Song of your life

Johnny Cash - Hurt from kakofoni on Vimeo.

My Friend and all round good guy Bret Woods recently started a blog called Song of the day.... Pretty self explanatory title really - every day he posts a new film clip, you log on and listen. Ive taken to following it religiously not only because i love music but because it constantly reminds me day in day out how awesome it is to discover new songs or better yet be reminded of old ones long since forgotten.... Music is a powerful thing and has the most beautiful ability to instantly transport you back to a time in your life that is now since a memory or transport you somewhere entirely new altogether!

I'm a huge johnny cash fan, Its the first thing you read when you hit my website and someone you'll often here on the record player at our house but I had never heard the song above before... It's so hauntingly poignant and so wonderfully sad and i never would of come across it otherwise because lets face it I'm no nine inch nails fan... So thanks Bret, your a bloody legend, and so is johnny cash!

Do yourself a favor and sign up here to follow Song of the Day...You never know what your going to get!

The boarder film project

I watched a doco on the nat geo channel the other night about boarder crossing in america.... and it reminded me of this amazing operation called the boarder film project that hands out disposable cameras to both the guards and the mexicans trying to cross the boarder... its such a amazing snap shot at life....

While I only registered to vote at the age of 26 I am somewhat into Politics.... I know I know you are not supposed to talk politics or religion with friends or family... but your not supposed to wear white after labor day and people do that anyway....

Don't worry - I'm not into politics in a heavy kind of way but I do like to keep track of Palins latest media blunder, be shocked at Americas sudden turn on Obama - acording to The New York Times he has the lowest approval rate (among white Americans) after his first year in office than any president before him) Here in Australia I was all for Gillard running our country while kevy is away, but now that she has swiped his job I'm not too sure about her! I whole heartily dig Australia's plea to stop the whaling, I vote green, don't use plastic bags etc etc etc so why not turn this blog into a political platform... if only for just one post...

Who said creativity and politics had to be mutually exclusive? Your either left brained or right brained? Clearly the dudes behind the boarder film project are a little bit of both. And just what is the boarder film project?

Well.... It's a collaborative art project that hands out disposable cameras to two groups on different sides of the border: undocumented migrants crossing the desert into the United States, and American Minutemen trying to stop them. How fucking crazy is that!

To date, 73 cameras have been handed out — 38 to migrants and 35 to Minutemen — with nearly 2,000 pictures in total. These pictures are utterly amazing as they show the human face of immigration.... not the sensationalised picture that is painted for us by the media. These are REAL people, some struggling to live, others struggling to do their jobs... Its a heartbreaking reality that each of us could learn something from just by observing the beautiful photos produced from a somewhat juxtaposed way of life...

I just wrote two more rather large paragraphs and deleted them before this turns into the longest post in the history of posting. I'll just let the contrast between the shots above speak for themselves. 1 man guards the boarder just trying to do his job while another, Javier departs Mexico for Las Vegas - on foot! To learn more about this project, and i highly recommend you do - click here to be taken to the boarder film about page and here to read a story on its founders... Oh and you'll find 100's more amazing photos by clicking here. Let me know what you think.

The simple machine

Australian photographer Simon Perini is a bit of a wizard behind the lens. Check out more of his ridiculously wonderful images here

My Parents were awesome

So I'm well aware that this is a blog dedicated entirely to style... But not just any style, our parents style when they were young... you know before we (their kids) came along and ruined it all, before mortgages and school fees made them turn gray they were 'cool'... they were 'funky'... they had it going on, I think its also important to note that they would of had some pretty cool bloody cameras as well judging by the look of the photos above and here. That retro look is back in fashion if only film was too it might not cost so much....

Lucky Find....

Some lucky bastard in the USA purchased 65 glass negatives at a garage sale 10 years ago for US$45 thinking the black and white landscape prints would make a wonderful addition to his collection... Now they have been authenticated to be Ansel Adams originals they have said to be worth over $220 million US dollars... not a bad investment wouldnt you say....

His name is Rick Norsigian, a school district painter and collector and you can read all about him and his lucky find here. I dont know about you but for me the real exciting thing here is not the money but the photos! What a amazing slice of history, I hope he keeps a couple to hang on his walls!

Ansel Adams died in 1984 and was believed to have lost many of his negatives in a 1937 darkroom fire. The blaze destroyed as many as 5000 negatives, or about one-third of his portfolio. Many of the negatives had never been developed into photographs.... so for these to turn up now, after all these years is fantastic news for photographic enthusiasts the world over.

You can enjoy more of Ansels american landscapes here.

Mike Brodie aka "The Polaroid kid"

Its not often you come across photos that totally blow you away, Ive been lucky enough to stumble across such photos twice in two days, yes yes lucky me, and by default lucky you! The first was The Polaroid House and the second is a series of photos called "Ride'n Dirty Face" by a "accidental documentary photographer" Mike Brodie.

What the kid did was photograph his friends, their homes and life styles, Sounds pretty run of the mill huh! Not so run of the mill is the fact that their homes are train carriages and box cars. Their lives aren't so much squeaky American clean as they are gritty and dirty. The resulting photos and exhibition will show you a cross section of middle America you never knew existed....

At first I thought they were shots from some crazy new tim burton movie, or from some far off war torn country, but no, this my friends is America.

You can check out the exhibition by clicking here, and purchase his prints by visiting the needles and pens store here... now if you'll excuse me one must go and pick ones jaw off the floor.

Grey skies are gonna clear up...

put on a happy face... Only 5 more weeks of Australian winter! YAY!

Something nice for your wall...

You can find out more about the lovely illustrator Christine Berrie and perhaps even make a purchase here

Publish Post

MOCH

So thanks to the wide reaching madness that is the Internet a American artist named MOCH and I have recently crossed paths... he has some pretty amazing projects going on which i will be posting about in the coming days, in the mean time here is one of his Polaroids to tie you over. Man I Love donkeys!

lomo is at it again

Last month i posted a rant about Lomo selling out and teaming up with corporate giants by the likes of ripcurl... I thought they'd gone and ditched their grassroots, much like ripcurl did decades ago... Not content with a small cult following lomo now has its eyes on main stream consumers and their mainstream dollars...

Some people strongly agreed, others strongly disagreed, all comments and opinions were welcome and at the end of it all i was (and still am) a little unsure of where i stood. Maybe lomo teaming up with rip curl is not such a bad thing... the point was made if it encourages one kid to pick up a camera and embark on a lifetime of taking beautiful photos then it makes it all OK.... but on the flip side if it makes one child feel inadequate about not having the "cool" camera well, that's just less than cool now isnt it... I guess my thinking is its just a camera, its a tool for expression... so why do we need to whack a rip curl sticker on it too? The only clear reason seems to be to sell more cameras to make more money...

Either way it must be working too because lomo are at it again and this time with hello kitty!

You can check out the new camera here... I'm still not sure if I'm for or pro what lomo are up to at the moment but as always i would love to hear your thoughts below.... go nuts people!

Polaroids of Italy

One of my first ever blog posts was about a wonderful photographer called Irene Suchokci... Last September she was kind enough to sit down for one of our famous 5 minutes with interviews so Its about time I write about her again don't you think!

She's recently been on a little jaunt to Italy and taken some amazing Polaroids! Ive always travelled with a Polaroid camera and believe you me it takes some dedication, commitment not to mention valuable space in your back-pack! I was even thinking next over seas trip I'll leave the Polaroid at home, but after seeing these images, above and here on Irene's site, I cant imagine being in Europe with out it!

Digital or film?

Hard to tell but its a beautiful, calming image and i just thought id share it with you all! Found on here on this blog

Some of my favorites...

Someone asked me today what i love most about the medium that is instant photography... Well you know what they say... A pictures worth a thousand words... So with that in mind I'd like to share some of my favorite moments in time with you... moments that would be a fraction (just a fraction) less special if they were captured on a SD card and stored in a back up hard drive...

Travelling camera Project

We all know i love a good disposable camera.... I'm running several projects that capitolise on the lo-fi brilliance of the disposable... Ive tied them to tree's, park benches, sent them around the world... and you can read about it, participate or marvel at the photos here but right now id like to talk about a Flickr Group called the travelling camera project who send cameras around the world also... They have some great shots in their pool and you can sign up to recieve a camera here!

Some friday holga love...

The Critical Slide Society are a crafty bunch of humans... while there thing is tee's and boardshorts if you keep one keen eye on their blog and one on the road your bound to stumble across some pretty amazing photos too, like the beauty above taken by gosh knows who on a god damn holga! Check out those light leaks - this is why i love film... and the ocean for that matter... nothing bad could come of it

See more critical slides here

olympus trip 35

Some cool photos from fellow blogger Thomas Stockwells recent jaunt to Melbourne town! Kids pretty handy with a camera. And is currently cruising europe so is sure to turn out some pretty interesting snaps in the coming weeks. See more of his handy work here

Industrial designers are crazy arse beings

I can say that lovingly and jokingly because my big brother, James, is a industrial designer. They come up with the craziest shit sometimes and their minds work in mysterious ways... that's why I wasn't surprised to read a industrial designer has come up with the concept for a digital Holga...

Its called the Holga D and a very detailed design development and study can be found here ( I highly recommend you take a look the renderings and technical drawings alone are worth checking out) Its a interesting read and a extremely well presented project... but is a digital camera designed to mimic the beauty of a real life Holga all for the sake of instant gratification really worth it? Isn't waiting to get your roll developed half of the fun? Food for thought people, comment below...

Kill All Artists

I am currently updating my website. It's just had a bit of a re-fresh and a huge photography section is currently being developed. If you would like to become involved in or contribute to any of my current photographic projects please click here to find out more.

Polaroid 600

Need some film? if you dont mind selling a kidney to get it or perhaps a small child if you have one too many... click here

Some Polaroids...

Its been so long since I shot a pack of Polaroid anything... Hell its been agaes since I picked up a Instant camera - Sad I know, as it was the whole inspiration behind this very blog almost 2 years ago now.

I went to Asia last year and before I left Polaroid film was about $75 bucks for a triple pack (that's 30 shots) when I got home at the start of this year it had sky rocketed to $40 for a single pack of 10... needless to say I shoot more 35mm now than I do pack 600..... and it used to be exclusively the other way around!

Even though the Impossible Project have done us proud and bought Polaroid film back from the dead its still a little too pricey for this kid at the moment... I'll just have to settle for reminiscing over the shots i took in Asia... you know back when life wad goo and Polaroid was cheap :)

golden bubbles & Yellow Cockatoos

I turned on one of my favorite programs tonight that profiles amazing cities around the world... what will they have on tonight I wonder? Machu Pichu? Granada? Paris? No No... they had Sydney! I should of just turned the TV off and stuck my head out the window...

It was weird, watching a doco on my own city... the pommy presenter was marveling at the beauty of our coasts, the emptiness of our skylines and "the exotic cockatoo often found in our national parks" haha! Its funny what he sees as exotic I see as the 6 noisy birds who shit on my window sill every Sunday morning waiting to be fed some stale bread!

For those of you who missed the program or have never been to Sydney... Here's a empty skyline and exotic bird for you to enjoyment! The photo above was taken on my golden half camera using fujichrome 100 speed film cross processed in C-41 chemical.

Lazywaves

A nice Polaroid 180 found here on lazywavesblog

Photography for Social Change

I don't know about you but I have pretty fond memories of being 13... when camping trips with dad were a main event and what time mum was picking you up from the beach was hands down your biggest worry.....And I'm guessing, Global Financial Crisis aside (why we don't just call it a recession is beyond me) you have pretty fond memories of being 13 too.... you are after all sitting in front of a computer with a roof over your head... which means, odds are, you were not spending your days building bricks.

That's what Mariam, the 13 year old girl in the photo above is doing. When I first saw this photo I passed it off as a innocent snap shoot of youth. A small child playing in the mud (perhaps at dads work) while her little brothers and sisters watched on. Well I was right about one thing, she is at dads work, it just so happens dads work is her work too... and well one day be that of her siblings.

The International Labor Organisation (ILO) is currently working towards the withdrawal of children from brick making work. The Child Labor Project is a website dedicated to educating people about complex issues such as these. Its about moving people emotionally while motivating people (that's you and me) into action.

Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change is a team of 11 photographers who will be photographing child workers around the globe. Photos produced by the project are part of an exhibit that has traveled to the U.S. Congress, universities, schools, and other forums in the United States.... all to raise awareness for the plight of these kids.

Every website hit and every donated dollar helps.... Click here to read more

Meet Hilda...

Hilda loves film. She is 23 years old, lives in Sweden and studies graphic design... like me she also has a tiny obsession with collecting vintage cameras! Above is her collection, pretty cool huh!

You can learn more about Hilda and her super rad name here on her blog Forever is Today. Deep stuff Hilda. Deep stuff!

The spinner 360

What do you all think of the latest offering from the good people at lomography? Its called the Spinner 360 and it...well... spins and takes a 360 degree perspective photo... (Least they didnt feel the need to stick a ripcurl logo on it this time, hehe) pretty bloody nifty if you ask me, would make for some great travel shots - but is it worth the $220 price tag? You tell me...

Thinking about getting a holga?

You can find a whole roll of good reasons here on the wonderful Cheap plastic Goodness blog. The shot above was taken on a Holga 120CFN with Fuji NPS160 color negative and Fuji RXF400 Chrome film and cross processed in C41.... pretty bloody fantastic results wouldn't you agree?

I am something...

I am none is a clothing label run by some clever chaps from the south coast... A tall handsome friend of mine who goes by the name Big Dav is part of the brains behind the aforementioned operation (which part I don't know) and given they always execute their seasonal ranges with such creative flair, photographic awesomeness and sheer unadulterated brilliance I thought id given them a little shout out....

Just a sample of the fine fashion items available in the W10 range above. Click here to see much much more!

Carry a camera with you at all times...

Because if you happen passed something as cool as this you want to be able to commit it to film. I came across this photo on a blog I just started following called heirs to all. Pretty wonderful image yeah!

Cockatoo Island...

There is a deserted industrial island in the centre of sydney harbour called Cockatoo island, its a pretty cool place to 'get happy' and roam around with your camera for the day. My friend katie recently organised a little field trip there for the 17th Biennale of Sydney a modern arts extravaganza... there were light filled cars suspended from roofs, sheds full of green plastic bowels strung from the ceiling and dead chinese dictators... what more could you want?

It was such a fun day - I only took one roll of film which I am yet to get devleoped so once that was out I had to spend the rest of the day shooting on my hipstamatic... A sneak peek above to tie you over until i get the roll developed.

Wedding invitation design

Need a wedding invite designed thats a little different from the pack? Click here

Wow

Ok So i know your thinking "if ever i was going to make a exception and put digital photos on this blog this is it" Well I have news for you my friend - the above is no computer rendered product of someones imagingation. Its the real deal. it's outer space. It's Eagle Nebula to be exact...

Astronaughts spent 8 months learning how to use a specially designed camera, just so they could shoot eight minutes of 3D footage. The aformentioned astronaughts had travelled up into space on the space shuttle Atlantis last year, carrying with them a 3D camera.

Their mission: to dock with the Hubble Telescope (a spacecraft orbiting the Earth about the size of a bus) and perform repairs on it, while also capturing 3D video of the Hubble and our planet. The limited amount of 3D footage that could be shot in space was a result of physical constraints.

The film roll on board the Atlantis was the largest in the world, with the film strip 1.52-kilometres long and weighing 24.5 kilograms.

The 317-kilogram camera had to be packed into the space shuttle's cargo bay using a crane, and became part of the craft's ballast. Images from the top, Gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula, As a star dies a butterfly emerges from Planetary Nebula NGC 6302. Pretty crazy shit hey!