This is the life

Hi All,

Hope everyone is well, I am finally back at work and absolutely loving being out in the country. I`m working on a minesite in Sandstone and staying at Outback Accommodation which is run by Chris and Mickey Evans, the food has been awesome and they are really looking after all us boys. I`m still doing my own thing after hours rather than sit around and drink, it`s a tough call but I`ve got work to do and I`m here to make money not waste it. I captured this image on Monday morning before I drove up to Sandstone, it is a simple shot from Kings Park, a location I haven`t shot from for many years. I`m not sure on everyone else but I definitely started out taking photos from up in Kings Park, it`s just an easy, safe location to practice and play, so when I got up to go to work and realized that there was a good sunrise about to take place and this would be my last opportunity to shoot in Perth for a while I headed into Kings Park… to where it all started. As for the title, well I`m just happy to be back at work, It gives me time to think about how lucky I am and how awesome my life is. Take care everyone.

Michael 

Riverside Muthaf&*%a

Hi All,

So I`m sitting here on the southside of the river watching the crowd build for today`s Australia day festivities, I`ve pushed a little further into enemy territory this year and I now feel I`ve got a prime position for Perth`s fireworks. I`ve enjoyed my afternoon in the city just wandering around, taking it all in and enjoying the atmosphere. 

I`ve made the decision to leave Perth, I just feel that I have outgrown her, it is just time for me to move on. I need to go and find some new horizons, set new goals and actually push myself to achieve them. I have grown photographically lazy over the last year and am starting to rectify that by getting back out there and using the books that I have collected but rarely used, I won`t let myself down. I`m definitely not running away from any of the personal issues I have been dealing with over the past few years, for me it feels like a natural progression. I thank all my family and friends who have supported me through it all, I know I wouldn`t be where I am without you and it saddens me to leave you all behind.

`Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart`

I was asked yesterday by Meleah from Fitzgeralds whether an image of mine could be used as a sample on today`s True North Rottnest boat tour, now it only seems a small insignificant viewing but it gave me such a boost knowing the image would be viewed by all my peers. Perth is a beautiful city but I need more. All these images have been taken today. Take care everyone.

Michael

Broome Storm

Hi All,

Well this will be my last post from Broome my time here is up, I`ve got 1 perfect image that I`m not going to share with the world, other than that photographically I wasn`t able to get the shots I was after but I`m still stoked I came. On a personal level it worked out because I stuck to my budget and I kept exercising. It has rained for the past 2 days so I didn`t bother setting my alarm this morning but a perfectly timed text message from a friend had me up and scrambling to find a location once a saw there was a break out over the horizon. I went to a place just down near Town Beach, the tide was out and at this time of morning everything looked like a crocodiles head! The sky was blue overhead about 5 minutes before this shot and the rain on the horizon was just behind the mangroves. I`ve also got a 20 image stitch of a the same scene to put together when I get home. Anyway take care everyone enjoy your Australia day festivities and for the crew going over to Rottnest on the True North have fun.

Michael

Image details: Single shot, 30sec,f8,ISO50 B&W ND10 filter

Eddie would go!

Hi All,

I captured this image this morning, should I have stayed in bed… possibly! However I can`t lie in bed if I`m awake you see I have these urges these desires if you will, that force me out of bed, it`s just that I have to know what is going on in the sky, usually if I see stars I get back into bed but if there`s clouds I`ve got to get out and have a sniff because you just never know what may occur. This morning has a story though, the sky was very dark as it usually is at 4am but I headed down the quiet streets of Broome to see what was on offer, there`s was lightning out to the east so I headed in that direction thinking of possible locations that I had already scouted, I came up with an old pearling shack that`s just out near the creek, I got to the street and could hear some singing and carrying on but I thought I would be alright so I proceeded, even though my gut was saying nooooooo! This is where the title makes it`s appearance, Quiksilver used the slogan Eddie would go,  Eddie Aikau being a big wave surfer and also my childhood hero. I don`t want to be scared of something I want to do anymore, so I walked on, the locals were out on the street still singing, I nodded as I walked by, nothing was said, then I was pegged with half a can of beer, instinct told me to run (having grown up in Geraldton) but with 15kg strapped on my back all I could do was keep walking and or just take it, obscenities were yelled but thankfully nothing else came of it, then again I wouldn`t mess with someone holding a tripod. I got to the shack and the singing began again so I got my gear out and reeled off a few shots, the lightning stayed well off in the distance and was ineffectual for what I wanted to shoot, so I strolled back to the backpackers and hopped back into bed wondering if in fact I should have just stayed here. Does anyone else have stories or issues when they go out? I`ve only ever had problems in Perth, all other cities I`ve been to have been uneventful.

So I`ve just woken up and have two thoughts floating around 1) As I`m travelling by myself, if something was to happen who would know and 2) It`s ironic when I`m at work on the drill rig the first sign of lightning we shut down for safety but when I`m out taking photos the first sign of lightning I`m out under it.

Anyway the sky is a bland grey with patchy drizzle, so I`ll just sit by the pool and read. If it looks I`ll go out for a sunset shoot and yes I will still have a look tomorrow morning. Take care everyone

Michael

Saturated

Hi All,

Today I sat at Entrance Pt from 9 this morning till 3 in the arvo, I watched the tide come and go, I watched a cloudless blue sky turn into a menacing grey sky of impending doom, I watched a baby shark patrolling the shoreline just 3 metres from where I sat and all I could think was how lucky I am to be in a position to be following my dreams.

I am quite exhausted from my day of cycling, hence the titled `Saturated` the image has not been saturated! Cyclone Magda is going to pass by in the next couple of days, I`ve decided to stick it out rather than fly home early. Take care everyone.

Michael

Image details: Single image 2.5sec, f11, ISO 50, CPolariser

I stole the keys to the skies

Hi All,

Hope everyone is as good as I am…. although I do doubt it as I`m in heaven at the moment, nothing beats Broometime! The title is the opening line to The Presets song `This boy`s in love`, I`ve still got all their songs going around in my head from SUMMADAYZE and I knew when I heard the song at the festival that I would have to use as a title one day, these types of sunsets just don`t happen enough in Perth or maybe I`m looking for excuses to get out! In a way I loathe Cable Beach it`s always full of loved up tourists and footprints don`t get me started on footprints! Give me Esperance anyday. I`ve started taking my iPod with me when I shoot now, I leave it on shuffle and just enjoy my vast collection of tunes but I had 3 coincidences today I`ll say there coincidences as I`m not superstitious. The 1st song that came on was `Under a Southern Sky` by The Beautiful Girls as I was looking skyward in complete amazement at what was unveiling, The 2nd song was `Blubber Boy` by Regurgitator and no I`m not the blubber boy! However it came on while I went for my morning run, I don`t think anyone in Broome has seen anyone run before because I was getting quite a few weird looks anyhow I digress just as I was nearly finished I was thinking faaarrrkkk that sun`s hot then the line `Sun beaming down to viciously` was sung, it was at this point that I went and hid in my dormitory as I didn`t want a 3rd. It was a good thing I came out because the 3rd song was `Waiting for the world to change` by John Mayer as tonight`s sunset unfolded in front of me. Anyway sleep beckons me, can`t wait to see what tomorrow brings. Take care everyone.

Michael

Image Details: Single shot, 2.5sec, f22, ISO 50 No filter and best of all no shirt!

Motorvation 24

Hi All,

I have finally finished processing my images taken from Motorvation 24, the above images are my favourite 2 cars, the detail that has gone into `RAW` has to be seen to be believed and the other is my personal favourite the VS Senator. It was a very hot out in the sun and my friends car that I went to go and see was having overheating problems so he wasn`t there. After the show I was asked if I had new ideas for my yoot, thankfully I don`t, with my adventures planned for this year, she will be collecting dust for awhile. Anyway back to my adventures…..

Michael

Freedom

Hi All

I`ve been cruising since my last post, boring blue skies not worth shooting, did a few days work out in the bush and came back to Perth for the weekend just gone, luckily got to Motorvation 24 (separate post).

Today I strapped on my backpack and am in Broome and in complete awe of the storm that has just passed over, it`s what I came here for. I left my Mum + Dad`s in my usual independant stubborn tradition refuted the lift and walked the 20 minutes to the train station (41 deg) The FREEDOM I felt with my backpack on was so good, I have no ties and can travel wherever I want, I feel that my year started today, It had been building up inside, I had been waiting to go away somewhere and Broome was the obvious choice it would have been nice to drive the Prado up but I`ll be happy on a bike. The humidity in Perth when I left was 13% it is 70% here in Broome, feel I should be able to have a couple of beers and not worry about it! I`m staying in the backpackers that I first stayed in nearly 10 yrs ago, it`s just as good as it was then, nothing has changed, frogs still croak after the rain! I like being around backpackers I keep to myself as i`m usually occupied working on images but it`s good to see them enjoy this country of ours . I don`t really remember coming up here as a kid, I know we did though as I`ve seen the photos, that feeling of being home when I step off the plane, just automatic relaxation, I don`t get it when I`m in Perth, it leaves me wondering where I belong…..

Anyway I will enjoy Broome for the rest of the week, I will spend my time getting up early, staying out late, working all the images so I don`t get to back logged and will start on a new CS4 photoshop book to try and keep up with Beau and Dylan, recent work I`ve seen from those guys has been awesome. Take care everyone.

Michael

Image Details: Perth City, South Perth foreshore (Boatshed Restaurant) Single image 22sec, f22, ISO 50 B&W ND10 filter

How times have changed

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well, this may be my last post for awhile as I`m heading back to work on Monday after a month off, I`ll get some quick cash together and head up to Broome for my first break – chasing storms. I`ve got a couple of Cottesloe beach images for you to look at, 1 has been taken by my pop back in 1938 and the other taken this evening. I`m making the most of my time with my pop learning about his childhood, the Depression and WW11, getting him to talk about his photos and the story behind it is something I`m grateful for, I take in photos of places in Perth as it is constantly changing and he is stuck in a nursing home and hasn`t seen the changes. I`m guessing the Cottesloe beachfront will change again in my lifetime, which will be sad in a way because to me it is an iconic landscape scene of Perth, but pop also thinks the same of how it looked back in `38. Take care everyone.

Michael

Stoked to be in Perth

Hi All,

Another simple classic Perth scene taken on Valentine`s day last year, stupid day really but at least I flicked some buttons on my camera!!! I have been on break for 3 weeks now and am definitely ready to go back to work so I can earn some money to travel. I have just been cruising around and just enjoying time off with friends and family. I feel a moment of my life has been captured that I will remember forever… I went to SUMMADAYZE last weekend, it has been a long time since I was last at a festival, can`t believe what I`ve been missing out on over the years, to be able just to finally let loose, not worry about tomorrow and just experience it for what it was. It was so good to be amongst people all having fun. The Presets went off, we nearly got to the front row! So unexpected as well, I`d heard their music before but seeing them live was awesome. Now of course there is the down side and it is societies reflection that if you attend these types of festivals you are a drug taker, which is utter crap. I didn`t even drink alcohol, it was way too hot (39deg), I get off on life and want to remember my experience with perfect clarity, not saying everyone there was saints but that is there decision, it just sucks to be labelled. I could rant for ages but I won`t! Thank you to my friends for making my experience what it was……..

Oh yeah the image details!!! 20 image stitch(PT Gui), 3.2 sec, f11, ISO 200

Take care everyone

Michael