Topic: #photography

Yearly update! What a year of not very much!

Haha! I’m getting really good at not blogging for a whole year! In doing a summary, it does feel like, overall, not much has changed too much, which is excellent! There are lots of little things that are absolutely wonderful, but too little to write about (or we’d be here forever). Maybe I should write about them out of the normal yearly structure…

Another year with little posting! It’s been terribly busy and of course, setting goals for this year, means I might jump back on the bandwagon on blogging, but let’s start with a year in review for 2018.

2017 flew by with 0 posts! Well I turned 30, which was a small deal. I ended up hiking the Six Foot Track, just to get away from it all. It was a gorgeous 3 days.

And another year has passed. Looking back, it’s been quite a huge year in my personal life and in my professional career. Personally, I’ve enjoyed numerous gigs towards the start of the year (with less and less in the last 6 months), went viral for about a day over the Fast Food Cake, moved in with the girlfriend and so much dancing. I’ve now reached a comfortable stage in my Balboa dancing which was a goal over the last year, which I think is an amazing thing for my dancing. It’s definitely the new love. There were a couple competitions this year, which I did pretty well in, but the biggest achievement would’ve been coming second in a Lindy Hop Open Invitational at the Pan Pacific’s this year! The second biggest would be that I’m now a Swing Dance Instructor. It definitely has been helping with my dancing to take the time and analyse everything that’s going on with my movements.

I finished up at DoE in the middle of January and started the new job 2 days later! Such a change. It’s brought on a lot more work (namely development work - YAY!) and a lots more learning. I’m now developing on Android, iOS and the trusty GWT. It is nice to see how a start up works and who does what when they are actually engaged and needing to push out work quickly and efficiently. Funnily enough, I’ve just finished the SSO components (something that I never escape for some reason). It has been very engaging work, where time flies and I forget about lunch and when it’s time to go home. Luckily, I do have dancing commitments so that helps me leave the work place.

What a huge year it has been! The year started with gigs galore! I think the beginning of this year will be the same. Then there were numerous trips (day trips and longer ones). Lots and lots of dancing. Finally, refocusing on my career and will be starting a new job in a couple weeks! I think it’ll be a lot of fun (and hard work) since there’ll be iOS and Android dev work as well as the trusty GWT. I’ve also had an increase in DIY craft points with a making lamp, vase, hand bound leather journal and a massive bookcase (of which, all turned out better than I thought).

Today I was given the chance to photograph my friends’ sisters “Save the Date” photos for their invites. I haven’t done a proper photoshoot in a while, but I think I did pretty well. Plus, I got to play with the new tele lens for the portraits! Oh, and Bruno is such a cutie.

I spent the weekend at the Entrance for Chromefest as well as walking around sydney for Sydney Open. It was the first time to Chromefest so it was good that there was a good group of people there for the dancing as well as the cars. It was a pretty good day trip and well worth the effort. I didn’t stay overnight (even though there were numerous gigs) as it was too expensive / sold out for the accommodation as well as being only 90 minutes back into Sydney.

The final trip home was a good fun drive, which was slightly driven by caffeine. We ventured from Broken Hill, through Cobar, Orange, an overnight stay there at Duntryleague, dinner at LolliRedini, and then back home the following day after a short 9 hole game of golf =). The drive included a number of hit and run on animals unfortunately. They all looked pretty fresh, so I’m assuming the killer was a couple hours in front of me. There were several stops to get these guys off the road as well.

The final day of work involved digging one last line of plots in the early hours to avoid the heat. After that we needed to make sure we had enough photos to document the foraging pits. It was nice to be able to drive around with the soul purpose of photographing. Of course, not all the wildlife appeared, but enough did to keep it all exciting.

Day 4 and Day 5 were digging holes. Lots of holes. In all, there were 1440 holes dug. It took just over 2 days to dig them all. The biggest impediment was heat. There was a slight heat wave for Spring there, and it did reach 39 degrees at some point. There was definitely the need for a lot of water and breaks. Theres just one photo of the plots (not taken by me), with the diggings in them.

The third day was spent marking out pits. Basically, these were 2m x 2m square plots with a metal stake on the north corner and then tent pegs on the other 3 corners, plus one in the centre. Each stake was marked with a copper tag with its density and type. For this, I created a lightweight contraption which would mark out the 4 corners for me. It was also adjustable, in that it would also mark the corners of 1m x 1m squares if we needed to make the plots smaller. It was essentially, 2 pieces of conduit which were joined in the centre by a bolt. This would allow it to collapse and be carried around easily. These were the diagonals of the square. I then had one more conduit piece which was 1 metre long. This was at the right distance to make sure that it held the diagonals in place to form a square. Here is a photo of it in action.

On the second day, we looked at doing transects where we took counts of how many Bilby/Bettong foraging pits and Rabbit foraging pits there were at regular distances. This would provide a baseline of what the density would be for naturally occurring foraging pits. The interesting thing for me was seeing these pits for the first time. I was tasked originally with figuring out what the best way would be to recreate these pits using normal tools and it was actually quite difficult to find images and descriptions online about them. I’ll document them in another post specifically about their sizes. In driving around Scotia Sanctuary in our breaks, we did come across some wonderful wildlife.

Scotia Sanctuary is a nature reserve between the NSW and SA borders. I visited on the 30th of September as a volunteer to help conduct my partners PhD fieldwork. I say conduct, which really means, digging over a thousand holes in the soil. This was a 2 week trip which I’ll retrospectively write about. The trip down was quite exciting and a lot of planning was done to make sure that fatigue wouldn’t become an issue. There was the first 5 hour drive to Wagga Wagga which was straight forward enough. The second leg (8 hours) was all the way through to Scotia via Hay and Mildura. Numerous spots of road kill and birds of prey it seems.

I spent the weekend out in Wentworth falls at the falls Mountain Retreat. It was a very lovely loft, super spacious, gas fireplace, spa and a balcony out to the forest. There was a trip out to the Lithgow Glow Worm Tunnel as well. The drive from Wentworth Falls is about 2 hours. Its a good 40 minutes to get to Lithgow and then its a slow, bumpy drive to the tunnel. There are a few signs in Lithgow, but then it turns into forest and logged forests. It is a constant change in scenery. There were even brumbys on the way! The walk to the tunnel from the carpark isn’t too far. It says 1 hour each way, but really, its about 30 minutes. Of course, if you stay a while in the tunnel, it’ll take an hour. The glow worms were terrific. There was a good section just after the first bend, but we missed it on the way in as our eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. On the way back, lots of photos were taken, so my eyes had adjusted properly by that time. Its a terrific day trip, except for the driving, but luckily we were there since Friday afternoon.

It has been a very long time since I did an actual photo shoot for anyone! My friend is getting married later this year and I thought it’d be nice to be able to gift some of my time and effort in taking a few shots for them. They are also lacking in photos for their guest book so this’ll go towards that I’m sure. “Grass”, “Green”, “Forest”, “Yellow” were the keywords for the brief. I think it turned out pretty well! I was lacking a bit of sleep, but I survived the heat and tiredness (I guess its OK to admit that - I did look like I had little sleep). The shoot was done at Centennial Park at various parts.

20 miles later I’ve finally gotten back to the hostel in time to get my ride to the airport. Today was about a lot of walking around places I hadn’t been. Started by walking to Japan Town. Fillmore Street is great for cafes and boutique stores (note that everything seems to open from 11 onwards). The onto Union Street for more of the same thing. I found my way down to FIshermans wharf, ferried over to Sausilito and then walked over the bridge and over to Fort Point Rock, Helmet Rock, through Presidio of San Francisco (I got side tracked here and found myself walking further and further away from where I needed to be), by the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, back along to Pier 39, F line tram to 1st street and then back to my hostel on Post Street. Basically, I’m exhausted. Hopefully I’ll be able to crash pretty well tonight on the overnighter to Fort Lauderdale. Some of the images seem to look similar to last time I was here as well - nostalgia set in - then again, clearly if they look the same, it was the best way to look at it! Until then… SF Giants are down 0-8 in the 5th…

Photos from the old Slazenger factory

Images from Cockatoo Island

Images of Bare Island

Images of Melbourne Graffiti

Images of Parkour in Melbourne

Images from Vivid

Sydney sunset

Images from Mollymook

I had a short stop over in LA on the way home from the REALStudio Conference. I hadn’t seen the skate park on Venice Beach before so I’m glad the weather had just cleared up.

Images from Chinese New Year

Today I was given the chance to take a few profile photos of Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis. She is currently releasing a book (The Don’t Go Hungry Diet).

Images from Australia Day

Images from Sao Paulo

Images from Puerto Iguazu

Compression was different… photos do look a bit funny. I’ll fix this when i get some more time!

Images from Foz do Iguacu

Images from Montevideo

Images from Colonia

Images from Buenos Aires

I will write soon, but just a few quick photos from Fuerza Bruta.

So it has been nearly a couple months since I was last here and its been a really long couple months. Renovations are finished (except for a few niggly bits which I have procrastinated in doing over the last 2 months), I’ve moved in, everything is pretty much setup and I’m cooking and cleaning! Work has been keeping me busy, but not as much as adjusting to living on my own and attempting (and forgetting) to live under a budget. The bills are the worst. Photos still to come…

A few quick photos from the weekend.

Kai’s second birthday

Images from Chinese New Year

I’ve just got a few shots from that night, but overall, there was good music (and some bad), namely Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro which is a cool japanese funk band. In terms of work, I think I’ve outdone myself these couple of weeks since I’ve finished all but one requirement 6 weeks before out first estimations. Thats not to say that I’m really efficient, but rather our estimations have been off, by quite a bit. Something to record and keep track on.

Well it seems like I didn’t end up having enough time to write over the new year break. There was a lot of driving to get to the Gold Coast and a few relaxing days up there before having to drive back down. There was a bit of rain to be had on the way up, but it cleared towards the end of the trip. Currently I’m not feeling the greatest - possibly have caught a food bug at some point. Decided fitness is one resolution I should possibly be able to achieve this year, given I have more time on my hands. Lets see about that over the next year!

Photos of the V8 Supercars in Sydney

This has been the first chance I’ve gotten over the past month to write anything. I’m currently outside of my lecture room. eXtreme Programming. The methodology is based on the most important factors of programming, and turned up to the next level. Its not that there is “less” of anything (especially documentation), but there is more of the rest. It just means that the focus is more directed at its 12 practices: The planning game, on-site customer, small releases, simple design, pair programming, testing, refactoring, collective ownership, coding standards, continuous integration, 40 hour week and metaphor. This is an agile methodology and there are plenty of arguments for and against these kind of methodologies, but of course every business has their own particular practiced methodology. In any case, the subject is more about putting the methodology into practice than actually completing the task being given.

Home at last and back to work. Need to get my head into gear before writing anything, but here are a few images of the last couple days:

Exhausting day having had ridden 8 miles to Sausalito from the Pier in 3 hours and then having to ride the same 8 miles back in 1 hour was a bit too much since we were rushing back to make our Alcatraz tour. Day ended up being way too strenuous. Time to relax a bit:

Spent today shopping out at Vacaville Premium Outlets. This was followed by a drive to the Bedford Gallery to check out the PostSecret exhibition. It brought to life how real the content on that blog have been and also getting to ‘feel’ how the person created the postcard in the state under which they decided to let go of this secret.

[nggallery id=7] Written by Milton Lai in Turlock, California

Just a few quick photos of the ever-so-cheeky Kai and a few of the sequoia trees - General Sherman is featured in the last photo - the largest tree on earth by mass.

I’ve had little and next to no time to write about how my travels have been going. So far it has been non stop travelling and I hope that when in San Francisco the pace will slow down just a bit. Las Vegas could’ve been better spent with friends than family and two days just isn’t nearly enough there to see everything. The next couple days will be spent in Sequoia and Yosemite National Park. Plenty of photos so far here are just another few - testing out my panoramic skills..

Finally I found myself some free wifi. I’m currently in William, Arizona. I’ve had the busiest week so far, but currently, everyone is asleep so possibly I shouldn’t type for too much longer. Here’s a dump of photos from Sunday.

Photos from Las Vegas

The Cat Empire is currently promoting their Live on Earth album, which I think is their best album - recordings of live gigs from around the world. They decided to have two free gigs in Sydney last weekend, which was great considering I didn’t end up going to their show at the Enmore.

I had a shoot today for a friend of mine who runs Beloved. Quite relaxing and fun - shooting her two friends in an abundance of clothes. A few that I dug from today. Make up was done by Stella.

Its been quite a slow week considering how much work has piled up over the break. There’s just a backlog of issues that mainly I can address. Having arrived on tuesday - and beaching it up on that sweltering day, the jet lag only hit 2 days ago. I should be ok heading out of this weekend. I’ve been tossing up making an album of the Vancouver trip and which companies to go with - since I’m not made of money and these things aren’t cheap. I’ll possibly start editing tomorrow. Today - I had the photo shoot and then afterwards I headed to the Sydney Festival where the Cat Empire were playing =).

Last leg. Currently at Vancouver airport - taking up their offer on free wifi.Its a bit limited with no direct ftp access, but all’s well. Last night had my final dinner with my hosts’ family and packed. This morning, headed out to see the south side of Stanley Park and also the Vancouver Art Gallery which featured pieces by Jeff Wall. Quite some nice pieces.

Exhausted. I really just want a day of sleeping in and then I don’t want to leave… just yet anyway. Plane heads back home tomorrow in the evening around 6. Today was spent with my hosts’ parents who took me to Queens Park, Granville Island, and quick drive through Stanley Park and a walk through Chinatown. There will be a lot of sleeping when I get back home and I don’t think I’m anywhere near done exploring Vancouver.

So after lunch, headed to Gastown and Chinatown. I wasn’t too sure if I was really in those areas since the streets were a bit quiet and not much was happening. I ended up hitting a block which was kind of scary - people who looked homeless and drug dealers - who pretty much lined the streets. I ended up at a Starbucks to have some relaxing time of editing more photos and writing. Dinner was soon after - thai food - my treat for the hosts’ family.

NYE was a new experience - I spent it at a club - not the best scene in the world, but I had to see it at some stage. The highlight was at the end of the night when the designated driver was… way too drunk to drive, so I ended up driving… in snow, on the wrong side of the road, whilst it was raining… quite a feat for the first time.

Had a lovely sleep in this morning. Just a tad bit sore, but all is well. The day has been so nice - blue sky and all! Headed off to Metrotown this morning before heading to Stanley Park. The days are a bit short, so I’ve only had about 3 hours of walking before it started to get dark and as amazing as the park is… it’d be a bit scary at night. The trails are completely snow filled and so the trail was… difficult. The normal path which takes you around the park was quite icy so the walk ended up quite slow. I didn’t quite make it all the way around the park, but it was nice to have no one about and to just relax with my iPod. It’s new years eve tonight and I’m still not sure what is happening as yet. Currently sitting in a coffee shop going through my photos and having a break. Its pretty much dark outside now. Quick post before I go!

Couple quick shots on my way back home this evening.

So I ended up bringing my camera with me to the Whistler yesterday… Problem was that there was no blue sky! As you’ll be able to see, there was good snowfall on that day. The previous day, we were having lunch at the top of the mountain and there were gorgeous views of the valley and the peak2peak gondola. I ended up with a few pictures from the morning and a lot of condensation in the evening before I left.

I’m on the road again. This time to Vancouver to go snow boarding and photograph. I’m currently here at Auckland airport and have about a 3 hour wait until my connecting flight departs. This time around, I’m a lot more relaxed about flying. My wait at Sydney Airport was spent editing photos for the latest APA (Australian Parkour Association) newsletter - I hope I can get the photos to them in time. I’m a bit worried about how my body is going to cope over the next week or so - mainly because my boarding lessons will have me leaving the house at about 6 am or a bit earlier. Thats 11 pm Sydney time!

I was asked by a friend at work to take a few photos of her and her partner. Shots were taken around Mrs Macquaries Chair and the Rocks.

Last Parkour session of the year for me. Heading off to Vancouver next Saturday, so a day out on the beach and parkour was a must for my last weekend in Sydney! Huge turn out which also ended up with a few epic arm jumps and cat to arm jumps. Hope the images do today justice! There are quite a few images from today… The last photo is my favourite.

Long and eventful week where it ended with the new wireless system up and running. I might have a write about it during the week. It involved setting up FreeRadius and Samba to communicate for the authentication process - which was the main problem. WIth all the changes in versions regarding FreeRadius - most online help referred to versions dating back to 2005 which weren’t so helpful.

Hi everyone,

Work has been a bit nuts over the past week. I’ve experienced for the first time, working really hard on something, only to have it fall through. I guess in my case it was only a smallish component which took me about 3 days of work to get it working and to the original spec, but it seems the spec was incorrect and the stakeholder also cannot express confidently what the spec should be. We’ve decided that it won’t be in scope for the December release, but for the February/March release. I’ve been told that in many larger organisations, things like this happen all the time where projects fall through for all different reasons and the time spent on them is a lot larger than a few days work.

Yesterday afternoon / evening, after work, I headed into Circular Quay on the way to the Rocks to meet up with the parkour guys and snap up a few more shots armed with the 50mm. The Rocks Markets by Moonlight is on every Friday evening this month and last night, Paris Wells and the Potbelleez performed. After that, a nice walk along the harbour where I snapped a few shots of the guys I was with. Photos:

So today and tomorrow, EA games hosted a launch party for Mirrors Edge outside Customs House in Circular Quay. The parkour guys (all from around Australia) were hired to perform each day, and several promotional pieces over the last few weeks. More about the parkour inspired game at http://mirrorsedge.com.au

Monday night was a late night after going out to dinner for a friends birthday.

Bought the D200 off my brother on the weekend and just in time for some high shutter action. I think I was a bit too trigger happy and shot quite a few in burst, and the results are below. Week and weekend was a bit slow. Work is back to its usual self, but now with proper deadlines.

Not that I’ve got any photos to show for the trip on saturday - left home at about 5pm, so the light conditions weren’t the best - and my friend was shooting that day - showing him the in’s and out’s of photography. I did take just the one shot:

Good class this week. Not sore, which is a good / bad thing but at the moment its good - at least I can walk this week. Weekend involved the beach, sleeping in and parkour. Just a few shots of the guys after class.

Turned up to classes today for the first time in a while to actually participate. This is just all a part of my new plan to get back into shape and focus a bit more on parkour and parkour related photography.

A lot has been happening in the last week - change of internet providers, voip, getting glasses, work and photos. This weekend, just got back from a wedding - had another one yesterday. So it really has been a long week, and possibly this week might be a quieter one I hope. I was working on these yesterday and just thought I’d put them up. These photos were taken in Evry and Lisses in France - the birthplace of Parkour. The traceur in it is Rhys James - a parkour practitioner here in Sydney, who I consider one of the best practictioners here in Sydney. check out http://www.sydneyparkour.com/ and http://www.parkour.asn.au/ for more information.

So I had an hour to burn, so I installed a free RAW image converter and also a photo resizer onto my EeePC. Its VERY limited since they require 1024 resolution.

The week has been quite long and work is just going a bit insane. The next version of my app is due out this week, and theres a few things I still need to sort out yet. Uni has been a bit of a bore, with an assignment due this week, then mid semester break before another 2 are due. Highlights of the week would have been a work colleagues birthday on friday - I’m not the youngest in the building anymore, Maroon 5 concert and yesterdays wedding.

I have to say its been another one of those times where motivation was at a low for me. After the holiday period, I just couldn’t be bothered and also, just didn’t have the time to get this done. This has been the first real chance, since I’m stuck at home with not very much to do. I could be out doing some photography work with the parkour classes that are on today, but I think it’s good that I stayed home for once. I’ll be referring back to my calendar so I do remember what had been going on in the past month or so.

Hey guys, yes October was the last entry, and I have had a few weddings since then and a few more things regarding work, which I possibly should’ve written about. So today… started off at the brides house… a house I remember very well, since after I turned up I realised the bride was my friend’s sister - from high school. So after a tea ceremony at the brides, it was then moved onto the grooms place for another tea ceremony and some lunch. Bride then got changed and we all headed off to Sydney Uni for the ceremony and reception - Holme Building. Lovely place for both the ceremony and reception - never knew Sydney Uni had a reception hall. Weather was on and off the whole day, but we managed to get quite a few good photos out of the day. Here are a few, or few more than usual:

Can only honestly say, todays wedding has just been amazing and relaxed, just how weddings should be. So these two tell me they read my blog, and good on them! They know more about me than I know about them! Mountain bikers and Cat Empire fans, thats all i know! So today, started with the bride at her place, with the prep. Then it moved onto the ceremony at Lane Cove National Park. Few quick formals were taken after the ceremony and the rest were done at the reception, Eden Gardens. Never realised that Eden Gardens did receptions - BBQ style, which was a great tasting dinner.

So the pressure was on today… Was dropped off at the grooms place to shoot on my own whilst Vince travelled to the girls place to get the prep. I would have to say I did alright. Rode in the stretch Ford… to the church - Garrison Church. Formals were then taken at the Rocks and the Botanical Gardens as well as a few at Wildfire - great chicken… Reception was at L’Aqua - nice food… was placed outside though.. lucky it wasnt raining. Then came the night shots.. which didnt end up taking very long at all since it was freezing! Here are a few pics:

[Back blogging] So, was the designated driver today. Luckily everything still fit into my boot. So preparation was in Randwick, with the ceremony in Beverly Hills. Following that was shots at the Botanical Gardens and then the reception at Sky Pheonix. Very windy day, but it settled down and looks great in the photos. I must say, I’m missing the weddings where theres food in the middle of the day - keeps me going. Anyway here are a few pics:

Wedding on sunday was a lovely wedding, although, being - or should i say, becoming - sick didnt help anything. It was considerably long, with tea ceremonies at the brides and then the grooms. Some formals were taken at one of the bridesmaids place as well as at Lake Parramatta Reserve. Ceremony and reception were at Oatlands House. Good food as well… but of course… being sick was horrible. Here are a few pics:

OK… SO.. a whole month as gone by… without a single word from me. As lame as this excuse might be, I just haven’t had to time, and I have been trying to find the time. So the last time I blogged, was before Nick’s 21st dinner with the family. It was a top dinner - peking duck pancakes… mmmm… The week following lead to his 21st party, which was an unforgettable event. Having been to one his of sisters 21st, it followed suit, and being able to catch up with everyone was really good.

So APEC has been on for the past few days, well its more like its affected sydney-siders for the past few days. Of course, that didnt affect today though, since we were out at Kellyville. Started with getting ready shots at the bride and grooms place - both of whom were there. It was a lot more relaxed since the parents werent around. It then moved onto a few location shots in the area, before heading to Cropley House for the ceremony and reception. Good food there, nice people, easy relaxing day. Here are a few pics:

[written on 8/9/07]

Today was a beautiful day, bit chilly though. Started off at Croydon Park at the brides place. Well actually, ended up starting at the hairdressers. Then proceeded back to the brides, for the girls to get ready. Church ceremony was at Leichhardt - a Greek Orthodox church. Then we spent the next few hours in and around the Rocks area as well as Martin Place. Reception was at Dockside. Here are a few pics:

So I’m kind of “back blogging” since I really havnt had the time. So with this wedding, referring off Vince’s blog, It was held in the Liverpool area, with the a very nice church service as well as a lovely reception with great food at Liverpool golf course. Here are some pics:

So, rain, rain, and more rain. Started at Sebel Pier One. Nice hotel, nice rooms. Ceremony was supposed to be at Observatory Hill, but the weather was… terrible to say the least, and it was moved to the receptionplace - WatersEdge. Formal pics followed at the Park Hyatt as well as Observatory Hill, before the reception. Here are a few pics:

Started in the afternoon at Park Hyatt. Been there once before, and its a very nice hotel. Bride was getting ready there. Ceremony was just next door on the greens facing the harbour bridge / opera house. This was followed by formal shots around the rocks area and at the Park Hyatt. Ending at WaterFront Restaurant along the strip of restaurants there. Close location to everything and the food is worth a mention. Here are a few pics (more at www.vlblog.net):

So good fun wedding on the weekend. Top couple, fast paced at times. Started in the afternoon at the brides, then the grooms, then to the church - St Bedes, then to Bulli Tops, and finally reception at Appin House. Top night and here are some pics:

So yesterdays wedding, finally a weekend with great weather. Great couple, great food, even better entertainment. So started at darlinghurst at the bride and grooms place. Then headed to St Benedicts Church at Broadway for the ceremony. Some formal shots at Centennial part and then reception at Le Montage. It was quick paced, something was always happening. Here are some pics:

It was one LONG day. Started around 10 and finished past 1. Headed to the grooms in the morning, then to the brides, then to the brides parents place for the ceremony. Very unique wedding with the groom being lebanese and the bride vietnamese. Lovely couple. Then went into the city for some formal shots, then back to Bankstown Maxim for the reception, and then back out to the city for some night shots! First time we have, well I have done night shots. Was a good experience. Basically just needed the couple to hold still, smile and look at each other. Simple really. So here are the pics:

This was my FIRST solo wedding!!! Was so nervous leading up to this day! So its been 4 days since their wedding! So congratulations to them! John’s a uni mate of mine. Lovely day, one of the most relaxing and fun (personal) weddings I’ve ever had. So might not remember everything that happened on the day, but here is a quick rundown.

Its been more than a few days since this wedding. In short, I’ve been so busy with helping people out with assignments, I havn’t been able to get my own things sorted out. Nearly 3 weeks without a personal blog. Its coming.. soon. Anyway, to last weeks wedding. Started at the brides place, then to St Bedes behind Star City in Pyrmont for the ceremony. Lovely little church which was full of guests. Formals were taken at Jones Bay Wharf area and Martin Place. Then the reception was at the Star Room on top of the Imax theatre. Didn’t realise there was a function room up there. Great view.

So, yesterdays wedding was a lot longer than I anticipated. This was due to three stooges that endevoured to ruin my day as well as ruin my shots. I guess the only positive thing coming out of it was how candid my shots really were. I mean I saw what everyone else saw, three guys running in front of everyone to get their shots, not caring for me and vince and especially the guests. One was armed with a D70, another with a panasonic camcorder, and the last with a video light. So started with the tea cereomy at the brides place, which was fantastic. The stooges took charge over the whole running of show. Moved onto a tea ceremony at the grooms, which lead to my most demoralising experience, having the video stooge, grab the top of my head to move it aside for his shot. This was followed by him literally talking behind my back, straight into the video camera mind you, about where I was and how i was getting into his shot. This was followed by him exclaiming to Vince how he can move all around the place and how versatile he is at being a video man, and I started thinking to myself, “if you are so versatile, I should never be in your way”. Luckily enough they didn’t come along to the formals. I was having a rough time dealing with it. Then came the ceremony at the Mariott Hotel as well as reception. This time, the photographer stooge, managed to walk infront of my lens, as they were exchanging rings. I managed to get one shot out of it. Then came the signing of the certificate which again, as the witnesses were signing, he again managed to stand right in front of my lens. Not just in front of my lens, but in front of everyone, so there was no where I could’ve moved to even get a shot. Then came photos with the bride and groom where he continually stuck his lens next to Vince’s to get a shot. This just lead to many of the guests staring at his lens instead. It didn’t register to the guests that they should’ve been looking at Vince. Then came reception - cutting the cake. So the MC announces “could the official photographer please come up first”, and guess who runs up there, the three stooges. They arrive there before me and Vince. Also standing in front of everyone again, the videolight stooge was shining it on them, in a way, it was good, but from a guests point of view, it looked disgusting. Then came the speeches where they stood a table away from the mic, and proceeded in shining this horrible light at them, and again, in front of everyone. Finally, end of the night, bride had changed into another gown (3 in total), and as the video stooge was recording, out in the open foyer area, STILL managed to push me out of the way to get his shot, even though, there was no one around me in a radius of 2 metres!

Short wedding today, started at 9am at the brides, then headed to St. Brigids Church at Millers Point and had a few quick shots in the Rocks, before heading to the lunch reception at WatersEdge. So there was the ceremony at the church as well as a ceremony at the reception. There seemed to be many readings from the Qur’an. Fantastic day, and a lot shorter than other weddings - i.e. tomorrows…

Its been a week since this wedding happened, but I havn’t had any time catch up and blog. So here it is:

Very long, but eventful week. Project wise, I was able to complete half of it. Basically the functionality I was after, I acheived on Thursday, which is fantastic news, and meant that I didn’t feel like doing too much work after that. Monday and tuesday had me modifiying my stored procedure, since there were confusions about a few of the columns and their links with our database. Many problems this week have been blamed on the Intel Mac. Basically since support for printers and particular applications have ceased and so there are no updated drivers or versions of software that will work on the new Intels. On thing to note, is Adobe Reader 8 is the only one with the plugin that works with Safari on the new Intels. I have yet to call HP to ask for updated drivers for their printers since the Intels appear to lose the connection, and need to be re-added to work.

So, transformation part 2. After many delays… lets go through them. Ordered AVR and speakers last Thursday, was told they would be in on tuesday, speakers arrive today and amplifer due tomorrow. No follow up calls from them, nothing. Monitor… was apparently delivered to the wrong store, and so was sent back to the warehouse but arrived today and i picked it up after work.

Yesterday we started at the Column Garden in Centennial Park. Very hot. It was moved to the shade of the flora. Lovely ceremony. Moved onto The Lakes Golf Course at Eastlakes. I’ve hit a few balls around before, and it looked like a top place for golf. The reception was inside with great food.

So today was quite different. For once I wasn’t working… well I was still delegated the video camera, but I wasn’t the “professional photographer”. I, however, cannot keep my hands off any camera, so I brought mine along just to capture a few pics for myself. In the morning it was at both my uncles place and my cousins. There was the traditional tea ceremony for both. It was a bit of a relaxing time. Then the bridal party headed off to the rocks for some formal shots. Meanwhile, me and my other cousin headed to Len Wallis Audio to check out speakers and amplifiers. I only had the chance to listen to the speakers, and I am currently convinced that the Focal Chorus 705v are the ones I want. I will need a subwoofer if i grab these… or there are the 706v which have a bit more bass. We quickly had to head to Darling Harbour where we boarded the Morpheus, and sailed for about 3 hours. Since it was such a scorcher in the late morning, drinks were a must.

Finally, yesterday, I received the little post slip saying that the postman missed me. Received the package today, installed it, works a treat. So its the Alpine KCA-410C Versatile Link Unit. It allows you to connect two CD changers and have 2 pairs of Aux in. One thing I’ll be looking for is the iPod adapter which may use one of the cd changers. I’m not sure yet. Will also be looking for another CD stacker if the iPod adapter uses the other cable hanging out of my head unit.

So today started off with me heading to Garigal National Park. By recommendation by my sister, since it isn’t as far as the blue mountains and shorter. In fact it was very short, but a workout nonetheless. So it starts on Cascades Track and you turn off at the second TrackTrail. This connects onto Bare Creek Track and you take a left back onto Cascades Track. It is a short loop which you can go around and around. Its fast. The downhills are a lot of fun. Slippery in parts, but so much fun. This was my first time, reached 35km/h, not the fastest down a mountain, but enough to nearly get air without trying. Nice river that flows through:

Wedding yesterday was a nice one. Started at brides place, moved onto the church at Mona Vale, then to Balmoral Beach for some formal shorts, and finally to Gunner’s Barracks for reception. Gunner’s Barracks was a very nice location. Great view of the harbour. Here are a few pics:

Yesterday we had a wonderful wedding. Weather looked shifty in the morning, but it sorted itself out until I got home. Started at the Hilton hotel in the city. Fantastic place. Never been in there before. Then headed to Curzon Hall in Marsfield. We’ve been there before, well a long time before, but this time the ceremony was at the other side of the hall. Again, the civil celebrant was Wendy Bull who we see everywhere. I would say about 50% of garden weddings she is there. So after that we had formal shots in the hall, followed by Luna Park area, the Rocks and Martin Place. We ended up at Chatswood Kam Fook where the food was great (bit expensive) and atmosphere was wonderful. So here are a few pics of the day:

Friday was a quieter day at work. I spoke to one of the people who is working on my project and we will be having a meeting on monday to discuss the data. I did have one slight hiccup as someone bought themselves a MacBook Pro, and needed their things migrated from her old Macbook to the new one. This has been done many times before. But after doing the transfer, it seemed that only the applications were imported and not her personal files and settings. The slow migration started, by booting the old macbook as a firewire HD, and copying over her personal files. All her documents were transfered but i noticed that her favourites we not there. I asked a colleage and he said to copy of the libraries. Not the macHD libraries but her personal ones. So I started, and soon received an error about the file being used. The transfer stopped and another colleage mentioned that I really shouldn’t transfer the libraries over since that will copy over anything ‘wrong’ with the old system into the new. I thought it was ok, and tested her entourage, to see if it was working. I was, but now it would give me a popup saying to reopen. Big problem since I told the lady to come up in 20 minutes to pick it up, and 20 minutes had passed. To cut things short, I created another user, set their library folder permissions to allow the current user to copy them, I backed up the old one, and copied the new profiles’ library folder over. Entourage worked which was great, but a few things still needed to be copied over. This time, i didn’t select all and paste, but copied exactly what i needed. Nervous times. Went home earlier on friday, and went to a friends brothers 18th. Quiet night, with a bit of gaming to be had.

Past few days have been very long and very sore. Sore of course from capoeira which only means I worked hard during the class. It has been a long time coming - should be fine by tomorrow. So starting on friday, had work as usual, quieter day than usual. Finally given the priviledge of having the super-user password. Scary thought, that now I CAN damage the database and anything to do with it. So using it with great caution. Spent most the day on help desk and staring at my monitor trying to figure out binary code sets and using cursors in stored procedures. Still can’t figure out the cursor bit - long story. So this week, I’ll be having a meeting with a gentleman who wants the software for which I am doing the data conversion for. Thats on wednesday. Until then, i will have more meetings with the boss, hoping that everything I have done so far, is correct or along the right lines.

Yesterdays wedding was fantastic. Great to get out again. Started at 12 and finished just after 10. Here are a few photos from yesterday:

Headed out to the city today with Kenny, to a farewell BBQ for a member of the sydney parkour scene who will be serving their time in the army. It was also partly a training session for the few that came. Had a long walk to Pyrmont Park where the BBQ was and bumped into Ish and Oz (who i just met, came down from QLD for a small trip). Of course I’m not as active as I used to be in parkour and had my trusty camera with me (which wasn’t so trusty today, having taken a photo which said no image data in file and the moving the consequent photos into another folder on the card… strange). So I got snapping. Headed towards to play equipment to have some more fun, and started the cooking of the food and some NFL action. Overall, a good day of fitness.