Baby X
These are some shots I took recently for Baby X, an indie band from the Blue Mountains. The pics were taken in my friend Tamara’s old attic in Surry Hills.
I decided go Strobist, and use off-camera flashes, a shoot-through umbrella and a little softbox. It would have been great to use more professional studio equipment, but the space was so small it was often hard to keep even the small, portable gear that I had out of shot.
The band are playing a MUM gig at World Bar on the 25th of July, check ‘em out.
SAVE FBi THE FINAL FLING
The last FBi 94.5 fundraiser for June hit the Metro again last saturday night, book-ending the month long series of shows.
Dappled Cities, Palace Of Fire, Midnight Juggernauts, Bluejuice, and a ton of other bands and DJs played; everyone danced and sang and had a fantastic time, all in the name of pulling the station out of the fires of debt. They still need help though, so sign up and become a supporter. Do it!
* Muscles
* SPOD
Abstract Sweetness
These are some macro shots that I took last weekend at my final ACP Lighting class – something a bit different to the hastily-snapped, restaurant-based food photos that I usually do.
The cakes are from the excellent Adriano Zumbo patisserie in Balmain.
Smart Light Sydney
This weekend, I finally made it down to The Rocks to check out the Smart Light Sydney exhibition, on its last night. Despite the freezing weather, there was a terrific atmosphere with lots of kids, families, and photographers grabbing their last chance to snap the displays.
Save FBi – Spunk Presents Another Night On Earth
Last monday evening, Sydney radio station FBi 94.5 kicked off the first of a month-long series of fundraiser gigs as part of their current campaign to pull themselves out of financial crisis and stay on the air.
Spunk’s Another Night On Earth was a non-stop barrage of great music, the stellar lineup featuring the likes of Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby, New Buffalo, Jack Ladder, Firekites, Sherlock’s Daughter, The Middle East and more.
There are plenty more FBi fundraiser gigs to come over the next month or so – well worth checking out if you’re a music fan, and someone who likes having decent radio to listen to. You can check out the full roster here.
Also, if you’re feeling generous, you can also donate to FBi directly here. Help keep Sydney’s best independent community-based radio station on air.
Check out thevine.com.au for some more photos from the night.
Sydney Tweed Ride
Early sunday morning, a group of dapper ladies and gents congregated down at Town Hall in the Sydney CBD for the Sydney Cyclist Tweed Ride. It was Sydney’s first crack at the event, which has also been popular in London, Chicago and San Francisco.
Dressed in their finery, the participants wound their way through the Rocks up to Observatory Hill, over to the Domain, eventually finishing up in Centennial Park.
Clipper Cafe
Here are a few photos I took while visiting Clipper Cafe in Glebe, recently. I’ve only eaten there once, but the experience was so good it was enough to shoot the place right up into my top five favourite Sydney breakfast joints (possibly even surpassing the previously unbeatable Ruby’s Diner).
Tasty, familiar breakfast food with a unique twist; a breezy, unpretentious atmosphere and a lovely waitress (Helena, pictured below) – all boxes ticked.
Click here to read Lee Tran Lam’s much more eloquent and insightful review over at The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Hungry.
Homework
In my quest to branch out a bit from just doing live music photos and events, I’m currently doing a course in studio lighting at the Australian Centre for Photography.
It’s being taught by the awesome Josef Geranio, and covers all aspects of lighting a shot – daylight, tungsten, studio flash, off-camera strobe, torchlight, gels, gobos, softboxes, cycs, snoots, and all the other paraphernalia that goes with creating images. I’m about halfway through, and learning a lot.
This was my first assignment from a couple of weeks back, an exercise in using daylight in different ways. I employed the services of my friend Krista, who kindly agreed to dig out her wedding dress (yep) and run around Fox Studios with a bubble blower for me.
Popfrenzy Afloat
Here’s a bunch of shots from last sunday’s Popfrenzy Afloat harbour cruise, featuring awesome local Sydney talent Traps and Spod, Victorian punkers The Meanies, and US duo Matt and Kim.
Pics were snapped for thevine.com.au
School Of Seven Bells
The wonderfully ethereal School Of Seven Bells performing at the Gaelic Club, 24.04.09.
Benjamin Curtis and sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza stripped back much of the lush production from their album Alpinisms for their live performance, in favour of a more fuzzed-out rawness – an ideology that even extended to the visual nature of the show. I’ve rarely seen a more tidy, clutter-free stage. Amazing soundscapes, minimal fuss.
Thailand
Last month I took a break and went to Thailand with my friend Chris for a couple of weeks. The bulk of our time was spent on the island of Koh Samui, with a few days in Bangkok on the way home thrown in.
(photo by Chris Deal)
Thailand is humid, beautiful, commercial, stressful and relaxing all at the same time depending on where you are and what you’re doing. It’s full of fantastic food, animals, friendly people, majestic islands, crowded cities, strange tourists, scooters, and about a million things to buy.
Here’s a few of my impressions.
The Duke Spirit
Kicking off the Easter long weekend, UK band The Duke Spirit played a free show (courtesy of FBi 94.5 and Spring Court sneakers) at the Beach Road Hotel, Bondi.
Palace Of Fire
Palace Of Fire, the new band featuring ex-Wolfmother members Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, and Charge Group’s Matt Blackman at their debut show at the Hopetoun last night.
They were supported by the always-amazing Spod.
Two Fists, One Heart
Last monday night, Popcorn Taxi screened new Australian boxing flick Two Fists, One Heart, and held a Q&A session afterwards featuring a whole bunch of people involved in the production.
The drill with Popcorn Taxi events is that I shoot the Q&A, and then head out back to try and grab a couple of candid snaps of the guests while the team wraps things up. Usually the guests are eager to leave, or are surrounded by publicists and various other people, so it’s difficult to do anything other than a quick group shot or photograph them signing the posters.
This time however, they were gracious enough to let me photograph them individually, portrait-style – I still had to be super-quick, and take the shots in the one location (a small private corridor that opens out to the candy bar at Greater Union Bondi Junction), and had barely any time to set up any kind of lighting. I used a 50mm prime lens, and I attached my Speedlite 580EX II (set to 1/16th power) to an off-camera shoe cord so I could hold it in my other hand for some directional light. All shots were taken at f/8, 1/125th second, ISO 400.
Rai Fazio. He wrote the film, and also plays the character ‘Nico’.
Daniel Amalm. Star of the film, he plays main character ‘Anthony Argo’.
Jessica Marais. She plays ‘Kate’, boxing non-enthusiast.
Tim Minchin. Very funny fellow, he had a hand in the writing and also plays ‘Tom’.
Shawn Seet. Director.
Here’s the trailer for the film – it’s released nationally on March 19th.
