For some reason I have some of the cutest youngin’s around me courtesy of my cousins. My Dad’s side of the family is notoriously difficult to get together

I’ve also officially been designated as the “Picture Taking Man” by Ella – a moniker I’ve definitely adopted around the next generation of the family.

Further photo after the break, or check out the full set online at flickr.

Ella’s little brother Nash.

Susan’s son Declan.

My first day in New York City coincided with a gig from the Australian indi-folk brother and sister duo, Angus + Julia Stone. Prior to leaving I’d managed to score a pass to shoot them thanks to their older sister Catherine.

The venue, while dark and not much bigger than The Vanguard, was filled to capacity, and not just with expats. As I waited patiently up front I met started talking to a fellow photographer, Mary Catherine, and discovered that while she was from New York City, she was here with her best friend, Marta Riggins, from Los Angeles – who turns out to be the Stone’s US Agent.

The Aussies turned on the charm and the audience definitely enjoyed themselves.

More Flickr Photos from Angus & Julia Stone @ The Mercury Lounge, New York City

My last full day in England was spent wandering around the Thames once more, a visit to Tate Modern and a tour of the Globe Theatre. It really was a leisurely day, not having to do much was great. Had lunch with Samantha, a friend from High School, ran into a bunch of German skaters doing some photos and videos outside the Tate Modern and just did some basic exploration.

My last night was spent doing the menial task of washing and a night out on the town to catch up with Cord and her friends. All in all I think I got about 4 hours sleep as I woke the next morning early to get to Heathrow on the first Tube of the day to catch my 730am flight to the United States of America – entry point New York.

More Flickr Photos from London

After decamping from Cord’s place and relocating to my new digs – a hostel near Baron’s Court – I jumped aboard the train to Manchester to meet up with Ruth and Adam, fellow members of TheRoot42.org, for a traditional Sunday Afternoon Roast, capped off with a couple of Coopers (had to introduce the poms to it!). What I hadn’t counted on was that Manchester United was playing the same day, so my trip up and back with Virgin Trains meant that while I didn’t have a seat, I had a lot of entertainment provided for me – from the Swedish teachers over for the weekend to get pissed and watch football, to the unhappy supporters of the losing side (not Manchester thankfully, otherwise I’m sure it would have been a far worse trip back!).

Monday I followed a similar path to Sunday as I headed out to Oxford to catch up with Fev (also known as Heather). I met Fev first when her boyfriend Mark (and fellow photographer and member of TheRoot42.org) were in Australia doing work experience as geologists up at Mount Isa and visited Sydney. Fev grew up in Oxfordshire and offered to show me around the area as Mark was out in a remote area of WalesCornwall doing a dig with uni.

Oxford was crazy cool, filled with all those images of olde Universities that Australia can never replicate. The town itself was dominated by bicycles and the tours around places like the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera and Christ Church College provided an insight into a totally different type of life. For the fans of Harry Potter, much of the scenes were (are?) filmed around the grounds of Oxford, including the Hall of Christ Church College.

More Flickr Photos from Oxford

Arriving in an English speaking nation for the first time in a little over a week I was both relieved and slightly apprehensive. I’d learnt to slow down and observe the goings on around me far more readily when I didn’t understand the language and quite enjoyed the freedom that this gave me. That said, it was nice to get to a location where you didn’t have to apologise for not having local language comprehension. Thankfully the nordic countries are amongst the most friendly I’ve met, and everyone I met spoke english more fluently than many native speakers.

Thanks to the groom-to-be I had been given the details of a friend of his from his time in The Hague and had a couch to crash on for the first few nights that I was in town. Unfortunately for me, my host Cord was having a night out on the town and upon arrival at Heathrow and the subsequent deep-end learning of the London Tube I ended up making my way to the infamous Camden Lock without any contact from Cord. Hoping for a meal I headed to The Hawley Arms Pub as she’d suggested in emails (apparently once frequented by a few famous musos), however the kitchen closed mightly early, so luggage in tow I headed out on the town looking for food. Thankfully there was a not too dodgy looking Vietnamese not too far away, so some Pho and a beer was had before returning to the pub for a pint and hoping that my host would give me a call or message.

Luckily Cord messaged me after her night was wearing down and she checked her phone, and when she arrived apologised profusely for the delay in contacting me and along with her housemate we had another pint before heading back to crash out.

Next day I headed into the city with my host as she headed to work. Despite school still being in, or because of it, London was filled with people, so I contented myself with playing tourist for the day, visiting Westminster Cathedral, the house of the Horse Guards, Hyde Park and general wandering around. I discovered Cord was an avid live music fan, so she took me out to a little gem of a venue, The Luminaire (wait for the shock – I was there sans-camera!). The place is awesome and reminded me a lot of The Annandale Hotel, but with a bit more polish. The best part were the signs on the walls:

QUIET
If you’re talking when a band is playing we’ll tell you to shut up.

and

SHUT UP
No-one paid to listen to you talking to your pals. If you want to talk to your pals when the bands are on, please leave the venue.

One word to sum that up: Gold! Their devotion to promoting live music, especially local live music, was to be looked up to! On stage that night were The Travelling Band with support from The Draytones and Echotone. A great night out was had, and got to enjoy the treat of cider – an english spring drinking staple.

Saturday I kicked up the tourist in me another notch as I wandered around the city of London, heading out along the Thames river to the Tower of London, Millenium Bridge and various other locations in the area. I also used this as an opportunity to work out what to do with my spare day in ol’ London Town. Sunday morning I shifted camp to a Hostel on the other side of London (and thankfully closer to Heathrow), not wanting to stretch the new friendship and onto the next part of the adventure in the motherland.

On the way however I made sure I purchased myself one grey woolen old man driving hat to augment my beanie (keeping my balding noggin’ warm).

Also ran into a few inline skaters doing some video work so I hung around to do some shots with them.

More Flickr Photos from London

To get from Skellefteå to København on my round the world ticket I had to fly from Skellefteå to Stockholm with SAS, then back Helsinki in Finland – the home of Finnair – before the final last leg to land in København in Denmark. Luckily for me I scored free accomodation thanks to a friend working for IBM who had since moved to Singapore. So after calling his mates looking after the apartment in København I got in, grabbed some grub and crashed early that evening. The next day I headed out to DONG Energy for a meeting to discuss all things regarding “smart grids” and the distribution network.

With the sun remaining up till quite late I took the opportunity to head out to the docks for some photos and a bit of sight seeing before heading back to base for a home cooked meal.

The evening was spent out with my hosts at their favourite cocktail bar for the weekly Wednesday night catch up the guys have. Many a mojito was enjoyed plus a few new drinks that I definitely cannot remember, but don’t think were bad by any means. I ended up staying till closing time and having a rather enjoyable night with a few locals. Unfortunately I was due to depart the next afternoon – otherwise I would have had a couple of tour guides for a bike ride around town that Friday!

Thursday morning, the last day I had in Denmark, was spent with a mammoth hangover (all good things and all that jazz), however undettered I headed out to explore København before grabbing my gear and moving out to the airport. Like Stockholm, København is a place that I’m going to have to revisit. The blooms in spring were stunning and the place just had such an awesome feeling to it. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later!

More Flickr Photos from København

From Stockholm I boarded a SAS flight to head to my cousin’s kommun of Skellefteå. He moved there about two years prior and when thinking about a world trip there was no way I was going to skip a visit to the north of Sweden to catch up with him.

Arriving at Skellefteå reminded me of the regional airports of Australia, with one exception that you couldn’t escape – the snow that was everywhere except the tarmac. Even in late March and early April Skellefteå is a place covered and surrounded by snow. I late found out that the Baltic to the east was still covered by a thick layer of sea ice that needed continuous movement to maintain shipping lanes. Stephen treated me to dinner and a quick bit of bearing gathering before we headed back to his place with me feeling exhausted by about 8pm and promptly crashed out.

Saturday saw us head inland to the kommun of Malå for the final round of the World Snowcross Championships. It would appear that supporters of this sport are much akin to those ardent followers of motorcross (I’ll leave that to you to make your mind up about what that means). That said, it was rather crazy seeing the skidoos tear up and down what would normally be a ski slope, achieving massive airs in the process.

Sunday we headed to the edge of the Skellefteå kommun for some skiing. Driving out there was an interesting experience, with Stephen showing me the importance of both all-wheel drive and traction control, and also how to determine the number of lanes on a road (easier said than done when it’s covered in snow). For the record, take the number of tyre tracks, add one, then divide by two.

Monday presented me with the opportunity to wander around the town. In spite of the cold temperatures I took the opportunity to wander the area and check out the quaint old Bonnstan – the old church village where farmers would stay while undertaking their compulsory religious “education”. Also on the “to visit” list were churches, bridges and various other locations covered in about three feet of snow. Did I mention how much I love snow?! Once Stephen got home from work he drove me out to the edge of Sweden – where Skellefteå meets the Baltic – to sea the pack-ice and experience the biting wind that blows in from the Arctic, Finland and Russia.

Alas all things must come to an end, and on Tuesday morning I grabbed a lift to the airport and boarded the first of three flights that I needed to take to get to my next destination – Copenhagen, Denmark.

More Flickr Photos from Skellefteå and Malå

Continued from Roadtrip: Flight From Australia.

I arrived in Stockholm and duly took up my position at the carousel of luggage. And I waited. And waited. The people who had caught the same plane as me had all gone and I was left alone. I wandered over to the luggage claims desk, looking rather bewildered about the whole experience of non-appearing luggage and asked about what may have happened. I was told that due to my arriving late for the connection there was a high probability that my bag didn’t make it and I should just await the next commuter flight to see if they put it on that (about 20 minutes later). So again I waited. And waited. And waiter. But again no dice, so after leaving my details and where I was staying over the next seven days I headed into Stockholm aboard the super fast train – the Arlanda Express.

I should mention that during my checkin process with QANTAS in Sydney, the manager had to be called to work out how to get my bags transferred from the Heathrow bound flight that I took to Bangkok and onto my Helsinki (and then Stockholm) bound Finnair flights. This didn’t leave me with much confidence that my luggage would actually turn up. After arriving at my hostel, and explaining that I’d arrived sans-luggage I grabbed a map of the city and headed out, noting where the local shops were in case my case didn’t turn up that day.

I headed out to wander around the waterfront and eventually arrive over at the Vasa Museum to check out the old tall ship that was pulled from the silt in the late twentieth century. The ship is amazing, making me wonder if the art director(s) for the Pirates of the Caribbean used it as a reference. Come 2pm, and after a much needed bowl of soup and large bottle of water, I found myself at near passout stage – having not slept for over 40 hours. I wandered, well meandered really, back through the streets of Stockholm to my hostel and grabbed a cup of hot chocolate before passing out – still without any luggage arriving.

Waking at around half seven I discovered a note on the door of the dorm I was sleeping in – my luggage had arrived – hooray! Really it was a relieving moment to know that I wouldn’t have to go and recover all that was in that suitcase in 24 hours so I could keep on traveling. Sleep that night proved my theory – that to recover fast from changes in time zones one needs to not sleep during air travel, and arrive at night so you can crash straight to sleep rather than waking up stupidly early as you go to bed too early.

After an absolutely awesome breakie at the hostel I spent the next morning wandering around Gamla Stan – the old part of Stockholm. This was a photographers heaven as I criss-crossed the small area with camera in hand, ignoring that my fingers were absolutely freezing. The warmth of the previous day, where I wandered around in t-shirt and jeans, had long since disappeared. During this wandering I bumped into a lovely young english couple having recently eloped to get married up in northern Sweden at the church made of ice. Travelling solo really does allow you to meet a wider and varied group of people than you ever will when around people you know.

Eventually my time was drawing to a close and I headed back to my hostel via the street markets, with their rich variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables. The nordic people really do love their flowers, and I was there at the perfect time with Spring blooms just beginning to make their mark.

Grabbing my bags I headed to the train and bid farewell to Stockholm, vowing to return one day when I have more time to take in a city that in a short time I’ve definitely acquired an affinity for.

More Flickr photos from Stockholm

About 7 weeks back now I jumped on a plane, destination Stockholm in Sweden. It was the first leg of my second international trip, and longest to date.

The Itinerary

• Flight: Sydney » Bangkok » Helsinki » Stockholm
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Flight: Stockholm » Skellefteå
• Skellefteå, Sweden
• Flight: Skellefteå » Stockholm » Helsinki » Copenhagen
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Flight: Copenhagen » London
• London, UK
• Oxford, UK
• Flight: London » New York City
• New York City, USA
• Flight: New York City » Washington D.C.
• Washington D.C., USA
• Flight: Washington D.C. » Miami » New Orleans
• New Orleans, USA
• Flight: New Orleans » Denver
• Estes Park, USA
• Denver, USA
• Flight: Denver » Dallas (overnight layover) » Las Vegas
• Las Vegas, USA
• Flight: Las Vegas » Los Angeles
• Los Angeles, USA
• Monterey, USA
• Santa Cruz, USA
• San Francisco, USA
• Flight: San Francisco » Sydney

The flight across to Stockholm had some interesting moments. We were running late before taking off from Bangkok and as a result we were given double delay as we missed our alloted slot for flighttime over India. Flying over India, however, I was looking out the window when I saw this interesting snake of lights. I checked the communal television on the Finnair flight to see that we were at that point in time over the Indian/Pakistani border and those lights were illuminating the border.

Running late from Bangkok, I arrived in Helsinki to find I had about 30 minutes until my next plane took off. Rushed through security by a kind airport security lady I then had to sprint from one side of the airport (international arrivals) to the other (local European flights) via immigration (the gent behind the desk seemed to take little interest in me as he went through the usual Q+A for a visitor to Europe – name, nationality, identification number, reason for trip, mother’s birthplace etc). I arrived with about a minute before the bus took off from the gate to an outlying commuter plane – thankful that I’d made it.

Continued in the next post – Roadtrip: Stockholm, Sweden.

The 2008 Photographic Review Continues…

• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part I
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part II
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part III
• 2008: A Photographic Review – Part IV

April

April was a big shooting month, made ever easier by my close proximity to the city – about a 15 minute walk. First up was shooting for Reverb Magazine – this time it was Modest Mouse with support from Hot Hot Heat @ The Big Top over at Luna Park.

Next up saw me attending my annual anti-engineering conference – SemiPermanent. It was unreal – one of their speakers was Spencer Platt who won the 2007 World Press Photo with his photograph while covering the Isreali-Lebanon conflict of that year.

The 10th saw me shooting for EnergyAustralia at the Staff Launch of the Great Southern Oceans exhibit that they are sponsors of at Taronga Zoo. Not too much I can show of this, but it was definitely an interesting shoot.

I also was invited to celebrate the engagement of Kel (Charles’ sister) and Matt.

The 25th saw ANZAC Day once again upon us. An annual event to remember the futility of war, and those we send to them, and one I try to attend.

My final gig for April was shooting An Evening with Eels at the Enmore Theatre. This was one of the toughest shoots I’ve done with a single lamp on the piano as the light source.

May

May saw me become nearly a regular at The Annandale Hotel.

My first gig was Kate Miller-Heidke at The Annandale. Now, while I had vaguely heard of her, I didn’t know too much when I put my hand up to shoot her for The Dwarf, but boy would I be glad I did. Kate is an absolute gem to shoot – cute, quirky and knows how to perform on stage (coming from her training in opera no doubt). Her backup was the band now formed around Christopher Ernst (whom I had previously shot) – Black Market Rhythm Co.

I backed up the next day to take some shots at Tom’s Punk Rock BBQ at Brookvale.

The next weekend I was back at The Annandale to shoot Whitley. This just wasn’t my night as my batteries hadn’t charged properly, leaving me hobbling for power during Whitley’s set. I did however come out with what might well be 2008’s best shot.

The final gig for May was back across the bridge to The Big Top where it was Story of the Year performing on the last day of May.

June

June was a more subdued affair and I took an extra day off work for the long weekend to visit friends Nadine and Andrew up at Orange. In addition to the winery visits I also got a tour of the electrical installations at the mine where she works. This also saw the month of Lucky’s Photoshop Actions being released – go check them out if you don’t already have them! Nadine and Andrew’s Golden Retriever pup Mahler was so cute and playful, and their friends had an even younger Chocolate Labrador called Oscar.

Holly Throsby, performing at the Factory Theatre, was my only gig I shot for the month. A damn hard one to shoot too due to the seated arrangement.

The general geekery brought to a close the second quarter of 2008, where I also added another notch to my age-belt making me feel so much older and missing much in life in areas that cannot easily be obtained.