The perfect combo for a successful vacation ! If you are a regular reader of this Blog, you know that I have killed a few Ricoh GRD4 by getting too close to the water … It must be said that I am irreparably drawn to water and my children always offer perfect photo opportunities. The holidays started on Friday evening and will last for 15 days. This vacation takes us back a few weeks. Very precisely on August 4th.

That day, on returning from vacation spent in the South of the island, an event came to shake up our little life and especially that of our little guy Ronan. Double tibia/fibula fracture less than two weeks before the start of the school year. To be honest, he hasn’t been back to school since and Gwen my wife went through a second lockdown with him at home. She still did the teatcher for him for almost 6 weeks ! For 3 weeks now, Ronan has had his plaster removed but had great difficulty walking. He is already not very thick and he has lost a lot of muscles and his tendons, which have not worked for this long period of time, have retracted and we had to work with a physiotherapist to regain flexibility.

We were impatiently awaiting this date of September 16th. We checked it off on our diary. Ronan was finally going to walk again and the ordeal was finally over ! Well no … He couldn’t walk and it was a cold shower. It took 3 weeks of rehabilitation for him to walk again. He is not yet running, but the few swimming sessions in the pool have surely helped him. With some exercises his broken leg got stronger, but there was also a click in his head. He no longer considers his leg to be broken. When we had taken off his plaster, he was still telling us that he could not walk and put his leg down because it was … broken ! It was in vain to tell him (the doc too) that the fracture had healed well (radiography in support) and that he could go, but for him, it was not true.

So, as I told you, I have complicated stories with the Ricoh GRD4 as soon as I approached a little too close to the water. But it’s stronger than me. Winter is over for us and the arrival of mosquitoes heralds the start of summer. The temperatures are rising slowly and the children have their fins wagging and wanting to get in the water. This is all the more true for Ronan as he is stuck at home and swimming is highly recommended to strengthen his little chicken leg.

This first day of vacation, we had to pack our bags because we were moving for the vacation time to my parents because some work had to take place at home. Instead, we ended up at the beach with a little improvised picnic with cousins and my sister. The children were delighted to enjoy this first day of vacation with their cousins. Ronan still had a hard time moving quickly, but that didn’t stop him from trying to slide on his board, trying to imitate his brother. Joachim, moreover, has an innate sense of sliding. He does very well on skis, can do amazing things on a scooter, is not afraid to try his hand at skateboarding and there it was quite impressive to see him run and slide on his board without falling. Basically the opposite of me. Even if I snowboard, I wouldn’t be able to do what he does.

After lunch, he urged me to come and take pictures of him, but I collapsed on a towel under a tree to take a nap because I had been up since 5:30 am to go to work … When I emerged , I saw them having fun sliding on their boards. Ricoh on the wrist, I went to immortalize these moments. Children always provide great photo opportunities. They are unpredictable and often have very photogenic gestures. I must have spent almost 30 minutes by their side photographing them.

For the processing, I didn’t hesitate for long before going Black & White. The pristine blue sky lent itself well to monochrome. I could expose on the sky to keep only the silhouettes of the children. I worked at ISO 80 to keep a lot of sharpness in the photos. I also did some color photos trying to make interesting compositions, but ultimately exposing in highlights to make it minimalist worked best for the situation.

This first week of vacation, we are going to go to the seaside for a few days to enjoy the beach and the good weather which announces the arrival of summer. A little thought for those in the northern hemisphere who are starting to get cold. Summer is coming up here on Réunion Island. We send some warm vibes to all of you!

All the photos were made with the Ricoh GRD4.