Photographs by Michael Wissing, text by Regine Hodiege. Macmillan Caribbean ©2006. Hardcover, 270 pages, color photos throughout. ISBN 978-1-4050-9873-1.
The pictures tell the story in this “coffee table” style book. Michael Wissing has been a self-employed still-life photographer for over 20 years.
Writer Regine Hodeige, a German who with her husband, has set up a villa rental business on the island, loves Virgin Gorda for what it is — and isn’t: “There are no McDonalds or Hiltons, and, despite the economic importance of tourists, no high-turnover tourism with its pervasive infrastructure of high rises, night clubs and the seediness and crime that often results. Getting here is not easy, and you must pass through at least one other Caribbean country to do so.
Perhaps the pace of life has led to… a sense of the people here being happy with their lives. This adds to our feeling of privilege at being able to become a part of such a society.”
She explains in the preface that the idea for this book came about as a personal journey, wanting to illustrate what stands out most to her and her husband about the place they love. Their German collaborator Michael Wissing, “wanted to show reality away from the banal and the clichés.”
The photos are an eclectic collection of land-, sea and skyscapes, interiors, portraits, found objects, and still-lifes featuring local food. The numerous portraits of cocktails seem to be incongruous escapees from a bar menu; they would have been better placed with their respective recipes in the appendix. But otherwise we are given an intriguingly offbeat view of a Caribbean island and its inhabitants.
