Snader Snaps

Snader Snaps | Volume 1

My resolution to take more photos of Papua New Guinea starts now.

Josh Snader

24 May 2026 • 5 min read

A PMV bus zooms down the beach road and away from Wewak town.

This is our second term and one of my resolutions is to take more pictures. I realized, as I was putting together a presentation for a church during our furlough, that I was having to steal pictures of Papua New Guinea from others online. And I thought that was a tragedy since I like photography and I had just spent two years in Papua New Guinea myself. Why didn't I have more pictures? Part of the reason is that I'm a little shy, I'll admit it. And I hate putting myself in the center of attention, which is exactly what you do anytime you pull out a camera on a busy street. But so be it. Maybe photography will help me get out of my shell? This time around I will take more pictures and what's the fun of taking them if no one sees them? So here's my favorites from the past few weeks. Notice how many are of strangers on the street, which means I had to make as spectacle of myself. We'll see how long this resolution lasts.

If you're interested, the camera I've been using most is an OM Systems OM 5 Mark 2. It has a Micro Four Thirds camera that is small and weatherproof, which is perfect for dragging around a tropical island on a daily basis.

They loved to have their picture taken but then they took their own pictures of me and Juliet, so I guess we're even.

We were walking home from church and these guys were just hanging out under a rain tree.

Three guys hanging out in town and watching the world go by.

Father and son outside the fence of the big town market.

This is the bridge we used to drive over to take patients from the airport to the hospital. I thought maybe they fixed it during our furlough, but no. We take an alternate route that's a little longer.

Tang Mow store (a local Chinese run store chain) just built a huge new building and as part of their grand opening ceremony had a traditional "sing sing" group dance. PNG is a wild mix of cultures.

Local fish salesman along the beach road just outside of town. In the background you can see the peninsula we had lived on during our last term in PNG called Wewak Hill. It was occupied by the Japanese during WWII and still has some tunnels here and there.

This was an abandoned shack on Wei Island, about fifty miles out into the Bismark Sea.

This is known as "Bird Island" because there's thousands of birds that live here. I couldn't tell you any more about it, though.

This was our greeting party at Wei Island. They came out to say hello and offered to help guide our boat past the reef.

This is a sunrise from the front yard of our New Tribes guest house, which is where we staying until our new Samaritan house was built.

Joan, our PNG friend, meets Juliet for the firs time.

Elliot and Juliet hang out on the porch of our new Samaritan house.

Juliet under the table in our New Tribes guest house.

Oliver sleeping in the van at Wom Beach.

Oliver washing his feet on the front porch of our new Samaritan house. Since it's a construction site, there is mud everywhere!

Janice and Juliet on the porch swing of the New Tribe's guest house. Notice the cheap tent I had bought for $5 USD in the background that the kids were playing with.

The kids found huge snails in the little patch of jungle beside our new Samaritan house.

We bought a an Olympus TG-1 for Adi. It's a waterproof, shockproof camera that she can take anywhere. You can get the TG-1's cheap on eBay and are great first cameras for kids. She takes it everywhere!

Janice and Juliet hang up laundry at the New Tribe's guest house.

I think the max cargo weight for the float lockers are 100 lbs so I think we're safe to fly!

Here I'm painting the trailing edge of an elevator that I had replaced. The paint job turned out really bad, if I don't say so myself. Hey, nothing a little sandpaper can't fix.

Nick, one of our pilots, taxis back to the hangar with a patient.

This little guy had gotten shot with a wire catapult (see his lower back). A wire catapult is basically a large slingshot that is used to shoot a sharpened, barbed wire. Wire catapult injuries are common in the bush. We were told this was an accident but that's what everyone says when fingers are being pointed.

Another patient being transferred to the ambulance. Nick, the pilot, is on the right. Karu and Xavier, our two apprentices in the hangar, can be seen on the left wearing navy.

That's probably about all the photos your email inbox could handle. Thanks for following our family on this adventure.

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