Meatoga Photography

I have always loved pretty pictures. Who doesn't appreciate a beautiful photo? So last year I finally broke down and bought myself (okay well David bought me) a Cannon Rebel EOS 3 DSLR Camera. Sounds fancy doesn't it? Well, it is. It came with 2 different lenses, a tripod, 3 filters, extra batteries, a camera bag, and 2 more lenses to put on top of the lenses. I was in HEAVEN!! I would finally have the ability to take those amazing pictures that you see in magazines and billboards. Or so I thought... :) I came to understand that A LOT more goes into a picture than just point and shoot. So over the past year I've been practicing, reading, and practicing more, and I am happy to report that my photo taking skills have improved so much, along with my editing skills. So, all that being said I had the opportunity last month to do a paying gig for a family member of a friend. It was a wedding, and I was a wreck the night before. I remember my wedding day, and remember how I loved the pictures. I knew that this was a big deal for any woman in her life, and I didn't want to mess it up. So as it went I took the pictures with the help of a friend (Randy) and prayed for the best. I must say that I am pleasently pleased with the results.

In this picture the Dad's hand was blocked by a railing, so I had to get creative in putting his hand in there and making the railing disappear. 

Mother & Bride

The sky was overcast and completely white that day, which lead to many of he photos looking washed out. Thanks to the internet, I learned how to put a little color in and make it look natural. 

Sisters + Cousin = Best friends

The happy couple Mr. & Mrs. Shelvin Lal

Once again adding the little bit of blue helped so much to balance the picture. 

These two ladies are hilarious. They were some that kept making the jokes to keep everyone smiling in pictures. 

First dance together. 

Thus the birth of Meatoga Photography. You may ask, "Why Meatoga?" Well I wanted to use my maiden name, but there were far to many Thompson photography out there. But I still wanted a name that was from my family. I was going to use the name Penina, but that was taken as well. So I chose Meatoga to remember my family and to pay tribute to my nephew Tamatoa Meatoga Moreno who taught us that life isn't always sure, so I want to capture as much of my family as I can. My hope is that I will be able to continually have the opportunity to capture those special moment for others as well. 

Young Single Adults... 2 out of 3 isn't bad right????

Yes, you read right. YOUNG. SIINGLE. ADULTS. No this doesn't mean that David and I have decided to be single again. We just happen to be the lucky, YOUNG, ADULT couple that have the privledge of advising these amazingly talented, wonderful, fun, and most enjoyable people in our ward. When we began as advisors we were very much worried about the spiritual well being of these people. We were focused on getting them on missions, or married, or just active in church. Don't get me wrong, this is still our goal, but we just found that solely focusing on the spiritual side wasn't working as well as we'd like. We found that the YSA were less responsive to setting goals the more we talked about them, so we went back to the Lord to recieve guidance. We realized that the age old saying of "People don't care about how much you know unless they know how much you care," or something to that effect. So we began to focus on the YSA as individuals, seeing each one as an individual person instead of all of them as a collective whole. Thanks to our wonderful education at BYUH we knew exactly how to go about building that relationship with each YSA. Activites to foster friendships and a sense of belonging became our number one focus. We have tried to do one at least once a week. Our first one was a visit to the Hibiscus Festival here in Suva. We only had 1 YSA come so we recruited Langi (David's younger brother) to make the numbers even. The next week as people heard of the activity enthusiasm increased. The next week we went to the pool.

Thanks to the underwater camera that we got from Mom and Dad we were able to document our fun adventure. Since I was the only girl there, I was designated the official photographer. Good thing I like taking pictures, and good thing these guys are photo freaks. LOL. We had a great time swimming from 1 pm - 6 pm. Then had simple egg sandwiches for dinner/lunch. We then decided to go to the movies and watched Into the Storm. We had a 2 hour wait for the movie, so the boys all knocked out in the lobby of the theater while I watched over them. It was a good day. Thankfully here in Fiji it's common to hang out in the lobby while waiting for your movie, so we didn't look homeless. LOL.

Well since the pool was such a big hit, we knew that we had to up our game for the next activity. Thankfully Moji was visiting from Nadi and gave us the great idea of going to Colo I Suva. It's a local waterfall that is beautiful. Well, it's actully 3 waterfalls into 3 different pools. We got a larger crowd this time so it was even more fun. 

The last 3 photos are the 3 pools. We spent most of our time at the last one. It was so fun!! It had a rope swing that hung over the pool. The kids here are crazy and do some crazy tricks. The most insane one would have to be Luke Nakauciri. Here's a video.

He would have gone higher in the tree, but that's how he got injured the last time. Thankfully everyone came home in one piece this time. It was one of the most tireing the days here in Fiji, but one of the most rewarding. As we did the 3 hour walk home we were able to talk with each of the YSA individually and get to know them on a more personal level. 

Our latest activity has been taking place after institute. I taught the YSA how to play a game called live mafia. It's a combination of Hide & Seek and Cops & Robbers. Most of our YSA are boys, so they have a great time playing this game. But the best part of the game is the arguements that they come up with to either blame each other or to defend themselves. However the funniest part for me is the amount of cheating that goes on. LOL I've played this game on several occasions, and have never even thought of half the ways that these guys have to cheat. In one game they all knew who the killer was, but kept blaming other prople, just so that the game could go on longer. These YSA are truly hillarious. 

Our goal still remains the same of what we would like to accomplish with them, but now they know that we care, and slowly but surely we are building them up to reach their full potential. Our next activity is this coming Saturday, so I look forward to the pictures and menories I'll be able to capture there.