Terri's Journal: Week Seven

You might have seen on facebook that we’re having some trouble in finding appropriate photos to make into our life-size cut outs of Nick and Relic from The Beachcombers – boy, are we ever!

We started out in our photo archives, Jackson Davies’ book “Beachcombers at 40,” and a Beachcombers booklet from back when the show was only 13 years old. By the end of that search we had several really awkward poses, one grainy photo of Bruno Gerussi in a great pose with his eyes closed, and the same silly picture of Robert Clothier contemplating a pair of fish that we had used in our grant proposal in the first place.

Next, I dug through a box of old Polaroid’s hoping against hope I’d find something worth considering. After I had been through all of them (which is over 800 I’d guess) I had … nothing. Most of the shots were for continuity and location scouting purposes, very rarely was there even a person. I know that image quality would have been a factor had I found something in there, but it would have been better than nothing.

One day, as we were discussing our problem, in walked Vene Parnell. Vene is a local photographer who came in to check the inventory of her cards we sell in our gift shop. She was also a photographer for The Beachcombers and the author of the booklet I mentioned. We snapped up the opportunity and Vene graciously agreed to lend us whatever shots she had. A few days later we were in possession of a good quality photo of Bruno in a great pose – with his eyes still closed! It’s a plight I know well – I too am afflicted with the “blink as the flash goes off curse” – but you’d think we could find a photo somewhere in which this was not a problem.

We branched out further from there, talking to whoever we could think of with connections to The Beachcombers. An email to the CBC has been our first real hit. They sent us all the photos they had that fit the criteria – and we got one! We have a great shot of Nick holding a paddle - his eyes are even almost open!

Now we just need Relic. While my vote is eternally on the silly fish picture, we’re sure there must be something that works a little better. If you know anyone who has the rights to this seemingly non-existent picture, let us know!