Out of Office: 15th September - 21st September
15 . September . 08
I am going to be out of the office for the next week - will be back in on Monday 22nd September. I am heading down to Bunker Bay for the annual AIPP Fuji Breakaway seminar. A bunch of photographers hanging out at a 5 star resort for a few days! Awesome speakers coming over this year, including Stephen Dupont and Yervant!
Last year I did not have any phone reception while I was at Bunker Bay, so my guess is that it will be the same this year. If you need to get in contact with me, please email me, if the matter is urgent I will email you back as soon as possible, otherwise all email / phone messages will be replied on my return! :)
so this post is not completely dull, here is some photos I took in San Francisco last month.
San Francisco - Day One
4 . August . 08
Today was spent walking around San Francisco, I worked out I must have walked at least 15kms (9.3 miles) today - my feet hurt like hell at the end of it, especially because I was wearing my havaianas. So one of the first touristy things I checked out was the “Crookedest Street” Lombard Street - the zigzag street featured in movies all the time. I then headed down to the Fishermans Wharf to check out the Submarine (a close family friend was rescued in WWII by this submarine), though Im going back later in the week to have a proper look. While down at the wharf I found a old photobooth! Something I was hoping to find on my journey in the USA :)
Later I checked out some shops at Union Square, wondered through Chinatown, got lunch at a sweet little Italian bakery in North Beach and then slowly wondered back to the hotel, thinking it would have been about 5pm, finding out it was 7:30pm when I got back to the hotel - forgot about daylight savings!
Not sure what tomorrow will have in store, might check out Alamo Square (the houses featured in the Full House intro), Haight Ashbury and the Golden Gate Bridge. Im going to hire a bike at the end of the week so I can ride over the Golden Gate bridge :)
Lady and the Opera House, Sydney, Australia
5 . July . 08
Great Wall of China
2 . July . 08
A worker having a midday nap on the Great Wall of China.
lunch
1 . July . 08
Father + son at Karnimata
29 . June . 08
Mao, Beijing
28 . June . 08
Eiffel Tower - Paris
9 . June . 08
Third day of blogging! Thought I would post a travel picture that I have never posted! This photo was taken looking down from the Eiffel Tower in Paris while I was there in December 2006. This is the one and only photo I have while up the Eiffel Tower, my batteries in my Mamiya 6 died after this shot was taken, and my spare batteries were all the way back in London! My medium format camera takes a rare type of battery, so I didnt even bother trying to find any at the stores in Paris. Of all the places for my batteries to die! I am glad that this is the only shot I have though, I like how the people are arching around in the queue. Why would you bother waiting in line to catch the lift up? This was about 9am on a very very very cold winters morning, we took the stairs to try to get some warmth!
Photos from Brisbane
7 . June . 08
Finally back from Brisbane and back into the swing of things. It was great going over to PMA, my head is about to explode with all the ideas I want to implement into my business. It was great hearing everyone speak at the imaging conference on Sunday, lots of advice I will be taking on board. We finally got some good weather on Tuesday and so we walked around Brisbane for most of the day. The first two shots were taken in the Botanical Gardens. I only took my 45mm Tilt Shift lens out with me, it was great to just shot with this lens, manual focus and manual exposure, it definitely slows me down a lot, which is a very good thing indeed!
Sarah chilling out on some stairs in the gardens.
Sarah wanting to return the favor and took some photos of me. I hate having my photo taken! I look impressed don’t I?
We found this cool little cool cafe called Batavia on the South Bank, its basically a tea house, you order which blend of tea you would like and you get your own little tea party on your table. I had Chinese Gunpowder mixed with Emerald Sunrise. Its the best green tea I have had, so good in fact I am drinking some this very minute!
Myself and Sarah at the APPA awards night, taken in the ladies loo’s!
Lots of blog posts coming over the next week. Finally have the time to catch up on all the weddings, portrait shots and many other things I have not had time to blog! Stay tuned!
India
22 . January . 08
This was taken in 2006 on my world travels. I spent a month traveling throughout India and this photo was taken at Karnimata in Deshnok, Rajasthan. Karnimata is a hindu temple that worships rats (as you can see all the little rats feeding in the background, and some dead ones too) - it was one of the most fascinating places I visited in all my travels and was a real eye opener. This boy came up to me in the temple and stared at me for ages. I think he was fascinated with my cameras. I had my mamiya 6 medium format film camera with me and my digital SLR - he could not understand how he could see himself in the back of one camera and not the other. He was a sweet kid, I have lots of photos of him =)
Sandunes
14 . August . 07
I am currently working on an series of photographs that will be on exhibition down in Albany next month at Dylan’s on the Terrace,and is part of the Great Southern Art Trail. The series is of fine art photographs taken along the coastlines of Western Australia. The above photograph was taken at the sandunes in Geraldton. I am off to Albany later this week to finish off a few last photos for the exhibition.. please have good weather for me Albany!!
Beijing + Nanjing
29 . May . 07
This was taken in Beijing during my travels in 2006. The nearest train station was about 2km from our hostel, and this was taken on one of our daily walks back to our hostel.
I really enjoyed China, I want to go back in the next year or two and discover it more. The language barrier was the hardest out of all the countries we went to, but the people were very friendly and helpful. We made heaps of friends while in China both locals and other travelers.
One day we were at Nanjing train station trying to get tickets to Beijing. We were having great difficulties trying to get tickets because no one speak english. Eventually a guy called Meison, who was studying english at university, came up to us (he thought I was somebody famous..haha), he waited in line with us for over an hour, bought our tickets and then offered to take us out to dinner that night. At first we were hesitant because you always hear about all these scam stories, but we agreed and we were so glad we did because it was the night out we had while in China. Meison took us to a ‘real’ Chinese restaurant, he ordered all this food and within minutes our table was full of different dishes. To say the least, the meal itself was an experience!! I’m a very fussy eater, so it was an experience trying to eat all this food (or not eat it) without appearing to rude! The photo below was taken that night.
Chook in Thailand
27 . May . 07
Father + son at Karnimata
25 . May . 07
I took this photo while I was in India in 2006. We went to Deshnok to visit Karnimata, which is a Hindu temple where they worship rats!! It was a crazy place to visit, there are a few other photos already in my blog that I took at this place. I was taking photographs of some kids and this man tapped me on my shoulder and pleaded I took photos of his son aswell. He was such a proud dad!!
Today, I got myself a Flickr account - go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sammblake/ to check it out!! All my photographs will be appearing on here sooner or later! ;)
India
25 . May . 07
Washington DC
30 . March . 07
The following photos were all taken in Washington DC in January 2007. On our way back to Australia from the UK we had about 2 weeks in the USA traveling about. It was so strange to finally get to go to the USA… I was never really that keen on going, I just never found it that appealing, but we had such a greattttt time, I am already planning my next trip back. I am hoping to make it to Vegas for the WPPI next year.. maybe, maybe.
Washington Monument, Washington DC, January 2007
Grand Central Station, Washington DC, January 2007
Grand Central Station, Washington DC, January 2007
Washington DC, January 2007
Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC, January 2007
Well anyway Ive been working like crazy the last few weeks, I am currently doing my certificate 4 in small business management, while trying to set up my new office, redesign my new website and run a business in the mean time. (Ive got a new website being launched next week…) Its all great fun though and I am super super excited about moving into my new office in 2 WEEKS!! We are going to have a awesome party once we are all setup!!
catacombs
16 . March . 07
Me at the Catacombs in Paris, December 2006
For those of you who dont know what it is…. The Catacombs of Paris is a famous burial place in Paris, France. It is a network of subterranean tunnels and rooms located in what were Roman-era limestone quarries. The quarries were converted into a mass tomb near the end of the 18th century (Wikipedia).
washington dc
14 . March . 07
Washington DC, January 2007
paris
14 . March . 07
December 2006
NYC
14 . March . 07
New York, January 2007
Well I’ve decided I need to post more of my travel photographs up, Ive been so busy setting up my photography business again I’m neglecting all of my other photography! Well the business is definitely back in to full swing again, and I must say life back as a photographer is lovely. As much as I loved living in London, nothing beats going to weddings every weekend and taking photos and playing with babies during the week!
India
20 . February . 07
India, August 2006
Ive just did a mini redesign of my website, I was unhappy with the background colour in my last design as it was appearing a different colour on everyones computer.
Ive been down in Albany the past two weeks working on a landscape photography project. Even though im not engaged, Ive decided that I want to have my wedding at William Bay near Denmark, its the most beautiful beach in the entire world! After traveling overseas for the past year I have came to appreciate how beautiful the Great Southern coastline of Australia is so so beautiful.
India
4 . February . 07
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, August 2006
Jaisalmer was my favourite place to visit in India. Its a small city in the very west of Rajasthan near the Pakistan border. I took the most photographs there then I did than anywhere else during my travels.
Paris
2 . February . 07
eiffel tower, december 2006
Great Wall of China
2 . February . 07
worker sleeping on the great wall of china, july 2006
India
1 . February . 07
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, August 2006
India
1 . February . 07
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, August 2006
this image sums up india all in one to me.
round the world in 8 months
1 . February . 07
Visited Countries Map from TravelBlog
Well I am finally back in Australia after 8 months traveling around the world. My favorites would have been China and Thailand. Its so surreal to be home again. This morning I picked up 30 rolls of medium format film that have been developed from my trip, tomorrow will be spent scanning them in, expect to see many many photos soon!!
Taj Mahal
1 . February . 07
Taj Mahal, august 2006
The Rat Temple - India
1 . February . 07
boy at the rat temple, india, august 2006
Paris
30 . January . 07
december 2006