Sometimes you stop, look around, take a deep breath and realize it’s going to be really damn hard to top this moment. Somehow it makes all those other day-in-day-out drudgeries in life worth it, as long as you can be right here, right now. That’s maybe the best way I can begin to sum up the past few weeks spent on assignment on the small South Pacific atoll of Anaa, shooting a project with Costa del Mar and the IndiFly Foundation.
The mission was to explore the atoll, assess the both the potential for a sport fishery and the local’s receptiveness to a new industry. The 400-odd residents of Anaa currently subsist chiefly on sustenance fishing and the harvest of copra, the dried coconut meat that is then pressed for oil. There are a total of about 20 salaried jobs on the island, and many of the young adults are forced to leave home for anything above an elementary school-level education or any hope of a job.
It was a hell of a task, but we had a dream team on the project. I’ve rarely worked with easier, more professional folks, and it was a pleasure to adventure with a crew who could chill and fit in with the locals. Fishing aside, we 
joined in on local volleyball and soccer games, competed in a spear throwing competition, met with members of the village council, jumped blindly into underground caves filled with brackish water, and had one rather memorable jam session outside under the stars.
Anaa itself was pretty incredible. Miles upon miles of turquoise flats, patrolled by a healthy number of blacktip sharks and the occasional ray as large across as I am tall. Waters so vibrant the bottoms of the meringue-like clouds floating overhead turned green. Endless coconut trees, broken up only by the occasional, random tent or hut structure. A reef bordered the atoll, and we spent more than one long day wading to the edge, tossing flies as waves threatened to toss us back on the coral. (It happened a few times.) Sharks and hordes of tropical fish patrolled the water as it came rushing up over the edge of the reef, highlighted as the waves crested before pounding at our feet.
Anna was a seemingly endless supply of roosters that crowed all night, and stray dogs that meandered the streets.
Children who were fascinated by the camera, who hugged my hip as I shot, eager to see the image on the back-of-camera LCD screen.
It was raw fish every day, and the salty brine of sea urchin pulled from the sea at my feet and rinsed in the waves.
It was Hubert, the visiting nurse, shaking his head as I came into his office, the second American of the trip to require a medical visit.
Dawn coffee with the team, coming back from whatever early morning photo session I’d tackled, and pouring over maps while discussing the plan for the day.
And the fishing. Silvery, ghostlike bonefish who ran like no bone I’d ever seen before, healthy and gorgeous. Azure 
bluefin trevally, eager to take the fly and breathtaking up close. Toothy red snapper with huge yellow eyes that just begged to be photographed. Neon-spotted peacock grouper pulled from the reef’s edge. Alien-looking Napoleon wrasse, and endless numbers of mullet floating aimlessly by.
All in all, it was a place hard to come back from.
Huge thanks to the good guys at Costa and IndiFly for having me along as the trip photographer. An awesome team—looking forward to the next adventure. Look for the images to be appearing in a magazine / ad / whatever near you soon.
