Roll #6

105. Saturday 13th November. “Just ride your bike and wander”. I have a spare roll of film with me, so I decided today that I would shoot a whole roll in Shanghai. I had lots of fun mainly because so many people were fascinated by the Holga. Most thought it was a toy and many could not believe that it wasn’t digital. Film is so foreign. I let a film girls play with the camera and they inadvertently took some shots and wound on the film too far, etc. So who knows how the photos came out. I took the first shot of the new roll of a quirky sculpture just off Nanjing Road. The sculpture was accompanied by a great poem, the first line of which I used for the title of my photo. “Just ride on the bike and wander
There are no files, no books in the backpack,
Just full of his love words.
The season’s forecast by the corner shops
Is always more accurate.
The scent of delicious food Is always a better guide.
The breeze hums this popular melody
With the twittering of the birds.
It is weary to run after life.
So why not let life run after you!”
Georges Soultarpe, 2006.
106. “ Shanghai Ceramics Shop”. Nanjing Road – Shanghai. Full of designer label shops – Gucci, Longines, Cartier, you name it, they are here. But just off Nanjing Road and the real Shanghai peeks through the designer veneer. I took this photo of an antique shop just behind Nanjing Road. I like the contrast of old versus new.

107. Christmas décor in Osaka”. I walked into the Osaka Hilton and was overwhelmed by the largest Christmas decoration I have ever seen in a hotel. The dissonance of Christmas décor in Japan just stunned me. I took this photo of the reindeer against a huge Christmas tree, because it looked so quirky. The reindeer looks a bit dopey as well. At dinner with customers we discussed Japanese culture and I came to the conclusion that there is art in nearly everything in Japan. Art and order. So it surprised me that the Hilton hotel would put up something so tacky as these Christmas decorations.
In Japan
There is art
In everything
In everything
There is order
Order and harmony
In everyone
So why so much Anxiety!

108. “Osaka street scene”. I snapped this photo in Osaka of a café o a nearby street as we walked back to our hotel after another meeting with customers. I was drawn to the bright signs and neon in the background.

109. “Wanchai Night”. Spent a night and a day in Tokyo and never got a chance to take a photo!. Flew to Hong Kong in the evening en route home (yeah!). I had to spend the night in Hong Kong as my connecting flight was only the next day. I took this photo in Wanchai trying to capture the bright and seedy feel that is this bar and nightclub area. I had previously tried to photo a small shopfront in the same area, but the owner wouldn’t let me. “you never know where these photos end up – all over the internet!” she argued. I couldn’t deny that fact, so I let it go.

110. “Wanchai Day”. Had a meeting with a work colleague in the morning before I flew out. Their offices are near Wanchai, so I thought it would be interesting to contrast Wanchai during the day, compared to the previous night.

111. ”Kitsch Kitchen”. Back home after nearly three weeks travel. Our friend Step had invited us out to drinks in the evening, which quickly morphed into an early dinner at Kitsch. I love the bustle of their kitche, which can be seen through a window from the outside eating area. Or when you go to the bathroom. So I asked if I could take a photo of the chefs at work, which they happily agreed to.

112. “Flower @ home”. We spent the day preparing for our annual wine club year-end lunch. As usual we were hosting the lunch and Janet had designed an ambitious eight course menu for 22 people. I thought I would take a photo of Saint Anne-Marie of Lavigna, where we went to buy wine. But she had the day off because she was a bridesmaid. Michael, her father, just isn’t of the same photographic quality, so I forewent the shot. I only remembered that I had to take a photograph much later in the day, so I took this shot of some flowers on our dining room table.

113. “Rotters year end lunch”. Crazy day. Up at 6.30am and worked on the Rotters lunch flat out until 12 noon, when the guests arrived. Then worked flat out serving, cooking and cleaning up until about 9pm. Still had stuff to do but we were both so stuffed ourselves by then that we decided to call it a day. Great day however! Everyone enjoyed Janet’s exquisite’s food. The wine was good and plentiful. And as always, the company was boisterously entertaining. The highlight of the day for me was Janet’s smoked BBQ chicken thighs served with homemade mole’.

114. “Bertil Vallien Sculpture”. Recovered from Sunday (sort of) during work. Then back home to finish cleaning up. Not much time for photographic creativity at all. So I resorted to photographing our glass sculpture by Bertil Vallian. Long day but our house almost looks normal again.

115. “Christmas Decorations”. I noticed that Perth’s Christmas decorations were up today. I’ve been away for 3 weeks, so they may well have been up for ages, but this was my first chance to photograph them.

116. “L. Cohen Concert”. Big night out! We never thought we would see Leonard Cohen live again. But he is back in Perth! I was too far away from the stage to take a photo of Leonard himself so I thought I would photograph the Big Screen with Leonard in the picture. Unfortunately the photo did not come out. I wish I could write poetry like L. Cohen. I wish I could take half decent photos.

117. “Bondi Beach”. Up at 4am to fly to Sydney for a meeting. Stayed overnight and caught up with my friend Lucy. She kindly took me to dinner at a restaurant at Bondi Beach. I took a photo of both Bondi and Lucy before dinner while I explained the (limited) workings of my Holga to her. Unfortunately she is lost in the Bondi exposure. We ate at the North Bondi Italian Café. Busy as anything, full of “the beautiful people” and a couple of stray backpackers and, well…us.

118. “The Audreys @ the Fly By Night Club”. Up at 3am (Perth time)to fly back from Sydney. Caught up with Janet for lunch at the Greenhouse. After work we went to the Audreys concert in Freo. Doors opened at 8pm, Audreys came on at about 10pm. Got home after 12.30am – long day, but a great concert. Taasha Coates is very dreamy. I pushed to the front at one point to take this photo, hoping the bright stage lights would help the exposure.

119. “Beaufort Street Blunder”. Ah the problem of having two Holgas in one bag. I was taking some photos for the Beaufort Street Festival and had brought a second Holga along to take the majority of photos. I took my “photo of the day” early, but in my eagerness to take another photo I took out the ol’d Red&White H and snapped another frame before I realized my error. So two photos in one day. Don’t think I will go to jail, but it will throw out my sequence. For the record I photographed the display window of Jacksons and the crocket hanging on a wall as my two photos. After I got all my photos back from the day, it was clear to me that I liked the Holga shots much better than the Nikon Digital shots. As Janet said, I should have followed my Inner Holga.

120. “Sunday Snooze”. Ambrose captured my feelings about the day with his sleeping pose. Some days you just want to cover your head up and keep on sleeping. But I had to get up and do chores – the house is long overdue for a big clean, since our cleaning lady ran away (well I guess she hobbled away as she broke her foot) and never returned.

121. “City Christmas Décor”. Saw this Christmas decoration on the way to collecting a hire car. It was the most interesting thing I saw all day, so I snapped away.

122. “Distracted Décor”. I drove down to Capel and back today for a series of meetings. Janet was having her hair done at Distracted, so I met her there after I got back. The new window display was up and I may not get a chance to photograph the Christmas display again.

123. Wednesday 1st December. “Melbourne Airport Christmas”. Flew to Melbourne today for a meeting at the airport, so how exciting is that? Airport – plane – airport – plane – airport – home. I thought I had stopped doing this sort of stuff? Any what can you photograph at Melbourne airport – besides a Christmas tree. Also got a Jetstar plane in the background. I seem to have a mini Christmas theme happening at the moment.

124. “This is Bali Baby”. Arrived in Bali this morning and drove to Canggu Beach. Changed $200 and became instant millionaires. Along the way we saw lots of sculptures, doors, light fittings and other bits and pieces that would look good in our MR House. Also saw a tortoise sculpture with a penis for a head! Not one for the new home. We had lunch at a nearby beach café and order a bottle of prosecco without realizing how expensive it was (>$100 for a bottle). Consequently we flattened our cash reserves in one meal! I took this photo of a Bali bust in our villa garden. We are staying at a great villa with our own plunge pool and lots of room inside. Plus our own outdoor shower.

125. “Bamboo Blonde”. Went for a body board this morning for the first time in who knows how long – 3 to 5 years! Fortunately the surf was very tame and a lazy left hand break that allowed for an easy paddle out. Got back to the villa in time for a cooked breakfast then we both had one hour massages. I could get used to this life. We went to Seminyak in the afternoon for a look around. Traffic jam all the way there and slight confusion on the part of the taxi driver as to where we wanted to go, made it a stressful trip. Fortunately we had a wonderful lunch at Café Bali. We started to wander around the town, but then it started to rain, so we gave up and went back to the villa. But not before I got this photo of Janet standing below a banner which read Bamboo Blonde.

126. “Hope and Grant”. Went for another bodyboard in the morning – same lazy wave. Much better suited to longboarding. Then I did the best thing I did all holiday – I hired a scooter! Best fun ever. I’m 16 again and hooning around Canggu and Echo Beach. No helmet, completely without a care in the world. Even better I managed to get Janet to jump on the back so we had transport and didn’t have to worry about hiring taxis. Caught up with the Wedding Party in the afternoon. Had dinner with Mark and Michelle (of Pink Zulu, et al. fame) and their son Grant and daughter Hope. I took this photo of them at dinner. I haven’t seen Hope for over five months as she has been traveling overseas, so it was great to catch up on all her adventures.

Photo 365 Roll #5

82.“Delhi Athletes” This was the first day in a while that I got the chance to wonder around the city at lunchtime. When I got to Forest Chase I discovered that the city was holding a “Welcome Back” event for the WA Athletes who had been to the Commonwealth Games. It seemed like an interesting shot – lots of colour, lots of people. A good opening shot for a new roll of film (#5). Somehow managed to take a double exposure…ghost in the machine?

83.“Roses in Sunset”. Another flat out day at work. I collected my previous roll of negatives from Fitzgerald’s just as they were closing and got home after 6pm. I had been admiring the beautiful roses in our neighbour’s garden, which were now in full bloom. So was a good “near to home” shot.

84. “Saturday Dress”. I was planning on photographing my hairdresser before she goes on maternity leave in December. But in my haste to make my appointment on time, I forgot my camera at home. Curses! All is not lost. I have one more appointment before she goes on leave. After my haircut, Janet and I did some shopping and then had an excellent lunch at the Greenhouse. I had a chicken and mushroom pastie in a wholemeal pastry and Janet had the ever delicious tasting plate. In the afternoon we ducked into our local shopping centre for some groceries and I spotted this cute dress outside a children’s clothes shop.

85. “West End Deli”. I was enjoying my Sunday morning ride until I punctured. That was OK. I found the responsible shard of glass in the tyre and changed the tube relatively quickly. But in my enthusiasm to pump up the tyre, I managed to snap off the valve. So I had run out of tubes and because I was cycling by myself had no buddies to bum another one from. Nothing else to phone Janet for help. I work her up from her Sunday morning sleep-in and she had to drive to Claremont to pick me up. A first in over eight years of cycling. As recompense I took her to West End Deli for brunch. And while we were there, I photographed the kitchen with the counter in the foreground. Note to self: include puncture repair kit in bag if planning to cycle solo.

86. “Adelaide Kangaroos”. I’m in Adelaide today, doing a presentation to members of our South Australian Office. On the way back to the hotel after work I spotted a large sculpture of two kangaroos in a park adjacent to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. After checking in, I walked back the few blocks to the sculptures and took a double exposure – one photo from each side so that (hopefully) the kangaroos are facing each other. Then I wondered around the city taking photos using my i-pod and the Hipstmatic App. I got a couple of neat photos. I love the effects of the different lenses, film and flash choices. Notable was the wrought iron window grill of stylized roses (ala JH Macintosh) which would make an interesting gate for our Margaret River property.

87. “Flight to Jacinth”. I am visiting one of our minesites today and I decided to take this photograph of the turboprop aeroplane after we landed at the minesite. I wanted to get a good shot of the prop and the wing. Its interesting staying here out at the mine site camp. The people work between 10 and 12 hours shifts for eight days straight. I am here on their last night before the “swing” change so most of the people ate early and then retired. That left a small group of visitors talking in the dining room until it closed around 8pm. I went to my room and answered some e-mails and watch a TV program about Mumbai slums before falling asleep. Not sure I could this type of fly-in, fly-out job. Perhaps you get used it after a while.

88. 27^th Oct. “Chinatown Reprise” I can’t believe they have started putting up Christmas decoration in Adelaide already. I mean, its not even November yet! I’m back here again on my way home after my minesite visit. I had spotted an interestingly looking tapas restaurant when I was here on Monday, but it was closed. So tonight I have come here. On the way I walked through Chinatown and it reminded me of one of my first photos taken in Melbourne way back in August. Bright lanterns and red gates marking the entrance. Chinese dragons gleaming at the front of the gates in the late evening sun. So I took a double exposure and photographed one of the dragon’s head up close. Adelaide – double exposure town. The tapas bar is Sangria Y Pintxos Bar (I think). Sitting there I have two revelations. 1. I am setting under a row of cured ham. 2. I need far more practice and training if I intend to improve both my writing and my photos. Janet gave me a book called the Leadership Dojo, which talks much about training and practice to hone skills and ability. And suddenly it dawns on me… duh. “we are passionate about what we practice if its relevant to the life we want to create” (R. Strozzi-Heckler)

89. “Mackey’s Sign”. There is a building in our neighborhood which was previously a corner store, then a hairdresser, then a number of other businesses. Recently it has been renovated and is now just a house. But the owners have hand-painted an old advertising sing on the front wall. It caught my eye the first time I saw the sign (riding home form work). So today on my way home I choose this as my photograph.

90. “Kitsch Wall”. I seem to have a bit of a painted wall thing happening at the moment. Yesterday it was the Mackey’s Wall. Today it’s the painted wall at Kitsch, the Asian Tapas bar next to the RE Store on Oxford Street. Yes, you read right – Asian Tapas Bar. We had our usual prawn crackers to start, then pork dumplings, followed by a spicy pork and octopus salad and stir fried greens. And the spicy salad was spicy! All washed down with a bottle of Rolf Binder 2007 Riesling.

91. “Janet the Smurfette” I popped into Distracted while Janet was having her hair done. It was during the blue dye stage so she had all this blue gunk in her hair and it was all standing on end. A photo opportunity that I could not miss.

92. “Sayers on Sunday. We slept in this Sunday and then decided to go to Sayers for breakfast. We walked down to build up an appetite. We managed to squeeze into a table as Sayers is always packed on a Sunday morning. I took this photo of one of the wait-staff as we were leaving.

Day 93. 1^st November. “Monday Colour Boost”. We are off to Hong Kong tonight for a conference, where I am giving a presentation. It turned out to be a busy day, with lots of last minute tasks to complete before I head overseas for three weeks. I ducked out at lunchtime and took this photograph of the local Boost Juice stall near our office.

94. “Hong Kong View from Hotel Window”. Overnight flight from Perth to Hong Kong. Didn’t have too much to do today, so Janet and I went for lunch at a local noodle bar and then we had a massage in the afternoon. We are staying at the Intercontinental in Kowloon, which has beautiful views across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. I took this photo from our hotel window, which hopefully got the Junk looking boat in the foreground.

95. “Same view at night”. A very busy day with a number of meetings. The day just seemed to get away from me and before I knew it, it was dark outside. So I decided to take the same shot as the previous day, but with a long exposure this time.

96. “Hotel Room snap – in desperation”. Well if yesterday was busy, today was just flat out. I gave my presentation in the morning, which went well. Then meetings wall-to-wall during the day and a customer function in the evening. No time for Holga shots so I had to resort to a photo within our hotel room at the end of the day. It’s kind of disappointing that I haven’t had time to find time for some more interesting shots of Kowloon, but then I am here to work….

97. “Rob, Jason at Spoon”. The last day of the conference. The marketing boys had worked extremely hard over the last week and were having a quick celebratory dinner before flying out. I took this photo of them (and Janet) at Spoon, the French restaurant in the hotel while we had dinner.

98. “Umbrellas on the star walk”. I came down with a cold overnight and then woke up this morning feeling miserable. A mood to match the weather, which had been raining the last few days. Still the rain did not deter the people walking along the boardwalk below our hotel. The multiple coloured umbrellas caught my attention, so I took this photo. We moved across to Hong Kong Island today and after having a slight misunderstanding about which hotel we were staying at, we settled into Hong Kong “Central”, briefly catching up with our friend James in the evening. Note to unwary travelers, there are two Lang Kwok Fong Hotels in Lang Kwok Fong.

99. “James, Barry and Janet @ the Lamma Hilton”. The improved today as did my health and mood. We had arranged to go to Lamma Island for lunch with James and our Hong Kong friend Barry. We ate at the Lamma Hilton and got free T-shirts. The Lamma Hilton is all plastic chairs and old round chip-board tables. No prizes for décor, but the sea food is excellent and the wine really cheap for Hong Kong. I took this photo of James, Janet and Barry after our 3^rd bottle of wine. And things only got worse after that. We got back to Hong Kong after that and continued eating and drinking in Soho and LKF. James fortunately had the sense to abandon ship early in the evening, but we pressed on and made the mistake of popping into the ice-bar, which is really just a big fridge where you get to wear fur coats and drink vodka. All downhill from there…

100. Monday 8^th November. “Hong Kong girl”. Not surprising, Janet and I woke up feeling sorry for ourselves this morning after our Big Party last night. It was our last night in Honkers before she flew back to Perth and I flew up to Shanghai for a number of customer visits. We had coffee at Waygu in LKF before walking around aimlessly for a while. I took this photo as we were heading back to our hotel up one of the steep pedestrian walkways.

100 days! I can’t believe it has come around so quickly. Off to Shanghai.

101. “Beijing Model”. Got into Shanghai late last night. Up early this morning for a flight to Zhengzhou, then a two hour drive to a pigment factory. Quick tour of the plant, then lunch. Raced back to the airport and flew to Beijing. Exhausted after Day 1 of my China trip. Plus my cold has gotten worse. Lots of great photo opportunities, but not opportunity to take a photograph. So finally I resorted to a photo of a display window of the shop in our hotel in Beijing.

102. “Beijing International Hotel”. We traveled over a 1000km today via a combination of rail and road. Beijing to Jinzhou by train (3hrs) Jinzhou to Fuxin by car (1.5 hrs), Fuxin to Jinzhou by car and then back to Beijing by rail. Left our hotel at 6.30am and got back after 10pm. Completely exhausted but had a number of interesting meetings. Visited a Ti-Slag smelting operation, which looked like something from the mines of Mordor – dark and smoky, with molten slag and iron running from large furnaces. The most bizarre thing was seeing someone boil a kettle on top of a slag pile which had just been tapped and was still glowing red. Of course I did not have a camera of any description on me. So I had to take a photo of our hotel entrance when we got back to Beijing.

103. “Jinan Night Street” Double exposure plus extra shot of tree lights. Same again today. Up early – long train ride to Jinan, life threatening drive to a factory, meeting, banquet lunch, factory tour, life threatening drive to train station at Zibo to catch a train to Jinan. Arrived at the station early but in the confusion which is the Chinese railway station, we managed to miss our train and had to wait around Zibo station for another two hours. So we only got to Jinan after 9.30pm, exhausted and still feeling sick. I ducked out of the hotel after we arrived and discovered a street market happening on the pavement around from the hotel. I took a double exposure shot of a street vendor in front of a brightly lit doorway. Then I saw these tree lights and broke one of my rules by taking another photo.

104. “High Speed Train to Shanghai”. So today we left the hotel at 6.15am and caught a plane to Nanjing. Then a two hour (life threatening) car ride to Bengbu. Banquet lunch, followed by a 2 ½ hour meeting. Then a 3 ½ hour train ride to Shanghai. Still sick and predictably arrived in Shanghai exhausted – actually completely knacked! I took a photo of a high speed train as it stopped at the station. I wasn’t sure if the first shot came out, so I took another one. This is the last exposure of the roll (post note: turns out no photo of the train came out – bummer). Spending the weekend in Shanghai and I am so looking forward to a couple of days of rest.

Victor Roll #4

59. “Mulberry Leaves”. I had to pick up a hire car after work and I thought I would find a shot as I walked across town. I saw lots of interesting subjects – a girl with heart-shaped glasses; a couple of emo-punk types with brightly dyed hair; easels in a school window; poet looking guy with pork-pie hat, checked shorts and Dunlop sneakers. But somehow no photo materialized. I drove home despondent, especially after the vintage Morris Minor I thought would be my back-up shot was not parked in its usual spot. But I arrived home and saw the new leaves on the mulberry tree glowing against the late afternoon light and my mood lifted. We ate outside for the first time this evening (28th September). That night I dreamt I was Alan Ginsberg and I went on a road trip with Ken Kesey. How does my mind work?60. “Capel Cows”. Yeah! I finally managed to photograph a cow (almost up close). I love photos of cows and I have tried in the past to get a decent shot, but always without luck. But today there were some (brown) cows right next to the side of the road as I drove into Capel. All I had to do was stop the car, get out and snap away.61. “Easels in the Window”. I dreamt I was a whale again last night. On the way to work, after dropping off the hire car, I got my shot of the easels in the window of the a classroom at Mercedes College. Had to stand in the middle of Hay Street to frame the shot.62. Friday, 1 October. “Ute under a tree”. Picked up our developed film today. The photos look like they are going to come out well. One the way home from Fitzgerald’s, I photographed this old ute parked under a tree. In the evening sun, it looked like the tree was almost growing out of the ute.63. “Ronald McDonald House”. Our friends Chris and Lisa organized to cook a meal at Ronald McDonald House. We went along to help. We made lasagna, salad and semifreddo. All of which seemed to be a hit with the families staying at the house. I took this photograph as we started serving the meal. I thought I had a good shot, but after the developing the negatives and all I can see is part of Lisa hand in the foreground. The rest of the photo is lost in the other exposures. Bummer. Will have to do another meal at McDonald House.

64. “Smiley Eggs”. So last night I dreamt I was going to make a film with Nicole Kidman but I got lost in the old part of some Chinese city I and couldn’t get back to the hotel for my meeting with her. It was a beautiful morning and I went for a ride around the river. Got back and Janet made boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. The eggs (free range) had little smiley faces printed on their shells. We wondered who got the job of stamping each egg with a face without breaking them. They looked kind of cute so I photographed the remaining eggs in their carton. Happy days!
65. “Lala Design”. “I can’t believe we are doing this,” said Janet as we caught the lift to my office around 10pm. I had planned to take a photograph at Michelle’s (Of Pink Zulu and Friday Night Bistro fame) impromptu birthday bash. But I had forgotten my camera at work. And now I was in danger of missing a day in my (so far) uninterrupted sequence of shots! I was determined not to let this happen, so we drove from Cottesloe to the city after Michelle’s party to get my Holga. On the way home, I photographed the display window of Lala Design on Oxford Street.
66. “Hugo House Plans”. We met with our architect and builder tonight to review our preliminary Margaret River house plans. Afterwards I took this photo of the plans with Janet’s hands. We are really happy with the first draft of the plans and I think Mike, the young architect has nailed the design, in terms of what we have been looking for. The title of the drawings – “Hugo House”, did make me smile. I don’t think Janet is going to let that title last long.
67. “Central Park Tree #2”. This is the second shot of this tree. I know that I am deliberately breaking one of my own rules, but I would like to photo the progression of this tree during the course of a year – from winter through all the seasons. This tree was last photographed a month ago and it is amazing how much foliage there is now on the branches.
68. “Greenhouse #2”. The last photo I took of the Greenhouse did not come out well, so had another go. I have come here for a morning coffee and muffin the last two days. It is a good opportunity to collect my thoughts and jot down some notes during the course of my normally full days. I took this photo using a longish exposure (with the bulb setting on the Holga) so hopefully the exposure is OK and there is not too much camera shake. (Post note: there was some camera shake, but the exposure was pretty good).
69. “Friday Night Bistro #3”. If its Friday, it must be bistro night at our house. I invited Kersten and Kim and Janet invited Stephan (as always), Calvin and John. Janet made Asian duck salad for starters and salmon with raisins, ginger and shortcrust pastry for mains. Stephan made pear and chocolate clafoutis for dessert. But the highlight of the night was the salad of fresh leaves from our garden! I took this photo of Kim and Kersten (which got lost in the Greenhouse shot – there is a ghost of Kersten in the lightfitting of the Greenhouse). It was a beautiful warm evening and we were able to have our dinner party outside for the first time since winter began.


70. “Galvin Girls”. As expected I didn’t feel great on Saturday morning after Friday Night Bistro, despite not having drunk much and gulping down gallons of water before bed. We lurked around the house until late afternoon, when we went to Matilda Bay to photograph our friends the Galvins. They wanted a family shot as a present for their parents and asked me to take some. After the portrait shots I got out my Holga and took this impromptu shot of Lucy and what I thought was Emily, but looking at the photograph, it was Lucy and George (their son). Considered changing the title, but Galvin Kids doesn’t have the same ring.71. “Lazy Sunday Afternoon”. I took this photograph of Ambrose, our white cat, because his lazy, relaxed demeanor so captured the feel of Sunday afternoon. We bought these large leather armchairs so that Janet and I could relax and read in the study. But since we got them, our cats Ambrose and Bronte have made them their own. We had to put throws on the chairs because they were getting badly scratched. (Post note: Ambrose The White came out red in this shot because I used a red filter flash).72. “Karriview Dogs”. Double exposure. I am spending a few days on a company workshop at Karriview Lodge. When we arrived we were greeted by two friendly Labradors. When I went for a walk in the evening they followed me so I took this photo when I got back. I had to take a double exposure because I couldn’t get them to stay together to shoot them in the same frame. (Post Note: Predictably only one dog came out in the shot. However I like the juxtaposition of Ambrose in the one frame and the dog in the other facing each other).73. “AEP Workshop”. The second day of our workshop. The days have been full on and it was only around dinner time that I got a chance to take a photo. This one is of two of my colleagues, Tim and Marty.74, “Hands for pizza”. Still at the workshop. I was drawn to the pizzas being served for dinner and how quickly they were being devoured, so I photographed people’s hands as they took slices from the plates.75. “AEP Mates”. This evening we had to present to a number of senior managers from our company. It had been a fairly stressful day as we worked to prepare the presentation. It all came together well in the end but we felt we had earned a drink afterwards. I took this shot while we were celebrating our success and enjoying the company of our new friends. 76. “Gracetown Wineglass”. Our wine club is having a weekend away down at Gracetown. This worked out well for me as our workshop was held just around the corner at Karriview. I formed the advance party unlocking doors and opening windows in the house where we were staying. Janet came down with Mark and Michelle (of Pink Zulu, FNBistro and various other events fame). We went for a short walk soon after they arrived and then retired to the balcony for sundowners. I took this photo of my wineglass with the sun setting through the glass. (Post note: unfortunately this and the next photo got burnt out).
77. “Sand on my feet”. In the afternoon I went for a walk along the beach in Gracetown. I looked for shells and other interesting things for making mobiles. I love finding old, broken and worn shells that are either interesting in form or colour (or both). I like the way their beauty is reborn in their seaside graveyard of shells and stones. Afterwards I took this photo of my feet which were still covered in sand. (Post note: not that you can see much in the overexposed photo – curses!).
78. “Bottlebrush Bright”. The red bottlebrush flowers have been everywhere this month! I would like to plant some on our Margaret River block. I took this photo of some flowers just outside the house we stayed at in Gracetown.
79. “Rose”. On Sunday, after a respectable sleep in and hearty breakfast, we went for a walk along (a very short section) the Cape to Cape trail. We all felt surprisingly good despite an excellent wine tasting and dinner the night before. Having worked up an appetite, we went to Lamont’s for lunch. But we popped into the Yallingup Gallery on the way. There, tucked away in a back room gallery, we found a small painting by Matt Doust. We had seen his work before, but this painting, title “Rose”, jumped out at me. So we bought it and worried about where we would hang it later. Monday was a full-on work day, so I decided to photograph Rose as my photo of the day.
80. “Vegie Patch”. Another long day in the office and not much time for anything else. Met with our architect again this afternoon. The house plans are going well and he liked some of our suggested changes. After a hectic day of rushing around we spent a few minutes in our front garden, checking the progress of our herbs and vegetables. I decided to take this photo of the marigolds and flowerpot in the centre of the garden.
81. “Last Resort Car Shot”. I wanted to get my film in for developing today, so I was desperately looking for a shot as I drove to Fitzgerald’s at lunchtime. A magpie landed on my windshield when I stopped at a traffic light. A perfect quirky shot, but the bird flew off before I could get my Holga from its camera bag. Then it started raining, so in desperation (and laziness) I photographed the steering wheel of my car just so that I could finish the film. Not my most inspired photo!

Victor's Roll #3

38 “Jay Jays with passing head”. Walking back to the office from the dentist, I noticed an interesting window display in a shop called Jay Jays. As I took the photo a person walked directly in front of my camera. So I am not sure what I photographed, head or shop window. (footnote: as it turned out, I got both)

39 “In Search of Spring”. I wandered around the city at lunchtime looking for a springtime shot to satisfy my Spring obsession. But the clouds has rolled in and the weather felt very winterish. Central Park (Perth not NYC) was practically deserted and it started to rain, so I gave in to the last winter moment and photographed the bare poplar tree – shooting upwards against the dull grey sky.

40 “Kings Street Building and legs?”. I am enjoying my lunch time strolls of late. If nothing else, it gets me out of the office and clears my mind of work clutter. Today I walked along Kings Street and notice the painted sign on a building. I took the shot from a low angle, looking up and waited until I had some people in the frame. Unfortunately I may just have photographed someone’s legs. Turned out I got his whole body, but it almost looks like he is part of the previous shot. Love the way that works.

41 “Bagpipe Friday”. Walked out of the office at lunchtime to the sound of bagpipes and discovered that a police band was playing in Central Park. How could I resist taking a photo? Afterwards, walking long Murray Street Mall, I heard bagpipes again! But this time from a solo busker. So it was Bagpipe Friday.

42 “Greenhouse Glass”. A full Saturday – cycling, haircut, some shopping with Janet and then lunch at the Greenhouse before going to Fremantle to a Perth Fashion Week function and then dinner at an old friend’s house in Port Kennedy. I took this photo as we were leaving the Greenhouse because I was captivated by the bottles hanging above the bar. (Footnote: unfortunately the exposure was too dark, so I will have to try again).

43 “Amalia”. We went to a BBQ lunch, which was on again, off again arrangement right until the last minute because of the unpredictable weather. As it turned out it was a beautiful afternoon and we sat in the warm sunlight and stuffed our faces with the delicious dishes prepared by our host Ran. I took this photo of our friend’s daughter, Amalia as she relaxed in a colourful hammock in the back garden.

44 “Flowerbox”. Today I finally found a springtime flower shot in the city – flowerbeds, backed by a phone booth on Hay Street Mall. Hopefully this has provided Spring closure for me and I can move on to other subjects.

45 “Outside Lunch”. The serving girls at Nagoya Japanese Café shout out the order numbers in high-pitched voices. Their shrill yelling wakes the lunch time customers from their distant thoughts and people squeeze forward in obedience through the throng around the counter to collect their orders. Outside the tables of the various lunch bar eateries are full of office workers enjoying lunch in the spring sunshine. I like the way the light plays across the long line of tables in the midday sunlight.

46 “Norbert”. Our friend Norbert from Germany (of Friday Night Bistro fame) wanted to take us out to dinner. We went to King Street Café as he had walked past this restaurant many times but not had the chance to try it out. Janet and I had not been there for some time after an argument with the manager about their appalling service. As it turned out, both the service and the food was really good. The wine was also excellent – we had a Hungerford Hill Pinot Noir. I took this photo of Norbert after dinner.

47 “Ross and Pascal”. I went for a ride around Kings Park in the morning and then went to Tiger Tiger for a coffee before work. I bumped into my friends Ross and Pascal, who had also been riding. We chatted for a while and I told Ross about my project before taking this picture. (Footnote: I love the way that it looks like Norbert is in the same photo as Ross. This is what I am hoping to achieve with the overlapping nature of the photos).

48 “WineMob”. It was wine club tonight and I took this photo of John and Rob, two of the founding members of WineMob. Our club has been going for nine years now and membership of around 24 hasn’t changed much in that time. I liked the framing of this shot with the Pericles painting in the background. We had the tasting at Mark and Michelle’s (of Pink Zulu and Friday Night Bistro fame). They invited the Gianfranco and Francesca the owners of Carpe Diem, a small winery in Margaret River to give a tasting of their wines. They are Italians (no guessing from their names) who moved to Margaret River about eight years ago and are making Italian style wines in the heart of Australian wine country. The 2008 Merlot was stunning!

49 “Distracted Reprise”. “I already have one,” said Natalie when I handed her a Photo Project 365 card. “Janet gave me one earlier in the week.” But she still hasn’t visited the site or befriended me again on Facebook. I’m definitely on the outer. Must be something to do with me constantly rearranging her display window. Notwithstanding, this sad fact, I still photographed her with cupcakes in the foreground and the Distracted sign in the background. (Footnote: as it turned out, Natalie was hidden behind a glass container in the shot, so I only got the cups in the foreground and part of the sign in the background. Freudian.)

50 “Garden Angel” Day 50 – Sunday 19^th September. I was repetitively attacked by a magpie on my morning ride – a sure sign of Spring. But is this some form of omen for Collingwood’s chances of winning next week’s AFL grand final? We spent the rest of the day a) buying herbs and vegetables and b) planting them in our front garden. I took a photo of the angel statue in our garden as I am hoping she will protect our new plantings from the slugs and snails and slatters.

51 “Wildflowers @ Boffins”. I saw this display window at Boffins Bookshop and having previously bought the book “Wildflower Country” in Margaret River, I thought it would make a good part of my collection. Ironically, the photography in “Wildflower Country” could not be more different from what I am doing in Project 365. They take multiple digital exposures of the same flowers at varying focal lengths and then meticulously merge the frames together to increase the depth of field. A painstaking laborious process. I aim and shoot. Sometimes I hardly even aim!

52 “Java Juice on Hay”. I saw this yesterday when I photographed the bookshop next door. The colourful fruit in the window caught my attention. I shot this from the hip as I walked past, hoping to get the girl in the doorway in the frame (Footnote: She turned as I took the shot and I got her back). How quickly the leaves in Central Park (Perth not NYC) are growing now. I think I need to incorporate a series of the same framed photo in my sequence of shots over the next few weeks to show how the trees are changing. This must be the most beautiful part of the year in Perth as the city shrugs off the blanket of winter and drapes herself in a silk scarf of Spring.

53 “Christine’s Farewell”. My colleague, Christine left our company after 20 years of service. The farewell dinner was at the Grand Palace Restaurant. I gave the farewell speech. Christine was one of the last survivors in an era of the company’s history. There are a number of senior management conference photographs from 2002 to 2005 where only a hand-full of managers remain. We gave her copies of the photos with all the faces of those who had left blanked out with yellow dots. I took this photograph towards the end of the evening.

54 “Roses and Olive”. Long day at work. Don’t think I got a chance to get out all day, except to quickly grab a sandwich for lunch. So I had to rely on “home photography” for the shot of the day. Janet had bought some roses on the weekend and they still looked beautiful on our sideboard. There is a glimpse of “Olive”, our print, in the background.

55 “Friday Night Bistro Reprise”. I went to Geraldton for the day, but Janet still organized Friday Night Bistro. She cooked roast goat and vegetables for main course and served cerviehe with herbs, peppers and chilies for starters. We had a couple of bottles of champagne, a Pinot Gris, a bottle of Charles Melton Shiraz and a Hesperos 1998 Shiraz with the food. I took this photo of Zoe, Mark’s daughter just before dinner. Mark is lurking in the background. She has a purple Holga and is teaching herself how to use it. Very adventurous for a 14 year old in the digital age.

55 “I did not go out today”. Well despite watching my wine intake and drinking bottles of water before going to bed last night, I crashed and burned again on Saturday. The only time I went out the whole day was around 5pm, when I drank black tea in the afternoon sun in our back garden. I took this photo of our garden table to celebrate me being outside at all. Restraint, Restraint, Restraint! I hate these days when I can’t even get out of bed. It is like life being lost for a day.

60 “John’s 60^th Birthday”. Our friend John (of WineMob fame) had his 60^th Birthday party today. I was an afternoon garden party affair. We caught up with some old friends and generally had a great time. I took this photo of John during the obligatory speeches.

61“Queen’s Birthday (in WA)”. Cycled around the river in the morning. Came home and had a big breakfast. Then off to Bunnings to buy some more herbs and stuff for the garden. Spent the rest of the day in the garden, so I thought a garden shot would be appropriate. This is a mobile we have in the front yard. The garden is looking good and hopefully we will get to eat the lettuce et al and they won’t end up being slug food. Ugg boots packed away today and flip-flops the new footwear of choice around the house.