"May 20 is my birthday and I would like to invite you to come to Arrabida with me and do some SUP (stand up paddle) - basically hang around on a massive board in the middle of gorgeous Arrabida. SUP will be followed by a picnic."
This was the announcement on Philip's facebook event created to gather participants for his birthday feast. I imagined it was going to be an afternoon of Pirates of the Carribean: a Blooper Edition, with 20 of us on a floating something in the middle of the ocean, so of course I joined in!
Parque Natural de Arrábida is one of Portugal's natural treasures situated between Setúbal and Sesimbra. It's a protected area of a little more than a 100 square kilometres where mountains and the ocean meet. The highest peak is almost 500 meters. It's gorgeous, breathtaking!
Phillip arranged all the gear and a bus to come pick us all up in Lisbon. So there I went, a video artist, photographer, a junkie for shots of the beauty of this world, to one of the most beautiful places around, without a camera.
(I don't yet own a waterproof one and could not take my dear Panasonic with me, for I was not sure I could leave it somewhere guarded and safe.)
When we arrived at Arrábida there was 1 big board for a group of 5 waiting for us and the rest of us had to go on 1-person boards. I decided to challenge myself to take the journey on my own. We received the basic instructions, a life jacket, board, leash and paddle and off we went.
It was absolutely amazing! Once you get your balance right and get the hang of how to paddle properly, you can just relax and stand on top of the ocean.
Fishes swam beneath me, some of them coming up for a breath of air, a jumper here and there, I floated over some rocks, waterplants were waving at me. And the view: stunning!
We paddled from Portinho de Arrábida, passing the Anixa island to Praia dos Coelhos and back again. One the way back I strayed a bit front my pirate mates and became mirjamsvideos again. I missed my camera because I really would have loved to capture that amazing view and to be able to show it back to the world again.
There is nothing better than that 'high' of getting a shot of the best stuff you could find.
But I also found it greatly relaxing not to have my camera with me, for now, I could really enjoy. I could just let things be as they were and observe it. No tripod, no aperture that needed to be corrected, no worrie about not being able see if the image was realy sharp because the sun blocks a proper view on the LCD screen, no frustration at people who notice you filming but still choose to walk by in front of your camera, no birds that fly out of tune, no dogs that disturb the scene, no panic attacks because it is happening right now and my camera is still in my bag!!
In a way being a photographer or filmmaker takes away your experience of the world. You are not truely there, not fully in the moment, your attention is elsewehere. You are not enjoying the thing in itself, your pleasure is derived from the usefulness that this replica of reality that you took will bring you; will it be a good shot yes or no, will I be able to use it?
But then again, it also drives us to go where we otherwise might not go, to keep our eyes open in moments when they otherwise could have been closed, to go it alone for better focus and spend time with ourselves, have conversations with ourselves (and our cameras) and get to know some of our thoughts that otherwise might have stayed hidden.
Nothing in life can be judged in one way only, everything has it's lesser and better sides, but we do have to choose one way to live for each single moment, and live that fully!
I choose to fully dedicate myself to saving money for an equipment upgrade; waterproof and 'green'!
Pictures shot with my phone, charged by LX BMX his portable solar charger, a cool gadget I need to investigate further....
The pics are of horrible quality! To cover that up a bit, I made those nice collages. Pics from the SUP were made by the SUP professionals, who of course had waterproof electronics. I hope I can share them with you soon!
Thanks for checking out my post!
Have a great day!