Subscribe via RSSGone fishing
One more sleep till i jet across the Pacific for 14 hours to Los Angeles.
For the next three weeks Cybele and I will be visiting LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York and London.
If you know of anything fun happening in your town while i'm there drop me a line.
Update (2/9/08)
There's no time for proper blogging, but i have been twittering with my US cell phone.
Twitter Updates
links for 2008-08-27
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The Australian version of the "Take Away Shows" concept. Videos of artists acoustically performing their songs in all manner of weird places.
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Angelo's done some great work with the new Mercy Arms photos.
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I hope to see lots of fashionable people like this on my travels next week.
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Beautiful photos from the Beijing Olympics
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Amazing sports photography from the past 40 years. Keep clicking for more images.
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Nikon really is beginning to run rings round Canon. First the D3, with amazing high ISO performance, then the D700 with the same performance at a cheaper price. Now an entry level camera with great performance and VIDEO. And not shitty point-and-shoot video - HD720p video that works with all your regular Nikon lenses. Fricken sweet. Kinda trumps the Canon 50D announcement. Please catch up soon Canon.
The Edgerton brothers shoot each other
Last month i was due to take some snaps of brothers Nash and Joel Edgerton for Time Out as part of the publicity campaign for The Square. Nash directed the film, Joel co-wrote and stars in it.
As is usually the case with these sorts of press junkets, the two of them had been cooped up in a hotel room, doing back to back interviews all day long. I had a brief slot to take a few pictures and couldn't take them out of the room.
To break the tedium for Nash and Joel, and for my own amusement, i asked them to photograph each other, rather than me shoot them.
I figured that they're brothers and the photos they take of each other would reveal more about them and their relationship than another staged photo where they look self consciously down the lens.
So i set the camera up (with my 50mm lens of course) and handed it over, then sat back on the couch and giggled as they goofed around.
For safety I snapped a quick shot at the end of the two of them together.
50 portraits
People often ask for my advice on what lens to buy.
My usual reply: "Have you got a 50mm lens yet?"
If i could, i'd shoot everything on my Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens.
It's a nice mid perspective, not quite wide, not real close. It works well in low light. You can lower the aperture and get lovely depth of field, crisp foreground and beautiful blurry background. It's small. It's humble.
It's also cheap, especially in the f/1.8 variety. Canon users can have it for US$85 or AUS$125. Nikon US$110 or AUS$175.
But this is not (only) a sales pitch for a lens, it's an overlong introduction to a set of photos i'm calling "50 Portraits".
50 photos of people all taken with my 50mm lens.
It's not a planned project, just something that seemed like a nice collection in hindsight.
50 portraits of people from all walks of life.
Young, old, black, white, gay, straight, men, women, rich, poor, strangers, friends, celebrities.
Drag Industry Variety Awards 2008
On Monday evening i enjoyed the company of some amazing drag queens frocked up for the 2008 DIVA Awards at Paddington Town Hall.
It was oddly like catching up with old friends as i realised how many drag queens i've met in the past year shooting for Time Out.
Courtney Act who won the "Belle of the Ball" award. Last time i shot Courtney she was astride a life size plastic horse at Will and Tobys.
Faggot Rooster, who last time we met was showing me his Christina Aguilera hair strand.
A happy wedding couple.
i.Kandi, a 'drag king' who i'd previously photographed in her bath.
Kitty Glitter. A drag DJ i photographed at the gym.
Cleopatra Coupe - who does a remarkable job of mimicking everyone's favourite plastic surgery disaster, Jocelyn Wildenstein.
Darlinghurst/Kings Cross legend Carmen.
Joyce Mange who i previously photographed causing a ruckus at Westfield Bondi Junction.
Julia Sommers was one of the poster-girls for the DIVA awards. She made a splash in 1986 as the first (and possibly last?) transgender woman to have a photo spread in Penthouse magazine.
See lots more pictures in a photo gallery linked off Time Out Sydney's DIVA awards coverage.
Sydney's best coffee
I spent last week drinking lots of very good coffee while shooting Time Out's feature on Sydney's best coffee.
The cover shot is a snap i took quickly by a window at Campos last year.
Bertoni in Balmain was baby central. In fact all of Balmain appeared overrun with newborns. The streets congested with strollers.
A nice free pour at Wall Cafe.
These gents on the terrace at Bill and Toni's were classic. I asked if they minded if i shoot in their direction, and the fella with the moustache was more than happy, as long as i gave him a moment to spruce up his mo.
The busy CBS baristas at Mecca.
This is a close up of a ristretto from Single Origin. As close to pure, unadulterated coffee as you can get.
For the curious, Time Out Sydney voted Single Origin as the best coffee.
See the mag or the website for the full top 10 list.
Van She album out
Back in February i took some snaps of Van She at iSpy studios in Alexandria. I believe they demoed material there before recording the album properly in London.
It's been a long gestation for the album, i'm sure they're very relieved to finally have it out in the shops.
They're touring heavily to support the album release, starting this weekend in Melbourne and Sydney with label mates Ladyhawke and Tame Impala.
Get the album, go to the show, buy the t-shirt.
Tricky live
Prior to Splendour i photographed Tricky's sideshow at The Metro.
Seeing some of Danny North's shots gave me forewarning that the light would be very low and difficult to shoot in. And it was - no front light at all with lots of red and blue.
Luckily i was able to go side of stage and shoot a few pictures from there. That was handy since he seemed to spend a fair bit of time with his back to the audience, looking toward the drummer and lighting up 'cigarettes'.
I was surprised at how upbeat and 'rock' the show was. I guess that's the direction of his new record.
After coming home from the show i got all nostalgic and crawled youtube for his old material. Such great music. Takes me back.
Poems
Broken Homes - featuring PJ Harvey
Hell is round the corner
Pumpkin - with Alison Goldfrapp on vocals from 1995
Black Steel - covering Public Enemy
Splendour in the Grass photos
I posted the crowd photos from Splendour, now here's the artists on stage.
Folks like Sigur Ros, The Vines, The Wombats, The Grates, Cold War Kids, Laura Marling, Vampire Weekend, Hadouken!, Tricky, bluejuice, Polyphonic Spree, Band of Horses and more.
Loads more in the Splendour in the Grass photo gallery.
Wolfmother to continue with new line up
As an update to Tuesdays post speculating on the future of Wolfmother - official word just came through in the form of a press release.
The band will continue with Andrew Stockdale, but lose drummer Myles Heskett and bass/keyboard player Chris Ross.
Press release from Universal cut and pasted below:
Myles Heskett and Chris Ross to Depart Wolfmother
Grammy Award winning rock band Wolfmother has announced the resignation of bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett effective immediately.
Singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale now plans to find other musicians over coming months and to then begin making a new Wolfmother album.
Wolfmother toured the world virtually non-stop through 2006 and early 2007 on the back of their acclaimed self titled debut album. Longstanding frictions within the group then lead them to take an extended break during the second half of 2007 to consider their future.
In early 2008 they regrouped and worked on new material. Initially encouraged by those sessions, they committed to a handful of live shows to 'road test' the new songs and to try to find a way forward.
Those dates concluded with a headlining slot last Sunday at the Splendour In The Grass Festival in Australia's Byron Bay where rumours circulated about possible lineup changes.
Following that show Chris Ross decided to announce that he was leaving the band due to irreconcilable personal and musical differences. Myles Heskett has also decided to leave the band rather than continuing as part of a changed lineup. The pair has been working together on songs for some time and they plan to focus their energies on that new project in the future.
Wolfmother's self titled debut album is one of the most successful Australian rock releases this century. It has sold over 1.3 million copies and received multiple ARIA Awards and a Grammy - making them the first Aussie band to receive such an award in 25 years. Other highlights for the group have included appearances at just about every major music festival in the world, sharing stages with Pearl Jam, The Who and The Strokes, and a special performance inducting the legendary Led Zeppelin into the UK's Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.
Andrew Stockdale, Myles Heskett and Chris Ross will make no public statements at this time except to say that they are each really looking forward to making their new music over the years ahead.
In the meantime they simply ask all Wolfmother fans to please understand that in spite of their best efforts over a long period of time, they just could not find a harmonious way to work together and that has lead to the decisions announced today.