You know for a skank, she doesn’t look half bad. Anyway, for anyone who still cares, Courtney Love bares all for British fashion magazine, Pop. Great rack!
Monthly Archive for November, 2006
Decided to go for an evening stroll along St.Kilda Pier last night to relax, unwind somewhat and spend some time taking some long-exposure shots with the Canon and tripod. I was pretty pleased with tonight’s results as I managed to capture some nice nightly colors. It was a little hard to frame my shots as the foreground was basically pitch-black which meant I was shooting blind for the most part. Anyway, the above shot was with the camera’s ISO at 100. There was a gentle breeze blowing against the docked boats moving them slightly, and creating a hazy, ghostly effect with the foreground. And the city of Melbourne looks positively resplendent in the background. A pleasant eve all round and a far cry from the mayhem of the protest on Saturday.
I’ve never been involved in a protest. Never felt the need to. In fact, I’ve never seen one in the flesh but with all the hoopla of the G20 summit currently in Melbourne, I decided to put my photo-journalist hat on today… and jump into the thick of the mayhem and action that was about to take place in the streets of Melbourne. To say that it was all an exhausting and overwhelming afternoon is really putting it mildly. It’s weird witnessing unprovoked carnage unfold before you and at the same time, trying to keep a level and alert head so as to not end up injured yourself. But even with the potential danger, I wanted to experience it for myself and document it all as best as I can for no other reason but to experience the thrill.
I got to the top end of Collins St at about 11am. It was quite eerie seeing the streets of Melbourne deserted. The police had set up barricades protecting the hotel where the summit was taking place and were in preparation for the on-coming onslaught. I kept out of their way but surveyed the area around me because in a matter of minutes, it would be swarming with mayhem.
The barricade was next to a side alley which led through to Chinatown. I heard one of the senior policeman tell his colleagues that the throng would emanate from this alley and for his officers to be prepared. The police had also assigned one officer to stand at the entrance to the alleyway and tell the rest of them when the activists would be arriving. He was also filming the events. There really was no need for him to sound the warning, because you could hear the mass approaching. With choppers overhead circling the area, the crowd got louder and louder as they were getting closer. This was my cue to make my move and head down the alley against the flow of the oncoming protesters. This was a little scary but I wanted to get shots of them coming towards me. I wasn’t sure how they would react to someone taking their pics as there were reports that they were attacking media throughout the day. (Not that I am media accredited, but I looked the part nonetheless).
A mass of masked people were flowing past me. Punk tunes blasting out of a makeshift boom-box and it literally felt like a war-zone. It all stank to high heaven too. That was one of the things that stuck in my mind - the stench of body odor and the fact that many of the masked protesters were carrying garbage bins to throw at the police once they made it to the barricade. I joined in the moving traffic and found myself heading back towards the police with the protesters all around me. My plan was to exit the alley and do a left and continue shooting at a safe distance. My plan worked (thankfully) and I wasn’t the victim of flying debris or baton waving police.
For all the flak they cop (pardon the pun) the police were amazing today. Under extremely difficult conditions, they managed to keep the crowd at bay with minimal casualties and injuries. In fact, most of the injured protesters were victims of friendly fire.
I managed to squeeze into the frontline and got some good shots of the riot police. They were quite imposing and steely-eyed so I was happy to shoot away as fast as I could and exit the immediate line of chaos.
All in all, I got to live out a dream of being a photo-journalist today. I got home tired and exhausted and trying to decipher all that I witnessed today. I really felt for the cops today… helluva way to make a living.
version II
Some early pre-production work on the forthcoming Deathriders website. At this point, we aren’t sure of the band photo that we will be using. The band might be going in for another shoot to more complement this ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ look & feel we are trying to capture.
David Fincher’s Zodiac. Looking damn good!
It has taken almost 2,000 years, but those who worship the 12 gods of ancient Greece have finally triumphed. An Athens court has ordered that the adulation of Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Athena and co is to be unbanned, paving the way for a comeback of pagans on Mount Olympus. Being of Greek origin myself, this is indeed an interesting development. Gotta love how the Greek Orthodox church labels all this as “poisonous New Age practices” - like the crap they’ve spewed forth for 2,000 years is anything but poison!
I’ve received a few emails over the past several weeks asking for some of this blog’s previous content to return. When Dogmatic was relaunched at the mid-way point of this year, I decided to scrap the previous three year’s worth of content and start anew. No real reason for this decision, I just wanted to get rid of some of the dreg and start over. But as stated, I get constant requests for certain articles, reviews etc to return. I do have it all backed up and shorlty (read: when I can find the time) I will add *some* of the old content back into the Dogmatic archives.
In the meantime, I’m probably experiencing one of the busiest periods of my life. I’m working full-time throughout the day and spending my nights working on the Visceral Industry’s projects. It is proving to be tough but once I can get used to the routine, I think all will work out just fine. Over the next couple of weeks look for some developments on the Justice Howard site I have been working on, as well as the Deathriders site. I’ll post some developmental screens here shortly.
Meh, if anyone still cares… the Simpsons movie trailer. It’s unfortunate but the Simpsons stopped being funny over a decade ago. This trailer doesn’t suggest that the movie will be any different.
Having grown up on the Three Stooges and Warner Bros cartoons for most of my childhood and (ahem) adult life - I can truly appreciate the slapstick lowbrow humour of the Jackass crew. In fact, a few buddies of mine have even dabbled in some stunts and committed them to film… remind me to show you the video of 3 thirty-somethings and a shopping-trolley stunt of a few years ago. But I digress. The first Jackass movie was easily one of the funnest times I have ever had at a movie. Ever. My two buddies and I, planted our butts in the comfy seats of our local cinema-complex, stuffed our faces with over-salted pop-corn and laughed and laughed and laughed from the minute the opening titles hit, till the end credits. Best money I had ever spent at a flick. The only disappointing aspect of the first movie was that it seemed to mark an end to the Jackass franchise. The TV show wrapped up and spawned a number of spin-off shows - (Wild Boyz, Viva La Bam et al) and some copycats from across the pond (Dirty Sanchez, The Dudesons). When word filtered out that the crew would be back together for a new flick, you wouldn’t believe the amount of excitement that generated amongst my pals. How in God’s name would they ever top the first movie? There was some pretty extreme shenanigans in Jackass 1 and when all is said and done, the exploits and craziness of Number 2 totally surpass it all. I mean, glamour boy Bam Margera is reduced to tears in this flick… several times. Jackass Number 2 is fun. I left the theater exhausted and with a grin streched from ear-to-ear wondering when could I make the time to see it all again!
A Virtual Tour of CBGB’s. Very cool 360 degree views. Gabba gabba hey!
Vox Populi
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