It’s 8am. I have been sitting at Jackson’s International Airport in Port Moresby waiting for my flight home since 3am (as in when most sensible people are still asleep). A five hour wait and the uncertainty of whether the flight will actually leave seems bearable you might suggest but my uncharacteristic enthusiasm at arriving at any airport early has been born by the fact that I sat for nine #^%$$*#@! hours yesterday, through three %%$$#@! false starts, in the steamy airport in East New Britain waiting for my flight to the capital.

In the meantime, I’m sitting in my hotel room in Port Moresby, playing with a few of the images from the shoot. Here’s a couple of personal interpretations I quite like, incorporating the Tolai money ring – a symbol of power and wealth in East New Britain – as a feature.

“….so you can imagine my surprise/dismay when – in the first five minutes of the ceremony – a three metre Baining fire dancer leapt from the shadows, spiralled towards the fire and crashed straight into my lighting stand.”

With Tuvurvur volcano rumbling in the distance and the sun casting a golden light over the nearby waters, Lipirin Pulpulung from Matupit Village frames himself with a Tolai Money Ring for this photograph.

My assignment cycle has started and I’m typing this quick post on a plane heading to PNG on an assignment to shoot the Volcano Island of East New Britain (you may remember, its capital, Rabaul, was largely buried under Volcanic ash about 20 years ago).