Work The Angles

Hey Gang;

While sleeping on the grass in the park last week, unbeknown to me a furry caterpillar began crawling up my neck. It wasn't until I felt something irritating and rubbed it that I realised what it was. I spent friday night watching TV and rubbing antihistamine into one of the largest hickie-esque reactions my neck has ever seen. You'd have been forgiven for thinking someone had glued a Cumberland sausage to my neck.

Saturday was glorious. I was on assignment on Manly's corso covering the opening of a new Ben & Jerry's franchise (the first in Australia as a B&J's fanatic at the front of the queue informed me). This assignment reminded me just how tough a career in news photography will be. I had to get a shot to accompany an expose on the business's bad practices. The starving masses in Sudan is one thing, but just try finding a negative angle on a thousand Aussie kids and free ice-cream at the beach.

I stole a bit of time afterward to shoot some of the volleyball players on the beach and finally, after wondering why the antihistamine wasn't working, I took myself off to the chemist to replace it with one which wasn't two years out of date.

On Sunday Bodhi and I went to the pool for his weekly chlorine skulling comp. It's a wonder he still floats. A BBQ lunch at a friends followed by a picnic in the park rounded out the remainder of the weekend.

see ya,
Minas.

Grand Opening

Hey Gang;

The Lovely Samantha hit the city sporting a racy new dress to catch up with her gal pals on Friday. Dunno how, but the girls seem to invent new excuses to socialise. First it was "book club" (5 minutes of book review, 1hr 55 of Gossip), then it was "The Artist way club" (5 minutes of art therapy, 1hr 55 of Gossip) and now a "destress club" (5minutes of rhythmic breathing, several hours of Gossip).
Still gave Bodhi and I time to enjoy the manly pursuits of watching firemen attend to the next door neighbour's house (singed pride but no major damage). Bodhi thought Christmas had come early.

We hadn't yet had our new neighbours over (not the pyromaniacs, the others), so we made them brunch on Saturday. A novel experience. I spent a few hours at Clovelly learning to use a mate's underwater camera before heading back, picking up the troops and heading over to a friend's for dinner.

Sunday I was on assignment which sounds much cooler than it is. The gala opening of the revamped Leichhardt aquatic center needed coverage so yours truly got the nod to shoot a covershot for the local rag. The brief was to shoot the official ribbon cutting but to try and get more happy smiley kiddy shots which is a difficult ask in this era of post Bill Henson paranoia. Still, I successfully avoided any untoward glances by being upfront, honest, but above all pre-arranging a friend's kids to be the main focus. Favourite shot of the day which wont see the cover is no doubt a mid air shot of Olympic gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham doing his thing from the 10m diving platform. Talk about heights.

see ya,
Minas.

Summer's Here

Hey Gang;

A darn good weekend kids, even if I do say so myself.

Friday night had relatively new friend's around for dinner. A vegetarian majority simply meant more sausages for me.

Saturday was a cracking day. I convinced Bodhi to ask for pancakes for breakfast (not too hard) which meant I got to have them too. The Lovely Samantha had the wonderful idea to go to the beach and why not - sun shining, mercury rising, summer's here. A few hours in Bra boy heartland kickstarted the seasonal bronzing in fine form. She then had the wonderful idea to leave the aircon going in the car while the engine was off. A while later someone thankfully kickstarted the car back into life.

The best part of Sunday was spent doing handyman stuff. I made an anti-cat-crap-flap for the side gate thus preventing the new neighbour's cat from squeezing underneath it and treating our pebbled side passage like its very own kitty litter.

This morning I put the finishing touches onto a cover letter for a job that I'm absolutely gagging to get. If their main selection criteria is witty writing, I'm a shoe in, although having said that, it is a photography job. Finger's crossed please.

see ya,
Minas.

For She's a Jolly Good Sheila

Hey Gang;

Friday was The Lovely Samantha's birthday. Like any adoring partner, i got up at the crack of dawn, went out for fresh flowers, put the kettle on, prepared pancake mixture... and waited several hours for the rest of the house to stir into life.

For some reason, this year was particularly difficult. I just couldn't think of anything to get her. I thought I'd struck gold with a last minute dash into HMV for the first series of Star Trek Next Generation. Alas it will just see me dash back into the store this week for a refund. Lucky the flowers were a hit.

After depositing Bodhi at daycare, we high tailed it to the Hunter Valley for a few days of R&R. Mum had kindly offered to babysit for the weekend. Now, being skint and a bit of a tight arse, you'd be forgiven for wondering why the splurge on a weekend away - A friend's wedding.

The weather wasn't great but it didn't stop us getting out and about for a few wines, food and scenery. The wedding wasn't too shabby either. Gave us a good excuse to catch up with the Hudsons and other friends who live just around the corner but we never manage to see otherwise.

Sunday was more or the same lousy weather and a long slow drive home.

I'm now trying to pen a 2000 word article to accompany my photos of the cycle journey for (hopeful) publication in Australian Photography magazine. Dunno about you, but I hate writing about travel after returning home. Just can't seem to capture that same vibe...like Mabo.

see ya,
Minas.

BTW - Finally got around to launching my website

Regular Work...Not

Hey Gang;

On Friday i tagged along with a photographer i'd previously assisted (he didn't need an assistant, but i was interested in the shoot so he let me watch). He was shooting an interesting project of portraits of a variety of subjects at the Westmead childrens hospital (patients and staff) in Parramatta. Finished the day stuck in traffic but home in time to kiss Bodhi good night and head out with the Lovely Samantha for an Indian meal with friends.

Now, as any doctor will tell you, a good breakfast is essential to a growing boy...so, at Mum's suggestion (and kind offer to pay), on Saturday morning we took Bodhi to Yum Cha. Despite our best intentions it seemed our girths were the main things to grow decidedly larger. The afternoon was spent chilling at home and preparing dinner for the neighbours.

With council chuck out fast approaching, Sunday was earmarked as clean up day. The floor is now visible in not just the laundry, but the garage too. If that wasn't enough of a full weekend, we rounded out the evening with dinner at our friend's not-so-new house.

This morning started with the promise of some regular paid work - the first since the decision to leave IT. Sadly though, after reporting for jury duty this morning, i was informed that the trial was canceled. Back to the drawing board.









Day 154 of my water series

see ya,
Minas.