge of the clearing. One by one they are led into the light of the flames as if to introduce themselves to the dark, the fire, the shaman and the spirits of the forest.

Dancing around the fire in preparation for the test of fire.

When all are assembled and to the accompaniment of ritual music, chanting and the beating of drums they start to dance around the bonfire in ever more frenzied circles. All the time village attendants heap more and more wood onto the fire until it is blazing, illuminating the whole clearing in vivid reds and yellows. Even from our possition on the edge of the clearing the heat is intense.

The ever more frenzied fire dancers run to the edges of the fire in a kind of dream-like challenge, kicking at the edges of the bonfire as if testing the heat, defying the flames to burn them. As the music reaches fever pitch something seams to clicks within the dancers. They are as one with the night. They are exalted in the mystery of the ritual and the spirits of the night have joined with their mortal flesh, now with their power at it's zenith, they take it in turns jumping into the heart of the fire, casting white hot sparks all around. With nothing to protect them but the magic of the ritual they continue to stamp on and decimate the fire for what seems like an age, until it is nothing but scattered embers and night reclaims the clearing. 

As the dancers are consumed by the ritual the fire is entered and destroyed by the dancers.

Some considerable time has passed. It's hard to say how long. We have been transported to a different place, to an earlier time, perhaps a dream time. For us it is time to depart, our minds full of questions, we try to assimilate, to process somehow the spectacle that we have just witnessed. We are amazed. You cannot help but be aware of the gulf between cultures in time, place and technology, we have gained much compared to the Baining men but one cannot also help feeling that we have also lost, something... 

With thanks to Food and Travel Magazine for the commission to PNG. Thanks to Judy Feller and Cecily Barton from PNG Tourism for arranging the trip and many thanks to the Baining tribe for sharing their world.

LIVING THE DREAM...

Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia

April 2014 - A dream job to St Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean is a trip down memory lane. 

I was first there in 1980, aged 22. A keen amateur photographer back then and armed only with my trusty Zenith Camera and 135mm Zeiss Jena Lens (That's the east German one) & a few roles of Kodachrome 64 and Ilford FP4 - (ah, I can almost smell the chemicals...). In many ways it kick-started my love of both travel and photography.

If only I could have my beach body back... Me in 1980.

In the 1980's package holidays to the Caribbean were in their infancy and St Lucia was definitely considered a luxury destination, so what was a poor boy from Lancashire doing there you might ask? Well, like most things in life, I went on a whim, the other reason was to annoy my boss at the time who had just enjoyed a luxury all-inclusive holiday there with his wife. I just thought if he could do it then so could I...

My experience of St. Lucia however was very different from his - where-as he didn't leave the hotel at all (it was too dangerous - he told me), I stayed at a small guest house in Soufrière called Home Hotel - I remember ringing them on my mum's phone with a stop watch by the phone so we could calculate how much the call cost. 

Set down in the then small town of Soufriere late one night by our taxi driver, it was a culture shock, to say the least! Soon enough though we were hanging out with the local Rasta's along the harbour and watching the tourists come over from the near-by luxury hotel, Anse Chastanet. We were in fact something of a phenomenon in sleepy Soufriere, as most people only got there on day trips to the Volcano from their exclusive and reclusive, 'all-inclusive' resorts.

Which brings me to the present and my recent trip to this small gem of an island. This time I'm staying at Jade Mountain/Anse Chastanet - the premier hotel if not on the whole Island then certainly in the South of the Island.

They say you should never re-visit a place you fell in love with all those years ago but I just couldn't resist - my curiosity just got the better of me and this time I was doing it in style! Home Hotel is still there by the way!

Soufriere in the shadow of the Pitons - from the road to Anse Chastanet 1980.

That was then - this is now...

It's remarkable really that St. Lucia has changed so little from my memories of 1982 but then again with a population of just 150,000 maybe not.

Iconic views of the Pitons from my room in Jade Mountain/Anse Chastanet.

Although larger now with extended suburbs Soufriere still retains many of it's old colonial charm.

'THE MAGIC CIRCLE' : A road trip around the ring road of Iceland with Oliver Berry for Lonely Planet Magazine

Last chance to buy the September Issue of Lonely Planets 'Worlds Most Beautiful Places' edition with stunning images of Iceland by yours truly...

Celebrating the anniversary of Iceland's Ring Road, an 830 mile highway that wraps around the island and takes in lava fields, wild coastline, powerful waterfalls and magnificent ice flows.

The North - Godafoss Waterfall

Hella To Selfoss - Iclandic Horses - possibly the cutest in the world.

Jokulsarlon - Glacial Iceburgh on the beach.

Jokulsarlon - Glacial Iceburgh Lake & Bridge

Jokulsarlon - Road & Glacier

Road to Seyðisfjörður

Vatnsskarð pass near Varmahlið

Borgarnes-Leirarvogur Bay - Nr. Borgarnes

Glaumbaer - Turf House Museum.

Myvatn - Hverarond Volcanic Area.