A quick trip to Washington part 1

OK, I just realised I forgot to include a trip in the blog... Paul did a quick trip to Washington.  Another impossibly short turnaround... very hard on him... fly, arrive, meeting, hop straight back on the plane... but I gotta say I much prefer to have him home :D

So this trip, yes to Washington.  He arrived and managed to get out and see a few things prior to the meeting... these pics, about 6:30AM, and it was about -4C.  Iconic places Washington. 

The Whitehouse - the official residence and primary workplace of the President of the USA... and its white because its white painted sandstone... at six stories, two below ground...without an official visit, this is as close as you can get. 



The Washington Momument - taking over 30 years to build, it stands 169m tall, made of marble granite and sandstone.  Its the worlds tallest stone structure and tallest obelisk.  Built to honour the achievements of George Washington.



And the Lincoln Memorial - is a presidential memorial to honour the 16th president Abraham Lincoln.  It features here, the seated president, and has two of his famous speeches inscribed inside it.  He was honoured for is freeing of slaves, and the unification of the American north and south.  And something I didn't know, it was the place where Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech. 



... the other job's - the cubby-hole...

So this is where I hang out, whilst we are waiting for our new offices to be finished... hence the boxes... I just have the raw estentials out... the computer, the pics, and the toys... all the rest is in the boxes!

:D

So why share this?  Well, its an important part of my life... it pays for the bills, and I get to make a bit of a difference to the way health is delivered in WA.  Not all bad.  Though the decor in the interim offices has A LOT to be desired!

Ok, back to the normal programming.....

my other job part ii

OK, the rest of the team... we'll have to capture them... they are a great bunch... a great group of people to work with, who do the most amazing things, and are talented, creative and well, fabulous.  Its a pleasure to work with them... well, other than 'having' to work... they make it a bloody good reason to come in every day. 

This snap, taken at a recent outing, with only some of them, in total we number 38, so trying to get them all together is a logistic nightmare.   Shot taken at our local Vietanmese resturant Phi Yen. 

I shall get some more shots of them... mwhahahaha... be afraid guys, be very afraid!

my other job...

So some of you have asked... who do I work with when I'm at my other job... the one that pays the bills :D

Well the next few posts on that....

First off, my team,

My 2IC - ER - Elizabeth - she's a legend...actually she's is my partner in crime rather than a 2IC. She offers wise counsel and gets things done. She's been around the traps and seen it all... and humours me mostly... and shakes her head at me mostly... oh, and tells me off!

:D

Oh, this is the view from inside my office, looking out too... see all the boxes, well we are in temporary holding area whilst 'they' get our offices ready.

all that remains...


A very yummy dinner over at Evan's place to meet Yanick... all we left behind where a few crumbs... LOL ... had a very lovely time Ev... thanks sweetheart... and Yan... well, he's just yummy!  You two look good together.

a quick portrait of Ken



Ken Wyatt asked me for a quick portrait to capture his image covering his status in the Noongar community, and as a senior beaurocrat in Health and a person of the Perth community.  

The Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia fromGeraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. Their country extends from Jurien Bay in the north to the southern coast, and east to Ravensthorpe and Southern Cross.  'Noongar' is also the name for their common language. Their name, in the various original dialects is thought to mean "people". In the south, the spelling 'Noongar' is preferred.

I spent about 9+ months working with the Office of Aboriginal Health, lobbying and securing Commonwealth monies to assist in the improvement of health in the Western Australian Aboriginal community (in my other job).  It was a great experience and a great bunch of people to work with.  

So what did we capture?   A couple of images... the first here, is an image of Ken in his suit, and official skins and feathers, up in Kings Park overlooking the city.  Simple setup, meaningful image. 

The next couple were an images out by the office.







What is he doing...

OK... two boys in the pic, Paul and Stuart... and yes, you may ask why, oh why is Paul laying on the floor in the dinning room?  I have NO idea... and he certainly doesn't look like he likes having his pic taken!

Oh well ... random goodness for sharing...

:D

Ok... Ok.... the large canvas....

OK, here you go. 

I had a number of calls about the canvas I was working on.  It's a 24x34" canvas of my cowboys pic.  One of my all time favourite images. 

I posted up the black and white version the other day, but I had a few calls about the colour version.  It's bright, it's vibrant... and I love it.

Now a bit of boring photoshop detail.  Processed in Nikon Capture, the original is 8x6" and has been blown up with the help of Genuine Fractuals.  Image manipulation is minimal, cropping, and a bit of dodging and burning, and a tad of cloning on the shirts to cover a few stains which are a lot more evident on the larger image.  

Canvas is being processed by Fitzgerald Photo Labs  www.fitzgeraldphoto.com.au who I highly recommend. 

Where's it going?  In the studio.  When can you see it? Whenever you want. 

:D




Cowboy style


My favourite image of all... this shot was taken in Sydney 2005, the weekend of Mardi Gras and as it turns out Cher's farewell concert in Sydney... the place was going off.  The parade was fabulous... the concert rocked!  What a weekend.  

This shot was taken after the parade walking back to the hotel.

To me it symbolises the love and joy of a community...

Cowboy style


Singapore part 8


The Evolution Garden is another awesome space ... chronicles the evolution and establishment of plants on Earth.  Starts of with the algaes, lichens, mosses... and moves through to complex higher order plants... a pic from a prehistoric age, the cycad walk.  

Now those of you who have been to our place know that we have about 30 cycads, so we were very interested to see this. 




Singapore part 7

We spent about 2 hours just wondering amongst the orchids... very step gave us more orchids to look at and of course to shoot.  I think we both shot over 300 images each just of the orchids and most of them unique ie one per orchid shots!  Yup there is an awful lot, and the most amazing diversity.

Singapore part 6

The Singapore National Orchid Garden, is SSSSOOOOOOOO impressive.   Even if your only vaguely impressed by plants and in particular orchids its hard not to be overwhelmed by the splendor of the gardens.  
I gotta say though its not surprising the orchids do so well ... its bloody hot and steamy there, and the damm things just grow out in the open... they even make hedges out of orchids!  For those of us who grow them ourselves and all the fuss and nonsense that we go through it is amazing just seeing them thrive without anything special.

So... now for a couple of pics.

Singapore part 5


Now we have been to Singapore quiet a few times, but we have never taken the opportunity to go over to the Singapore Botanical Gardens... my advice now, you must do it.  It's very good, well laid out and ... well just awesome.  

Inside the gardens there are a number of zones and sub-gardens include the Evolution Garden which chronicles the progression of plants on Earth, and the National Orchid Garden, which is god-dam impressive!

Those of you who have been to my office have seen some of the pics of the gardens... so the next series on here, yup you guessed it... the highlights of the gardens. 


Singapore part 3


So that evening, we both escape the hotel and make a dash down town to the Singapore Flyer.

It's 42 storey's high... thats big.

From wikipedia... 

"the Flyer comprises a 150 m (492 ft) diameter wheel, built over a three-story terminal building, giving it a total height of 165 m (541 ft). This exceeds the Star of Nanchang by 5 m (16 ft) and the London Eye by 30 m (98 ft). Each of the 28 air-conditioned capsules is capable of holding 28 passengers, and a complete rotation of the wheel takes approximately 30 minutes. Initially rotating in an counter-clockwise direction when viewed from Marina Centre, its direction was changed on 4 August 2008 under the advice ofFeng shui masters[3]. Located on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km (28 mi), including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia."


Here's an abstract... I'm just doing a composite of the harbour and bay for you too.

~k

Singapore part 2


So the first day I'm by myself as the lad had a meeting.  So I wandered around trying to find old Singapore in 38C temp, 150% humidity.... did ok, it was VERY hot and sticky.  Walked from one end of Orchard Road to the other.

I did come across a few things of interest... more abstract that anything.


so Singapore part 1


So a quick weekend break in Singapore, ok a long weekend.  A very funky break in somewhere warm and lucious... oh with great shopping.

First stop the hotel.  A very fine place... the Shangrila. 

Now we pull up and what do we spy... three Lamborgini's and a Ferrai!

OK, its a boy thing, but you gotta admit its very impressive.