Seven In Sydney

Excuses, excuses

2012-02-07T04:16:00.001+11:00

I'm not very good at this regularity thing, am I?

I'm overseas at the moment for work and finding an internet connection has been more difficult than I first imagined. It looks like I'm going to have to give you guys another mega-update next week as I'm running flat off my feet here at the moment as well.

In the meantime, here's a random pic of me from last week trying to be a dragon, but appearing to just be a hippo...

Every second is another chance to be someone better than you were

2012-01-25T23:27:00.000+11:00

Alright, here I am after a long hiatus.

I hope none of you thought I had been run over or accosted for shooting someone in the street. There's several weeks worth of photos due, I know, and while I didn't quite make the Seven every week, I did try and keep up.

So here's a mega-huge post that I hope makes up for it.

This is one of our IT guys at work. I often think it must be a strange thing to work in IT for a company where most people are tech-savvy. But I guess it means that the bugs and issues just become weirder.

Take this, for example. He's connecting a TV up to our network using arcade-style controls. I think I'm slowly getting used to all sorts of random.

Just prior to Christmas I wandered over to the Fish Markets with some friends. I have no idea how or why. One of my friends needed to pick up some fish and so we tagged along. At 1am or so in the morning.

I really dislike the Fish Markets. Not because I don't eat shell fish, but because every time I go there I seem to get shat on by seagulls. Thankfully there weren't many at 1am, but previously I've been shat on the leg, on the head and even in my ear. I swear those bastards are aiming for me.

One day I'll get my revenge. Come here seagull, I'm going to shit in your ear.

While we were wandering around, we suddenly had the idea of making Bloody Marys. I've never had or seen one before, but I'm not sure it's meant to look like this. It reminds me of this scene from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels:

"I asked you to give me a refreshing drink! Wasn't expecting a fucking rainforest. You could fall in love with an orangutan in there!"

I seem to have a thing for benches. I never sit on them myself, but I like taking photos of them in peaceful places I've encountered. They never seem to be occupied, but I bet many others have sat and contemplated deep, serious thoughts. Me? No, I just giggle and fart and move on.

This is my dog giving her best impression of being an oversized rat. I don't know why, but she's hopeless at being the ferocious German Shepherd Dog that everyone thinks she is. I think I may have mentioned this before.

She's got seriously long legs. I call them supermodel legs. But she's constantly got this look of worry on her face. What's that? You're scratching my head. Oh no! I like it, but... Oh no! We love her anyway.

Christmas means getting fat. I'm not huge to begin with, but I've stopped growing upwards and begun to grow sideways. I'm always at a loss at what to tell people when they ask what I'm doing for Christmas. Lots of people have plans to go away, but me? I always spend it with my family.

Going away sounds like fun, and I'm sure it is, no doubt, but I've always thought it's time spent with those closest.

There used to be a giant sculpture in the Galeries Victoria where an LCD signboard at the top of it could be programmed to read whatever you wanted. I think after being abused, it was quickly disabled and thereafter became something really boring.

I hadn't been in a while but now there's a giant staircase and a series of floating books, presumably from Books Kinokunia. I'm sure it changed a while ago and I'd simply not noticed.

Down near the Regency building, past Chef's Gallery (and no, it's not like Men's Gallery but with chefs), there's a coffee place called Tom'N'Toms. It looks like an Asian ripoff of Starbucks, but I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. The Engrish is amusing, to say the least, but the other weird thing is that they sell pretzels.

The only advice I can give is not to drink the coffee.

I can't remember where this is exactly, but I think it's somewhere nearby Oxford Street and down an alleyway. I don't think it ever really gets noticed, which is a shame, but I wonder what was going through the minds of the designers. I didn't notice any theme among any of the buildings, just one alley-facing wall with flowers.

What I love about Summer is that after work there's still light. I walk past Railway Square all the time and more recently there's been this lovely glowing light as the sun settles down. Although you can't see it for the sun, Central Park is also beginning to emerge on the horizon. It's not yet built to its full height, but there's this giant gap in the sky between the buildings that you can see it will eventually take up.

I'm still not sure whether I approve of the development or not. I guess it's just one of those things I'll only be able to decide on once it's finished and the full effects are known.

Supermarket Mondays. We've changed over to Woolworths for a bit so instead of making fun of the characters and their quotes on Coles Select products, I get to see cats that are either enjoying themselves in the middle of a long one, or are smugly approving of their owner's choice of litter.

Why do they call it litter anyway, isn't cat crap meant to be litter? Putting litter in your litter? Litterception?

Don't think I've ever seen one of these before, nor one that's been spray painted. To be honest, I don't really know how to interpret this one. Golden child? I'm also curious to know who is removing these. I don't think it's council because a lot of others don't go missing, but they don't really last long either.

This is a Black House spider that had been living in our laundry for the past few years. Venomous, but not agressive and generally not a biter. I'd known it had been sitting in the same place for a while and we'd lived relatively harmoniously, but only under the condition that it never venture further into the house.

Unfortunately after several bouts of rain it decided to creep right into the house and we had to get rid of it. It's probably the most tolerant I've been with a spider since they tend to scare me the crap out of me unless I've grown accustomed to them (like hiking in the bush for several days).

I went to an Asian grocer the other day and bought a cleaver. I don't know why, but it felt rather weird carrying one in a shopping basket. When I was a little kid, there was a white elephant sale at my primary school. One of the things for sale, I think for a dollar, was a cleaver.

I have no idea what possessed me to buy it, but I did. And without questioning what I would do with it, it was sold to me. I ended up giving it to my mum, who also never questioned how I got it. I doubt that would ever happen today.

I couldn't decide if I really wanted these biscuits or not. I mean, I could eat stoned cars or sexy stoned monkeys.

What do people think when they design these things? Or do they?

I actually went to Sydney Festival first night by accident. I felt like stretching the legs so I wandered out into town and discovered this in Martin Place. There were people dancing in the street.

I've got to say that Sydney puts on a pretty good show. If I were a tourist visiting over the New Year I'd certainly think that it is one of the best cities in the world. I mean, you come around for what are arguably some of the best fireworks, then they throw this party for several weeks and now it's Chinese New Year and they have all sorts of other stuff on.

This guy climbed a light pole to see the guys that were doing acrobatics on poles. I like that no one around him really cared.

Social experiment? People kept moving these lights and I was curious as to why people at times would avoid walking between them or stroll through either not noticing or not caring.

There's only really one reason I took this pic.

That is all.

I've noticed this is a thing Sydney does quite a bit. When in doubt, make your trees technicolour. I'm not quite sure if this had any significance, but I'm with the majority with throwing reasoning out the window. It just looks frickin' cool!

This is one of those times where a fast photo results in this, a slow photo results in a mess and neither really show what is going on. You know when you look at those optical illusions of banded together lines and it makes your head spin. That's a good approximation of what this moving pattern achieved, but on the scale of being building-sized.

Let's gather around the TV, children. There's not enough room in the Domain to house everyone, so there's an obvious solution. Close the road, bring in a huge-ass screen on a crane, wire up the street with giant speakers, and turn off all the street lights.

Looking down towards Kings Cross. I still haven't got my technique to walk across the street, snap, and run before the lights change, quite perfected yet. I rarely venture into the Cross. The last time I went drinking there I don't remember how I got home. I do remember convincing a girl to make out with one of my work colleagues and something to do with an aerosol can.

And meanwhile, here's a pineapple wearing a disguise. Could have fooled me. It's at the cafe attached to my gym. I somehow know the first names of most of the baristas at cafes I frequent, but I'm more impressed when it's the other way around and I haven't struck up a conversation.

When I was working in The Rocks a while back, I used to regularly order lunch from a little shop attached to the Shangri-La Hotel. The lady there knew my name and what I usually ordered. It was actually a little more expensive than other places nearby, but customer service like that kept me coming back. Everyone wants to feel special.

So anyway, I'm sorry for not posting in such a long time. I was on such a roll too! I know some of you are keen photographers, so I have something that might interest some of you. After attending the Google+ photowalk, I've found myself with a Google+ camera strap that I've realised I'm never going to use.

Rather than see it collect dust, I'd be interested to know if anyone would be interested in having it, even if it is re-gifted? Leave me a comment below or send a Tweet to @mukimu, preferably with the tag #7inSyd to catch my attention.

Genuine apologies make certain they never have to occur again

2011-12-13T01:39:00.000+11:00

I pretty much wrote this week off after several evenings out kept me from my work. That and I've still been playing too many video games. I have a feeling it's going to be like this until next year as Christmas rolls in.

Speaking of which, I'd better find some presents for people.

Guns on our streets. Lol. Does it fire lulz? How would you reload a lulz gun?

I actually considered joining a shooting club as something that would be out of the ordinary, but I have enough expensive hobbies as it is. A gun that could fill people with laughter would be infinitely more useful.

What about all this rain? It seems I wasn't the only one caught out without an umbrella this week. I'd like to some day take my DSLR out in the rain and shoot street. You see, most people aren't going to stop you when it's pouring and they're trying to get out of the rain. And there's some quite odd things to see.

Take this fellow for example. I have no idea how this works, but he'd been doing it for a while, wandering around, not in any sort of rush, with his hand on his head. I haven't been minding the rain too much for this reason. There's always a lot of interesting things to see.

I ended up in Lidcombe this week and one of the places I stopped in at was a Korean grocery store. Why? Ice cream. I don't understand any of it except the English written "please", but I assume it's asking me not to leave the freezer open. Or eat all of their ice cream. Or take photos or something.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I love Korean ice cream. I'm not a huge fan of Melona, the green ones in this pic, but I like the "e-Chocolate Bars" in the blue packaging. Apparently it stands for enriched chocolate ice cream bar. I'd tell you where this shop was, only I have no idea where I was at the time.

A close near-second are Asian drinks. Who else would sell "Alcohol Doctor" hangover tea? Or a Power of Energy drink? I have no idea what else is in this fridge. I ended up getting something that looked like a half-can of orange-flavoured something-or-other.

I figured it'd be like Fanta, but when I opened it it wasn't carbonated and instead contained orange pulp and sweet orange juice. I bet one day I'll buy a coffee based on the picture of coffee beans on it, but instead find it is actually just full of coffee beans.

Remember my infatuation with bananas? I'd been waiting for them to come down in price and refusing to buy them any sooner than what I thought was fair. The only problem is, I've gone so long without them and feel so spiteful towards Coles and Woolies/Safeway for jacking up the prices (and I believe they went up way before and after stock would have been affected/been restored) that I haven't been buying many.

I have been a lot less festive this year. Normally we have our lights up around November and the tree shortly after. In fact, our lights have been up for the past two years, just never switched on. Well, they don't seem to be working correctly this year and we're still debating where we'd put the tree. We currently have a giant cat tree in our living room for our cat, where our Christmas tree usually goes.

But in a way, I don't feel so bad when we have this Christmas carousel at work. This thing actually moves. I spent a little while trying to figure out if it was at all possible to get inside and dance amongst the reindeer, but it doesn't seem possible. I've taken to prancing around outside of it when I think no one is looking.

I haven't had a Zooper Dooper in years. When I was in the first grade or so, my primary school used to have tokens that kids were given for good behaviour. These could then be exchanged at the school canteen for a Zooper Dooper. The first time I ever got one I was super excited (excited is something I generally don't appear to be these days, at least outwardly) and ran to the canteen during recess.

I was clutching it in my hand as I ran across the playground as fast as I could with the other kids who had one, but when it came my turn to give up my token, it suddenly wasn't in my hand anymore.

I never did find out what happened to it, or forget the moment of panic I felt when I realised I'd lost something important to me. After seeing me lost for words and on the verge of bursting into tears, the canteen lady spoke for me. "Did you lose your token, dear?" The only thing I could do was nod while still looking around, wondering how it could have impossibly disappeared.

She handed me a Zooper Dooper after snipping the top off with a pair of scissors and reassured me it was okay before sending me on my way. I still don't recall the taste of it, but I've always remembered the mix of emotions at the time. It was probably my first lesson in life of significant (to me at the time) material loss, but more importantly, that sometimes people will give you the benefit of the doubt, even when they're within their full right not to.

Sometimes the biggest problem is admitting you have a problem

2011-12-05T22:39:00.001+11:00

Lots of things to take pics of this week, with work Christmas parties happening. Unfortunately, I failed to remember to take pics. Then again, it was probably a good thing I didn't take any after seeing some that have been floating around the office. I'm not sure if I'm not in many because I managed to dodge the camera, or if others are saving me from embarrassment.

I've also been healing up all week from a toe infection of sorts in preparation for a 20km day walk. A couple of those pics made it through this week.

In the office, we're starting up our podcast again, but it's turned into a more relaxed chat about whatever might come up rather than a more structured (and stale) program. For me, unstructured-ness is a great thing. I tend to not like it much as I generally go wherever, which is a bit of a blessing and a curse as a writer since I'm forever trying to figure out where I'm going with something, but in the meantime coming up with all sorts of new thoughts.

I also have developed a horrible habit of over formalising things after working as a consultant in so many corporate environments. I try to take things a little less seriously these days, but bad habits are hard to break.

Out on Sydney harbour on Friday on a boat. Nice boat.

I've always wanted to get my boat licence, not just because it'd be fun to float around (probably in a tin can), but because I could be Captain Michael of Sydney! I'd so flaunt that. Excuse me? Michael? That's Captain Michael to you.

One of the people I was talking to on the boat that had their licence said that one of the first things the licence guide tells you is that boats and alcohol don't mix. "I don't know what they're talking about. Boats and alcohol are one of the best combinations known to man!"

I went hiking from around Berowra to Mt Kuringai over the weekend. It's like Cityrail's screw ups manage to follow you around, even when there are no train tracks and only walking tracks.

I did find it slightly amusing that they chained the sign down. You'd have to be pretty dedicated to want to hike back out of the bush carrying that.

We saw a lot of things. I walked over a brown snake, which thankfully decided to slink away and not kill me, a red belly, a few bush turkeys, a random rooster (I really have no idea what the hell it was doing and I when I heard it crow I thought I was going mad), a few goannas, a crapload of spiders, and a kangaroo.

Oh and leeches. Blood sucking bastards. I had one in my shoe.

But worse than leeches are probably ticks. Those suckers just don't let go like leeches do.

I'd been eager to find out how much going to the gym had improved my endurance and overall fitness, if at all. Unfortunately, I've been fighting a toe infection of sorts and had not been going in order to rest it up and let it heal in time for the hike. Going on a walk after practically not doing anything made my body pretty upset.

Upset might be an understatement.

The funny thing is, after about 20 minutes or so, it gives up and just accepts its fate. I think I did a lot better than I would have a year ago.

While hiking is great for fitness, it's not the main reason I do it. I think a lot during these hikes -- when you're walking for so many hours, it's natural to do so. But hiking is a very symbolic thing to me. There's no guarantee that you're going to finish and it's a constant struggle to take the next step. It's the same with life.

Where do you find the motivation to take another step, to make further progress? Sometimes you don't. You just tell yourself to shut up and do it. All the ways you tackle it can be applied to life in general, it's just that you get to live a microcosm of it for perhaps one day.

Did you miss the scenery? Are you walking down the right path? Are you putting in all this effort, only to have to turn around later? Are you falling behind, or getting to far ahead? Who's going to help you if or when you fall down?

It's the greatest analogy to me, and even at the end of it, after it's all done and finished with, if I look back and don't have fond memories or a sense of achievement, it makes me question whether I set the bar high enough.

What do you drink when you finish a walk? Soghurt. Or is it Yoda? It doesn't matter, because it's green time!

Seriously, I have no idea where this is from, but it pretty much tastes like what you might imagine yoghurt would be if it were a soda. Sort of like creaming soda actually. But just, not.

But lastly, as if I wasn't tired enough, a bottle of JW will do the trick. Oddly enough, although I previously stated that only JD gets me depressed, I found myself extremely sooky and woke up the next morning to strange posts on one of my social networks which, admittedly at the time, I remember seemed like a good idea, but was horribly cryptic and fairly pointless.

I often get a laugh out of cryptic messages on Facebook and the like. The sort where people post about how they are having a horrible time or something similar and when someone asks, they say they don't want to talk about it. But in reality, I've realised that many people do the same, putting up little passive-aggressive tantrums to let people know they're upset, but not wanting to discuss it.

You don't even need to be tipsy for that, but I'm guilty nonetheless.

"I love you, but ..." is the easiest way to tell if love is conditional

2011-11-29T00:21:00.000+11:00

After shooting all of last weekend, my SLR is getting a bit of a rest. One of the things I do is ensure that I have multiple backups of all the photos I take. At the moment, this means all my compact flash cards are sitting at work just in case my house burns down and my multiple sets of local copies are destroyed. I'm paranoid about these things.

So this week is entirely from my phone and more opportunistic than with any sense of thought.

Christmas is coming up and it seems like the beginning of November is fair game for decorations. I don't really understand what's up with the Canadian flags though.

It's slightly amusing to me because this is near my work place. My old work place used to be near the Canadian consulate and last week I ended up listening to talks that in part related to the Canadian government in an event near that work place.

One of the interesting things about being a journalist is that you get to meet a lot of different people. As someone who was once such a social recluse that he hated the very idea of even purchasing train tickets from an attendant as opposed to a machine, it's an interesting space to be in once you realise that for some reason people are more scared of you than you are of them.

I think a business card speaks volumes about the sort of company that you work for. Whether they're embossed, gloss, matte, textured, or unique in some way they all say something. Probably what leaves an impression on me the most though, is the weight of the paper stock. I was actually surprised that Facebook's cards weren't printed on something heavier. In contrast, a public relations person I'd been talking to earlier that day had some pretty nice cards.

I often check with people whether they understand Eastern traditions in giving and receiving cards by simply doing it and seeing if they follow. I don't expect many people to do the whole giving and receiving with two hands and studying the cards, but I'm often surprised by who does and doesn't know how to, or who simply flick their cards across the table! I'm sure everyone keeps a "dirt" file on me anyway. Those damn journalists!

I have a few friends that live in Ashfield and I often end up eating around the area. While one of my favourites are two dumpling stores of Liverpool Road -- New Shanghai and Shanghai Night -- there's a cafe a little further down the road that I visited for the first time this week. I thought their chairs were cute.

It's one of the few cafes I've seen with a separate indoors, but partitioned off, smoking area. Usually you see that sort of thing at a pub. They're a bit pricey, but the servings, at least for dessert, seem pretty generous. I couldn't finish mine. Homers Cafe, 339 Liverpool Rd.

I also made the trek out west where we had lunch at a little place in Glenbrook called the Jazz Apple Kitchen. My significant other's sister's interest often plays the guitar there. While I only met him for the first time that weekend, it's interesting the things you pick up, or possibly imagine that you pick up, from conversations.

When I was following him in the car, I spent a while wondering what it was about his driving that seemed familiar. I realised a little later that the lines he drove, even though we were both driving quite slowly, reminded me of those I've seen many, many other motorcyclists take when I used to ride myself. Now I don't know whether I imagined it or if it was because he mentioned earlier that he too used to ride.

French toast and caramelised bananas. I'm a sucker for bananas. Make them into thickshakes, bake them into banana bread, deep fry them, add some icecream and call it a banana split, or make a banana sandwich; it's probably one of my favourite fruits. I was devastated when the price rose to over $14 per kilogram and cafes and restaurants in Sydney began to charge ridiculous surcharges.

Call me crazy, but if you've never tried it, take a thin slice of tasty cheese and eat it with your banana. Cheese and banana. It works.

Looking out from Bluff Reserve, Glenbrook, south-west towards Jellybean Pool. I actually had no idea where I was when I took this picture, but I'd been to Jellybean Pool many years ago when I used to go hiking semi-regularly. Back then, as a scrappy little kid, I'd fall into creeks and rivers all the time.

My days of exploring canyons and peeing off cliffs have since been replaced with the urban landscape where I still explore laneways and unfortunately find where others have been drunkenly peeing. There are less spiders at least, though.

This is Belle, a Belgian Shepherd. She's quite old and has a few medical issues, but like my German Shepherd Dog is a sweet old sook. She's how I imagine Jess may grow up into one day. Jess is still mostly bouncing off the walls still though.

You can't chart your forward destination if you're always looking back

2011-11-23T22:21:00.000+11:00

Let's try not to make posting this late a habit.

I shot over 1800 frames last week, but unfortunately I can't share most of them with you as they were part of a good friend's wedding. Ironically, I didn't end up shooting that much for this post, so we're going to take a revisit of some older photos that didn't make the seven.

But first...

The wedding bands.

I've seen people make them themselves, engrave each others fingerprints on each others', have them combine with other rings and so on, but no matter how (un)fancy, they're probably one of the most recognisable symbols of commitment and love.

That said, they can be pretty expensive symbols.

Nothing like a good old barbecue in, er, the middle of nowhere.

One of my friends has a shop on Parramatta Road with an open back yard that pretty much backs on to brushland and the M4 Motorway. It's a really strange place to roast slabs of meat, but also very cool at the same time. I often wish I had a big backyard to do something similar.

Hide the vegetables! The kids won't know they're there! I don't know why I haven't noticed this before, or why people hadn't thought of it sooner. What will I be eating next? A cheeseburger with hidden spinach?

Scotch and dry is my drink of choice. I don't like fizzy mixers, but scotch neat or with water is just a bit too strong for my liking. Dry ginger ale seems to hit that right balance for some reason. It's a pity I never seem to have any at home. I have bottles upon bottles of Glenfiddich 12, 15, and JW Red, Black and Blue from my days as a bartender, but never any dry to go with it.

There's also a bit of a strange situation I find myself in. I rarely drink because everyone I've lived with has been a non-drinker. My significant other doesn't like to drink, my most recent ex-housemate tries not to as she gets drunk and a little grumpy too quickly, and my housemate before that is deathly allergic to alcohol.

As a result I only seem to drink at home when I'm down and I only ever drink one spirit in those cases -- Jack Daniels straight up. I seem to have gone through several bottles now.

Taken during the Sydney Google Photowalk, I ended up turfing this one because the two people were slightly out of focus. I'm beginning to wonder whether I should just be a bit more lenient, or whether in the long run it's good to maintain a high standard. The same could apply to many things in life. It's funny people always say act like the world will end tomorrow, but if that were true we'd have no long-term backup plans.

Over on Broadway, there's a set of a apartment blocks called the Quadrant. One of my friends used to live in there. It's a fairly swish place considering how close it is to the city. Despite being so close, it has a pretty large, under-used courtyard. This water feature sits in the middle of it, but it otherwise feels like pretty wasted space. I suppose if it were up to me though, the city would be full of skyscrapers. Wait, it is.

There's also a pretty good Malaysian/Thai restaurant in the Quadrant called Malacca Straits. I suddenly had a craving for their food today and that's saying something since I usually don't like to eat Asian food.

Could be on a beach somewhere, or a park, or someone's backyard. I enjoy these moments of just taking time out, but to me they're just that -- a moment. People often say they need a holiday to get away from it all, but to me a holiday is more about immersing yourself in new experiences. I think what people are really asking for is time to pause and reflect on life. The great thing is, you don't need to go somewhere far away -- in fact, that can sometimes be more stressful -- you can pause to reflect almost anywhere you are.

It's just closing your eyes, taking a deep breath and letting everything go for just a moment. And often, that's all you really needed.

Sometimes you have to take a step back to make a giant leap forward

2011-11-17T00:22:00.000+11:00

Alright, it's another week with a few experiments in street. I guess it could be argued that most things here are street since most of the time I wander around Sydney's streets taking photos, but I don't see it that way.

The greatest take away from all of this? I'm still here alive and breathing. Taking pictures on the street will not kill you.

I have no idea what caused this paint spill at Railway Square, but it was pretty fun to watch the stories that came out of it. Was it a trolley? There were tracks coming out of it. But the paint trail went on for several hundred metres down Regent.

It was mostly cleaned up the next day, but not before I spotted this little track of footprints. Dirty bird.

I actually took this to experiment with in some new processing software I was going to try. I still haven't gotten around to doing so. Last week was my turn to come into work early, so I've been getting all this lovely light, but not having enough time to watch for things to shoot.

A fairly recognisable intersection, Goulburn and George. What is with this crossing? You can't turn right no matter which way you approach it. I've often wondered how much of Sydney's traffic is just people driving around trying to figure out how to get on to a certain street.

I'm wondering what she's thinking. Not many people actually look up as they're walking. It's pretty sad actually. We're rushing through the city, staring at the back of the person in front of us, or down at our smartphone, which is meant to make us more connected.

I liked the variety this guy had. While I've seen that bag around a few times, I haven't seen any Chicago Bulls merchandise since high school. Rarer than that, it just hides his blue-dyed rat's tail -- something I used to have when I was a wee little kid and never seem to see any more. I guess it's like the mullet. There are only so many people that can pull it off. Like MacGuyver.

And back to his bag, what's that it's eating? An Angry Birds keyring. Awesome.

This guy was enjoying a peaceful moment, nodding off for a nap while surrounded by shoppers. No one really gives you a second thought. I'm beginning to wonder how much you can get away with in Pitt Street mall.

Eddy and Pitt. I wonder who spent the time to do this. More importantly, what the heck is it? It sort of looks like an alien with a huge exorcist head stepping on a baby. Or taking a dump, getting freaked out and running away. I'm sure that's exactly what they had in mind.

This was one of those awkward moments where I saw a shot, lined it up, and the subject turned and looked directly at me. I shot it anyway and kept on walking. I actually thought the original shot would have turned out nicer. I guess it shows what happens when you're just that touch too slow.

The building she's sitting at is Wake Up!, a hostel/cafe on George and Pitt. It seems like a pretty nice place to stay if you were travelling and I've considered stopping in just to have a beer and a bite. Maybe next time.

Well, this is embarassing

2011-11-15T19:53:00.002+11:00

So I went to pull my photos out to upload and guess what, I don't have my camera with me!

That means I'm going to be a little bit later than I would have hoped for this week, but in the meantime, here's a pic from The Star.

If you never understand yourself, it is rarely reasonable to expect others to

2011-11-08T00:22:00.002+11:00

It's been a pretty fun week. In between losing sleep over video games and forgetting to go the gym, I went to a themed ball, hung out at an old biker cafe, ate more Japanese food, went boxing for the first time, and got punished by my temporary trainer immediately after.

Still, it feels like a lot more could have been done with my time.

The regular shopping trip always yields weird and interesting things in the oddest places. Surfing down the cereal aisle (and yes, I still use the trolley as a scooter/toboggan when I think no one is looking), I saw this peering out from a dark shelf.

I'm all for getting the maximum use out of cardboard and all that ...

... but is that you, Pedobear?

Hanging out in Pitt Street mall again while waiting for my gym partner. You see a lot of different people walking through here all day, most oblivious of others' existence. It's a slightly comforting thought when you're wandering around taking photos, but it's also a rather strange thought. You can walk through one of the most populated areas in Sydney and no one will really know you're there.

Goulburn and Pitt, on the World Square side. I've seen this concrete doughnut for weeks now, but keep getting really blurry pictures on my phone. Having tried several times now, I think I'm pretty much used to people looking at me weirdly as I squat and try to take pictures. The funny thing is, once they notice what I'm taking a photo of, it's all perfectly acceptable behaviour.

It sort of reminds me of when we dressed one of my friends up for his bucks and went to town. It's pretty amazing what you can get away with, so long as there's a relatively reasonable explanation. Hey, it's okay, I'm the official number taker tonight.

I'd forgotten there's a TAFE just across from Railway Square for some reason. Sneaky buggers. There's been one pretty much close to everywhere I've ever lived. I don't know if that's to do with coincidence or whether they just have a seriously huge number of campuses.

I studied at the Ultimo campus part time one semester doing mechanical engineering. Given I was studying electrical engineering at uni at the time and all my coursework had become something along the lines of solving hideously complex (and boring) equations, I was stoked to be able to do things like learn to weld. A couple of hours a week at welding might just have a bit more utility to me today than calculating equations that can now be plugged into simulators.

Still at it, although not with much change, here's another street sculpture at Liverpool and Pitt, on one of the monorail pillars. I think almost all of them have a sculpture of sorts. The original creator of these is Will Coles. I'm not sure if he's the same guy fixing them to everything, but it's slightly strange to be following someone around by the things he leaves behind.

I stumbled across his site years ago, but lost the link until recently. They say Sydney doesn't have much art, but it's there if you know where to look.

Speaking of which, Sculpture by the Sea is currently on. I'd be more interested to see if anyone has tried to sneak their own work in again as Will has done in the past. I wonder who would have known the difference?

Upstairs in the Queen Victoria Building, we take a very old building and make it our own private dance floor. I bet they didn't see us coming when they named it the Tea Room. I don't think I even had a single cup of tea. False advertising, that one, unless they consider alcohol to be tea. A perfectly acceptable substitute.

I have recurring dreams of travelling on old elevators like this one, also in the Queen Victoria Building. Most of the time I'm a coal mine kid, trying to get out of the mine shaft. Other times I'm a suit and tie, a confident exterior, but really just completely lost. Half of the time I die. Now that I think of it, I've never been in an old elevator. I don't think it's a good time to start.

I don't seem to have many dreams where I die. Another is whenever I am driving or am a passenger of an R32 Nissan Skyline. I always, without exception, die. Usually in a horrific accident, but sometimes the car will just randomly explode. I've never sat in one for that reason and will refuse to drive one, even though I think they are a fantastic vehicle from what I've seen and heard.

Coffee on a lazy Sunday afternoon, one of my friends bought this pomegranate and green tea tonic, which was the strangest, glowing shade of red. Although we were at Deus Ex Cafe, I was more fascinated with this drink than the bike in the cafe. I mean, this red thing looked like it was comic book radioactive or something.

On the other hand, it was fun to actually visit the cafe for once. I'd passed it so many times, often on my motorcycle, but never stopped in. I would have thought there would be a lot more motorcyclists like at the various other places I used to hang out at when riding, but there weren't. In fact, there were a couple of senior citizens and families.

Out in the demo room, I spotted this little gem. I really wonder who decides to go ahead and make these things.

I had my eye on an old bike, a Honda CB 750 that had been restored and fairly heavily modified. My last bike was fairly old and only made over a period of two years. It was a constant battle to keep her maintained since she'd been pretty badly abused over the years. Though she's gone now, I really do miss being on two wheels and getting grease under my fingernails.

I also seem to have lost the ability to count to seven. Never mind.

You never have to do anything, but you always have to live the consequences

2011-11-01T21:39:00.000+11:00

Bit of a tough week this one. Mostly because I've forked out some money for a video game that has been slowly killing me in all sorts of ways.

So it was actually pretty painful to scrape together enough photos for this week. I did take more than seven, but the quality of them sucked. But considering the rule here is it doesn't matter how much they suck, here they are. I had to cheat a little and put in some from other weeks, but here they are nonetheless.

This is Quan. He makes excellent coffee. It's one of the few places around my workplace that sell Campos. I've mentioned previously that I'm a big fan of it, but don't particularly remember why I started drinking it in the first place. I really wish I knew somewhere I could sit down and have a cup of the stuff during my lunch break, but I'm yet to discover anywhere close by.

There are little details that go into making coffee. Quan has a little block of wood that I think he brought in that sits next to the coffee machine. Why? Because after foaming the milk he needs to tap the base of the jug on a surface to settle it. Not such a pleasant thing to do against a stainless steel benchtop, so he brought his own.

If it's not immediately apparent what's up in this picture, it's one of my pet peeves. The cyclist in the middle of the intersection is stationary in this photo. I think cycling is a great form of transport. However, more and more I'm seeing jerks that complain that they're not given their fair share of the road (and I agree), but at the same time refuse to abide by simple traffic laws like obeying traffic lights.

I don't have a problem with cyclists who ride on the footpath at a jogging pace. I do have a problem with cyclists who ride straight through red lights and through pedestrians trying to cross the road. Are you cycling on the road? Then obey the road rules. One of these days I'm going to lose it and kick someone off their bike. It'll probably be an unwarranted for just a single idiot, but the number of people that don't obey the rules seems to be becoming the majority.

Woolworths (or Safeway depending where you live) was apparently selling Kindles. I have no idea why. I rarely ever shop at Woolworths since there are practically none where I live, so the idea of selling consumer electronics is quite strange to me.

I would have thought we'd see iPods in Woolies before Kindles.

Over on Pitt Street, near Goulburn, is a little known restaurant/lounge called Shinara. Upstairs they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, Korean style, but downstairs the lounge is rarely populated. A couple of friends and I ended up having dessert here the other night and it's a strangely mature place. Mature? Well, usually we end up at cafes and such where there are a lot of loud uni students or it's on a busy street with lots of people coming and going. I think we might have been the noisy lot, and we're not even that loud.

I'd probably give the buffet a miss next time, but for somewhere quiet to have a chat on an evening, the lounge is a pretty nice place.

Friday morning tea at work involved bobbing for apples. I somehow found myself nominated, but escaped at the last moment. Probably a good thing as the last time I played some food-related game I ended up catching a tooth on a piece of string, cutting up my gums and not being able to eat without my mouth hurting for about two weeks. Good times. Will do business again. AA++++.

Watching people bob for apples, on the other hand, is a barrel of laughs. Really, it should be called "dunk your head in a bucket of water", because that's essentially what we're here to see. Given my reluctance to do it though, I have to give it up to my coworkers. While I'm a bit of a chicken for not doing it, really, what's the worst that can happen? You're expecting others to have a laugh anyway. Are you worried they're going to laugh? Sometimes logic evades me.

I've heard a story about a class of students that were shown video footage of buildings from the first floor upwards, without given the location. When asked where they thought the buildings were, they could never figure it out. It makes sense though. How many times do we ever look up at buildings in Sydney? We've got a huge number of old facades, beautiful buildings, but we never stop to appreciate them. This one should be pretty obvious, but can you picture where you'd have to be standing to see it from here?

I'm in Pitt Street mall again, looking up at The Strand building (obvious from the words on it). Most people get distracted by the old hallway that joins up with George Street with all the shops in it. It's actually a really pretty building from the outside and quite well kept.

Also on Pitt Street mall, another busker. I find it amusing that this guy is probably making more money from each CD he sells than signed bands do when their publisher sells an album. Sure, he might not have the same volume of sales, but making lots of money isn't always the aim of everyone.

I sometimes wonder if I'd rather do something I love every so often and earn a rich return on it, or to turn what I love into work and let everyone along the way take a cut. I might still be working for myself, but I'm also working to pay everyone else at the same time. Makes you wonder how many entrepreneurs are out there who think they are working for themselves, but are really working for a different definition of the man.

I think it's more clearly explained by the story of a multi-millionaire who had houses in several countries and housekeepers in each one. In the end, he ended up feeling like the was working to ensure that his housekeepers were paid. I guess our busker here is really living in his own house and paying himself.

The things people judge others on are often their own insecurities

2011-10-25T00:30:00.000+11:00

Bathurst and George, just outside of the food court on 580 George. Look left, then right, then lfet.

I've walked this way so many times before but never noticed this. At first I thought I must've just missed it, but it doesn't show up on Google Streetview, either. Either way, it makes me wonder if these actually work at all if no one notices, but then again, it's like wondering if anyone reads if no one notices the the extra words. Maybe everyone knows what it means, even if you don't pick up on the mistakes.

Half the fun of buying Asian food is the weird names that are given to them. Mmm juicy buns. They're actually filled with soup, and they're not buns, they're dumplings. I think the meat inside is pork. It's all the same, really.

Almost as good as "Hot pot ass", which really is an assortment of hot pot doohickeys. That's a technical term.

I don't even know what to call this place anymore. Is it Tumbalong park? I'd always thought the giant green area was called that. Anyway, this place has seriously changed. There are deck chairs and people sun baking. Sun baking! During work hours?!

There used to be a Gloria Jeans there (Yes, yes, I frequent them far too often) that I now only have a faint recollection of. I'd been quite sensitively told by a girl I was chasing at the time that things weren't going to work out. For an 17 or-so year old that had never been shot down before it was an interesting turn of events, but in hindsight, if I was still coming to grips with who I was at the time, it'd be a task for someone else to do the same.

Oh those little kiddies that think they're in love, when they don't even know who they are yet, but expect someone else to love them. Come to think of it, I know plenty of adults that are like that.

It's corn! Not only is it corn, it's ice cream! There's a place on Quay Street, just near Railway Square called Harmony Mart, which sells corn flavoured ice cream in a corn-shaped wafer-biscuit-cone thingit. I'm not exactly sure what it is, except I know I feel the need to express my excitement for it.

Probably the best part of buying ice cream from that place, aside from most of them only being a dollar, is that when everything is in Korean, you don't know what you're going to get. It's a culinary adventure in ice cream!

Over in Chinatown on Thomas Street is the Prince Centre. I always think of Katamari Damacy whenever I remember the name of the place. I've heard it called the Burlington Centre because of the supermarket downstairs that went by the same name, but that business shut down and the replacement Yen Yen Centre just doesn't have the same sort of ring.

It's filled with all sorts of weird shops and has the strangest ceiling. One of those shops is a Chinese herbal place, selling (if you can tell from the extremely blurry picture) "MALE POWER - Sexual energy for men", with a muscular man on the box and also "Hayfellery tablets", which has a giant nose. I hope I don't get picked up as spam now.

I'm always in two minds about what to do whenever I see street photographers. A part of me wants to go over and say hi, but another tells me to mind my own business and stop staring because you make people nervous when you stare at them, why are you still staring at them, oh God they've noticed you, just act natural, act natural.

So naturally, secretly taking photos of them and posting them to the web is much better. And oh so very meta.

I went along to the inaugural Google+ Sydney Photowalk on the weekend. Strangely enough, didn't take many photos, but made a bunch of new friends. My Google+ network is no longer a ghost town and it's all very addictive to see what has been posted. Oh, so very clever Google.

This shot was taken from Observatory Hill. In all my time in Sydney, I'd never been there. It's actually quite pretty. It was pretty hazy that day and we didn't stick around for the light to get better. Some of the later shots from the group were quite impressive.

I know there's been Seven already, but I thought I'd throw in just two more from the weekend photoshoot. I lucked out on this one. I've got a horrible tremor, which makes any blurring from camera shake much more pronounced. I normally like to darken up the skies in my pics, but there wasn't any need to this time. Just inside the Botanic Gardens, near where Macquarie Street leads on to the Cahill Expressway.

This chap was taking a moment out of his day and watching the numerous folk with their cameras taking pictures of all sorts of things. I used to wonder about taking a moment to have a smoke, but I found that when I used to, it wasn't a relaxing break at all; it was a rushed afterthought in between getting from A to B. I later found that I could do the same thing with coffee, when I used to hide on one of the top floors of a car park overlooking Crows Nest, quietly sipping away and watching the world go by.

Five minutes works wonders. I really think everyone should try five minute holidays every so often rather than burning themselves out.

When faced with a question of ethics, the harder choice is often the right one

2011-10-17T19:00:00.003+11:00

This is just to the side of the Mercure, near Railway Square. It's not really an alleyway, but so much tends to happen down here. In the morning, sometimes there will be a Chinese or Japanese tour bus. Other times smokers from the hotel, taking a moment to fill their lungs. After a rough night, it's necessary to watch your step. That's not spilt coffee or water on the ground there. And there's a hole in the wall where many times I've wandered past couples looking for some privacy before their bus or train leaves. Every street has a story.

Surprisingly, the DSLR got some time out this week. I've been shooting with it and a point and shoot despite having my camera phone on me all the time. I've been leaving it at home more recently as it's difficult to carry along with my gym gear on most days.

Remember what I said about complete randomness last week? We had a stuffed Dodo toy which had a little cape on it. While I thought it would be funny to put in on a coworker, he ran with it and planked on a chair.

Still experimenting here. A crutch I'm currently using is to stand near a street corner while waiting for the lights to change and shoot into the intersection. I could probably be shooting at people and they couldn't care less, but I still don't think I'm there yet.

I met with my mentor this week and he happened to have with him the new Nikon V1, which was announced the other day. It's a pretty sweet camera for a mirrorless system, but it also has a viewfinder. Without making this into a review, the screen on the back of that thing is extremely clear. Don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.

Good Samaritan or someone playing silly buggers? I've often wondered what happens to clothing that is lost, then placed in prominent places for anyone that might realise and come back. I passed a very neatly (and possibly washed) jumper on the side of the street the other day. You have to admire the fact that whoever does this has no idea whether it will be found or appreciated, and they know they'll never be thanked for it.

I don't come out to the cross very often, but a group of friends decided to eat at Wasabi Bistro. It's at 1 Kings Cross Rd. The last time I came here it was another sort of Asian restaurant, so it was slightly weird. The food was pretty good though.

For some unknown reason, the artwork out the front really annoys me. I don't know what it is. Maybe the cluttered-ness of it, or the way that the "balls" are off-centre. Perhaps because it's likely that they aren't as heavy as they look. Actually, they don't look heavy either.

I somehow ended up on the other side of Central this week. I rarely ever come through this side and combined with all the construction work occurring, I barely recognised it. It reminds me in a way that things and people that are so close by can be there for so long, that you forget about them. Then after a slow, gradual change, things can become so different that it's like seeing something or someone new.

You might be the best, but if you never beat yourself, you'll never win.

2011-10-13T23:05:00.001+11:00

Wow. Look who's been a lazy bastard.

I try to post on Mondays, but obviously that was just too freakin' hard this week, wasn't it?

This is Billy. I used to hang out with him at all sorts of odd hours when I was at uni. We gave him a set of keys when I was housesharing and when I came home from the bar at 4am, he'd be clocking off from his pizza place. We'd sit on the stairs of my apartment eating cold pizza and drinking, talking about crap that boys talk about at that age. Then I'd have to stumble to class the next morning at 8am.

For some reason I did really well in those morning classes though, which was odd because it was my accounting elective.

"Troll Tours". I saw these guys later the same day, heading in the opposite direction down George Street. I have a sneaking suspicion the tour operators tell them they're almost there then tell them it's all about the journey and not the destination once they catch on.

I often forget that most of society doesn't "get" internet memes. Makes for some awkward situations at times. Like now, if you don't get it. ...

I was pretty hungry.

Actually, I associate this place with uni lunches. It's Thai La Ong on King Street, Newtown. Cheap food that doesn't taste like cardboard.

Speaking of cardboard, one of my co-workers took issue with The Australian one morning. I think he said it tasted like crap. I wasn't sure if he was referring to the content or the physical paper.

I often have no idea what is going to happen in the office with him around. Things could be spontaneously exploding into live chickens that shoot pillows out of their bums and it wouldn't seem too out of place.

I get to travel down Pitt Street Mall quite a lot now after work. Now that there's more sunlight after office hours all the performers have come back out. They're pretty cool to watch, although I try not to since I usually don't carry change around with me to offer and I'm on the way to the gym.

It would be a nice place to just stand around taking photos for a while. I saw a chick the other day just standing around shooting with a 70-200mm -- a fairly conspicuous, large white lens -- and no one was batting an eye.

This might've been a nice pic had it not been completely out of focus. I often curse at my poor eyesight. Focus-recomposition works poorly in street and I've never gotten the hang of very quickly manual focusing.

There is this thing called practice though. I've heard it works wonders. =)

The message lays close to the ground. I wonder, did they do it so their message would likely last longer and possibly be read more, or did they not want it to be read by the unobservant? Is it ironic that the message tells us to look around, yet it's obscure?

Bit of a quiet protest, isn't it? Say, that reminds me of someone. Someone whose name begins with M and ends in ichael.

So, Seven for the week. I might have more than seven already for the week shortly ending, but I'll try to stick to getting them up on Monday. It's become a lot easier now that I have a small point and shoot that I've been carrying around, but I don't know if that's doing much in terms of actually creating better pictures. Either way, it's a different way to shoot Sydney.

Sometimes it's better to worry about what might not happen rather than what might.

2011-10-04T22:11:00.001+11:00

What's the hardest part about street photography? Here's a hint: it's got nothing to do with photography.

It's about realising you're one person on a tiny planet in the middle of nowhere who, in the grand scheme of things and relative to the infinite duration of time, won't matter and won't be remembered as that strange person on the street.

It's strange, trying to let go of years' worth of worry about how others see and perceive you and it's certainly something I want to do. I frequently just call it not giving two f**cks, not in an arrogant way, but knowing that sometimes you can't and shouldn't need to change someone's opinion of you.

Something to think about while standing on a street corner.

Soon after I got back in from Japan I went to a Japanese popular culture festival. Go figure. I got off the plane and marched right in. I was dead tired. Here are some of the lovely maids at their cafe.

The idea is you get treated like the man (or woman) of the house. They're meant to make your stay enjoyable. How anyone actually needs to feel even more welcomed in Japan is beyond me, but it's part of their culture. I'm not the type that enjoys this sort of thing, but admittedly it's fun to joke around with the maids and butlers since they're all in it for the fun.

Mr Puddles is not your typical cat. Actually, no cat is really typical. I've never met two similar cats now that I think of it. Well, we gave him a paper bag to crawl in. Sometimes he gets the "crazies" and wants to be "hunter kitty". He'll hide under things and dart out when he thinks you don't know he's there.

Well, he apparently wasn't in the mood and decided the bag was better to sit on. Other strange habits? Licking plastic bags. Randomly falling over on one area of the floor. Chirping whenever he sees birds.

He's not a companion cat. He's more like the cat of the house... and we're the maids.

They aren't cookies. They're meat patties. The little ones work better. They cook faster and you can stick 'em in bread sammiches. Yes, that's a technical term.

It was raining earlier last week and I have no idea what they were trying to set up here. There are bales of hay and some tyres. A car racing a horse? A horse pit stop? I don't know. I felt bad for the one guy who was trying to sweep up all the hay that was blowing around in the wind. A futile job, but then it's just like any one of ours in the grand scheme of things.

A friday afternoon. South Park, nerf blaster magazine, beer. Work hard and play hard. The giant penguin I used to shoot has been moved though, so I'm not even sure what to shoot at now. Might take to people soon.

I often don't appreciate it much. I can't remember the last time I went up the tower to see the view. We're really spoilt for choice, aren't we? Eat at the tower, climb the bridge for exercise, settle at the Opera House for entertainment and evening drinks.

It's on the way to the gym. Gym? What's this gym thing? What a horrible concept. Well, I'm doing it finally and my first gym experience has been a pretty good one. Aside from the constant aching. Again, the futility of it all is a bit amusing to me. Move that weight! Move it! Up and down! I wonder if we could have put that power into something else. Or is that the kid engineer in me seeing wasted energy?

I was pretty amused by this. Probably more than I should be, and probably in a much more geeky way than is needed. Google doesn't have Google+ support for Google Apps yet, but if you try to log in on a mobile platform, it displays this dialog box. Only, I don't use an iPhone, so I have no idea why it looks like an iPhone dialog box. Favouritism? Sure looks weird on my phone.

Would you rather try and die or die having not tried?

2011-09-26T23:56:00.001+10:00

Got this in the mail early on in the week. It's Canon's Photo5 box. The idea is that you have five briefs, four of which have objects. You're meant to take a photo incorporating the object somehow. This year's objects are foam bubbles, powder, sequins and a ribbon. I'm pretty horrid at actually sticking on theme. Last year one of the objects was incense. I ended up burning my box. Needless to say, I didn't win.

Fellow work colleague. 7-11 was apparently having a deal where you bring in your own cup, so he decided to bring in the largest bucket he could find. I was sitting around late that evening trying to finish off some writing when I heard him disposing of what was left and moaning "My tummy is sloshing around and it's cold to the touch!" I never know what's going to happen next.

I need to just stop people and take their photo, I think. It would be better. I wish I'd walked a little bit further around to get him centred between the crosswalk lines. Looks like he's going somewhere in a rush. I worry that if I do stop people though, I'll get a whole series of photos of people flipping me the bird. Or looking confused. The Sartorialist, if you care to look him up, is pretty good at this. Problem is, I don't think I've got quite the eye for fashion. I'd more likely stop someone because they were carrying a nice camera.

Very rarely, I'll see a line form at railway square for the bus. I think it's one of those things where if one person starts doing it, so too does everyone else. Usually it's all just a big mess. We're all just sheep in the end. I wonder how many people it takes to form that tipping point though. Might be fun to do. I'd wander around the city with a few friends in tow, apparently unrelated, and start doing odd group things. Like looking at the sky. Or lining up to get into an empty restaurant. Genius! Wait, it's called a flash-mob, isn't it?

This is another gallery that is opening up around my place. There are a lot of galleries. None of them seem to do photos, and I'm not really into paintings. Call me uncultured. I just don't get it.

Seriously though, I live in one of the smallest suburbs in Sydney yet there's something like four galleries within walking distance, and those are only the ones I know about -- I'm sure there are more. It makes me wonder, who actually comes to these galleries?

Playing footsies with my friend. I felt bad stomping on this face. Maybe I should start a sock-line. One that has messages on the bottom of them, but that no one knows is there except the wearer. You'd be walking around on that message all day. "Yeah, I'm a bad-ass!" Or maybe pictures of kittens for those that feel the need to step on kittens all day. You bastards.

I like ciders. I'm a featherweight, you see. I used to think Strongbow was the ordinary fare, then I migrated to Monteiths, which was pretty nice. Along came Bulmers, which for some reason I can never remember the taste of, possibly because I keep drinking it, and now there's this... resk.. Reskorderlig..? I actually took the picture because I couldn't figure out how to spell the damn thing.

Cider that tastes like strawberries. Not unheard of, but this stuff tastes nice. Probably not something to drink with the boys. For that, I'll continue to stick to my fave -- Scotch and dry.

The unimpressed guy in the background? My old housemate back in my uni days. Deathly allergic to alcohol. I used to work in a bar and come back for a drink. Sort of like writing for a living and then coming home to blog... wait a second.

My mate's significant other decided to bake us a cake. Somehow my mate bought dessert cream rather than cream cheese. They both have the same damn label. I'm often amazed at the "survival" skills the modern man has. Why the hell do I know the difference between a spreadable and butter? Cafe-style raisin toast and regular? What's a duvet? Why does everyone know the name Tyler Durden?

Anyway, it was a cake that ended up like ice cream. I'm not even sure how that works.

Failing isn't bad, so you may as well try to do it spectacularly

2011-09-18T17:21:00.001+10:00

I'm typing this up on a plane at the moment, with the hope to have it all done and dusted some time on the weekend when I finally have a moment.

I've spent half the week in Japan. It's just three days, but I've been shooting quite a bit.

Mr Puddles decided that he wanted to come along. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn't really listen.

Usually I take a picture of my hotel room desk and post it somewhere saying it's my desk for the week. However, nothing could be further from the truth this time. I spent maybe an hour at this desk while all of my work was actually done while in transit around Japan.

I travelled from Osaka to Kobe, back to Osaka, then via the Shinkansen to Tokyo over the course of three days (one of which was taken up by a 9 hour flight). As I type this, it's on my return flight home. When I get there, I'll be straight into photography work again.

So my desk for the week? It's really a bus/plane/train seat.

In the toilet, "This paper has been recycled from used milk cartons collected by our hotel staff". As I sat on the loo, I had to grin. I imagined earnest workers scouring the streets for discarded milk cartons for their precious customers' bottoms.

But their toilets? I'm already missing it. Seriously. Best toilets ever. Spraying your bum after going to the loo should be a feature in every toilet. So clean. Okay, that's now too much information.

We were staying very close to Osaka castle, so on the second morning I got up early and hiked out there. On the ground level of the castle, possibly hundreds of people gather and exercise. It doesn't look like Tai Chi, but whatever it is, it's pretty cool to watch.

It's a really peaceful place. I'd like to come back one day, but I don't know about visiting Osaka. It seems a lot like an industrial place from the way in from the airport. I have been told however that it had the largest underground shopping complex in the world. I didn't get to see it, but that might be interesting to visit.

A closer view of the castle. I had a bit of a problem encountering Japanese people while I was there. I don't speak Japanese, although I understand a few words. However, looking Asian means that Japanese people often mistake me for one of them. I've been given forms in Japanese and relayed instructions in Japanese. I'm really quite confused sometimes.

Looking out across Osaka in the morning. I thought Osaka was big, but Tokyo puts it to shame. I went to Ginza and Akihabara, but didn't get much of a chance to look around.

The Shinkansen to get there is seriously fast. It feels like you should be lifting off, but you never do. I didn't get much of a chance to look out the window since I was writing the whole time. A bit of a shame because I would have liked to see what the countryside was like. Perhaps next time.

Apparently inspired by the Kingfisher bird due to its aerodynamic shape. Sort of reminds me of the Concorde.

I forget the name of this building, but it's essentially just full of electronic goods. Completely full. It's near Akiba station and the area itself is just full of super geek. I'd really like to visit again. Anime and manga aren't really my thing anymore, but it's still amazing what is around.

So, of course, obligatory shot of me doing Japan… like a Boss.

It's actually iced coffee, sold out of a vending machine that sometimes has Tommy Lee Jones' head on it. There are so many vending machines. I wish that we had that many in Sydney.

But just as quickly as I had landed, we were leaving. Tokyo is a beautiful city, one I'd love to visit again. I had put my travels off for so long that it had gotten to the point where I really didn't care anymore.

They say that travel experiences can change people. I think I understand what that means now. Several times I wondered if I would be happier living in Japan, and I seriously thought of re-learning Japanese for the next time I visit.

So, while it's not Sydney, I hope the abundance of photos makes up for it.

I'm also heading straight to Sydney's Animania Festival after I land, and I'll add some of those photos next week. I did say that I have very little time to myself.

Sometimes it's not what you do in life, but how hard you tried

2011-09-12T22:43:00.001+10:00

It's been a week of returning to normality, with Queensland out of the way. The sun has been sticking around for longer each evening, meaning I'll soon have very little excuse to not shoot during the walk home from work. I should make a detour at least once a week, just to see what else I can discover.

I'm not sure when this appeared, but it's awesome. It's made out of post-its. Reminds me of that office romance video that was all about post-its. Also reminds me of giant post-its that were used for project planning. Funnily enough, my stack of post-its on my desk have vanished. Bummer.

We have our priorities right at work. We throw out food to make room for beer. PPDD = Pre-pay day drinks. That's right, we spend our money before we get it! I'm becoming increasingly aware that my alcohol intake has skyrocketed since beginning work here.

Stuck in traffic, but always with something good to look at. I visited my possible future in-laws on the weekend and was fed well. It was a very chilly day though, especially once the sun disappeared.

I was helping a friend clear out his house on Sunday and he decided to toss this office chair. So now it sits just outside his apartment's intercom for anyone to come along and sit on. Rather random, it is. I think that's also the first pic of me on this blog.

Sunday night in with the boys. We're horribly unhealthy. Beers, pizza and the F1 on the big screen. What a race. Huge crash on turn 1 right after Alonso gutsily slotted into the front of the pack, then Schumacher blocked Hamilton for about 25 laps. Michael Trollmacher, one of my mates said.

For some reason we also had a Nerf blaster. Was playing with that in my happy, tipsy state until my hand started to get sore from firing it.

I've yet to pull off an interesting in-car shot. Perhaps the closest I've come is shooting out a window at a motorcyclist, but that's not really in-car. There's not really many options, it seems.

It's the mid-autumn moon festival also. I find it interesting that in many cases, people many miles apart can be looking at the same object in the sky. Then again, it's just a giant lump of rock in the sky, reflecting light from the sun.

Humiliation is only when you fail to laugh at yourself

2011-09-05T16:40:00.000+10:00

It's more like one in Sydney, six on the Gold Coast this week. I was there for work, so I'll be posting up some of the pics that I was shooting for work. They know how to party up there, for sure.

In the leafy back yard of a house in the inner-west suburb of Ashfield, we're celebrating Father's day. The Jess-dog is running around, doing the gardening, the kittens are sleeping under the bed in the house. We're all getting fat, fat, fat. I've been eating all week and I haven't been running due to a lack of time.

I feel like a pig. But a pretty happy one at that.

I love cars, but probably not as much as I used to. This here pic was actually taken under green fluros. I left some of the green in, but it often makes me wonder if others frown upon post processing? World Press Photos have corrections in them, so I don't feel bad correcting colour (which you need to do to RAW files anyway), and I never manipulate the pixels for editorial.

Ping pong. Unfortunately, I think this guy was way out of his league. They couldn't get a good match going, which would have been good to watch. One of the coolest things to watch is two pro ping-pong players going back and forth at it. Mesmerising, really.

This isn't my lighting. There was lighting set up already, but no one was taking any photos next to the car. In fact, no one was around when I took this pic. A bit sad since it was set up nicely.

Outside the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. Boy did the event organisers know how to host a party. Food. Everywhere. Alcohol. Everywhere. Games consoles, go karts, stand-up comedy, ball sports, free swag. It was a pretty hectic week for me, being thrown in probably over my head in my current position, but it was certainly a case of work hard, play hard.

My desk for the week. The hotel was listed as five star, but I've been in lower rated places that are nicer. Which makes me wonder, who gives out these ratings anyway? Not that I'm complaining -- I love staying in hotels -- but half the time the ratings aren't comparable. First world problems, anyone?

The Gold Coast is beautiful. Or so I figure. I didn't get a chance to visit the beach. Or the shops even. I think it's somewhere I'll have to visit again on my own time. I really do miss the travel.

Freedom is about loving who you are

2011-08-29T00:35:00.000+10:00

This site does say Seven In Sydney, right? Well, here's nine. I'll be up the coast next week, so I won't have many, if any, from Sydney, so hopefully the greater number this week makes up for it and a bit of a cheaty week last week.

Well I took the Polaroid cam out on Monday. It has some 600 film in it that's expired. I'm not sure whether I like them or not -- everything is super warm (and I don't know if it's me, but even non-expired film seems to lean heavily towards the reds). Still got some in the camera that I'll need to get through before I send an order through to the Impossible Project, which is now making the film. Happy to hear they've set up shop in Perth, but they're not cheap. Something like $35 for a pack of 600 colour film which is good for just eight shots.

Spied this while helping a mate break the lock on his motorcycle. This was probably about 10pm on a Tuesday and I'd walked out from home with a heavy bag full of tools. Standing around in the middle of a street taking to his bike with a screwdriver is not suspicious at all, no sir. He'd used a cheap bicycle lock to chain his helmet to his bike, but the key was no longer working (whether someone had tried to break into it or it had just died is a mystery). Don't use crappy ones. They're super easy to smash.

Anyway, looks like our sculpturing friend is still hard at work.

Remember that ferris wheel from last week? Well it looks like I spoke too soon. It's gone. Like, completely. I wondered for a second if I'd just stumbled into some other wide area that looked the same, but nope, it was gone. Maybe I'll notice something else one day and that'll vanish too to make a liar out of me.

I also seem to be making a habit of visiting the Sydney conference and exhibition centre.

There's a Thai place over on Pitt Street that I can't remember the name of, that didn't have business cards, but overall was a pretty crap place to eat at. It does, however, have a tuk-tuk out the front. I wouldn't say run, run away, if you happened across this place, but I'd probably look for better places to eat.

I wanted to jump in and pretend to lean off the side of it, but I didn't think the staff would appreciate that. Besides, no one leans off their scooter in Thailand, to my knowledge.

Don't know why I keep ending up here. Regent Place Gloria Jeans. I've been avoiding Starbucks and GJ's like the plague, but a good slice of cake never really killed anyone. Except maybe diabetics.

Friends and I end up talking crap all evening, which usually turns to talk of penises and sex. No joke.

I've been getting more and more excited that the day is ending with the sun still out. It reflects off a building and is rather disturbing in the last hour of work, but it's also a good sign that the day is almost out and there still is light in the day.

Just makes going home all the more happier.

It's been a while since I've sat down at Macchiato for a meal. Cnr Liverpool and Pitt, I think. The last time I was there they had a little jazz band. It's still a nice place, but I think things have been scaled back a bit. I feel sort of bad for them. They had a fire the other month or so ago which flooded out their restaurant. I imagine the water damage would have been annoying to say the least.

First time I've ever seen cops take a public bus for the purpose of transport. It feels sorta odd. Although, now that I've said that, I'm sure they'll appear on all the busses I take, just like how ferris wheels suddenly don't exist anymore.

I felt bad that they got off and went to the convenience store and the first thing I thought of was doughnuts. Almost every Aussie cop I've seen or met has been in pretty good shape actually.

Me on the other hand? This is becoming a habit. 3am at Pancakes again, with a beer for breakfast. We did try going to Star City as something new and different, but the bars there are either crap for talking at or were shut. I didn't realise they were under renovations at the moment. The entire place looks different than the last time I was there. Bit of a shame because I have several memories from my high school days there.

We talk crap, give each other advice as if we know what we're talking about. It's funny, I'm telling my friend to focus on his inner game, sort out his identity and who he wants to be so he can love who he is, but I'm not there yet either.

Always reminds me that when people say you should love who you are, that doesn't necessarily mean accepting that you've got terrible flaws and thinking you can't do anything about them, it's about making those changes in your life so you love the person you become and not a person you're pretending to be.

Bit of a cheaty week

2011-08-22T22:34:00.000+10:00

I'm cheating this week with two photos that never made the Seven previously, most likely because I forgot about them, but perhaps because I had more than seven that week.

My excuse? I was horribly bed ridden this week and didn't place a foot out of the house on the weekend. Still feeling rather bleargh, but hey, you gotta roll with the punches.

I took this a while back, on the way to the Mint for some event launch. I love Hyde Park, but I rarely ever visit it. I once had a "very serious talk" with a girl I was chasing at the time and ended up in the park afterwards (at least I think it was Hyde Park. My head was a little every where that day). I often wonder where I was sitting, when I think back to it.

The fountain on the other hand, is where I met my friends one New Years Eve. Not the best meeting spot since everyone meets there, and doubly worse on that night, with so many drunken people around.

I was off on my way to Newtown a few weeks back, most likely to eat pie, and saw this down my street. There's quite of lot of this stuff around, if you know where to look. It gets taken down pretty quick, but it also goes up again just as fast, but with as much variety. I never know quite what to expect when I step outside.

Sending my sister off to Europe the other day, I never realised there's a bar on top of this bar. Then again, I never really hang around Marrickville. Or pubs for that matter.

Oh, Mac and Cheese. What's better than it? Mac and Cheese Deluxe. I can't figure out what's so deluxe about it aside from not having to make the cheese sauce yourself. I mean, how do you fancy up Mac and Cheese anyway? Add more cheese?

Which brings me to another questionable item that I purchased last week. I bought some marmalade. I haven't had marmalade since I was a kid, but I figured why not. But what's the difference between Orange Marmalade and Breakfast Marmalade? They both have the same ingredients, both have the same nutritional info, and both look the same (as far as I can tell). Can you not eat Breakfast Marmalade for lunch? Or dinner? Do they make it out of breakfasts? I ended up getting Breakfast Marmalade.

Bastards! It doesn't taste like breakfast at all!

My SO had a giggle when she saw this. It's usually the sort of thing I would laugh at, but I was probably still trying to figure out the marmalade thing. Poor pope. Not that resistant to kinky-ness. At least he tried.

Over in Darling Harbour, this ferris wheel still stands. I thought it was only going to be temporary, but it's probably been there for a few years, I'm guessing. Such a strange place to put it though. Whenever I pass by, no one seems to be on it. I really wonder if there's anything worth seeing from that height though.

Come to think of it, I haven't been on a ferris wheel for years. Maybe it's time.

Aero Cafe on George. This is one of those places I'd probably rather not tell anyone about. It's a nice place to come after a meal for a bit of dessert, or a cup of coffee. Most people don't really know about it for some reason, so there always tends to be quite a bit of space. Their lunch and dinner menu doesn't look too bad though.

In other news, I dug out my old Polaroid Impulse AF that has been gather a bit of dust. Going to see if I can get a bit of film for it and try something different.

Blurry week

2011-08-13T22:33:00.000+10:00

Another week, passed in a blur.

I managed to take a lot of pictures this week. I visited a datacentre that had just opened and also went about taking headshots for a volunteer organisation on the weekend. It's only Saturday, but I think I'm going to be buggered tomorrow. For once, an early seven.

Walking past Wake Up! while heading into the city one morning, I happened to be there just as fire trucks were pulling up. There were a group of bleary eyed young girls who had just stumbled out of the fire escape and on to the street in their pajamas and wrapped in blankets. I don't think anyone else in the building really could give a damn.

That would probably be me too. What? I'm on fire? At least it's warm in bed. Another five minutes.

One of our sub-editors at work looking at a selection of our journo's devices. She's why what appears on the site looks amazingly clean. I feel bad for when I hand her horrible copy or when what I write makes no sense. (Like on this blog, I really don't care for flow or sometimes making sense.) If journos worry about people not seeing their by-line, I think they should stop for a moment and think about their sub-editors who only get an obscure mention (if even that).

On our chief sub-editor's desk: motivation in a jar (also diabetes in a jar). I had a lolly jar once, but it kept emptying faster than I could fill it, so I gave up.

I'm sure I must have taken a picture of this before. Somehow I manage to take pictures at exactly the wrong moment. Doubly curious since my phone has a bit of a delay before it actually takes the picture. I wonder if anyone has ever climbed in their drunkenness. Is drunkenness a word? I think our sub-editors would take me aside if I ever used it.

Wow, just realised there's a lot of work-related photos this week. I suppose it's only natural when you're there most of the time. One of my colleagues received this in the mail. It's a USB stick! It's actually pretty heavy considering its size. Disappointingly, it's only 1GB.

Yes, that's also a jar of salsa. Don't ask.

One of my friends' awesome chocolate lighter. Makes me hungry just looking at it. When he handed it to me, he told me that three people had already tried to eat it. So I tried also.

I spent a fair bit of today staring at this while waiting for people to get ready between photo sessions. It was over at Australian Technology Park. There's awesome amounts of light, old machinery, old trains, all sorts of things. The male toilets are a bit weird though. Something weird about peeing into a plastic, waterless trough.

Vegemite

2011-08-10T14:20:00.000+10:00

Just the one image this week; it hasn't been good.

Everything passed me by pretty quickly, even though it's been a bit of a slow news week. I guess I go through these troughs every now and then.

I always seem to find the strangest stuff at the supermarket. My first vegemite? Seriously? I'm worried some unsuspecting parent will pick it up thinking it's baby food and feed their kid the entire jar. I guess then they'll really be a vegemite kid.

I also love seeing stuff that is put back in the wrong place, as if to say, "No, I didn't want this, I want this!" Things like finding candy bars in the health food aisle. Or instant noodles in the vegetable aisle. Or toilet paper in the hardware aisle. Wait, say what?

Food and "family"

2011-07-31T19:33:00.000+10:00

When you spend so much time at the office, the people you work with end up becoming your second family. As a newcomer to the work place, I'm constantly finding stuff like this around the place.

We had our half-yearly review recently, which was a lot of presentations, but also a family dinner shouted by the company. Our small edit team wandered off on our own early for a beer. All of us are different in one way or another. Quiet, loud, opinionated, not-opinionated. Diverse is what I'd call it.

Wandering around Glebe, there's a street with all of these wooden carvings in it. Almost every house in the street has one, all of similar sort of design. Sort of freaky, but sort of cool at the same time.

Later in the week at the office, there's always someone doing something silly.

I made it over to Newtown on the weekend to visit Pie Tin. Really small place, just off of King Street, but the pies there are to die for. Real chunks of meat in them. Apparently the dessert pies are even better. Maybe next week, but I fear I'll put on weight if I make it a habit.

Wandering through my old university, the old library I used to study at has been emptied out. In true engineering style, some student with a sense of humour defaced the sign. I think I like it better this way.

Then close to midnight, Saturday, one of my mates calls me up for a coffee, which ends up rolling around to the early hours of Sunday morning. What else is open at that hour besides Pancakes on the Rocks? It's been a while so it's time to pay them a visit. Breakfast with Coronas? Breakfast of champions.

A week of variety

2011-07-27T23:13:00.000+10:00

The weekend of the 16th and 17th was all about me shooting for an anime convention called Smash! -- my more "serious" pics are floating around on Flickr. It's cheating a little to include an image from the previous week, but I made sure not to include any Smash! photos then. =) Anyway, I thought the people on the internet would recognise this guy.

Also found myself making my way across to St Leonards to attend a talk. I hopped on a train at Museum station. It must have been about ten years since I last saw it since I'm never on that side of the City circle. It's really a lovely place. Something about having everything underground. I guess they don't call it Museum for nothing.

A relaxing Saturday morning spent out in Ashfield at my sister's place. For some reason we both live in old Victorian-style houses, although hers is in much better condition (and I presently wonder when my bathroom is going to collapse). Equally odd is that we both live in streets named after royalty.

I'm not sure exactly where I was for brunch on Saturday, but I sat outside in the cold with my coffee. I've become so used to Campos that it's a bit of a weird feeling drinking anything else, but this wasn't bad. I liked the tiny teddy. Although he lost his foot. Why is that? When I was a kid I always got the teddies with no arms or legs.

Spent some of Sunday catching up on some chores, but also cleaned up the liquor cupboard and added a new bottle of Jack, not to brush my teeth with. Jack Daniels is one of the only drinks that makes me depressed. Everything else makes me a happy drunk, but Jack? Better watch out.

Don't ask me how it's related, but I also somehow ended up at Ikea and bought not one, not two, but three lamps. One is still sitting in its box. I surprise myself sometimes.

And the inner geek in me took a pic of my computer while it was processing Smash! photos on Monday evening. My specs aren't great, but they're so much better than before. It used to be a case of clicking export and coming back after a cup of coffee or tea, but it's much faster now.

Further adventures in shooting street

2011-07-17T12:06:00.001+10:00

It's been a fairly productive week. My camera has been following me around practically everywhere (or is it me following it around?) and I've been a bit more daring when it comes to taking street pics, despite the strange looks.

What I've found though, is that people really don't notice you so long as you've been there for a while and even if they do notice you shooting, it's really easy to just continue looking down the barrel and looking at something else.

I also saw my mentor mid-week. To be honest, when I was on my way there, I felt horribly drained, wondering if the path I'd chosen was really the right one, but after the session, I felt so much more on track, so much more inspired. Anyone that wants to succeed needs a mentor, I think, or at least someone that will put you back on your feet when you're feeling like you don't want to go on.

In the Devonshire Street tunnel, there's a lady that often sings opera. She's been there for as long as I can remember, sometimes singing alongside other people, other times just by herself. I've often wanted to busk in there, but a combination of nerves and being recognised have always stopped me. Christine on the other hand, is completely at home, although she said the first few times were the most scary.

The day I spoke to her was the day she lost her job. She'd been busking for the past five years purely for the fun of it, almost twice a day, so she joked she might have to step that up a bit. She talked about people who would walk past and mock her, but then wouldn't have the courage to stick around, let alone do it themselves.

As we were talking, I also met Kelly, a quiet-spoken American girl who I think had recently come to Sydney. Some of her uni friends were busking simply to try and get those few extra dollars to make ends meet. I'd always thought it was interesting that people often mistook buskers as glorified beggars. Most buskers I'd met didn't need the money. Christine was an example of someone who did it purely because she loved to sing, but after hearing Kelly's story, I'm sure there are some out there that are using busking to make ends meet.

I guess it goes to show, even when you think you've got it all figured out, life turns around and surprises you again.

Christine and Kelly.

City lights, night life, and happy times

2011-07-09T16:59:00.000+10:00

It's occurred to me that I need to visit some newer places. Trying to find time during lunch has been difficult.

PMA and hunger

2011-06-29T13:07:00.001+10:00

Just two for last week.

I went along to PMA on the weekend, but didn't want to be another one of those guys who shoot everyone else's models with everyone else's lighting and then pass it off as their own.

It was a really great experience however, besides a couple of rude people.

I'll likely write more about it on my actual blog, but for now here are photos from last week.

I ate a lot. =D

Office and weekend geekery

2011-06-21T21:22:00.000+10:00

I've been really excited about starting at my new job, so a lot of these pics are those from my new workplace.

I'm not way up in a tower, but there's a reasonable view from the nearby window. As long as I have some light, I'm pretty happy since I don't really stare out the window much.

I met this chap on the weekend at Supanova. Sweet get up. I can't even begin to imagine how long it must've taken to make.

At work there's a Space Marine! Foursquare tells me I should hug him because he gets lonely, but I'm yet to do so. Also Street Fighter, but I sucked when I was a kid, so I'm going to assume I still suck.

Window cleaners are making their rounds around the building. We thought it might be funny to shoot them with Nerf blasters, but thought we should be a bit more responsible. Right.

Left from my predecessor, I have no idea what's going on here, but only noticed them after my first week had passed.

The view from above Supanova during the weekend. I wrote a write up on my blog if you're interested.

Cake! My significant other made an awesome cake for my Dad's early birthday. Tastes and looks super awesome!

Candy, a new job and urban messages

2011-06-12T16:49:00.000+10:00

I left my old job this week. Going to miss the people there, but I'm also looking forward to some new challenges. I'll be based in the city proper now, so with any luck, I'll have more photos actually from Sydney.

My local park has a lot of these sort of messages. I've shot a number of concrete sculptures here before and I sometimes wander down for a bit of inspiration. I love my suburb. It's only small, but it's full of creatives.

Someone is a wheatbix kid.

Meet Ginger. She's a rescue. My sister took in a whole bunch of kittens that didn't look like they would survive. She's still pretty shy, but when she warms up to you she's all purry. That's Oreo in the background, another rescue. Crazy cat.

If you're ever in Manly, check these guys out (if you can find them!). I walked past them twice before seeing their tiny sign.

Mmmm... Not cheap, but man these were good. Strawberries and cream might be my fave.

Trying my hand at street. I've yet to get it right (if there is a right way of doing it).

Galeries Victoria. I've often wondered why there's only one "L" in Galeries.

Hello there winter and er, christmas too

2011-06-03T08:53:00.001+10:00

Over at this food court I sometimes eat at there are christmas decorations that look like they've never been taken down since they were put up several years ago.

One is a strange possum-type thing and another is a pair of angels blowing their, um trumpets.

Y u no post?

2011-05-31T18:02:00.001+10:00

Yeah, I'm sorry.

On a positive note, I've been updating my other blog!

Kittens, jumping castles and hard drives

2011-05-15T14:32:00.001+10:00

I still haven't figured out why they won't rotate properly.

Holy crap

2011-05-09T23:15:00.001+10:00

I wish I knew there was an android app for blogger!

Okay, here's a bunch of photos. For some reason it's a really convoluted way to rotate, so please bear with me.

A sleepy week

2011-04-03T20:34:00.000+10:00

Been a bit sleepy this week - haven't been up to much. So this week's pics are just from locally around.

Getting through the backlog

2011-03-30T23:58:00.000+11:00

I've had quite a number of pics saved up over the past week or two, but just haven't had the time to get them up. So today here's a whole bunch!

Oh dur. There's a ring pull.

I love that from one end of the train carriage, you can see a guy all the way over the other side.

Take what you can, leave nothing behind... except a beer and a wheel.

This is Oreo. He's a cute little cat, who will some day grow up to terrorise my sister before eventually become a sedate little thing.

Happy rice pot loves to keep your rice warm.

I love these sculptures. They keep appearing in my local park, but someone also keeps destroying them. At least it brings variety.

Lighting is pretty horrid in this tunnel, but I often see people carrying all sort of weird and wonderful things.

On one of my mystery shops, I came across a box of tissues that has what looks like a turd on it. Turd. Because rocks wouldn't make much sense either.

Seems like there's a lot from my commute. I've been having less luck on the weekends with taking pics, so I've had to make do where I can. Better to have seven pics of my commute than none at all, right?

Laziness

2011-03-12T23:53:00.000+11:00

Sorry guys.

I know, I know. I've been a baaaad boy.

I hope some of these make up for it. I've been walking the streets hoping to do some street photography, but unfortunately, I keep failing to get enough courage up to go on through with it.

In other news, I bought a MacBook Pro. It's taking a little getting used to, having come from a PC background all my life, but I'm enjoying it at the same time. I bought it primarily to get more work while I'm out and about, which also includes getting more photos processed.

A week in Western Australia - 7 Feb 2011

2011-02-15T19:52:00.000+11:00

Went down to Perth for work last week. Funnily enough, made my seven there when I usually can't here!

Don't have a process yet for getting these from my phone, so aside for a bit of in-phone cropping, here they are as they were. I'd like to visit Fremantle and Cottesloe again some day, even if just to see the sun set again.

Good morning Kiama

2011-01-26T09:47:00.001+11:00

Handy hand crank!

2011-01-26T08:49:00.001+11:00

Haven't seen an old car with one of these cranks in, well, ever!

Up early this morning

2011-01-26T06:46:00.001+11:00

Finally got in a bit of shooting time this morning.

Just outside the kitchen window

2011-01-24T07:52:00.001+11:00

2011-01-23T17:24:00.001+11:00

Relaxing sunday

2011-01-23T16:31:00.001+11:00

Just for kicks

2011-01-22T14:47:00.001+11:00

I like to smash myself in the head with my ipod while doing a karate kick to my music!

Sleepy, down south

2011-01-22T14:47:00.000+11:00

I'm out at Jervis bay this weekend. I'll hopefully have a few good pics up from my bludging =)

Market full of hay

2011-01-13T19:10:00.001+11:00

Drive and read the paper

2011-01-12T17:23:00.000+11:00

I don't get people who do this. Just turn on news radio!

Alarming notice

2011-01-10T18:54:00.001+11:00

City veins

2011-01-09T01:45:00.001+11:00

Well, they're the transportation life-blood until they clog up.

View from the "gym"

2011-01-08T18:52:00.001+11:00

Resting place

2011-01-05T23:54:00.000+11:00

This is in a tucked away park just near a motorway. I don't think I saw a single person the whole time I was there.

It used to be a cemetery until it was remade into what it is today.

2011

2011-01-03T01:34:00.001+11:00

Barring the last two photos (which were actually taken last week, last year), I've got a fresh start!

Resolutions for this blog this year? More text, more photos, more dedication to photography, more of Sydney. Simply more.

I don't remember if I mentioned this, but I dropped the themes some time ago. I found that they hindered getting my seven up and that's the key to this all. That seems to have helped with getting more photos up.

I've also been considering that there should be possibly more to do with Sydney since it is in the name of this blog after all =P. I'm not quite sure where to start on this one, but I would like to give other Sydney-siders something to relate to. A blog full of pics from my hum-drum life is not exactly the most interesting to follow.

I'll see a lot more this year, and hopefully you will too! =)

Construction

2011-01-03T01:08:00.001+11:00

Alley ways

2011-01-03T01:06:00.000+11:00

Nice boat

2010-12-20T19:48:00.001+11:00

Street plan

2010-12-18T16:22:00.003+11:00

Little Queen

2010-12-18T16:22:00.001+11:00

Found on a street so appropriately named.

I actually did get my 7 last week, but forgot to upload the last one. Not looking so great this week though.

I'll get there one day!

Replaced by..?

2010-12-15T18:56:00.001+11:00

I didn't realise this guy was still making these sculptures. I must look him up again one day.

Bad romance

2010-12-09T10:47:00.000+11:00

I have no idea what this is about, but it looks like a bad combination.

Riding out of the sunrise

2010-12-09T08:44:00.001+11:00

Flag in the harbour

2010-12-08T22:45:00.001+11:00

Big wheel

2010-12-08T22:16:00.001+11:00

Hardened phone

2010-12-08T10:07:00.001+11:00

Down the rails

2010-12-06T14:47:00.001+11:00

Didn't end up getting out much on the weekend, so here's to a fresh start again.

Glimmer of light

2010-12-03T14:27:00.001+11:00

Yeah, I've been a bit slack with writing something to go with these photos.

I guess that's one of the disadvantages with taking quick snapshots - they're meant to be quick and typing takes a while.

Still trying to get back to a seven day week. Hopefully there will be more on the weekends to make up for the grind during week days

Under the street

2010-12-02T20:41:00.000+11:00

Light speed

2010-11-30T17:47:00.001+11:00

A powerful place to be

2010-11-30T14:59:00.001+11:00

Found a friend

2010-11-28T21:28:00.001+11:00

Silly season

2010-11-28T19:30:00.000+11:00

Gnarly

2010-11-28T14:08:00.001+11:00

Pathways

2010-11-26T13:13:00.001+11:00

Brewery

2010-11-24T18:00:00.001+11:00

Like a bee

2010-11-22T16:11:00.001+11:00

I wish this could be more creative, but I'm chained to my desk today.

Coffee

2010-11-19T14:37:00.002+11:00

It's been a while because I've been hanging out waiting for my new phone to arrive.
Well, it's here now so hopefully there will be a lot more photos from me this time around.

Space - One

2010-09-05T23:35:00.001+10:00

IMG_7695.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Okay, dramatic FAIL for the week before last!

What happened? What's my excuse?

Well, I got a bit lazy. So what happened to this week just ending then? I ended up in Brisbane. I did take a lot of shots, which will likely end up on my site rather than here.

Shall we try again? This upcoming week's theme shall be... Fonts.

Shooting Through Things - Six

2010-08-23T22:07:00.003+10:00

IMG_7528.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

This one would be better suited for a lines theme... but I threw it in anyway.

Technically I'm shooting through stairs, right??

Shooting Through Things - Seven

2010-08-23T22:07:00.001+10:00

IMG_7529.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

And this was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

But I wanted to get seven photos in at least.

Quite a disappointing week. I hope I do better this time around, although it looks to be a busy one.

So... Next week's theme? *cue dramatic IRON CHEF music, smoke and camera zoom!* Space.

Shooting Through Things - Five

2010-08-23T22:04:00.001+10:00

IMG_7524.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

I love pictures that tell a bit of a story.

Even if it's just a little story.

Shooting Through Things - Four

2010-08-23T22:03:00.001+10:00

IMG_7522.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

A so-so shot that could've been made so much better with a little thought.

Maybe next time.

Shooting Through Things - Three

2010-08-23T22:02:00.001+10:00

IMG_7519.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

I messed up this window for this shot. Don't be stealing my prints now!

(In case you can't see, the focus is on a fingerprint on a window I'm shooting through.)

Shooting Through Things - Two

2010-08-23T22:01:00.001+10:00

IMG_7514.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

It's actually quite strange to shoot through a magnifying glass as the focus changes when you move the glass also.

I love how the edge of the glass sort of melts away.

Shooting Through Things - One

2010-08-23T22:00:00.001+10:00

IMG_7513.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Hard week this one. Got a few nice ones, but mostly duds. Like this one.

It's a wind chime at my parents' place. Didn't really think it through too well.

Reminds me of something I read on someone's blog: "There are no bad photographers, just lazy ones." Don't know whether I agree with it in general, but laziness certainly killed off this shot.

Desaturated - Seven

2010-08-15T18:14:00.002+10:00

IMG_7416.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Opportunistic shot of the jogger in red. I don't think I quite achieved what I had in mind and he's too far down the frame.

I wanted him to stand out subtly by desatching everything else slightly but without the tell-tale selective colouring.

--

So ends this week. It's been a busy one as I've been processing photos from Smash (see my set on flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukimu/sets/72157624554510633/) and I also went out to the Glebe tram shed with a set of brollies and a cute model. The theme has been a good learning experience, especially in colour correction. They're not top-notch photos, but none of the Seven in Sydney collection are meant to be.

I was sort of afraid I wouldn't have much to use for this week's theme, but it seems it all worked out nicely.

So, next week? Shooting through stuff.

Desaturated - Six

2010-08-15T18:08:00.003+10:00

IMG_7413.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

I actually didn't end up desaturating this one. Apart from a white balance, the colours are as is.

Desaturated - Five

2010-08-15T18:08:00.001+10:00

IMG_7411.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Couldn't decide what to do with this one.

Desaturated - Four

2010-08-15T18:07:00.001+10:00

IMG_7403.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Another green-bathed shot. The ambient is going to the magenta side of things.

I can't quite figure out how to get skin tone right, so I've sort of cheated and desatched it.

Desaturated - Three

2010-08-15T18:06:00.001+10:00

IMG_7401.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

There's that pale green overcast that I haven't been able to get rid of, but what you can't see is that the original was completed washed out in green. Those light bulbs are actually all green.

The sign is also green, which is a bit of a tricky task for colour correction.

This isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with where it ended up given the original.

Desaturated - Two

2010-08-15T18:04:00.001+10:00

IMG_7393.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

My DSLR brings up red really well. So much so that it's almost painful to the eyes.

Desaturated - One

2010-08-15T18:02:00.001+10:00

IMG_7383.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

One rainy evening, while waiting in the car.

Close, but no cigar!

2010-08-08T22:24:00.000+10:00

Well, I missed this week again. I did end up shooting at SMASH!, an anime and manga convention however, so all is not lost.

I did consider that the mobility theme might be a bit hard also. So I'm going to try something easier this week: Desaturation.

It's more of a post-processing thing, but I think I need practice in that area too.

Texture - Seven

2010-07-31T21:35:00.001+10:00

IMG_6568.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Jess' mat, covered in dog fur. It needs a bit of a vacuum!

So end this week. I loaned out my camera, so I didn't have Sunday to shoot. In fact, I almost completely forgot I was meant to be shooting this week.

It wasn't until Thursday or Friday afternoon that I remembered while looking at something and thought it would be a good thing to shoot for the theme.

So now I need to think of a new theme... Mobility.

Texture - Six

2010-07-31T21:31:00.001+10:00

IMG_6562.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

This is actually a metal suitcase I have. Didn't think it would turn out like this with the right light.

Texture - Five

2010-07-31T21:30:00.005+10:00

IMG_6556.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

A jacket.

Texture - Four

2010-07-31T21:30:00.003+10:00

IMG_6555.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Bit hard to tell, this one. It's the fabric backrest of my chair.

Texture - Three

2010-07-31T21:30:00.001+10:00

IMG_6552.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

A set of fabric blinds, right next to my workspace.

Texture - Two

2010-07-31T21:29:00.003+10:00

IMG_6546.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

The walls of my house.

It's an old house.

Texture - One

2010-07-31T21:29:00.001+10:00

IMG_6545.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Bit of a let-down this week.

It would have been a prime topic for macros, but unfortunately I don't have one (one of the things on my wishlist is the new EF 100mm 2.8L).

This here is my couch!

Camera Gear - Seven

2010-07-24T19:09:00.001+10:00

IMG_6516.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

Providing the lighting for all of these shots is my old 430EX flash.

They don't make these anymore, but they're a hardy little thing.

So that ends this week! On a Saturday no less!

Good fun experimenting with paper to get that seamless effect.

And so next week's theme is... Texture.

Camera Gear - Six

2010-07-24T18:16:00.001+10:00

IMG_6523.jpg, originally uploaded by Mukimu.

My old DSLR.

Fun times learning on this, it mainly sits in a drawer now.