There is nothing in Punchbowl, no places of interest, nada, just a line of chicken shops near the station, now I know. But the people are lovely, area is so much more diverse than some of the inner city burbs.
This weekend shoot was with Tammy, from New Zealand but growing up in Australia, with Bengali ethnic background, how cool is that. The main struggle was finding something to shoot against in Punchbowl, as it really is just a residential area. We ended up raiding local tennis court, construction site and a random building, to get clean background tones. Tammy does some Bollywood and hip hop dancing so I got her to rock some moves, there’s nothing like a silent disco.
In between we stopped by her place, where her mother greeted me with the cold stare and 60kg Rottweiler was very keen to play with me, life is good, love all this random stuff.
Here are more pics from the day.
Archive for the 'Life' Category
Tammy @ Punchbowl
Published September 7, 2011 Life , Photography Leave a CommentTags: 52 suburbs, photo project, punchbowl, sydney, tammy
Fail
Published August 9, 2011 Life Leave a CommentTags: Life, london, London riots, London's most stupid looter, riots, stealing a bag of rice
Is this what Darwin had in mind when talking about human evolution? I doubt it. My hometown of 6 years and city very special to me is being violated live on TV screens across globe.
Much has been said already about the mindless violence and level of stupidity that has been showed by small minority of the lovely city. Sitting here in Sydney I feel helpless, Brixton, Camberwell, Croydon, all the areas where I used to live have been affected. I only hope that friends back home will act and respond with calm, but firmly.
London is one of the most multi-cultural, open and welcoming cities in the world, where every minority is welcome and everyone has a chance, I’d dare to say people have even better chance that New York of realizing their dreams. Yobs with ‘no future’ have ample opportunities realizing their potential, if they chose to do so and work hard. If only they had to experience life for one day in Syria, China, Sudan, Nigeria or pretty much most of the world, they’d come to appreciate what they have back in UK and cherish it. Unfortunately, they are very unlikely to watch foreign news bulletins or would have travelled to any of these countries. They’d rather steal a bag of rice and show a face to the world doing so, hope he gets caught and publicly ridiculed. Peace.
Me talk long time
Published August 1, 2011 Life , Travel 2 CommentsTags: 100 countries, 2, birthday, second, Travel, two, years
2 years and counting, my blog just had a 2nd birthday, it was a quiet one, slowly chucking away, one step a time, no big announcements to make, but plenty of little actions on the list. I’m getting around 1000 monthly views, up from 6-7 hundred last year, which is not bad.
After 3 months not leaving a country (very unusual for me), I’ve finally booked in some trips, heading to Vanuatu in Pacific for a long weekend, and then hitting Europe in Oct, via South Korea, visiting Armenia and Georgia on the way, so exited. So I should be at 92 countries by end of this year. Will take plenty of snaps to keep you entertained. The coveted 100 is now in sight.
With Sydney’s winter at its best, lingering above 20C, I’m very exited doing more local shoots as well. I’ve had plenty of cancellations lately, but keeping the spirits high, in the long term it will all work out.
On the third point on my list, exploring and getting to know Sydney, I’m doing much better, in last week alone I’ve been to several cool bars had some amazing sushi, couple of great parties, visited Manly beach, Cronulla and Bundeena, sweet.
52 suburbs
Published July 10, 2011 Life , Photography 1 CommentTags: 52 suburbs, fishing, harbour, new project, sydney
I have a new project, and, before you ask, its not professional fishing in Sydney harbour, although it appears I’m getting quite good at it, just look at this weekend’s catch in the pic above, a sinkful.
The new project is called 52 suburbs, it starts now (well, new pics next week) and will run for a year. Inspired by Louise Hawson, a Sydney photographer, who explored Sydney’s suburbs for a year, every week a different one, talking to people, getting to know the neighbourhood and taking amazing pictures along the way. There is no point doing exactly the same thing over again, but I am very keen to explore city beyond Bondi beach or CBD, so what I’ve come up with is interpretation of 52 suburbs, but instead each week shooting with one new model, in his/her neighbourhood, using whatever local backdrops there are in the area, it would be candid mixed with posed portraiture, inspired by 52 suburbs. One model, one new suburb, every weekend, if I miss it, next week will do two, it’s that simple. And it will be called, drums please, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, no, just kidding, it will be called 52 suburbs, of course.
Woolloomooloo
Published July 6, 2011 Life Leave a CommentTags: funny names, Life, sydney, Woolloomooloo
This is delayed post due to being offline for last 4 days, guys doing refurbishing outside my building cut some wires, oh happy days.
Soo, Sydney councils like to give random names to its boroughs, for example area where I just moved to is called Kirribilli, sounds more like a cartoon character than upmarket quiet neighbourhood where Oz prime minister lives. Last weekend we went with some friends to Cockatoo island which is Australian version of Alcatraz,small island in Western suburbs that used to serve as prison, ship yard and is modern day arts and concert venue.
Then there is Woolloomooloo, Dee Why, Curl Curl, Coogee, Brighton-Le-Sands, Punchbowl, Sans Souci, Narembum, the list goes on and on, and its all true, Google it yourself. Australians might take it for granted, but I find it quite entertaining. When I feel a bit sad, I just open up Google maps and start reading out these random locations out loud, that’s all it takes to make me smile. Of course there are also some more conventional boroughs such as Paddington, Croydon, Epping, but that’s for another day. Finally, on one of the projects I work with PR agency called One Green Bean, who are based at Nr 1 Butt Street, how cool is that.
How Woolloomooloo is your neighbourhood?
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Do not park here
Published June 26, 2011 Life , Photography Leave a CommentTags: fashion, female, german, ivonne, model, Photography, photoshoot, sydney, urban
Whoop whoop, another great weekend in Sydney, sun is shining and models keep on coming, a bit like in Axe commercial, OK, almost. This weekend I had a great little shoot in Surrey Hills, with Ivonne, a model from Germany, we played with retro theme and used amazing variety of colourful and textured backdrops in the area, I’m a sucker for colours and Surrey Hills has plenty of them. Love it when a good plan comes together, despite 4am finish on Saturday night out (very unusual for me myself and I).
Ough, I also went out to explore local comedy club scene and have to say that it is live and kicking, everyone got abuse, if you’re fat, ugly, old, foreign or just too normal, you got it, no words spared, I forgot how raw the live comedy material can be, somewhere between jokes about Olympic gymnast with dead Siamese corpse attached and ode to the boobies, that is.
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13 dollar bananas and the bloody rain
Published June 13, 2011 Life Leave a CommentTags: 13 dollar bananas, living in Sydney, prices in Sydney, rain, Sydney water
I promise this to be my last rant on prices in Sydney, but bear with me for the last time, here is my favourite – 13 dollar bananas. That’s right, the peasant food, the fuel, the fruit that runs whole economies from Ecuador to Thailand, and is a staple diet in many places, precisely because its nutritious, abundant and affordable, in Australia this same fruit currently in supermarkets costs 13-14 dollars per kg, so each banana comes at about 3-4 dollars. You can buy dried almonds, even fresh kangaroo steak cheaper than that. Among my other favourites is 20 dollar day bus pass, 40 dollar china town haircut, 2 dollar ATM fees, 20 dollar movie tickets, 8 dollar beer and gazillion dollar international travel. Tphuu, done, over it, finito.
Ok, about the title photo, well, there was supposed to be a nice fresh list of cute model photos, but as it has been raining non stop for the last 3 days, I had to cancel two location shoots, so all you get is this picture from my window. It’s a nice one though, makes me smile, guys at Sydney Water have a sense of humour.
p.s. On the bright side, it looks like I finally found a place to live, at least something came out of this weekend.
I’m discovering more and more (free or cheap) things to do in Sydney. The big thing now in town is of course Vivid Sydney, nightly light show in CBD running for 2 weeks. It was hard to capture the scale and detail of it without a tripod, but title photo gives you a quick sneak peak, there are plenty of quality pics on the subject in Flickr if you’re interested. Next weekend we have Jazz and Blues festival coming to town in Darling Harbour and Sydney Film Festival is starting in few days as well, so all in all there’s plenty of action to keep me busy.
On the side note, I just discovered Surrey Hills in daytime, a lovely bohemian neighbourhood, just behind central station, with lots of outdoor cafés, quirky side-streets and manicured dogs. I’d like to move there, though considering concentration of cool people there, it will probably be out of my reach, will try nevertheless.
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get
Published May 20, 2011 Life 3 CommentsTags: expat life, life abroad, moving to Australia, sydney
That’s what Forrest Gump’s momma used to say, and I have to agree. After 6 years in London, 7 months travelling, a week back in London and a week in Latvia, I’ve landed in Sydney, Australia, for good. OK, not for good, but hopefully for some time. It’s far away from home and far away from all my friends, but it is an exiting new start, a new challenge and you know I like those.
It’s only been a few days and it will be weeks if not months before I settle in and have somewhat normal life. It probably has not kicked in yet, that I have moved half across the world, I still wake up every day at 4am due to jet lag and my bags are still unpacked, but I’m very exited to be here. So many new parks, beaches, restaurants and bars to go to, in the good old London, I could walk through Soho with my eyes closed and still managed to find my favourite coffee place.
But dear friends, most importantly, just because I’m on the other side of the globe and there is 9 hour time difference, it does not mean I do not want to see or talk to you. So if you get a change and do pass by Sydney, I’ll be more than glad to welcome you and show you around (just don’t come too early, for now I hardly remember the address I’m staying at and could not even tell you where the closest off licence is). Greetings from Down Under.
p.s. The picture above is view from my current place I’m staying at, foggy morning over down-town, not bad for a start.
To the moon and back
Published May 3, 2011 Life , Statistics , Travel Leave a CommentTags: antigua, Caribbean, island, rtw, sailing week
My trip around the world is over, I’m back in sunny (but windy) London, Prince is happily married and things are back to normal, sort of. The trip went pretty smoothly, it was on budget, I managed to visit 3 more countries than initially planned and had no serious issues or injuries, kind of boring almost, but the little things kept me entertained along the way. Here are some statistics from the trip, you know I like numbers:
Time on the road: 7 months
Countries visited: 33
Total trip cost: £10,300
Flights taken: 30
Things broken: 1 pair of flip flops
Things stolen: 1 pair of swimming shorts
Monies lost: £60
Strange foods eaten: shark, snake, crickets, lama, cactus, frog
Muggings, robberies: 0
Medical help needed: 0
New friends: 100′s around the world
Talking about the little things, I often get asked, what’s my favourite place I’ve been to, and I always have to stumble through with some semi-answer, as the truth is, I don’t have favourites. Just as I don’t have a single favourite author, singer or a movie. When I travel, it’s the little things that excite me, like interesting local foods or a good conversation with new couch-surfing friends or monkey stealing my breakfast. Every single country I’ve been to has its bright side and its dark side. I love beaches and night life of Rio, but transport is expensive, city is overpopulated and dangerous. I love the natural wonders of Bolivia, but its cold out there, most places lack even the most basic infrastructure and people are often rude. For me its the sum of things, good and bad, that I experience during travels, that keeps me going, exploring and learning further. And this trip was no different.
For me travelling is like an education you can not get at university. I just spent 10 grand travelling, which is quite a lot of money. You can by a new car or put it towards down payment for a new mortgage, but I choose to invest it in travel as I believe in the long term, the experience and memories that I get from my travels will be much more valuable to me than things I can buy in the shop.
On the trip like this you realise just how little of the stuff you really need. I’ve been living out of 30 litre back pack, no mobile phone or TV and the truth is, I missed very little of the stuff left at home (stuff here refers to things only, not to friends and family who I missed dearly), things that make our daily lives comfortable. We surround ourselves with things that we feel are important, almost necessary to lead a decent life and then, when you don’t have them for a while, you realise just how irrelevant most of them are.
Ask me again in 3 months if I feel the same, I’ll probably be back in a rat race, acquiring and accumulating, comparing and consuming, thinking that my current philosophical approach is total bullocks. But then again, I’m only human.
