Monthly Archive for June, 2009

PETA’S Grim Reapers Descend On Alannah Hill

Published on June 29, 2009 in My Photography and Photography. 6 Comments

PETA'S Grim Reapers Descend On Alannah Hill

Dressed as the Grim Reaper and holding signs that read, "Alannah Hill: Designer Of Death" members of People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific protested outside the flagship Alannah Hill Boutique in Melbourne this afternoon. The protest follows PETA’s attempts to talk to Hill about her decision to include fur in her designs.

China, where much of Hill’s fur is believed to originate, has no laws to protect animals on fur farms and is now the world’s leading fur exporter. Video footage from PETA’s undercover investigation shows workers who slam foxes and raccoon dogs to the ground before skinning the animals. After the are skinned, some of the animals are shown panting and blinking. Millions of cats and dogs in China are strangled of bled to death for their fur, which is often mislabelled before it is exported, leading consumers to believe that it comes from other species.

"When it comes to terror and death, even the Grim Reaper has nothing on Alannah Hill", says PETA Asia-Pacific’s Ward Young. "With so many fashionable and warm alternatives available, there’s simply no excuse for wearing fur."

Giving Up My iPod For A Walkman

Published on June 29, 2009 in As I Was Saying, Cult Of Mac and Geek. 1 Comment

Giving Up My iPod For A Walkman.
When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years ago this week, it started a revolution in portable music. But how does it compare with its digital successors?

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RIP Kodachrome

Published on June 23, 2009 in As I Was Saying and Photography. 1 Comment

RIP Kodachrome.
The film so great that rock stars sang about it is the latest old-school technology to fall under the wheels of the digital revolution

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Tim Burton’s Wonderland

Published on June 21, 2009 in Cinema. 1 Comment Tags: Alice In Wonderland, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Wonderland.

Tim Burton's 'Wonderland'

You might have gone down the rabbit hole before. But never with a guide quite as attuned to the fantastic as Tim Burton.

Those who have grown curiouser and curiouser about what the offbeat reinventor of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory might conjure up in his version of Alice in Wonderland can feast their eyes on this array of concept art and publicity images, due to hang in movie theaters this week to promote the March 5, 2010, release.

“It has been Burton-ized” is how producer Richard Zanuck describes the director’s vision of the Lewis Carroll classic. Many elements are familiar, from the enigmatic Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) to the fierce Jabberwock (Christopher Lee). But none has been presented in this sort of visually surreal fashion.

“We finished shooting in December after only 40 days,” Zanuck says. Now the live action is being merged with CG animation and motion-capture creatures, and then transferred into 3-D.

The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn’t remember.

Among those who welcome her back is the Mad Hatter, a part tailor-made for Johnny Depp as he collaborates with Burton for the seventh time. “This character is off his rocker,” Zanuck says.

Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska, 19, best known for HBO’s In Treatment, has the coveted title role. “There is something real, honest and sincere about her,” Zanuck says. “She’s not a typical Hollywood starlet.”

There is the usual Burton-esque ghoulishness (Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen, whose favorite retort is “Off with their heads,” has a moat filled with bobbing noggins), but Zanuck assures most kids can handle it. “The book itself is pretty dark,” he notes. “This is for little people and people who read it when they were little 50 years ago.”

By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY

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The 69 Eyes Live @ The HiFi Bar, Melbourne Australia

Published on June 19, 2009 in Gigs, Music, My Photography and Photography. 1 Comment Tags: The 69 Eyes.

The 69 Eyes Live @ The HiFi Bar, Melbourne Australia

I was in a weird headspace all week and it was a last minute decision to attend tonight’s gig. Still, I didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity of photographing an energetic and dynamically visual international rock act – so I tried to psyche myself, get to the gig and get the job done.

Photographing at the HiFi Bar can be one of two things… easy or difficult. I prefer shooting outside of the (sometimes) designated photo-pit. The pit is incredibly deep and more often than not – all you get is shots looking up the performer’s nose and all sorts of weird angles.

Tonight, the pit wasn’t in use and if you get to the show early enough, there is a really sweet spot on either side of the stage which allows for a fantastic vantage point and good angles to work with.

As stated from the outset, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind tonight and I found myself struggling to “get in the zone” as I like to call it.

“Getting in the zone” is when you and the camera are one. It is a time when you know you have captured the money shot just as you are about to press down on the shutter release. It happens rarely, but when it does… it is an amazing feeling and you know you’ve got gold even before chimping it up through the viewfinder.

Alas, tonight… I wasn’t in tune. Usually out of a shoot of over 400 shots, I usually find 60 – 70 that I feel are worthy of uploading. I could probably cull it down further, but on average that is the quota I usually release to the general populace.

Tonight, even though I shot for the duration of the band’s set – I could only come up with a handful to publish.

Still, it was a fun night and even though I was dodging the push and shove, I did come away with some shots that I thought were pretty good.

There was a great crowd in attendance. Most looking like the band themselves… a gothic-post-apocalyptic blackfest that looked like extras from Tarantino’s ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’. Coulda had some fun just shooting the crowd tonight but I planted myself at what I dub the ‘HiFi Bar Sweet Spot’ and waited for the band to hit the stage.

The 69 Eyes attacked the stage like the preverbal bats-outta-hell. Looking lean, mean and certainly out for the kill as they blasted through a surprisingly catchy hard rocking set of the best Vampiric rock the cold climes of Helsinki could spew forth!

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The Bald Facts: Phil Spector Has A Bad Hair Day In Prison

Published on June 10, 2009 in As I Was Saying and Kill-Fuck-Die!. 1 Comment Tags: Larry Fine, Phil Spector.

The Bald Facts: Phil Spector Has A Bad Hair Day In Prison.
Sporting a nice ‘Larry Fine’ look isn’t he?

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Marilyn Manson To Tour Australia

Published on June 9, 2009 in Gigs and Music. 3 Comments Tags: Chris Vrenna, Ginger Fish, Marilyn Manson, The High End Of Low, Twiggy Ramirez.

Marilyn Manson To Tour Australia

I first got to witness Manson back in February of 1997. Pretty much an unknown in Australia but that is still a gig which I have many fond memories of. They’ve toured these shores several times since then and for all the newbie Mansonites, here’s your chance to see them live – albeit a shadow of the greatness they once exuded back in the ‘Antichrist Superstar’ era!

To co-incide with the release of his seventh album ‘The High End of Low’, Manson will return to Australia this October for a run of dates that take in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The tour will see the return of legendary bassist Twiggy Ramirez. Chris Vrenna, Andy Gerold and Ginger Fish will complete the line-up.

Tickets go on sale Friday June 19. Presale starts midday Wednesday June 17, and finishes 5pm Thursday June 18.

5 Oct: Challenge Stadium, WA
7 Oct: Thebarton Theatre, SA
10 Oct: Festival Hall, VIC
14 Oct: Hordern Pavilion, NSW
17 Oct: Brisbane Entertainment Centre,QLD

Morbid Angel Live @ Billboard

Published on June 1, 2009 in Gigs, Music and My Photography. 0 Comments Tags: Morbid Angel.

Morbid Angel Live @ Billboard

With a stench of marijuana and beer in the air, I met up with my contact at Billboard as I had been requested to shoot some shots of Death Metal legends Mortal Angel half an hour before they were to hit the stage.

I waited at the foot of a stairwell which led to the band’s dressing-room and took in the sights, sounds and smells around me. Scantily clad young lasses tugged at my ‘Media’ pass around my neck and with my camera hanging over my shoulder, I was mistaken for someone in the band’s entourage several times.

“No, I’m not with the band…”

I wonder if I didn’t have that piece of plastic around my neck, would anyone even bother to talk to me?

After waiting around like some groupie fan-boy for half-an-hour, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable so I texted the venue’s manager to see if the backstage shoot was still on. He rushed back up to the band and they had decided they weren’t going to shoot any shots backstage.

By this point in time, with the band about to hit the stage any second, it was going to be incredibly hard for me to squeeze through the crowd to get to the photo-pit. Instead, I was walked through the backstage area, onto the stage which had the curtain drawn.

I could hear the crowd chanting ‘Morbid Angel! Morbid Angel! Morbid Angel!’ over and over. The band had assumed position on-stage and were about to unleash hell. (I shoulda taken a shot right here… but I didn’t think quick enough!)

I was taken to the front of the stage, the curtain drawn slightly so I could jump down into the photo-pit. This was kind of exciting as the crowd cheered loudly when the curtain was drawn but instead of the band… they got me instead! Heh!

I jumped down. Got the gear ready and within seconds, the curtain fell and hell was indeed unleashed!

Again, all I had was three songs and for the duration of those three songs, the band was bathed in that sickly red frontlight which makes taking a decent shot all the more difficult.

Sigh!

Still, there was absolutely nothing I could do about the red lights so I endeavored to take as best a shot as I could under trying conditions.

The stage-divers don’t usually rear their heads and boots till about half-way through a set, but tonight, they were there in earnest – so I tried to dodge them as well.
Continue reading ‘Morbid Angel Live @ Billboard’