I Told You I Could Do It, Dad!

Fresh from watching "The Boy Who Could Fly" in 1986, I asked Dad why I couldn't fly from the roof of our house, like that autistic kid in the movie. Not to bother a 5 year old with details about mental illness, Dad told me that I can do anything if I work hard at it. I decided I needed to fly without wings at some stage before I died. And 24 years on, this is the best I could offer:



It also happens to be photo 2 of my 'photo-a-day-for-February'.

Angus and I utilised our weekdays without crowds and spent the day in Milton Keynes, about 80kms north of London, to go indoor skydiving at Airkix. I've been meaning to check this place out for a while and can't wait to go back. If you're in England you must have a fly. Well worth it and anyone with any bodily control can do it.

...now I just need to work hard enough to get a job so I can afford another few rounds at Airkix...

Day 1 of 28...

Sorry, I'm starting the month with a pretty average picture but I can assure you tomorrow's pic will be much better. I already have it planned. Today's pic involves some half-assed light painting and a creepy face. I hope to do more light painting this month, and I promise to put more effort in next time...



Got good photo ideas and want to see how I can butcher them? Send them through...

It's Evolution, Baby

Trigger Happy

For years I've wanted a remote for my camera. For some reason it just seems fun to take photos without being anywhere near the camera. Unfortunately my glaring lack of photog talent has limited the amount of fun I could ever have with a remote. But I bought one anyway. £5 from eBay, can't go wrong.



So yet again I'm excited to learn the theory of taking good pictures, I only hope I remember it this time...

A lot of people are taking 'a photo a day for a year' but I don't have the commitment, nor the know-how to do that so what I'll do instead is commit myself to a photo everyday throughout February. (I haven't really thought this idea through yet so bare with me...) Should set some rules:
-The photos will be self-portraits
-They will show me doing whatever I will be doing that day.
-They will be varied (I'm getting in way over my head now...)

I apologise in advance of the pics of me taking a pic! The hope is that as the month progresses we will see how my creativity and ability has improved. Or, worst case scenario, I'll document the most boring month of my life. Either way, this will force me to get out and take pics, learn more about photography, and post a blog every day. ...oh, a perfect world...

To do this, however, I need your help. You are ALL better photogs than I, so send me your tips. If you want to see a photo taken in a particular way or me doing something interesting (a photo of me getting a job is on the cards) then let me know.

Happy Australia Day!

I'm back. ...and I'm not sure what happened to the last 2 and a half months either. Someone said that when you have something good enough to blog about, you're usually too busy doing it to write about it. That's my excuse too. Nevertheless, I'm here now and it has been a good holiday. If I can find the photos and stories to prove it, I will.

So today is my first post for a while; and it's going to be plagiarised. I love the way Andrew G puts thoughts into words so I'm stealing his Australia Day rant from his 365 photos in 365 days (a brilliant set of self-portraits, one taken every day for a year. Worth checking out).



"26th of January 1788 was the day that the British claimed Australia "By power of flag" (Thanks Eddie Izzard).
They also conveniently claimed the land was "Terra Nullis", meaning that as far as they were concerned, no-one lived there.

This was certainly news to the Aboriginal people, the oldest continuous culture on Earth, who at the time numbered nearly a million in population, with almost a thousand different dialects of spoken language and a rich and incredible spiritual connection with the land.

They never had a chance.
Still to this day, it's somewhat the case sadly.

I am an Australian, though I was not born there. I indeed am an immigrant - which unless you have any Aboriginal ancestry, you are too - and I'm equally proud of my country and ashamed of what happened and is still happening to this incredible culture of people.

Australia is a nation of immigrants, and that's about it.
Any kind of anger towards immigrants in Australia is nothing short of hypocritical.

Unfortunately in recent years the line between patriotism and jingoism has been blurred, with people expecting society to excuse anti-immigrant, anti-white, racist and anti-social acts under the guise of "It's Un-Australian" to speak up or deride their actions.

Fuck that, and fuck those small minded yobbos.
Read a book, learn some history, show some compassion.

We share a country that has succeeded over adversity, and was built by people from all over the world, and are ultimately visitors ourselves on land that was stolen from another society. All of these things built Australia as it is today, and should be remembered on this day.

So enjoy your day, have fun..
Share it with friends, and all of your fellow Australians..

I am rather homesick today, can you tell?

So here's a photo of a proud Australian immigrant in a pair of Chinese Jeans, enjoying a Dutch beer in an American Sunset snapped by a Japanese Camera, lit by Swedish flashes.

Happy Australia day."

I wish I could have said it that well...

The Eddie Ran!!!

Congratulations to Greg Long for winning the Eddie today. I think that's only the 8th time in 25 years that the contest has been run (waves have to be over 25ft for the comp to be on).

I think this was his 100 point ride:

(Thanks L.A. Times...)

Ross Clarke-Jones got 6th. Still the King.

Hope Tom Carroll gets better. He separated his ankle from his shin yesterday so didn't compete. He claimed it was "a freaky accident" after which, his foot was "just flopping". Forever the Hellman, he'll be back.

Had an awesome day at Rottnest Island today so I'll put some pics and a story up tomorrow.

More meat and beer than a Czech restaurant...

Wow, where has the last month gone? 2 crazy weeks in London organising stuff and 2 crazy weeks in Perth seeing people and places.

Our excuse for coming back to Aus was for Simon and Hanna's wedding. That event was one day long. We felt we would need another 59 days after that to recover. So we have one month in Perth and one month in melbourne. Perfect.

The first few days in Perth were wet- Sydney stylie wet. Everyone spent hours telling me that it was unusual; I ignored their pleas and apologised in advance to anyone coming to melbourne. But it eventually cleared up and temperatures allowed our pasty English skin to warm up to the true Australian heat. Within a few days we were ready for low 30's and that's what we got.

Our first weekend was taken up with the wedding, beginning with a lawn bowls session at North Beach Bowls Club on the Friday:

(Humpy, Neilly, Simey and Tommy...)

Saturday was the wedding itself:


...and the fun of shooting Reservoir Dogs stylie photos:


The next couple of days was a blur of BBQs. Until it all culminated in a boat trip up the Swan River to some wineries, including the location of the wedding only 6 days previously.


It was all relatively classy (for a Booze Cruise) until at lunch our crew/ waiters/ hosts started singing bad show tunes for us.


This continued back on the boat, however, it became fun when we realised that one of the dudes was actually quite good- and cheeky. It emerged that he was a top 100 (finalist?) of Australian Idol and he loved it.


...but so did Gayle:

A lot.

...and like Mother, like Son:


But when Simon and I joined a climate change protest


and Simon danced with a Polar Bear


we figured it was almost time for another drink. A few more days and a few more BBQs bring me to now. I'm well and truly back in Australia. More meat and beer than a Czech restaurant... I'm looking forward to a quiet week down in Yallingup next week, and then melbourne in mid-December for more of the same.

Congratulations Si and Han, it was a beautiful wedding.