Shutter.Stutter

“Be the official Groupie photographer and take photos like never before.

Olympus and Groupie are giving you the chance to win a job as the Groupie photographer for a month, trialing the brand new Olympus PEN Camera.

You’ll get two tickets to shoot for Groupie at up to eight gigs, including acts such as Art vs Science, The Cassette Kids, Children Collide, Yves Klein Blue and Wolfmother!

We’ll also give you a one-on-one session with professional photographer Chris Samuel, to give you some hints and tips on how to take the perfect gig photograph.

With your Olympus PEN Camera and your Official Groupie Photographer pass, you’ll be able to get amongst it and take photos like you’ve never taken before.”

Sounds pretty good hey? The only catch is that you would have to use the pen camera. I think I would be pretty frustrated at these gigs with an AAA pass in one hand and a teeny camera in the other.

Oh the upside, I read a few reviews on the Olympus Pen and it’s not as point-and-shoot as I thought. It certainly looks good.

Quick specs:
Model: Olympus EP-1
12.3MP Live MOS Sensor
Built-in Image Stabilisation
3in LCD
Micro Four Thirds Mount
100-6400 ISO
1/4000-2sec shutter
HD Video 720p
Lenses: Pancake 2.8 17mm (or standard 35mm) and 3.5-4.5 14-42mm (roughly 28-80mm)

Here’s a more detailed review.

Yippee! I’m seeing Michael Nyman at the Sydney Opera House on the 26th. Can’t wait. I’m going to be cheeky and and sneak in my camera (probably not so good to blog about it before hand).

Sorry to all my readers, this blog has been sorely neglected this month. It’s been hectic for me on both photography and design fronts - which is awesome! You’ll be seeing some new work pop up here soon - when it gets released by my clients.

On a happier note, I have a whole backlog of things to blog about, so will be churning them out now (famous last words). And I’m averaging 200 unique visitors per day here - who would have thought?! I hope they’re not all search bots…

Here’s my favourite piece by Nyman, theme from The Piano, which won the 1993 Palme d’Or at Cannes.

I felt old today, like I’ve lived through an era gone. Michael Jackson was a constant in my childhood, that background soundtrack by which I define my formative years. He reigned pop like no other, and none since him has achieve such feverish heights.

And years down the line, I’ll think back and remember where I was when I heard the news. I was at my hairdressers getting my hair poodled. Goddamit, curls never come out the way you want.

I’ve blogged about Béatrice de Géa before. She did a photo essay for the NYTimes on in childbirth in Tanzania. I wandered over to her website and found that she has a few stunning bodies of work.

de Géa has a great eye for interesting angles, and her consciousness of space makes me wonder if she was originally trained as a designer - I’m itching to lay some typography over her portraits.

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On the Hillary trail…

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Portraits

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Fashion documentary

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Hurricane Ike

Photographed Boom Crash Opera this week, for Moshtix. Never heard of them, but was pleasantly surprised. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t start my day at 6:30am…

More at Moshpix.

Did EPMD at Manning Bar last Saturday (and drove my new car without incident - yippee!). Seemed liked all of Sydney’s hip hop enthusiasts showed up, which was interesting as I’ve never seen so many baggy t-shirts in one place. Isn’t hip hop usually accompanied by skanky girls though? Don’t think I saw a single one.

I tried wheedling a backstage photo pass but couldn’t get my grubby hands on one. Never fear, when the show started I climbed on anyway - though I felt bad and climbed back down after a few shots. Hmm, seems my skin isn’t as thick as I thought - need to work on that :). More at Moshpix

This is my favourite shot of the night by far. That’s what you get for wearing too-heavy bling!

Aaaand close up!

Okay okay, serious photos now.

It was a wet dreary night last thursday, and I almost opted out for The Kills gig at the Forum - but I’m glad I didn’t! They were riveting on stage, Alison Mosshart is my new girl crush - she rocks the leopard print like none other.

As usual, these are the shots that didn’t make the Moshtix cut. Support act was Louis XIIV.

Was doing a bit of YouTubing and found this video of Placebo’s Meds feat Alison Mosshart. There’s something about men who can pull of shaved heads and eyeliner, and Brian Molko does it so well…must be the bisexuality.

Interesting interview by Nylon with The Kills, who smoke like chimneys, surprise surprise.

I photographed another gig last week for Moshtix at the good ole Basement. It was the lovely Abby Dobson, who sounded and looked amazing onstage. She was made to sing and smile.

These are the shots that didn’t make the Moshpix gallery.

I went to see Sa Ding Ding last night at the Opera House, and came away with very mixed feelings.

Ding Ding’s performance left the same taste in my mouth as when I saw The Banquet.

The performance was spectacular, and I was impressed with the layering of heavy western influenced beats and bass with quivering eastern melodies. Ding Ding’s voice was strong and her stage presence commanded attention. But everything just seemed a little too staged.

From the choreography to the costumes, everything just screamed this is traditional Chinese, as if the audience wouldn’t get it otherwise. She uses a mish-mash of Asian elements familiar to westerners that don’t quite add up - Kung fu performers (eastern China), pipa (east China), erhu (north-east China), she sings like a Tibetan, dances like a southerner, was born in Mongolia, uses some Sanskrit lyrics, and poses like a buddhavista. She is trying to embody all that is obviously Asian, and it doesn’t sit true with me.

I feel, as I do for The Banquet, that Ding Ding has very consciously and aggressively marketed herself for a global audience, and in the process has lost credibility. Sure, like the movie, everything’s pretty to look at but the talent was somewhat lacking. Voices like Ding Ding’s are a dime a dozen in China - check out the variety shows, those singers just haven’t been marketed like she has.

I think the real cringe moment was when she sang a tooth-melting ballad accompanied by her pianist - it sounded like it came straight from a Taiwan-pop songbook.

I was disappointed. I was expecting something a lot more authentic. Many people will disagree with me of course, like this positive review and interview. Here’s a link to her very flashy website, another thumbs down on the authenticity factor for me.

And this is the music video for one of her singles. Note the judicious use of special effects, wedding-photography-esq filters, and over the top costumes.

Some of my shots from the night:

Last weekend I photographed Mickey Avalon at The Forum for Moshtix. I am now firmly in the belief that he is one of the most disgusting human beings on earth - him and his support acts.

Beer all over the place (I had to run around shielding my camera), greasy hair, (bad) nakedness, sweat and spit and all sorts of bolidy fluids everywhere. I had a big urge to drag them into the bathroom and scrub them with industrial strength cleanser. Oh, and slap them silly too -  I had no idea what Avalon was on, but he could barely keep his eyes open.

Despite all my whinging, I’ve never been to a show like that before, and have to admit that it was fun in retrospect. I got some great shots, as those guys were very active performers.

I’ve decided to post up the photos that didn’t make the Moshpix gallery - they’re too good to waste!