So a shot from my iPhone this week with no fancy flash work. I did splash out on an exotic location though! For the next few days, I’m in Hurghada, Egypt on the shore of the Red Sea for a little mini break. I’m nearly two full days in and have another two full days left, returning home late Wednesday. I used a little pocket Gorillapod to hold the iPhone, attached it to a large ashtray thingy and set a 10-second timer before dashing behind the surfboard. I picked my moment as the sun was going down so that I didn’t have 50 other tourists crowding the scene. It does the job and keeps me on track to get 52 of these self-portraits in roughly a year.
I made the last-minute decision to leave the fancy Olympus camera at home as I was getting close to the point of packing more gadgets than clothes which I feared would give me some unwanted attention going through airport security. This turned out to be the right call as the gadgets I did have were enough to get some questions from a man with a large automatic weapon on arrival! I fear any more gear would have earnt me more intense interrogation techniques 😂😬.
I’m definitely enjoying the warm sunshine even if it doesn’t love me (I have a very sunburnt back despite the factor 4 million suncream I’ve bathed myself in at almost hourly intervals). The hotel is nice, the food good and the cocktails abundant. I miss having people to talk with but I’m beginning to adapt and I’ve been relaxing by listening to music, reading a book and watching the odd film either by the pool, on the beach or up in my room. I took a short walk out of the hotel today and took a few snaps which I shared on Instagram. Tomorrow I have a boat trip planned with some snorkelling but other than that I intend to keep putting my feet up and within strolling distance of the bar. Lazy but required.
This post was written by Stuart Mackenzie
Stuart works at TPXimpact (previously known as FutureGov) changing and improving our public services. He's also known for being a father, husband, runner, photography nerd, podcaster and excotic disco dancer!
