Slapped into positivity reality.

All the images belong to me. The names, places and stories are real, although sometimes embellished to make a point or to make me seem more superhuman than I really am (only to impress my kids and girlfriend!).

I was in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea. My assignment was to shoot the Goroka Sing Sing* for a couple of magazines. It is a small outpost and It's not a soft place. There's gun battles at night and I know of at least half a dozen armed robberies in the 3 days I was there; I nearly had my gear stolen from my hands- twice. However, out of this rough and ready place comes an inspirational story.

Take a good look at the photo, notice the sock? A fellow photographer leaned forward and asked the little boy "hey mate, did you lose a sock?" The little boy (with a smile that lit up the sky) replied "Nah mate, I found one!".

It floored me.

• "The Goroka Sing Sing was started during the early 1960s when colonial administrators started administrating the primitive tribes in the highlands. During the pre-colonial and colonial era tribal fights between warring tribes and clans in the highlands was a normal part of cultures. Any disputes between individuals over land, women or pigs were always resolved on the battle fields through tribal fights. The colonial administrators found it difficult to resolve the tribal tensions so they came up with the idea of staging the cultural show to attract these warring tribes to compete in a much less hostile environment with their bows and arrows but not in real confrontations. Instead they were challenged to seek for the number one position in the show and thus win the respect of their warring tribes and clans. Each year every tribe in the highlands would congregate together and showcase their traditional dancing resembling mostly war-like confrontation with colourful hair dress made from bird of paradise flumes and other colourful bird feathers with rare facial paintings. The event was also staged to ensure different tribes meet annually and exchange marriages, pigs and other valuables". (Paraphrased from http://www.letpng.com/history-of-cultural-sing-sings-shows.html Photo credit: Stuart Frost)