thanks to Snix for this…
this is what comes up if you query maps.google.com for directions on how to travel from japan to china.
782 km, you’d be wanting to take a few jerry cans of petrol along.
I’ve done all the hard work for you. just click here and then scroll down to direction #43.
Edited: November 23rd, 2010
cloudless blue sky, qantas flight taking off from sydney.
Edited: November 21st, 2010
well the rain cleared away and the clouds have gone. back here again, i really need to get away from these industrial sites, i’m sure it’s just as bad as smoking is.
you can see another pic i took of this place a while back here.
Edited: November 17th, 2010
more feet on the street – this time after a nice summer rain. i love it when it pours and then the sun comes out and steam rises off the street and all is dry again within an hour. my favourite weather.
i just bloody hate ‘crocs‘, i don’t care how comfortable they are – they were invented as a ‘spa shoe in a clog design’ [warning bells anyone?] and were launched at a boat show. need i say more? all they lack is that dangly tassle thing you find on your everyday boat-shoe. sorry to all the croc-wearers out there, but i’m only telling you because either your friends are wearing them too, or they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Edited: November 16th, 2010
okay, so this was actually something weird and random that i stumbled across – an array of black and white painted dolls thrown into the back of a rusty trailer with chunks of hair peeling off them. something strange, unexplained and reminiscent of what the allies found in auschwitz at the end of wwII.
anyway, i’ve decided to turn it into an inter-racial portarait photography tutorial.
one of the biggest challenges a portrait photographer can face is to shoot a black person next to a white person and come out with a correct exposure.
of course it depends on how black or white each individual is, as well as the given lighting conditions - it is a pretty difficult shot. you’ll have more chance of it working if it is overcast weather – you will be using the great natural scrim, but still…
as black absorbs light and white reflects it – the physics of light present a real challenge that can only be overcome with some preparation.
i’d only do this in a studio environment, where you have the luxury of pumping some strobe spot onto the black and going easy on the white. in natural lighting, you would ideally put a scrim over the whitey, to tone down the light intensity, while using a reflector to throw some light on the black fella.
if you don’t have that equipment on you, perhaps find a background which is somewhat neutral, set your lens to f2.8 to blur out the background. use the spot meter in your camera to position your subjects about 2 stops apart – for example – whitey in total-shade and blackie in semi-shade.
however you look at it, if you don’t have studio lighting, or at least a flash head which you can take of your body, you are in for a challenge and can expect a result like the one i have posted as photo a day for today.
i hope this informative little photographic tutorial has helped someone.
for most punters, i would say “don’t worry”. i’m sure that within 2 years the technology to handle this issue will be built into most sub-$500 point and shoot, so you won’t have to think about ANY shot you take. you will ALL be ‘real’ photographers – yippeee!
if anyone needs any ‘pro-photo tips’, don’t be shy, just ask in comments!
Edited: November 15th, 2010
sorry, that was a bit of a fib. just some barbed wire. i was pushed for content okay?
Edited: November 14th, 2010
this is an oldie, but a goodie.
i hope this one stays on the wall for years to come – a great example of clever tongue in cheek creativity. this piece rocks in my opioion.
i’d love to meet whoever did this and i hope you are still at work!
awesome. thanks!
Edited: November 11th, 2010
ah yes, back to one of my favourite sydney foodhalls for the prawn and scallap wonton egg-noodle soup with a side of spring rolls and a shit-load of chilli.
i alway have a hard time of choosing between conbination/chicken laksa, the abovementioned soup, or the roast duck egg noodle soup.
Edited: November 10th, 2010
this one has been around for a long time, but i haven’t had the chance to snap it until today.
what happened phil? i don’t get the ply stuck onto the painting, was that you or was someone offended by what is underneath it>? shame i didn’t get the chance to shoot it before it got trashed.
Edited: November 9th, 2010
you know that something that i love, and always have loved about abandoned industrial sites is the sense of peace.
once there were hundreds of workers here doing their thing. now, there is no one. pidgeons have taken roost, there is the smell of cat, mouse and rat shit and piss everywhere.
not so nice. but… it is like a calm before the storm. a moment when everything stops. the moment when a company , government department or coproration stops operations onsite and decides to sut shop and move on.
there is a period of decision making, environmental impact analysis and a whole bunch of other things that i don’t fully understand.
it’s in this time that the pigeons, town planners, graf artists, council, vandals, security companies, developers, rats, environnmental consultancies, rodents, resident community and cockroaches all try to stake their claim.
it’s a twilight zone and i love it as it is.
may those with the most money and political connections win.
that’s how it goes – welcome to New South Wales!
Edited: November 7th, 2010
i think most of us have gotten used to this.
here is a creepy little song to go along with the image:
Edited: November 6th, 2010
i spotted this hot young thing out on the street and met her pimp. the pimp put her out because she thought the doll was pretty bloody frightening. i would have to agree. do you think i would cut it as a glamour photographer?
Edited: November 3rd, 2010
