Hey You Say CHeese Does falls festival

Every new years thousands of people flock to Lorne, Victoria for The Falls Music and Arts Festival, and for the past 6 years I have been one of those people. Arguably Australia's best festival Falls is all about good times, good people, good things for the environment and of course great music.

This year i strung up two cameras on behalf of the Hey You! Say Cheese Project , 1 back stage and 1 at the top of the hill that forms the natural amphitheatre of the main stage, I attached this note and managed to capture a handful of the many smiling faces that make falls what it is year after year.....

Ive posted my two fave shots above and you can check out the full albums here.... Let me know what you think!

365 ways to say goodbye

A good friend over at the wonderful Empire Ave fwd this story onto me. Joe Bradford is spending this year taking a Polaroid picture a day in a attempt to use up all her expired pack film in a meaningful way...

I just love the 365 days/photo a day thing, Ive blogged about various projects here, here and here and Ive never once got sick of looking through the shots, each day is a new and pleasant surprise. When i eventually get to America I plan on taking a Polaroid a day for a year... it just seems like the perfect way to capture a adventure, small snap shots that jog your memory of good times that have passed and better times that are yet to come!

If you'd like to see more of Jo's work click here to be taken to her blog. I hope you enjoy looking at her beautiful shots as much as i did.

Travel Photography

What are the two things I love most in life? Travel and Photography. Finally I have created a home for these two loves here on my website, so far I've only got galleries up for Cambodia, Vietnam and Antarctica, but rest assured there is more to come.

All shots are for sale for editorial purposes only. Advertising is for the devil... unless of course the devil is paying me enough to fund my next trip in which case I may reconsider...

From Rusia with love...

Some beautiful shots just in from aimless wanderer Matt Kovacs. Check out more of his candid work from his travels, namely a slight detour to Russia here, Matt's camera and film of choice for this particular detour was his Lomo LC-A loaded with non other than Kodak Pro Image 100 - Now Ive got to get me some of that... Matt hasn't photoshoped these shots so what you see is what you get and what you get is pure gold.

The Polaroid Wall

Well this is just bloody impressive. Ive seen some pretty nifty Polaroid walls in my time but this one, found here on Flickr, takes the cake! I mean check out the detail people... This dude Todd (owner of both wall and Polaroids) has taken the time to calculate the exact distance needed between each Polaroid to make sure there is no pesky left over space at the end of each row! And floor to ceiling too - now thats dedication!

This has got me all inspired to cover one of my walls top to bottom in the 100's of Polaroids i currently have lying around in shoe boxes. Keen for a little inspiration yourself, check out more Pola-walls here!

Antartica on my mind...

So I had a interesting weekend, watched a movie with my sister Friday night, took my niece shopping on Saturday morning, went to a friends birthday drink on Saturday night... got up early on Sunday and flew to Antarctica... you know the usual :)

It was SUCH a amazing trip, I shot some film but have not had the chance to get it developed yet so here is a little digital I took to tie you over....If you have a lazy five grand stashed under your mattress I highly recommend you take the trip... More details to come....

Suggestion box

Got any interesting photographic related tid bits you'd care to share with moi? Si`? Then post a comment below!

cambodia on my mind

I'm off to Antarctica tomorrow and I got to thinking about the last time I went travelling last year i spent a month cruising the mean streets of Asia and a little country called Cambodia... I remember being so amazed by the scenery, so lush and green, it was just totally different to what i expected and I'd bet my bottom dollar I'm going to be equally amazed tomorrow when I fly over the antarctic...

I'm looking fwd to taking some photos Ive packed my Pentax, my golden half camera and my canon G9, i think given the weather conditions and the fact I'm shooting from 2000ft in the air the digital will be my best bet (sigh) but ill be sure to click through a roll or two of slide film and keep my fingers crossed!

In the meantime I hope you enjoy the little slice of Cambodia above, this shot was taken on the road to Angkor tom on slide film cross processed, i just love the saturation and accidental motion in this picture.

Stewie Griffen on female photographers

I love this his character so much I'm considering name my first born Stewie! Enjoy his somewhat humorous take on female photographers

A new site for the Impossible

The Impossible Project will be launching their new website this month! hooray! Watch this space. Getting a little antsy waiting for the launch? You can visit the old site here

Mina + Alex tie the knot

One of my more popular posts towards the end of 09 was about a Max Wagner engagement session with a couple by the name of Mina & Alex. Good golly they were beautiful photos and you could just tell from the warmth that exuded from the images that photographer and subject had connected on a whole other level!

Mina and Alex got married in the California sunshine last week with no one present but max and the pastor... I was hard pushed picking just 3 shots of Max's to display above so be sure to click here to check out the rest of this amazing shoot!

Mina & Alex whoever you are i hope you live happily ever after

Hey you! "_______"

So I've left a few cameras around the traps lately with my usual note, but have only just had a chance to scan everything in today, I wont upload it all at once but I wanted to get this one up as it was left at a Mexican restaurant called El'Sol during a friends premiere of their surf flick "____"

There were a bunch of local hooligans around and it was a fun night had by all and as always there were 1 or two shots that i really dug.... but a lot were just your run of the mill happy snap, which totally bums me out, well its a double edged sword... You see i LOVE that people are getting into it and taking photos but I'm not to keen on the standard smiley shot that you'd take and delete 1000 times over on your digital camera...

some shots didn't even turn out because people are so lazy now the think the flash will turn on automatically if you need it... they forget that's not the case with lo-fi photography, you have to judge the lighting and make that decision for yourself, which is one of the things i love most about shooting lo-fi film....which also makes way for one of the bigger disapointments when half your roll comes back black :(

I leave disposable cameras around to remind people how fun it is to give a composition a little thought, put some creative effort into a image instead of treating a shot, any shot like a bunch of nothing pixels you can manipulate and delete.... I want to see bold shapes, random objects and compositions, in saying that I'd hate to discourage shots of the aformentioned smiling faces, but Id like to see a bit of character and energy injected into those faces, much like the dudes above.... now they look like they are getting into it!

Im thinking the three shots above are the best for various reasons but dont take my word for it - To see the rest of the results click here or if you would like to know more about the project itself then i'd click here instead.

Read my note... if you have any suggestions on how i can get people to be more creative with their images please let me know!

PIC 1000

Last week I introduced you all to the new Polaroid PIC 1000 here, I don't know about you but I'm getting pretty excited about it / feel like vomiting in my mouth when i remember they have hired lady gaga as a creative director for the brand, bad business decisions aside (gaga and choosing to axe the film in the first place) I perhaps forgot to mention some of the newer qualities of this here Polaroid.

The new model has of course a flash, but the good people at Polaroid have also thrown in a self-timer and even red-eye reduction...And, thanks to the Impossible Project, it’ll work with Polaroid 1000 instant film... all sounds a bit snazzy don't it, stay tuned for pricing and distribution details closer to release!

How do you guys feel about the new additions of red eye reduction and self timer? does it ruin the natural beauty of a Polaroid or are you stoked these 21st century alterations have finally been made?

Fuck you 16 shot mode

hahaha... I had to laugh when i read this post by Joelly, new to following this blog... and perhaps new to using his or her Diana or holga?... Ahh the trials and tribulations of getting to know a new camera, the beautiful thing about photography is there is no such thing as a bad photo, technically maybe, but just because you leave the frame mask on or perhaps load your film in direct sunlight, like Joelly's shots above by no means makes them a bad photo, or as Joelly so eloquently puts it "these are the worst photos i have ever seen and i am embarrassed to have taken them"

Joelly if it makes you feel any better i like em!

Will the new Polaroid please stand up

We all heard some months ago now that the good people over at Polaroid were kicking them selves for ever giving such a crowd favorite the flick off the production schedule but thanks largely to all the hard work put in by Florian and his team over at The Impossible Project not only will they be releasing their own brand of film sometime this year but Polaroid themselves will be releasing special edition cameras and film.

Above is a sneak peak at the new Polaroid... its very sleek with a 1950s danish influence in the aesthetics but with a name like the PIC 1000 this camera is all about 2010. Word on the mean streets is they'll hit stores some time this year and wont cost more than about $100 US dollars, which is not bad for something that is surely going to be a collectors item in years to come... I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty excited about it!

Read more at photography bay here.

Im going to Antarctica....

But I'll be home in time for dinner! Sounds crazy i know but in two Sundays i shall be jumping on a airbus A380 to not so warm Antarctica.... with out actually disembarking it is the scenic flight to end all scenic flights and i cant wait to take some glorious photos of the largest continent on earth (with the smallest population at just 1200 people)

Stay tuned for visual evidence coming soon.

The Toy camera handbook

Well isn't this just the bee's knees.... The clever chaps over at Toy Camera have produced somewhat of a users guide for lovers of a plastic lens.

The Toy camera Handbook is the result of the collaboration of 32 members of toycamera.com. Basically the Toy camera people noted through their forums that many a question remained queried by toy camera enthusiasts? So naturally they spent the next two years compiling and researching until in 2007 the hand book was ready to be released into the wild... and when i say wild i mean you, the consumer.

All profits from the Toy camera Handbook go toward making toycamera.com bigger and better – anything from paying for bandwidth to building bigger and better interactive functionality into the site..... Its nice to know your money is being well spent, I think people appreciate a bit of transparency these days

The final result is 112 high-quality pages in full-color, perfect bound awesomness. Click here to make a purchase!

5 minute with... who?

OK so Ive published numerous interviews with various (fantastic) Photographers.... There's been Jeff Robson, Max Wagner and Robert Reader - just to name a few, but now i would like to know who you would like to see interviewed for this here site...

Hankering to know what kind of film your fave photographer uses or just where they get their inspiration from? Drop their name in the comment box below and I will endeavor to deliver 5 minutes with the aforementioned soul... whom ever that might be....

PS: talk about reduce, reuse recycle... how freakn RAD are these book ends... Ill think twice about throwing out old Lego and domino's from now on that's for sure :)

DIY awesomeness

Crafting your own surfboard from raw materials in the middle of the bush, well that just looks like too much fun, Check out Look and Sea for more little rays of photographic sunshine such as the one above.

Bring back the Photobooth

A bit of lateral thinking, 1 photobooth and safari hat... what more does a girl need?
Seen here on A Cup of Jo

Polaroid goes gaga

Really!?! Lady Gaga designing Polaroid products? Like going digital wasn't bad enough now they have bought on a 23 year old pop star "to help Polaroid appeal to a younger demographic after its technology was rendered obsolete by digital cameras offering a more effective form of instant photo gratification"

What a croc! If anything she should be putting her foot down and using her influence to get the message across that Polaroid technology is not ready to be "rendered obsolete" and we want nothing to do with your digital gratification.

Read the whole article here and get as sad as i am about the whole digital Polaroid thing...

New York CIty Polaroid project.

This is a rad little project. 1 man. 1 Polaroid camera. 1 city. documenting the every day of the city that never sleeps, he has some beautiful compositions and i highly recommend you check out Vol. 1 of the project here before moseying on over here to check out Vol. 2.

I wonder if in 100s of years someone will come across a box of old Polaroids from 2010 in the bottom of a dusty wardrobe and be surprised at just how much the city has changed. buildings don't last forever... once day our art deco vintage terraces will be disintegrating relics like that of ancient Rome. Its a very sad thought...

Friday Flickr Favorite

I received a email today from a reader and ever curious about other photographers spent some time going through his work here on Flickr, He has some rad shots posted and a eerily beautiful documentary style. I particularly liked the two shots above.

Leave me here

This bloke ( a photographer as luck would have it) sounds like a rather interesting human/couch surfer. Check out his blog here or nifty work with a camera here... or if perhaps you would like to offer him your couch for a bed you can contact him here...

Like I said.... interestingly strange and strangely interesting

Product of the week

The Colorsplash flash! How gosh darn cool is this thing, Specially designed by the Lomographic Society as the fiercest accessory for your Lomo but given its been designed with a standard hotshoe plug it will pretty much slip right on in to any old camera you have that is in desperate need of a flash.... You know... Cameras made before the arseholes and canon and Nikon and Pentax started making flash plugs to fit their brand of cameras only!

This bad boy has several colored flash filters for selection and with an additional 9 filters so you can go crazy with a colored flash burst onto dreamy long exposures etc etc etc.... and unlike toys in the 80's it comes equipped with AA batteries. Woo! Log on to the Lomography store to check the Colorsplash madness out in more detail....

On the road to Cheap Plastic Goodness

I follow this blog called Cheap Plastic Goodness run by a dude from Cali called Leandro, He's pretty bloody handy with a Polaroid, but this shot above, and the awesome as shit small town story that goes along with it just made me dig paying his site a visit so much more than i already do!

You can read the story for your self here or sign up to follow his blog here.

The Observer hands out polaroids for a day

Wouldn't you know it... Newspapers are not useless after all, Last September, given the last of the Polaroid film had a month till expiration, The Observer in the UK gave eight of today's leading photographers a Polaroid camera for a day and asked them to capture their final instant images.... Pretty rad idea hey, especially given the caliber of photographers that were luck enough to score a camera.

Photographers include, but are not limited too Tom Hunter, The famous Lord Snowdon, and many many more including Mary McCartney who's freakn rad shots you can check out above, its of her sister Stella, you may of heard of her... she makes clothes or something! Mary goes on to say:

"I first took a picture of Stella like this 15 years ago. I love this thing she does where she puts her hands around her eyes and looks like an owl, so we decided to recreate it on my Polaroid Land camera. It's nice to capture striking shapes on Polaroid because you can't see detail. I shot one of Stella's first ad campaigns on Polaroid, with Kate Moss in a wicker chair. When I was a kid, digital photography wasn't around, but because my mum was a photographer we'd go on holiday and take Polaroids of the kids and get them to watch the image appearing before their eyes. We went through a phase of drawing on them, putting moustaches on. I love that Polaroid shots are one-offs. I can't quite accept that this is the end of Polaroid, that all of those beautiful cameras will be obsolete.'

To check out the other 8 amazing photographers and their very last Polaroids click here. Enjoy

Cameramail

Wow... here is yet another fantastically wonderful film camera project doing the rounds of this here universe... Cameramail was started by, well... I don't know who as their website isn't exactly forthcoming with information but who ever it was, lets calls them BOB readily admits it wasn't a entirely original idea (but what is these days)

While working on a mail-art project for school, BOB came across a project that documented an impressive number of odd forms of correspondence between two addresses in upstate New York. One of the last experiments was a camera attached to a postcard and plastered with stamps. Taking a good idea and running with it, BOB began to mail cameras to various locations. The idea being that actual postal workers could take photos with the camera in addition to the people sending and receiving the camera, what a great little way to gain a different perspective on life and a general sneak peek into someone else's day to day!

See above for the actual camera that was emailed around and some of the results, BOB sent loads of cameras around the USA. You can check out more camera's here or click here to get some tips on how to start your own cameramail.... go on... have a little fun with it...

Dylan likes disposable cameras too....

Another soul has boarded the disposable camera bandwagon.... I stumbled across him here on Flickr and man I just love it when I find someone else who's had "that moment"

You know... your cruising along, see something super rad that you just know would make a fantastic photo but by the time you have had a chance to take out your digital, find the on button and adjust the settings the moment has already passed you by... your all kinds of bummed that you missed your shot and cursing your cameras existence until you have the bright idea to return to a time when life was simpler.... you just press a button with out giving shutter speeds or lighting conditions a second thought... Enter the disposable camera.

See more of Dylan's shots above (loving the light leek at the top) and here on his Flickr page.... Oh and don't forget to keep your eyes peeled on this blog as I'll be posting more results from my own disposable camera project Hey You Say Cheese by the end of the week!

Happy New Year & Happy Birthday dear blog

Happy new year everyone. Not only is it the 2nd day of the new year its also 1 year and 1 day since i started this here blog... that makes it our birthday and when i say our i mean my blogs... my birthdays not till May....

So I hope this pretty little photo of a las having too much fun chasing balloons around the backyard keeps you happy until i get home (I'm still on the road, currently at a otor Inn in Yass, NSW) to do some developing and scanning of my shots from this trip...

Happy birthday dear blog, its been a good year, looking fwd to the next one.