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.