throughdarlense...

Digital Arts

2012-01-01T14:09:00.001Z

Digital Arts, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

Big Props to The Dead Sea Mob & to Ed Schofield for his great shots on this screen grab (mine are hiding towards the bottom). I'm overlooking the spelling of my name :-D.

Film vs Digi

2011-12-08T17:41:00.001Z

I shoot on an awful lot of cameras, now whilst not pretending to be anything other than amateur I do feel i have a half-decent grasp of what makes a good shot and what makes a bad one. Note: I'm not saying I can take great shots, just that I know what one is in MY eye.

So, where am I going with this? Simples, is digital really better than film. I have a view - but wonder what yours is?

Call Me Jolene

2011-10-27T11:11:00.001+01:00

Call Me Jolene, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

I was lucky enough to have a music video filmed in our house last week for a fantastic band called 'Call Me Jolene' (listen here: http://soundcloud.com/call-me-jolene). In the process we were also invited to star as extras in the bands latest music video. As always i wanted to take photos but felt setting my flash off would be inappropriate, so I loaded my OM-1 with 1600 film and with my iphone light meter shot without obstructing the video. This is one shot from 36 and 34 have come out more or less ok. I'm happy with that.

Screen printing

2011-09-27T07:27:00.001+01:00

Screen printing, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

My wife Emma and brother in law Jake run a screenprinting studio in Portslade. Not only do they design art, screenprint in house and at live events they also act as sanseis in the art of screenprinting. This is Dan, he did this weekends 2 day course and by the end of it was knocking out blended prints for a gig he's promoting - different class. For more pictures of Dans work and the fantastically talented Ruth Watson who was also on the course checkout www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150312076121193.33598... and also www.parliamentoffeathers.co.uk.

This is...

2011-09-12T11:22:00.004+01:00

Jeremy

Jake

Pete

Wayne

Dan

Terry

Mop

Roger

Nick

Matt

Ben

Pidj

Toby

For more info click: This is...

This project continues to grow.

The Dead Sea Mob

2011-09-03T12:13:00.003+01:00

I have been one lucky boy in the last week or so, as an amateur photographer I'm always looking to get myself into positions where I can't help but take good photos; and having a wife and bro who run a wicked screen-printing facility (www.parliamentoffeathers.co.uk) and friends such as Mega Munden and Ed Schofield at Mint Magazine (www.mintmagazine.co.uk) is such a help.

After shooting Riki Tiks relaunch with Mega Munden last week it was onto the next venture with The Dead Sea Mob (http://www.thedeadseamob.com). The Dead Sea Mob are an amazing crew with artistic talent to die for, and this week they've been working at Parliament along with Mega Munden in preparation for an event at The Green Door store in Brighton. So as Parliament of Feathers photographer in chief ( a role I've given myself) I got to hang at the studio whilst the artists did their thing and Ed shot video/photos.

Printing time

The amount of prep these guys put in for the event was epic, but it was so worth it as the night went really well with a huge turn-out checking out the live art, picking up posters and screen printing with Parliament of Feathers. As usual I hung back in the slipstream of these talented people and shot it as I saw it. In truth shooting the event was quite a challenge as each artist was working with artificial light shining onto the boards to assist them with seeing what they were doing. For me this meant dealing with shadows, of not only the artists but also myself, and the crowds watching.

http://www.godmachine.co.uk

http://www.drewmillward.com

http://www.harrydrawspictures.com

Mega Munden at work.

Posters printed by Parliament of Feathers for The Dead Sea Mob

http://www.tomjnewell.com/

A screen ready to go.

A screen going

Poster Time

The lovely Daisy manning the stall.

Big thanks to all of the guys for allowing me to get up close and shoot them in action.

Mega Munden

2011-08-31T09:08:00.004+01:00

On this past Friday 25/08/11 I had the pleasure of hanging with Ollie Munden (aka Mega Munden),his little bro Josh and Em and Jake from Parliament on Feathers at the relaunch of Riki Tiks in Brighton. As a crew and with Ollies direction the guys worked together on a live art piece which now sits within Riki Tiks. They worked on this piece during the day and at night whilst people partied and watched on in awe at Ollies design come together. It was a great evening and the guys did a fantastic job on finishing the piece - though don't be surprised if you ever see Ollie in there in the future making a few additions / changes.

In the photo below is the man behind the piece, Ollie Munden aka Mega Munden. Not only is Ollie super talented he's also super cool and ballsy enough to draw a piece live with lots of people milling around.

If you like what you see in the above and the shots below you should come and see Ollie and The Dead Sea Mob do it all over again this Thursday 01/09 at the Green Door Store in Brighton. Along with the live art will be Magnum Opus and Parliament of Feathers will be screen printing posters on the night - not a bad line-up!

For further details go here: thedeadseamob.com/blog/night-shift-clockin-over-time or here www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=223376101042703.

I'll be the guy riding on the back of this with my camera hoping to catch a good shot.

This is...a sneak preview.

2011-08-25T17:22:00.002+01:00

My 'This is...' project is coming along nicely. I now have 13 subjects with two still to process, I also have two more lined up. I want to keep going with shooting people whether I know them or not so if you are a geez coming to my house any time soon expect my camera up close n personal and if you wanna get involved please do.

Below are two shots I still need to process but I thought I'd share them now.

Firstly Toby, a guy I'd never really hung with before but is a diamond of a man. One of my reasons for shooting this is to exert control over my subject and myself, the most obvious element being the composition of the shot, however light is also a factor so it probably wasn't best shooting Toby when we were both drunk and at night - however using my new flash helped.

Next up is Pidj, both of us were hungover (a theme is developing) and Pidj was in a rush - I'm happy with the results though.

Pidj

2011-08-20T13:41:00.001+01:00

Pidj, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

My friends Pidj and the lovely Vanessa are down for the weekend. This was a good day and night, involving Golf, boozing in the sun and associated bad tans, a Bills dinner followed by me singing Spandau Ballet in a Gay Bar and then us all in Lucky Voice until closing - we still had time for Kickboxer thereafter. It was a real good day!

I stole this shot as we were about to meet friends at their home, to the left of this picture everyone is saying 'hello' whilst I pulled Pidj away muttering about the light.

Dive!!!

2011-08-07T17:00:00.001+01:00

Whenever I say "Dive" I just have to say it in the style of Brian Blessed. Therefore I was pretty much making like Brian for each of these shots on a boat trip i went on not so long ago.

Fearless

2011-08-05T14:26:00.001+01:00

Fearless, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

I've just returned from a wedding in Turkey. This little man was a page boy the next day, it didn't stop him throwing himself off the boat though. I on the other hand neither had the will or balls to do so - fair play to him!

This is... Roger

2011-07-27T07:08:00.001+01:00

This is... Roger, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

I've had 1 day / night in the company of Roger and he is a fine man. Anyone that can join me in 7 pints of beer followed by a night out and a Thai meal is good for me. To then allow my shaky hands to take a shot the next day is even better!

This is...Nick

2011-07-26T19:46:00.001+01:00

This is...Nick, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

Nick is a fantastic man, a true gent. This is one of two shots that I've taken outside my home and Nick was kind enough to let me take this on his wedding day - what a guy!

This is...Ben

2011-07-26T17:31:00.001+01:00

This is...Ben, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

Ben aka Crawley Towns most knowledgable fan and a veritable encyclopaedia of football. Ben is also the son of one of my previous subjects.

This is...Matt

2011-07-26T06:57:00.001+01:00

This is...Matt, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

I've a few shots in the bag for my "This is..." series, I just hadn't got around to the edit. I have also missed one or two opportunities to photograph new subjects and now realise I should be more demanding of myself. So, if you are coming to my house anytime soon, watch out. Alternatively if you'd like to be photographed for the set let me know!

Cat Shit Graffiti

2011-07-24T10:13:00.001+01:00

Cat Shit Graffiti, a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

My Ricoh GX-200 has travelled the world with me, but gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. I've had several quotes to repair it and yesterdays was the final straw as it was £100 just to send it off to be looked at; with no guarantee of repair. So, I spent the day looking for a new camera and when I set down for a beer to ponder my options I took the Ricoh and in a fit of frustration banged it on the table - and it now works again! Funnily enough I did the same 18 months ago in Thailand when it had a different error. I'm so happy to have my Ricoh back that I shot lots on it yesterday including this Cat Shit Graffiti in Quadrophenia alley.

Mr Red

2011-07-18T20:51:00.003+01:00

Mr & Mrs Altimas

2011-07-13T19:55:00.004+01:00

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend and photograph the nuptuals of the beautiful Mr & Mrs Altimas. I've never done a wedding before and had never intended on doing so, this was different - for me it was an opportunity to photograph two amazing people in fantastic clothes and surroundings on a very special day. Heres a little of what I did with the opportunity....

Art Noise 2

2011-06-30T08:32:00.002+01:00

Last week I was lucky enough to exhibit some of my work at the most recent Art Noise event. If you don't already know, Art Noise aims to bring together music, art and photography in one single event. This was the second Art Noise and was a massive success, for which Stewart 'ArtNoise' Hicks deserve massive credit. Also present were Parliaments of Feathers with their t-shirt carousel and some exclusive prints designed by my uber-talented wife Emma who is co-director of Parliament of Feathers. I was also lucky enough to shoot the Parliament team for the night and get in some more practise with my new flash. Here are some shots from the night....

Mr & Mrs Altimas

2011-06-08T19:41:00.001+01:00

I had the pleasure or photographing the lovely Amy and Nick on their wedding day last week. I've never been one to take wedding photos but how could I resist with a couple as gorgeous as these two.

Pigeon.co.uk

2011-06-06T19:42:00.001+01:00

Over the last few days I've been taking photos across several different events, some I've been asked to photographs and others I've just bombed in and set my flash off in peoples faces. On Saturday and right in the middle of my photo frenzy was the launch of the fabulous new website 'www.pigeon.co.uk' you can read more at the site (click on the title to take you to the Pigeon site)), basically its a fantastic platform to showcase the arts and creativity both locally and beyond. I was invited along by Parliament of Feathers as they have collaborated with the Pigeon gals to put together some fine screenprinted flyers and posters for the launch event and I went along as their photographer, this is a little bit of what I saw:

Jake - Lucky Voice.

2011-06-05T18:38:00.001+01:00

Jake - Lucky Voice., a photo by throughdarlense on Flickr.

Yesterday was a little random. I ended up carrying around my 5d mkii all day, snapping at the 'Little Lamp' event in Snoopers Paradise, followed by further snapping at the 'Pigeon Online' launch at the Grey Area gallery - these shots will be up soon. However, after all that and some R&R in various boozers a visit to Lucky Voice at 12:30am took place, this is where my flash bouncing and camera were really useful - I now have 172 stupid shots as well as my 30 or so event shots.

This is...

2011-05-30T22:19:00.001+01:00

This is..., a set on Flickr.

Some more added

No. 17

2011-05-30T22:04:00.001+01:00

No. 17, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Taken on a recent trip to the Island of Menorca, this is in Mahon. I didn't really take very good shots on this trip, I'm not sure why. I'm certainly disappointed after my first review.

Impossible Project

2011-05-21T08:42:00.001+01:00

I've been shooting on Impossible Project film for the last couple of weeks. Its great to get the Polaroid out again and I've had a pretty positive experience of using the film. My biggest lesson is that it really does respond to light, so on the shot I took outside it was a lot lighter than those inside. Other than that its not much different from the original stuff, in my opinion.

Thanks to Big Jake, Mop, The Rennocks, Ruth, Miss Jones and my wife Emma for getting involved in my shots. I'm ordering more and hopefully some in colour.

Shot inside under lights

Shot using indoor natural light

Shot and processed outside in direct sunlight - this made a real difference.

Real low light and developed in darkness.

Blank.

2011-05-15T09:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I joined the Parliament of Feathers at the 'The Exchange' at Blank Studios and Gallery in Portslade, Brighton. The premise of the event is easy, you exchange a skill for another skill. There are workshops on screenprinting, cooking, knitting, walking slowly and various other bits 'n' pieces. Go along and support Parliament of Feathers and/or learn something new.

I finally learnt how to screen print, and what you see on the below is my first attempt. I'm now the best screenprinter ever, but won't be making it anymore than a hobby as I'm back into 5-a-side as the King has his scouts everywhere.

My First Screenprint!

The merchandise and prices, you can also bring your own.

This is the business end....

Parliament of Feathers carousel, if you want to print bigger check out their studio!

Another screen-printing virgin popping their cherry. Thats real joy, not fake for the camera.

The finished product, not bad - but not in my league.

This is...

2011-05-08T14:25:00.001+01:00

This is..., a set on Flickr.

This project came to me on a recent course at the ever awesome Garage Studios. Its still at an embryonic stage but I'm setting out to shoot within certain constraints, these are :

- Male Subjects
- Tight Crops with the aim of forcing myself to shoot the same shot over and over again.

What makes this a challenge for me is that I'm not so good at exerting control of my shots and this gives me the platform to do so. In doing so I'm also making my subjects open themselves up to me in what is quite a vulnerable pose. I'm looking to find out what we can assume or find out from peoples hands and various accessories before looking into their eyes. In some cases I will look to manipulate the image by making my subject less comfortable through a choice of clothing or by simply dragging them out of bed. I'll also explore relationships by shooting siblings, relatives and people that downright hate my camera.

I'm hoping to build this up into a large body of work and add to it over a long period, if you are interested keep checking back for more.

This is....Ben

2011-05-08T14:16:00.001+01:00

This is....Ben, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

I've got through quite a few shots for my project but I've not had time to finish the edit. I have 6 subjects to post at some point.

This young man is Ben, my mate Matt's super cool boy and I was lucky enough to have both sit for me. Big thanks guys!

The Impossible Rennocks

2011-04-29T22:22:00.001+01:00

The Impossible Rennocks, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

An Iphones view of a shot taken on new Impossible Project film.

When fashion goes wrong

2011-04-29T09:34:00.000+01:00

This is my darling wife Emma and the beautiful Chloe who both chose very similar outfits for the birthday celebrations of Jake Tilbury. Who is Emmas bro and Chloes boyfriend.

Apologies to Emma for my shocking picture taking skills!

Unfortunately / fortunately it then happened again later. Luckily I had my Ricoh on my to take advantage of the situation even thpugh I shot it badly, I still giggle at this. Cheers guys!

Gettin down to the music

2011-04-28T08:07:00.001+01:00

Gettin down to the music, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Another from the esteem boat party.

Scallywag#2

2011-04-21T08:27:00.001+01:00

Scallywag#2, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

I do love taking pictures of people, something about having a camera in front of people makes them do the funniest things, such as this face pulling.

Dancing feet, percussion, beer & an egg.....

2011-04-20T16:54:00.001+01:00

Dancing feet, percussion, beer & an egg....., originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Taken at the Esteem charity night in Shoreham by Sea

Blow ya trumpet

2011-04-19T19:37:00.001+01:00

Blow ya trumpet, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Another from the Esteem boat party at Shoreham-By-Sea. Duncan Disorderly and the Scallywags were playing and people were getting on down whilst I was doing my best to fire some shots and bounce my flash of whatever i could find.

Flash: Metz 58 AF-2

Move your body like ya just don't care.

2011-04-17T14:01:00.001+01:00

Move your body like ya just don't care., originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Scallywag

2011-04-16T10:01:00.001+01:00

Scallywag, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Last night I was at a bus/boat party in Shoreham shooting an event for a charity called Esteem. This chap is a member of a band called 'Duncan Disorderly & the Scallywags". These guys really know how to get a dancefloor moving with what i would term as gypsy punk.

Nick tying his lace.

2011-04-10T07:20:00.001+01:00

Nick tying his lace., originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Another one of Nick taken at Garage Studios in Brighton - its a shame I cut the bottom of the boot off.

Watching

2011-04-09T15:12:00.001+01:00

Watching, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Taken at the recent Little Lamp event in the Red Roaster in Kemptown. This chap was enjoying some urban poetry.

Jimmy McGee

2011-04-02T23:47:00.001+01:00

Jimmy McGee, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Taken at the Little Lamp event at the Redroaster Coffee house in Kemptown on 020411.

This was taken in lowlight and was a snapshot at the end of the night hence mucking up the composition. This guy was funny as, basically like Dostoeyevski doing skiffle (according to the flyer) or f*&king funny (according to me).

This is...

2011-03-30T21:32:00.001+01:00

This is..., a set on Flickr.

Hopefully the start of a new project...

This is Jake

2011-03-30T19:34:00.001+01:00

This is Jake, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

My main man Mr Jake 'two dinners' Tilbury. I'm hoping this will turn into a project of sorts and as it goes along I'll become more equipped at making images that tell you something about the person, or even manipulating the shot to something else entirely.

Everybody in a ring dancin' around the sun...

2011-03-27T16:07:00.001+01:00

Everybody in a ring dancin' around the sun..., originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Jake was kind enough to sit for me today to shoot for my project. This shot was taken as we setup. I'm happy with the shot but concerned with the vignette as it was not applied in post prod - maybe my camera has a setting called "see as my owner see's" as I have a vignette in my vision after a heavy weekend

Pissed?

2011-03-24T14:54:00.001Z

Taking it real easy, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

I saw this guy taking it real easy on a bench on the level at approx 10:45am on a Thursday. In my opinion he deserved two things 1) applause and 2) a photo. I provided both.

Coffee?

2011-03-22T19:35:00.001Z

Coffee?, originally uploaded by Jeremy Johns.

Four slightly jaded souls in the sanctity of a Ventnor cafe. When will the arcade open?
What a cracking weekend the was!

Uploaded by Jeremy Johns on 22 Mar 11, 2.53PM GMT.

Another week and another camera.

2011-02-12T14:46:00.000Z

So, this week has been an interesting one. I had my photography shown in public for the first time at an event called 'ArtNoize' here in Brighton. I had 5 shots in the event which were shown on a huge projection screen with some heavy dubstep accompanying them. In truth I'd never imagined the photos being used in this way or with such heavy beats, that said it did give me a chance to compare my work with the others on show and i think it more than held its own. As an event this was the first Artnoize and I'm hearing good plans for the next one. Massive thanks to Megamunden for coming down and chilling with Em and I on the night.

In a hungover state on Wednesday I somehow ended up buying a Canon 5dmkii online without even thinking about it - but I'm so glad i did. I now have a multitude of cameras but wonder if I'm more in 'love' with the gadgets than photography itself as I do like a good toy. I have however decided that I do 'love' photography, I enjoy the sleepless nights thinking about what/where/who/when to shoot and I enjoy writing ideas down and reading literature, trawling the web and chatting about the process with the likes of Jeremy, Jeni, Phil, Ricky and my various online friends.

I also really enjoy getting down to Garage Studios here in Brighton and listening to Kevin Mason and the team talk about light in a way that has changed my view of the world so much that I happily spent 1hr 10mins on a train yesterday simply looking out of the window and noting light changes and colours as the mist lifted. Luckily for me the crew at Garage had a spare place on a 3 week portraiture course that started this week, so even though I'd just spent silly money on my camera I decided that some more on the course would be money well spent.

Its only been 1 week but the course has been great so far, stupidly rather than listen to Kevin and shoot the setup we were given I went and shot differently with our first model and I'm not happy with the results. I remember when I used to teach IT and nothing would annoy me more than somebody not listening and thinking they could run even though I knew they could barely crawl, and there was i doing my best Linford Christie impression - stupid DAR! I'm happier with the shots with the second model, this might simply be because I prefer to shoot girls but I do know its because I took Kevins advice and took it slowly before exploring my own ideas.

With regards to my ideas, they didn't come of, I was looking for some shots with a chair, kinda rock n roll or rugged which isn't how I'd envisage Tess to be based on the 30 mins I spent in her company - and that was the point. In the end you can judge for yourselves here but the hands really annoy me so that one is dusted.

After this course I'll be looking at getting some lights, lenses and maybe seeing if I can get a spot somewhere but in the meantime I'm already looking forward to next Wednesday and listening to what I'm told.

ps before I go - check out http://www.ParliamentPrints.com/ and get along. I'm obviously biased but these guys rock!!

Emma is done?

2011-01-24T16:05:00.001Z

Emma is done?, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Smoking a cigar and potentially done posing for me? Em is quite rightly tired of my shooting her and I cant blame her. This shot may or may not be the last time i publicly take a shot of Emma and display it.

For this I've actually thought about the setup! I have a light to the left of frame which is being filtered by the lamp shade, I've not used any flash; instead using a bar stool as a tripod to allow for a slower shutter speed.

Dungeness Streetlight 2

2011-01-15T12:34:00.001Z

Dungeness Streetlight 2, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Another from Dungeness, on this you can see J experimenting with off-camera flash. Looking back I'd have framed the shot different with thelight further left, but I'm still happy with the capture.

Dungeness

2011-01-07T18:12:00.001Z

Theres a lot to be said for taking time out and getting your shit together before embarking on another year all all the challenges it will present.

Em and I have just returned from a few days in Dungeness, Englands only desert. We shared a fantastic eco house on the beach with old and new friends. Our days were long and lazy and there was no shortage of great food and drink. Dungeness is literally a wilderness, but there is something about having very little around that allows the brain to shut down and refresh itself, I must have slept the best since I was travelling.

Of course, amongst this wilderness there was occasion where you would find me, Jeremy and Emma lugging around our cameras and tripods to take photos in the wilderness. These can be seen below.

If you are looking for down time then I can thoroughly recommend The Shingle House in Dungeness.

Garage Studios Creative Course - The Final Week

2010-11-14T21:42:00.001Z

I've just completed my final week on the Garage Studios Creative Photography course, for me this has been a fantastic way to spend my Thursdays. Not only did I get to listen and learn from the crew at Garage whom are great photographers and teachers in their own right I was also introduced to a variety of great photographers and material each week and got to meet some fantastic people on the course. We would get an exercise to complete each week and this was the final one....boo!

I struggled with this final exercise. Where last week was 1 shot, this week was 160 digi shots and two rolls of film. It was whilst I was thinking of the volume and types of shots during a prolonged editing session that I thought about combining 3 shots to make 1. I'm not sure if this is neccesarily the right way to go but it presented me with even more mind boggling options on what to put where and together. I also spent a lot of time comparing lighting in the shots in the end I opted for this as the different light sources and mediums seem to bring it together, at least for me, and if there is one thing I've learnt from this course, its that we all have different opinions, which is great.

In the end I've opted for a multi-format shots, this incorporates B&W expired ISO400 film from my old OM-1 and fresh ISO400 colour film from the same camera plus a shot from my Canon 10D.

My aim as ever was to capture my wife Emma in her everyday life, this week was tough for her as I've been trailing her with 3 cameras at times and she's never quite sure when I'll shoot, I hope this represents itself through these 3 shots.

I also ended up adding this set as its a real favourite of mine.

Emma and her prep

2010-11-03T20:47:00.001Z

Emma and her prep, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

So, I've been taking shots of Emma for a while now and although this isn't the best I've done its telling me something. You see I'm working my way towards a killa shot of my lady and have had the camera hanging around on a tripod this week and snapped this early in the morning.

For me, its another where she doesnt know I'm shooting, where shes in 'prep' mode but more importantly we have some of our historical shots on the wall and the lines leading to Emma as even though shes a small part of the frame - shes always my focus. Deep or bullsh*t, you decide.

This weeks work...

2010-10-22T08:43:00.003+01:00

As per my last post, I'm doing a 'creative' photography course and this week our task was to take 3 images of the same subject under different conditions. My choice is 'Lamb' and was inspired by my favourite Sunday Roast.

These shots for me are ok, I now want to work on lighting so any tips are welcome.

Recent Photography

2010-10-16T10:32:00.003+01:00

I've been on a course at Garage Studios in Brighton, its a creative photography course where we study some seriously inspiring photographers (including those teaching) from the early 1900's all the way up to present day. We discuss how they shot, why they shot and look at what they were trying to show through the medium of photography. So far I'm really enjoying everything about the course, every Thursday we are set an exercise to carry out for the following week.

Last week we were given an exercise with a Boots Disposable camera. Our aim was to shoot of the alloted 27 shots, every shot had to include flash. We also had to provide a statement of intent for our pictures. As I was on-call mine was simple ' within the house or no more than 5 mins away'.

I enlisted Em's help and we did a series of pics both inside and outside, these are a few i shot with some fitting nicely into the 'Emma's Prep' series I've been slowly building.

Em's prep in the mirror, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Death Valley

2010-10-09T17:21:00.001+01:00

Dea th Valley, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

I've been doing a course recently at Garage Studios in Brighton. I've an exercise to complete this weekend but I'm working and can't get out. So, I've been researching a few of those we've learnt about and gone back through my travel pics and found this one of Death Valley.

I'd never even looked at it properly and discovered I quite like it. Death Valley was hot,hot,hot!!

Hurts - Brighton Concorde 2

2010-10-04T20:10:00.001+01:00

Hurts - Brighton Concorde 2, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

Taken at Concorde 2 Brighton. I'd gone to the gig with the aim of shooting the band, I failed as I only took my 50mm lense. So i challenged myself to shoot from within the crowd, I was using crowd members to frame the shot. This is one i quite like.

A gig through another lense

2010-10-03T18:20:00.001+01:00

A gig through another lense, originally uploaded by throughdarlense.

I'm currently doing a project on colour indoors, I'd been thinking of using this gig to take my shots and submit them for the project. However, after reading and re-reading the brief I've ummed and arrred and decided this doesnt make the cut - even though I love it.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this....

2010-09-28T11:21:00.000+01:00

Believe it or not a few people have asked me to keep blogging, I'm not really sure what to do with it, maybe use it as some kind of therapy - here goes...

One thing I've had re-iterated to me since going away and returning to Brighton is that life doesn't stand still, you cant just hang around and wait for an opportunity; carpe diem and all that. Whilst we were away we had friends have babies whom we didn't even see when pregnant (how lame are we), friends got pregnant who are due soon and others engaged and married; life really changed for these people in a great way. Its been 7 weeks now and we are still to catchup with everyone and I kinda feel bad about that, we'll sort it.

We've been so busy since our return, the Parliament of Feathers have formed and will soon be rocking Brighton and beyond and I'm mega proud of them for what they've achieved so far. Super talented and with some fresh ideas, I'm sure they'll go far. As for me, well I just slid back into my old role which makes me a lucky boy; but I'm selfish and don't feel that way. I want to do something else, anything else but need to bring some money in and get thinking about what to do and when. In order to assist me I've taken it upon myself to sign up on a Creative Photography Course, I'm only a week in and already find it stimulating. If I'm happy with the results I'll add them here.

Parliament Shoot

2010-09-06T08:56:00.001+01:00

I shot these whilst we were chatting about ideas and i seem to have done more good shots outside of the shoot than within it, I need to work on my direction and my confidence when discussing location, clothing make-up etc but all these thoughts are in reflection and its all good thus far. I'm relatively pleased with the results, which i hope will be seen elsewhere sometime soon.

Click here: Parliament 040910

The End....and new beginnings.

2010-08-07T21:13:00.000+01:00

Before you read this I should warn you that it will be a long one, and also my last blog on this subject as our World Tour is done. Dan, Sam, Em and I are now back in the real world and in our respective homes. We travelled through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand (north) and the USA. Our journeys were via Air, Train, Bus, Boat, Car, Winnebago and Spaceship and we had the time of our lives.

We met amazing people on every stop and we will not forget the great things you did for us, a massive mention should go to Jim in Sydney and Mr D and Becks in NZ for putting us up and giving us some amazing memories!! Get yourselves over to the UK so we can reciprocate.

Our last stop was New York, even though we were pretty much out of money we still had a great time and once again met some awesome people. A real special mention should go to Tiyee whose bar in Harlem was frequented by us, Tiyee not only made us feel welcome and introduced us to her regulars she also got us nicely drunk and reminded us of home as shes a South London girl. Thanks Tiyee, we'll be back and if you are ever back over please come to Brighton so we can repay the favour!

Much of our time in New York was spent strolling the streets and enjoying NYC's bars and restaurants. We ate fantastic soul food and did our best to resist all of the temptations to eat more than you can handle around the city. Our night of soul food was great and followed with Dan and I meeting Tiyee. We also took the ferry and checked out the Statue of Liberty and a baseball game that was just finishing as well as a Comedy show where I spent most of the time participating by defending us 'brits' and getting some laughs from the audience with my witty returns. All in all New York was great fun and the perfect place to finish our journey.
Heres some pics...

As sad as I am to be back its been great to see our family and friends. I've labelled this post 'The End....and new beginnings' and I'd like to get to the latter as these events are occurring / have occurred in my presence since our return and kept the grin on my face

Firstly big props to my old man whose not only retiring from the RAF after 37 years but has also lost 3 stone in weight whilst I've been gone - cracking work.

My wife Emma is super excited and nervous as shes enrolled in college and is looking to make something of herself in the illustration world. She's hoping to explore some new styles and buy me a Porsche when she is super successful.

Many, many congrats to all of our friends that are expecting children or have had them since we last saw you - we'll come and see you soon. Oh, and thanks for keeping the pressure on us!!!

Em and I also had the privilege of attending the passing out ceremony of my main man Tim Sparks. Tim has completed his Stage 1 training as a Royal Navy Diver, I can't tell you how hard he's had to work and how proud we are of him. It was also amazing to catch-up with Tim's family and our friends in Plymouth - well done mate!! I've got some pictures of Tim and his fellow Seamen passing out below (some literally did pass-out after standing still for what seemed like forever).

Just when we thought our time off was over another major event occurred. We were all looking forward to a beer or three to celebrate Tim's achievement when his girlfriend Shona dropped a bombshell - she got down on one knee and proposed!!! I had my camera out but was not ready for this, but did capture the shots below. Shona was shaking so there maybe some motion blur from her and from me going 'what the f&ck'. Tim said yes - what a great way to finish our trip!!

If you feel something akin to a tremor on Monday 9th August, its not an earthquake its me coming back down to earth with a bump when i step back into work!!!

Thanks for reading!!

`

Our roadtrip ends

2010-07-26T13:33:00.000+01:00

Driving across the USA has been fantastic, we arrived in NYC on Saturday morning after covering a total of 4300 miles at an average speed of 50 mph. I provide this stat to illustrate just how bad British roads are, in our 4300 miles we hit one actual traffic jam and a 'busy' road in DC. I cant even get out of Brighton or my home town of Congleton without hitting some kind of jam, my old car had an average speed of 30 mph!! I now understand why Americans drive massive cars as the fuel is so cheap, we spent about $260 to get across the country!! That said, maybe they should increase the fuel price as all these V8's must be bad for the environment?

We came in from Philly and drove the length of Manhatten from 8th to 110th on Saturday morning, for me it was great, but sad. I'm sad to know that packing up and moving on will no longer be such a huge part of our lives, that the 4 of us are soon to split and that I won't get to have some great chats with petrol station staff, fast food or bar staff about my accent and British actors, actresses, politicians or 'soccer' players anymore. I'm also happy to know that i have a lovely home, cat and Brighton to return too and that we get to see our families and friends again and catchup on all the goings on back home and on our trip.

I'm writing as though its already over, and it isn't. We've already had two good days in NYC and have more to go. Since arriving in NYC we've hung out in Greenwich and Soho and been to meet a good friends brother at his restaurant, tralled market stalls and bars and I've already gone through two rolls of film and several digi shots as I'm really enjoying shooting this city. We've met some characters and we've met Harry Redknapp, who was a top, top man!

We have of course also been to Washington DC and Philly since my last post. In truth our hotels were so far out of both cities, as a result we did little exploring and instead saved our money for NYC. We did obviously get to the White House, and take a look around the city but we'd decided that the time to explore and spend was here in New York.

I also did some 'shooting from the hip' around Chinatown in DC and we saw some interesting characters.

I took these long exposures whilst at Pentagon City on the subway in DC. I really enjoy low light photography as does the Ricoh. I didnt like my camera being so close to the tracks and protecting it from commuters, but I'm happy with the results.

I've been shooting a lot on Holga, hence why I have nothing to share from Philly. I got myself a colour splash flash for it in LA and I've started using that on the Ricoh, heres a few from NYC in 'Bone Lick Park' which is a BBQ restaurant that also serves mean $3.50 Margaritas.

We are staying in a real nice apartment at the north west corner of Central Park. Renting this two bedroom gaff with Tivo, HD telly, Wii fit etc is actually less than staying in a Motel 6 in New Jersey! We have a subway outside and all the coffee and bagels you could need, its a cool area and I took a stroll yesterday to take some shots.

Kitts looking like he misses Michael.

Take care and see y'all soon.

Dar

And we keep rolling on...

2010-07-20T00:28:00.001+01:00

Wow, we are now so close to returning home, 6 months have gone by so fast....

America has been really kind to us and the scenery has been amazing. Since we left the Grand Canyon we have taken the road to Amarillo, where we hung out with the locals, watched the world cup and told our travelling stories. We then continued our musical route via Oklahoma, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville and Louisville. Included in this was a messy night in Memphis where we drank in BB Kings bar,and in another bar drank with a blues drummer and watched his band (along with others) on Beale Street, cultimating in my finding Tuaca and getting the shots in before being repaid with shots of Jamesons with Pickle Vinegar chasers. We ate soul food in Memphis and Nashville where we also heard Bluegrass in every bar, all of these places were real hot and real nice.

I have so much to tell but in truth I'm writing this after driving 370 miles and having to change a tyre after the side blew of halfway here, so for now heres some pics.

See y'all soon...

Memphis:

Emma and I went to Graceland to check out Elvis's abode, its pretty cool but a lot smaller than I thought with some extremely rough 70's decor, but as Elvis is the king; I'll let him of. His planes were awesome, we are talking bars, dining tables, meeting tables and a bed - the King knew how to live!! (Note: pics of the plane can be seen in my Picassa photo stream, above).

The boy could hold a mean quiff.

Grand Canyon

2010-07-14T16:32:00.001+01:00

The Grand Canyon is indeed amazing, as we are now about 1500 miles away I thought I should post some pics.

Viva Las Vegas

2010-07-10T16:52:00.001+01:00

For me Vegas is essentially a warmer Blackpool or Southend on Sea, I don't include Brighton &Hove (darling) in this comparison as its my home :-D. For those of you that have been to Vegas there is not much new to tell, its still full of people looking to gamble their savings away in the name of a 'good time'. For those that haven't been to Vegas, its just like you've seen on film and TV programme's. We didn't do anything especially great in Vegas, we just hit a few machines, drunk some beer and sunbathed. I took on the might of fatburger and didn't eat for over 24hrs afterwards and we saw a great fight on the strip between women.

Reading back on my last paragraph you'd think we had a bad time, we didn't it was great. You see Vegas for me returns fun to a 'base' level, where its all about flashing lights, song, dance and hot dogs - lots of hot dogs. I mention hot dogs as our hotel (Excalibur) had a promotion offering a hot dog with every beer and with Em being a vegetarian I ended up with 2 per beer; and I like beer!!

Whilst in Vegas I also caught a photo exhibition by a guy called Peter Lik who does some great landscape work, I spent some time chatting with the curator and its given me some more to think about which I hope to use at the Grand Canyon.

Heres a few pics of Vegas, apologies if you've seen it all before.

Some more stuff...

2010-07-06T16:26:00.001+01:00

Of all the photos I have taken on this trip (literally thousands) none have annoyed me more than this one. You see we were in Yosemite and I'd just climed the mutha of all rocks to a great height and one my way down i saw Emma coming towards me. I crouched down and took several shots as she came over with the plan being to catch her with the sun behind her. Firstly I did that, but my annoyance is centred around my chopping her feet off and taking a pretty poor shot. It was so bright that I could see very little and didn't review the shot and therefore did not take another. Its really annoying me, which I'm happy with as I'm finally thinking more and more about photography and not just trying to wing it.

Our stop prior to this was San Fransisco which wasnt quite how I remember it. Thanks to Sam we got a lush hotel for $19 a night when it should have been ten times the price, the site of us checking in with our rucksacks and flip flops was brilliant, I'm sure the valets were giggling and I know the receptionists were!

We left San Fran and headed for a wicked drive through Yosemite, our journey was to take 7hrs and the views were simply amazing. We went from 100f to snow and back again, we saw a brown bear (at a distance), lovely waterfalls, huge peaks. posing yellow belly Marmots, it was an amazing experience.

Los Angeles

2010-06-30T04:21:00.000+01:00

I don't think there is much I can say about LA that hasn't already been said. Essentially its just a great place, I really love it and want to go back one day. Its not the glitz, glamour or the sparkle that appeals, its the filthy, fu**ed up mess that sits right underneath; bubbling and often over spilling to the surface. It reminds me of a bigger dirtier yet more glamorous Brighton. Santa Monica pier took me to being back home on a sunny summers weekend.

Our first day was the longest day ever, our flight from Fiji was at 10pm arriving in LA at 1pm on the same day, our arrival 9hrs prior to departure was due to the 19hr time difference. We sorted out some accommodation in Santa Monica and set about jet lag in the best way possible, we went out for beer and shopping. Sam went nuts on t-shirts and I got myself a Holga 135 and some nice ISO800 film to shoot with, which will explain the lack of pics on this post. We then got stuck into some Mexican food and beer before trying to sleep, and in my case failing.

On our second day we split up for the day, Dan n Sam explored Santa Monica some more whilst Em and I took off to West Hollywood and High Voltage Tattoo (LA Ink). Em has designed a tattoo for me and the plan was to get it there, I'm not really a tattoo kinda guy but this design is sweet! We got to the shop and it was the last day of filming the new series, we watched Kat Von D and the team whilst filming and tattooing but my 'walk-in' was too short notice, even though I'd sent the design in a few weeks ago - gutted! Maybe its just not meant to be? The 4 of us hooked up back in Santa Monica and got involved in a good session with me taking the coloursplash of my Holga and using it on the Ricoh. Using this seemed to make Dan go a little crazy, or maybe it was all the beer we drank?

The second of these pictures was taken late in the evening, Michael was a fella we met at a bar where the floor was covered in monkey nut shells. As it turns out every table got a bowl of nuts and threw the shells on the floor! Michael was an ok fella but very, very loud and very, very drunk so we ended up joshing with him about American sports being called a 'World Series' and he laughed at our passion for 'soccer'. Ultimately we all got more drunk whilst poor Emma was desperate to sleep of her jet lag. Our night ended with a walk back down Lincoln and Pico Blvd's which involved people screaming at us from there cars or the pavement or dancing in car parks to 'gangsta rap', our drunkenness meant we found it all the more amusing.

We did the Hollywood thing the next day and ate at Hollywoods oldest Italian restaurant. Hollywood is cool enough but not great (in my opinion) we looked at the stars and found a cool thrift store called 'Cobra Snake' (http://shop.thecobrasnake.com/collections/all) for me its a wicked store full of cool clothing and TV's playing eighties movies. Markthecobransnake's photography is also wicked and we had a great chat about photography and scored loads of stickers from him. He seems to a real nice dude with loads of time for his visitors, check the site.

After watching Englands dismal showing on Sunday I was pi$$ed off so we headed for a sunday sesh in Santa Monica to chill and kick back. We ended up drinking with a local called Elaine who seemed to enjoy farting and talking loudly, she was 50 going on 18 and was quite the entertainer. We also hooked up with a Dutch guy called Dennis who's a film reviewer and interviewer who was over to interview the stars of Predator(s). He told us about movie stars that are cool and not so cool, it was a really good chat, well at least it was until I became so drunk I couldn't see and Emma has to take me home; which I can confirm is pretty much the first time this has ever happened! I blame it on jet lag and only eating salad!!) BTW Sam also got refused service for being a drunkard, but shes a sweet drunk and cannot be blamed as they were serving bowls of wine! :-D

Our hangover day was spent eating McDonalds in bed, booking our car and getting more food (massive sandwiches and pretzel M&M's) before sleeping.

I'm sure we've only explored abut 0.5% of LA and could probably have spent our last 5 weeks there and still seen a small percentage, as it is we are now on the road to San Fran and have to hit New York by 24th July. We've done 200 miles so far and I'm just about used to driving the Chevy on the wrong side of the road.

To finish heres a few pics of Santa Monica....

And a couple of characters....

Motley Crue

2010-06-29T17:36:00.001+01:00

We took a stroll through Hollywood and saw some classics, Phil Collins for one. For me, this is the bad boy. I remember learning the words to Dr. Feelgood when I should have been listening at school and having mum put a patch on my denim jacket. Hell, I even sported cowboy boots to school. For me Motley Crue were gods and kinda still are, I hope to leave LA listening to them today.

Kava

2010-06-25T16:17:00.000+01:00

When we were in New Plymouth booking our accommodation in Fiji the agent asked us if we had tried ‘Kava’? Emmas response was immediate, “its my favourite drink, pink fizz is the best”. Our travel agent mentioned that Fijian ‘Kava’ was something entirely different.....

We had always planned for our stopover in Fiji to be a ‘holiday’ within our trip around the world and it turned out to be exactly that. Our days were mainly spent filling up on the complimentary breakfast before topping up the tans we worked on in Asia, we'd mix this up with some Kayak and a wonder to the marina and generally taking it easy. We spent our evenings chilling at the bar looking out to sea and listening to the Fijian music play. We had two notable exceptions to this pattern of daily events but I don't think we were ever in bed later than 11 and we certainly caught up on sleep from our time on the road.

The first of these exceptions was our trip to see the Fijian football champions, Lautoka. It was a good day out and i was pleasantly surprised by the stadium and the Sausage, Chips and gravy served up to me. As for the football, well it was pretty terrible and I'd imagine Crawley Town would whoop Lautoka and seriously whoop their opponents Nava. However the game finished 3-3 with Lautoka having two men sent off and grabbing an equalizer in the last minute, the match referee was pelted with all sorts as he left the match and a mini riot ensued - it was all great fun to watch! After the match we couldn't find a pub so got involved in some local tucker, Fijian food is good and the rice / noodles can be found at Thailand prices.

Whilst we've been travelling we've always tried to indulge in local culture / food and in Fiji that have an excellent dish called Vananko ( i think) which is a lovely Fish called Wula ( i think ;-) infused with coconut and chilli served with a local root. I think this meal could be one of my faves so far and its ridiculously healthy.

One of our expeditions was to try another local root, the aforementioned Kava. We were invited to a local's house to try this 'drink' and readily accepted. As with any holiday staying in the relative safety of your resort means you usually experience a sanitised version of the local culture and this was certainly the case. Our driver met up with our host outside his house and we went off to buy the Kava root, this involved he and I approaching an old woman and my exchanging $10 (approx £3) for a brown paper bag through her metal gate. We were then directed to a store where Dan and I were encouraged to buy lollies, coca cola and crisps to help with the taste, again all behind a cage! On our return to our hosts home we met up with his friends and sat in the porch awaiting our Kava. I've added a link above that better explains Kava than I can, my interpretation is that Kava is not alcohol, its root is used to calm and relax and its peppery taste is not one we are likely to try again. In this case a mix was made with water and drank from a coconut shell, I can also tell you its perfectly legal and our host and his friends were great company for the evening, and that the lollies were needed! I personally felt no effects from this local 'grog' aside from a little tiredness the next day, apparently you'd need much more than we had but it was a fun experience. Heres a couple of shots showing the mix and mixing, we drank this!

So, that was Fiji. We are now on our last leg after a 44 hour day due to the time difference between Fiji and LA. We've done 1 night in LA and I seriously love it!! I've got myself a Holga 135 so may not have as many digi shots from now on. Take care!!

ps - COME ON ENGLAND!! (Dan and I are off to the pub at 630 on Sunday morning - sweet).

Egg Chasing

2010-06-20T21:50:00.000+01:00

We headed south to Wellington from Napier, our ‘plan’ had been to go travel around both the North and the South islands, catching the ferry from Wellington. However our journey has so far lacked any real planning and when we arrived in Wellington and found out a ferry was over 1200 dollars and that the South islands roads were suffering with snow and rain we took the decision to enjoy the rest of the North Island rather than rush our journey. Some may say that we may regret that decision but in the circumstances it’s the right one as we still have to make our money last until New York, it also gives us a great reason to go back to New Zealand; and I for one plan to take my next road trip on the South Island via motorcycle or a good powerful car.
Our drive into Wellington was awesome, we drove through valleys and beside trains on cliff sides; just outside of Wellington the ocean appears from over the horizon and on this gloomy day it looked really angry and foreboding. What was frustrating was that we couldn’t stop the van to take a real look, or pictures. On seeing the amazing views and having seen most of the eastern side of the North Island (at that time) I really cannot believe that the South Island is more beautiful; well that’s what I’m telling myself at least.
Wellington itself was....damp. Our first hurdle was parking the van for the night, being 3.5 metres tall and 18 feet long doesn’t really lend it to city centres, so we ended up at a motor lodge on the motorway at the Wellington city gateway, on a car park. In truth it wasn’t so bad and it had a bus route into town. Our day in Wellington was a complete washout, the rain was really heavy overnight and sleeping in the van was noisy as a result, tired and damp we took ourselves into Wellington ending up even damper due to the incessant wind and rain. As usual we took solitude in shops that we cannot afford to shop in and wondered the city. I’m sure Wellington is beautiful but on this occasion it may as well have been Macclesfield such was its greyness. I’d like to go back one day in summer and explore it some more.

We drove out of Wellington to a town which was so non-descript I can’t remember its name, we stayed for one night and the highlight was cold sunshine, our next stop proved to be much better. New Plymouth was busily preparing itself for the All Blacks v Ireland game when we arrived and although the rain was again annoying the place made up for it. New Plymouth sits in the shadow of Mount Teranaki, this mountain erupted most recently 250 years ago and still looks scary today. I myself don’t think I’ve ever seen a real mountain before (Ben Nevis and Snowdonia don’t compare) and driving towards and around it was seriously breathtaking. Our residence on the cliffs of New Plymouth was also breathtaking if a little scary to sleep in the van due to even more rain and some serious winds. I think we all got about 1.5hrs sleep on our first night and the van felt like it was going to lift of the ground on more than one occasion. We spent our days walking along the coastal walk and around the town when the weather allowed, and when it wouldn’t enjoyed the funniest ‘Come dine with me’, “ooooh, you’re wearing Cool Water” was a favourite of mine.
On the night before the rugby we treated ourselves to a ‘session’ and got stuck in at a few bars in New Plymouth. We’ve now found that if you sit in a bar long enough in New Zealand that free food comes your way, and this day was no exception and we filled our boots on pizzas, chips, rolls and sandwiches whilst enjoying the atmosphere created by our New Zealand hosts and the Irish supporters. (Apart from a drunken debate Dan and I had with a bitter Scot).

Van Views

I’d promised myself and some friends of mine that I would try and get to a rugby game in Oz or New Zealand if the chance arose and I seized this one. Em and I paid $25 each to watch the All Blacks and expected to have the worst seats ever. However I can say that I’ve paid upto 8 times the price to get worse seats at Anfield, Spurs and Pompey. In fact I pay the same price (approx £12) to watch Crawley in the Blue Square. In fact our seats were superb and having watched the egg chasing live I will certainly go again, especially if the beer, wine, burgers & fries are as good and cheap.

Approx 7hrs after the rugby Dan and I were up to watch Englands dreadful performance against the USA at 530am, we set about a local pub and on our journey saw many Irish fans commiserating their defeat over Guinness and whisky. Dan and I chose a pub where our English accents may not have offended to greatly and the highlight for me was a free breakfast rather than the match. Incidentally I write this the day of the Algeria game where we also went to great pains to get the game and then got up early to watch another shower, what’s the view like back at home?

New Plymouth was to be our last overnight stop before Auckland. On returning to Auckland we found a place to set the van down before visiting the city for the day. Our van has now returned to the depot and we were once again looked after by the lovely James, Becks, Joel, Flynn & Niamh. On our last night in NZ we went to the Quay and a great restaurant called ‘Wildfire’ where waiters come around with skewer after skewer of meat and fish and plates of vegetables. You are the only person who controls your portion’s via a red/green indicator on the table, needless to say that ours was on green most of the time. We ate lots of beef, pork, ribs, lamb, chicken, sausages, fish and a chicken heart for James, Dan and I. (We did also eat some veg, especially Em). What may surprise you is that Sam put the most food away and even staggered a waiter when requesting more, good lass!! Our last night ended with staying up late and watching New Zealand salvage a drawer in their first World Cup match, as a nation New Zealand are not expecting much but I hope this result lifts some more interest in the ‘All Whites’, they certainly seemed to put more into it than England.
So, that’s it for us and New Zealand. I fully intend to be back and visit The Doherty’s again as well as the Southern Island. I also have unfinished business in Wildfire, next time I’m gonna clean them out as my first showing was poor.
I write this blog from Fiji, looking out to sea in bright hot sunshine. So far our resort is lovely but we have much more exploring to do, and I hope to update you soon. After this we hit our last leg, LA to New York.

Some more of NZ

2010-06-15T01:17:00.000+01:00

Its some time since my last post and we've squeezed so much in, we've now done over 2200k in our camper van and seen so much unbelievable scenery and today is our last day in New Zealand.

On leaving Bay of Islands we headed to Hamilton for a night, on arrival we discovered that our water pump had failed on the van, so we spent a half day getting it repaired and headed off to Roturua. Rotorua is geo-thermal and as a result clouds of steam drift over the area from Kuirau park and the place smells of sulphur. You get used to the smell after a while and behind all of the gas Rotorua is a lovely place. When there we stayed beside one of the lakes and ventured into town to see the bubbling sulphur pools. For once this was something we could do for free, we only discovered this as the guy who repaired our pump gave us the advice, saving us about $250.

The two pictures directly below were taken just after dawn, you cant really tell as the sulphur clouds mostly cover the sunrise.

This picture shows Em taking a look into a sulphur pool, we also saw two kittens in here and have no idea why?

From Roturua we headed to Taupo. Again we stayed beside a lovely lake and this time it didn't smell and it was sunny! Taupo felt more European then anywhere I've seen in Oz or NZ with lots of coffee shops, bars and a curry house! As such we slid down a curry on our first night as well as a few Guinness for myself, this was a rare treat as we had become accustomed to knocking up food in the van as money doesn't go as far here as it did in Asia. From our van we had views across lake Taupo and onto the mountains beyond, if you look closely at the photo below you'll see the snow on the peaks. Whilst in the van one night we received a knock on the door from 'trucker Pat' Pat was a big scary man but also a very generous big scary man. Pat provided us with roast potatoes, veg, muffins, cookies and the leg of a lamb he'd killed earlier that week. He also regaled Sam and I with stories of his drinking and hunting. Even though Pat was generous he did seem a little scary so we slept with the doors locked that night, but ate well for a day or two.

You'll also see a golf green on the picture below, this was a hole in one challenge, nobody managed to do it whilst we were there.

Our drive from Taupo to Napier was epic, firstly we set off with a quarter tank of fuel only to see a sign warning us that there was no refuelling for 130km, turning around the winnebago was fun but we soon hit the road again, and what a road it was. We went through mountain ranges, saw amazing woodlands and drove some wicked bends, all the time i was wishing i was doing so in a decent sportscar or on a motorbike. Hopefully the pics below from when we stopped for lunch will do it some justice.

Whilst settling down for lunch Dan trekked down to the river and we also found the remains of an animal, we wondered if Pat was following us?

Napier calls itself the 'Capital of Art Deco' this is because it was flattened by an earthquake in the 1920's and as a result was rebuilt in the fashion of the time. In truth I think we have more deco buildings in Brighton. Napier was another place where we felt at home, this was due to it being a good place to see and our stumbling into what would become our 'local' for a few nights. Firstly some shots of Napier.

And a local fisherman....

I dont have any pictures of the 'local' but I can sum it up in several well chosen words / phrases: 'Lots of beer' 'Free food' 'Sport' 'One-leg' 'Pokies' 'Birthday' 'Karaoke' 'Don't you want me' 'Sweet Child of Mine' 'Eyes rolling' and 'lots of fun'. Dan and Sam have videos and pictures to prove it.

I'll leave it there for now, we leave New Zealand tomorrow but I hope to have more to add before we leave.

New Zealand so far...

2010-06-02T09:56:00.000+01:00

Its rare we get Wi-Fi nowadays, so I thought I'd make the most of it by posting on the last few days. Since arriving in New Zealand we have been treated royally by James and Rebecca and the lovely Joel, Flynn and Niamh; not only did those guys take us in but they then also hooked us up in a lovely bungalow with Rebecca's parents Brian and Wendy in the northern part of New Zealand.

Whilst in Auckland we were lucky enough to go up for flights in a Tiger Moth airplane with James brother Paul:

After our flights we picked up our van (thanks James) and headed for Northern New Zealand, after a drive up and down mountains and a gravel road with 90 degree turns we made it to Brian and Wendy's place, and what a place. We woke up to lovely views nearby to Ruakaka:

From here we headed onto Paihia and the Bay of Islands. Before coming to New Zealand we were told how beautiful it is and that certainly is the case, hopefully my photos will do it some justice:

Since Paihia we have worked our way down the country via Hamilton and Rotorua and we are now in Taupo, I hope to post more photos tomorrow.

Snowflake

2010-05-28T22:16:00.000+01:00

On leaving Brisbane we headed off to Cairns, Cairns is one of the top tourist destinations in Australia and its a cool place; the surrounding countryside / coast is also very nice.

As always we had no itinerary or plans when we arrived, we've found that fate and making it up as we go along have led us well on this trip; and so fate led us to be wondering around Cairns when we found out we could hire a 'Spaceship' for $65 a day. Our 'Spaceship' was a Toyota people carrier where 2 of you sleep in the van and 2 in a pop-up tent on the roof, as we were spending approx $100 a night on accommodation this proved to be a sound move as we could also cook for ourselves.

So, we picked the van up the next day and headed up the coast.

We found some great roads with awesome scenery and headed for Port Douglas, alas it was festival time so even campsites were pricey so we ended up in a camp on Wonga Beach, and what a setting. We parked up and were warmly welcomed and drank two boxes of wine in record time, we were all so drunk that we were in bed by 10! What was funny is that everyone on camp thought we'd had a party on the beach when we probably the first to bed!

When we got up the next day we went to a beautiful place called Mossman Gorge where we saw one of the oldest Rainforests in Oz and a lovely freshwater river / waterfall which was cold and refreshing when we climbed in.

Our next few days were spent touring around the countryside seeing small towns, villages, giant fig trees, various beaches and sea views, coffee producers, vineyards and doing wine tastings, all whilst taking photos of the views. This leg of the trip has been quite relaxing and its last the warm weather we'll get to Fiji so like reptiles we've been soaking the heat in.

On returning to Cairns we headed back to Sydney to see Jim and the guys and gals in Clovelly. Once again we were treated wonderfully and will really miss everyone there. If ever you are in Sydney do pop down to the Clovelly bowling club and say you know us, you'll be welcomed and you'll see a picture we presented to the club hanging up somewhere.

I'm writing this in bed in Auckland, I spent most of the night with a beautiful cat sleeping with me which along with the great hospitality and uk lime climate really made me feel at home. Today we hope to go up into a Tiger Moth to start our New Zealand adventure. I hope to have pics and words up soon.

Oh, and if you are wondering why this blog is titled Snowflake, ask Dan.

Australia Zoo / Tornbull

2010-05-27T05:14:00.000+01:00

Australia Zoo / Tornbull

What can i say about Australia Zoo other than ‘wow’!! Its an amazing zoo, it was originally set up by Steve Irwins parents and then has evolved under Steve and now Terri Irwin into the huge facility it is today. In this zoo the animals have huge enclosures and receive some of the best care possible.

In the zoo we saw ancient tortoises, a huge lizard and some smaller ones, big Crocs and Alligators, Elephants, Tasmanian Devils, Snakes, birds of prey and of course Kangaroos and Koalas amongst many other animals. The girls got to pet the Koalas and we all petted the Kangaroos, the ‘roos have a huge facility and we got to sit with them.

Two highlights for me were the show in the ‘Crocoseum’ which holds 5000 people and the tiger ‘play’. Australia Zoo’s crocoseum showcases the animals and carries a very serious message regarding conservation and animal care. During the show the zoo keepers worked real close with the animals, including the crocs which was quite scary to watch. Later in the day we watched the tigers ‘play’ which consisted of diving into water, playing with one another and their keepers!! Seeing these animals up close was brilliant and I’d go as far to say that Australia Zoo is one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Tornbull:

On leaving the zoo we headed to the Glasstop Mountains where I thought i’d arranged some accommodation, it turned out to be double booked. We headed for a tourist info centre and were finally found a place in a town called ‘Tornbull’. We were told it was nice but even the locals found it to be a ‘cowboy’ town. After a long drive into the middle of knowhere we came upon the town and a Kangaroo jumped out in front of the car, luckily my Senna-esque driving skills in the Hyundai allowed me to easily outmanoeuvre the Roo and we arrived safely in Tornbull. Our place was on a caravan park and was actually quite nice, next to the park was a pub / chippy / newsagent /bottle-o combo run by a man and woman. We had entered our very own wolf creek and when we weren’t being stared at we got a few beers in. On the first night a few beers and some odd comments were all we got, we didn’t let this put us off though and the next evening we got amongst it and ended up with food, cheap beer and entering the meat raffle whilst holding court with half the town. Tornbull turned out to be a fun place with Roos lying by the roadside and massive storks hanging out on lampposts, this was ‘real’ Australia.

Brisbane

Our next stop was Brisbane, unfortunately we only had 1 day, but we managed to see most the city including some pretty cool Boutique stores. I’ve been toying with buying a Holga throughout the journey and spotted another one in Brisbane, but failed to do so yet again. My reasoning for wanting one is to give me a bit of photography inspiration as I’m not really ‘feeling’ it at the moment. I’m no photographer but i do enjoy being inspired and I’m now realising that most of that comes from living in Brighton, and I miss Brighton in May. Brisbane’s boutique stores rekindled my thoughts of Brighton and I’m hoping that a few ideas i have will come to fruition soon. Whilst in Brisbane Emma and I went out to meet an old friend of mine, named Portia. We went drinking and even on a Monday people were out, it was great to see Portia again and catchup whilst also going over our days clubbing in Sheffield. Take care Portia and we’ll meet again soon!!

Well, thats it for now. Our next stop was Cairns and the Queensland and I’ll tell you more about that in my next post.

Australia, 16 days in...

2010-05-17T09:19:00.002+01:00

So, Australia. Firstly it was the place we knew we had to go through, but none of us really were that excited about coming here. On reflection and with the benefit of being here, we were wrong not to be excited. Our stay started in Sydney, here we had our first night in Kings Cross which was fun and the first time in 3 months we'd been in a bar and understood everything that was said or shouted. Our week in Sydney was spent in the company and home of 'Jim', we'd met Jim in Vietnam and he'd said he would put us up. Not only did Jim put us up but he also guided us around Sydney's beaches and he and his friends welcomed us with open arms at Clovelly crown green bowling club. This bowling club has seriously good views out to sea and some good beers, we had a BBQ in our honour, and i won a meat raffle. We played bowls a couple of times and Dan 'n' Sam are both good players.

Bowling Club pictures:

(View over Sydney Harbour and a different perspective on the Harbour Bridge.)

On a personal note I (we) hooked up with my little cousin Amber and met her baby boy Harry for this first time, it was great to see her and really shows what a small world we actually live in.

We spent a week in Sydney and it really was great fun, so thanks to Jim, Dave and everyone at Clovelly Bowling Club, we'll see you on the 26th for some more scooners.

Our next stop was surfers paradise. In truth it was more like Newquay than paradise, that said we once again ran into another lovely person. Belinda saw we were lost and became our guide in Surfers. Not only did she show us where to go, she also took us to her lovely flat and we met her housemates. On the Monday evening we all went out to support Belinda in a pool competition. Here I met a Tranmere fan from Birkenhead and consumed XXXX all night, it was a real rip snorter.

It was in 'Surfers' that we decided to hire a car and drive the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. For me this was brilliant as I got to drive for the first time in over 3 months. Admittedly its only a Hyundai Getz but its also much cheaper than buses and taxis and gives us some independence. Our first stop was Byron Bay for a night. Byron Bay is lovely but unless you surf and/or have money your limited as to what you can do.

Our next stop was Tweedheads, here we visited Bob whom we'd also met in Vietnam. Bob is a funny old guy who basically drinks and tells funny stories about 'pokeing Sheilas'. Bob and his lovely wife Betty did a great lunch for us and then we spent the afternoon with Bob and his 90 year old friend Stan who drank beers and almost two bottles of Rum / Bourbon, Slowly but surely the stories became wilder and more exaggerated but this along with the constant visits of birds in the garden made for a fun afternoon. Heres Bob:

On leaving Bob and Stan we headed up the sunshine coast to Noosaheads, this was a wonderful place but in truth its far to expensive for us. We stayed in a motel and spent our day and a half strolling and enjoying the beach as we couldnt afford the beer at anywhere other than the social club next to the hotel. Heres a picture or two i took on Noosaheads beach:

I'm sorry to have rushed through this post, we've done so much and wireless has been hard to find, plus if i tell and show everything now, we'll have nothing to discuss on our return. As such I'll save Australia Zoo (it was sooooo good) and our stay in Wolf Creek for another post.

Take care!!

KL & Singapore (at last)

2010-05-12T01:03:00.001+01:00

Leaving Thailand for the final time (for this trip at least) was a little upsetting. We had a night in Krabi and then made our way to Kuala Lumpur. On landing we left the airport for the City and checked into our accommodation. Our first discovery in KL was that it’s a city of many different cultures; in fact it was similar to your average British city although this one had more shopping centres than I’d ever seen before. Secondly it was expensive to drink alcohol, so much so that we only had 1 night out and that pretty much blew our budget. Choosing an Irish bar probably wasn’t our best option, but as I had 3 hrs to drink Guinness at approx £4 a pint I made the best of it.

Most of our time was spent exploring the city; KL is such that you can do your exploring on foot and/or monorail. We went to Chinatown and its markets buying more watches (a TAG Monaco and another Omega) to the PETRONAS towers, museums and to the street food vendors where we had some great Malay food. We also saw a leg of the world B-Boy break dancing championships, it took me back to my days busting out moves in Raphs and if I’m honest I probably could have won, but I didn’t want to show these lads up on their own patch.

KL is a lovely town, but I really would recommend visiting if you have lots of money. It’s possible that our Thai, Vietnam, Cambodia visit left us with an un-realistic view of the value of money, but we really did feel the pinch and spent most of our time just wandering around exploring.

Singapore

Our next leg was Singapore and this was our last stop in Asia. We took an overnight train to Singapore from KL and it was amazingly smooth, we even went through customs whilst on the train and a man checked our details whilst we were in bed.

Singapore was another expensive city, we are talking over £10 for a pint of Kilkenny’s beer and the food was pricey as well. It is also the cleanest city I’ve ever seen and with the usual mix of Chinatown, Little India etc it presents a varied and mixed culture. Even though I’ve started by saying how expensive Singapore is, I could really see myself living there. It had a real vibrant feel and exudes professionalism in its business district; it actually had me thinking about going back to work and looking forward to it.

Being in Singapore was completely different to other stops on our journey. It really brought out my materialistic side as the shops were amazing and some cool people were cruising the streets. On our final night I succumbed to temptation and came home with a new pair of Levis ‘Red’ jeans and when buying them was given a $100 voucher to spend. I had the man going through his whole shop and settled on a crisp denim shirt that’s going to look sweet in Texas. I also picked up some new Vans boat shoes, the only problem is that I have no room for any of it in my rucksack. In fact we all got a bit of shopping. We also took in some culture visiting the botanical gardens, and some fun visiting a theme park where each ride was upwards of £20!!

We stayed in another Red Light district in Singapore; even though prostitution is illegal I’d actually not seen it so openly demonstrated anywhere else. Being honest this district is pretty cool, with restaurants serving up food for about $2 which was perfectly eatable and old guys sitting drinking Guinness from bottles. It was pretty ‘on-top’ but certainly a ‘interesting’ place to hangout and watch its coming and goings.

We are now in Australia and I write this blog 10 days after leaving Asia, I personally loved Asia and found it the most amazing place to visit, with amazing people as well as its amazing culture(s) temples and food. Reflecting back makes me realise that these blogs merely skim the surface of what we’ve done and seen as do the limited photos you’ve seen from the thousands i have. I will also go back to Asia someday soon and recommend those of you who haven’t been go along as well I think I speak for us all when I say it was a great experience.

Wi-Fi in Australia is hard to come by (for free at least) so I hope to publish some more photos of Singapore and thoughts and photos on Sydney, Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay soon as I'm being ushered out of a cafe!

Ko Lanta

2010-04-20T05:36:00.027+01:00

On leaving Ao Nang beach the 6 of us took a boat over to Ko Lanta. Our plan had been to go to Phi Phi but a combination of cost and availability meant a change of plans. Our boat trip was excellent and we saw some real nice islands and limestone rocks in the ocean. We also took the opportunity to sunbathe on the deck, for some of us this meant getting a little browner, for others it lead to a nice sunburn.

Keith and Dan on deck:

The View from the boat:

Our boats fan cooled engine:

A dude who posed through the engine bay window whilst taxi'ing people to and from the boat:

Emma getting tough with a rock:

Once again we stayed in bungalows on the beach, this beach was one of the finest we've seen on our travels with amazing sunsets, an example is immediately below:

(taken on the iPhone)

Within the group we spent our days enjoying the beaches and bars, visiting the local Market and some of us went to the Old Town on the hunt for Sea Gypsies. Unfortunately we didn't find any sea gypsies but Keith and I did climb to the top of an abandoned lighthouse and take in the views whilst snapping. It was here in the Old Town that you could really sense the effect of a Tsunami, we saw what looked like broken timber and concrete from buildings as well as elevated loud speakers and signs for Tsunami warnings.

The lighthouse Keith and I climbed up, and some of the view:

Whilst I took a day exercising and chilling the other guys took a boat trip to Phi Phi for snorkelling and general sightseeing, they had a great time. Hopefully Tilly-B will blog on this, eventually :-). I didn't go as I've tried snorkelling briefly and me and water do not mix and also because I'm lazy, sorry.

Our evenings were mostly spent on the beach looking at the amazing sunset and thereafter the electrical storms overhead and out to sea. These were really amazing, although none of us could capture them on camera, especially me as my camera had run out of battery and I was to busy to get one of the other 4. I also knew i would need a tripod as my hand wasn't too steady after beer and Samsong, I must get a Gorilla pod.

I did get this shot just prior to sundown where you can see the storm developing:

One bad moment of the stay was when Keith and Mop left us. That said we may see them again as they are currently stuck in Bangkok with an unconfirmed return of May 1st!! What's most annoying is that they really want to get home and work, I can empathise with that. So, if you know them, petition them to come back to us. As a result we are now back to the 4 of us and our 'holiday' within the travelling is over.

I write this as we sit on a boat crossing to Krabi, this is what I see:

I posted this moment as it's our last day in Thailand and i'm feeling quite reflective as a result. In the 11 weeks we've been gone we have spent 6 in Thailand and travelled the length of the country and most of the south, in this time we've met amazing people, stayed in amazing places and had a great time. I'll be honest and say that I don't think my eyes will be so full of wonder in our future destinations and the simple image above is capturing this moment of reflection.

Our next stop is Krabi and tomorrow we fly to Kuala Lumpur before heading to Singapore to complete our SE Asia travels.

Note: I hope I'm proved wrong and my eyes continue to be full of wonder, I wasn't meaning to critique destinations prior to our arrival.

Take care!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Krabi

2010-04-15T11:00:00.002+01:00

Firstly, although we've been in Bangkok recently we've not been affected by any of the troubles, thanks to those that have wrote concerned...

So, after leaving Koh Tao our next stop was Krabi. We took the night boat / bus combo. To say the night boat was funny is an understatement, we spent the 8hr journey on thin mattresses with myself cuddled up to a Polish fella who snored all the way through. On our arrival to Surat Thani we then met a man that looked like a crack addict who turned out to be both our taxi driver and also our guide to getting our bus. We finally got a bus 1hr later than planned but made Krabi only 1.5hrs late - a new record.

We stayed in a wicked resort in Ao Nang with pool(s) and a massage parlour. I had my first Thai massage and it was great.

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of Ao Nang / Krabi as we stayed around the period of Songkran. For those that don't know Songkran is a celebration of the Thai New Year. It is celebrated with mass water fights and coverage of flour. As a group we got ourself tooled up with some water pistols and set about getting stuck in. Unfortunately on the morning of Songkran a soldier went MIA, Anni wherever you are we miss you but we fought hard in your honour.

Here are Keith and Mop in combat training on the morning of SongKran.

Another highlight was seeing all of the reptiles living within the resort, on one occasion we saw a 4-5 foot monitor lizard and the next day one of the guys working on the resort caught a baby monitor for us. Keith handled it and on releasing it the monitor ran straight into the pool. Watching Keith dive into the pool to catch it was hilarious, 5 minutes later it was still in the pool - until Dan took the net and caught it within a minute.

I'm afraid I've only a couple of other pictures of Ao Nang, However I can tell you its a great place to visit.

Our next stop is Ko Lanta and a trip to Phi Phi after saying goodbye to Keith and Mop, then we are back to 4 and off to Malaysia. Take care.

Ps here's one of the reptiles, taken on iPhone hence the poor quality.

Koh Tao

2010-04-11T04:07:00.002+01:00

Its been some time since my last post this is due to having a lack of wireless but also a whole heap of fun taking place. Since I last wrote we have grown from a gang of four to a troupe of nine. We have welcomed, Helen, Amy, Anni, Keith and Mop to our travelling party and also said goodbye (sadly) to Helen and Amy.

On leaving Cambodia Dan, Sam, Em and I made our way to Bangkok. It was a typical journey for us, i.e. twice as long as it should be and with mishap’s involving swapping coaches, waiting for hours at the border crossing and generally feeling crap as a result of Malarone. On arrival we settled straight back into Bangkok life, eating crickets, pad-thai and getting back amongst the bartering for t-shirts, jewelry etc. We are certainly much better at bartering now. We also saw at first hand the volume of pro-Thaksin supporters in Bangkok, it was peaceful when we left, but you could feel the atmosphere building. Although who this guy was supporting is anyone's guess.

We welcomed the ladies over a Saturday and Sunday before proceeding to Chumphon on a six-hour train journey. Our train was going well until it started (a) going backwards (b) stopping for 2.5hrs (c) turned into a bus and (d) finally getting us to Chumphon 6hrs late. Lucky for us we had the most amazing hosts from Chumphon Palm Resort. On arrival we were picked up and ferried to the resort (at no cost) and we were asked two simple questions. (1) What would you like to drink and (2) are you hungry, we have a BBQ? Superb, we are usually fleeced for our passports so these questions along with the beautiful huts, awesome pool, beachside location, and amazing service made us very happy to arrive. So much so that Dan and I went back to greet Keith and Mop a few days later and stayed for 3 more nights. So, if you are reading this and going via Chumphon, hell even if you are not going via Chumphon go to Chumphon Palm Resorts and enjoy being treated well, really well!!

Thanks to Nigel, Peace, M, Liz, Ta and all the gang. Liz, if you read this – see you in Illinois!!

I could write all day about the things we got up to in Chumphon and at Chumphon Palm Resorts but as we lads agree, ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour’. So heres some pics of the lovely resort:

So, after 371 words I finally get to the title of this blog – Koh Tao. What can i say, its picture postcard beautiful. We've had a hut and a beachside bungalow and you’ll see our view in the attached pictures. I’m told the diving is great, but as I’m scared of the sea I’ll get as far as snorkeling. One thing bothers me about Koh Tao, and unfortunately I’m a contributor; tourism.

Its a beautiful, ney stunning place to be. I tell myself how lucky I am to be here, but it does not feel like Thailand. In other areas of Thailand and in Vietnam and Cambodia I’ve made a real effort to speak the lnguage (with varying degrees of success) but here i don’t need to. Its full of westerners, and is the only place where I’ve felt the need to walk with the girls home or where we’ve had a drink and sniffed trouble, quite frankly it’s a real shame. Maybe I’m being picky, maybe I’m even getting old but I do hope this beautiful place can get some of its Thai heritage back, I've barely seen a buddha and I wonder if that’s for fear of vandalism or simply as this is a small piece of Thailand forever lost to us tourists. All that said Koh Tao is wonderful and we have all had a great time here, the bars are fun and the food great. Unfortunately we were left to our own devices by the lovely Helen and Amy who had to return to the UK (via Bangkok), thanks for coming ladies and Em & I; I will see you in 4 months!

Our next stop is Krabi, our journey should take 12hrs, I’d bet on it taking 24.

Our first hut (actually it was Dan n Sams)

One man and his dog

Looking out to sea and the sunset via Dans Ray-Bans. Keith Parr has taken one much better.

Taken in Koh Tao. This stranger was paddling when I came ruinning out and instructed him to look at the boat. He complied, although never returned to look at the photo.

Sam was paddling in the sea to cool down when i came running out asking her to pose for me. Sams a beautiful lady so its a shame i used the sun to hide her features, I'm hoping i can encourage her (and her boyfriend Dan) to let me shoot her some more on this trip.

Cambodia

2010-03-25T06:06:00.001Z

We planned for a 6 day stop over in Cambodia, splitting our time between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. I think on reflection we all slightly regret going through the country so quickly as our, (certainly my own) pre-conceptions turned out to be mis-conceptions. I'm not sure what I personally thought it would be like,a little less friendly maybe due to the various atrocities commited both within its own people and outside forces and maybe a lot less easy to get around.

Our journey into Cambodia was smooth as silk. We booked the Mekong Express bus from Saigon with an element of doubt in our minds, as our previous bus journeys had more often been the complete opposite of the description. However we were guided through the border on an A/C bus and straight into Phnom Penh within 8hrs with no hassles at all. We booked ourselves into the City Centre hotel and set about exploring Phnom Penh and discovering a great city. For those that haven't been, Phnom Penh is a lot more cosmopolitan and 'buzzing' than any of us imagined. Its adorned with houses and apartments of a parisian nature and the people are fantastic. For some reason various Tuk Tuk drivers took a real liking to me, although this resulted in our barely getting a minutes peace when taking a drink or meal.
On our first couple of days we drank, ate and went to markets and a fabulous 'Wat' and saw monkeys foraging for ice water and elephants cruising past the pub, see a taster below

For me one of the highlights (lowlight maybe more apt) of the trip so far was our morning at S-21 which is the genocide museum which remains pretty much the same as the days when Pol Pots regime cleared out the cities and took to torturing and ultimately executing anyone who they felt wasn't 100% behind the communist state they tried to create in 3 years. For me personally this was a truly heart wrenching morning, we watched a documentary chronicling the life and death of two lovers and then walked through the cells and torture chambers of the 'facility'. I personally couldnt spend much time in block b which housed pictures of torture victims. See some pics below:

Block B - Pictures taken by Khmer Rouge:

A bed used for torture, this place really moved me:

Block B, its hard to illustrate how grim this place is with the sun and a palm tree. If you click on the photo it will come out bigger and you'll see the barbed wire on the outside, it was used to stop people jumping to there deaths!

Needless to say our time in Phnom Penh came to a halt far to early and we were on our merry way to Siem Riep, or as we call it 'Siem Reet'.
Once again we were on the Mekong Express, another good journey although on this one there was a bit of sickness floating around due to the previous nights excess during a very unimportant football match. Although feeling ill on the journey to Siem Reet I couldn't help but enjoy the tremendous views of the Cambodian countryside whilst listening to 'Jim Noir', and 'The Dears' with both forming the perfect soundtrack during various stages of light during the trip. I'm finding the physical act of 'travelling' one of my favourite parts of this journey and now look to find a soundtrack for each journey, i seem to be falling back in love with some old music as a result.
Siem Reet is just like i say, 'Reet' which for thos of you not used to northern dialect is 'Very good indeed'. Its less built up than Phnom Penh and is set around a river and the various markets, with the major attraction being Angkor Wat nearby. For this stop we took a punt on a hotel recommended in a guide, its called 'Encore Angkor' and I thoroughly recommed it to anyone staying here. Its truly a little oasis with its pool and amazing staff, its also just of 'Pub Street' and the 'Old Market' so in a real good spot. Its also right next to a crocodile farm which Dan and Sam can see from their room.
On our first night here Dan and I consumed a Khmer BBQ frog each, it was delicious but the waitress was a bit put off that we didn't get all the meat off, even though we could see no more. I've also been enjoying Khmer food and the 'Amoks' are great. That said, Em, Sam and I all have had / have stomach upsets so something is amiss somewhere.

Another personal highlight for me is our 5am visit to Angkor Wat, it was as breathtaking as i'd imagined although the scaffolding was a bit annoying when it came to taking photos. We hired two tuks tuks for the day at $17 each and paid $80 between us to get in, in truth it was worth it not only for our tour around Angkor Wat, Bayon and several other temples but also for the picture on Daniels admission pass - it sums him up at 5:30am. Brilliant! (But I'll let him show it to you, if he wants).

Angkor Wat Taken in low light using B&W in an effort to disguise the scaffolding!

And here you see the scaffolding.

The ladies, still looking great at 6am in 30 degree heat - and getting hotter with mosquitos and dragon flys everywhere.

A couple of cheeky scamps trying to hide from us.

Well thats it for Cambodia, we are back to Thailand tomorrow to see some friends. I'm not sure how long this post is, but i do know that i'd love to be able to write about Cambodia all day as its a most fantastic place. My words and pictures won't do any justice, in short come here if you ever get the chance as its an amazing place. What you see from the outside barely scratches the surface!

Good-bye for now, from us all!!

So long Saigon

2010-03-19T11:51:00.002Z

Saigon, wow, what a place. Its fair to say that we are all a little sad to have said goodbye to Saigon and Vietnam as a whole. Its the first country we have left and are not planning on returning too, for this trip at least.

We arrived late on Sunday, dumped our bags and made our way to the best looking bar nearby. It was a great move as we met a bunch of people who work / drink there that were all real nice and helped us along in Saigon. We initially thought Saigon may have little to offer as we couldnt find anywhere to eat after 10:30 and drinking was finishing at midnight - how wrong were we!

On our first full day we set about sorting out our Visas for Cambodia, as usual it was a boring affair but a necessary evil when you move from country to country. We had a bit of a wonder but overall did little, we did however begin to learn about the hospitality of the bar staff at Latin on 17 Dong Du Street in District 1 when Dan n Sam were looking for somewhere to do laundry. We called in for a drink and before we knew it the owner had popped out and got a price list for the guys, result.

Our second day was more fruitful, we discovered the local market and its plethora of fake goods, between us we now have:

2 TAG Heuer Carreras
1 Omega Speedmaster
3 pairs of CK Pants
1 pair of Louis Vuitton Pants
1 pair of Verace pants
1 Levis shirt (genuine)
1 Fred Perry polo shirt.
plus purses, bags, another watch and loads of other stuff I've probably forgotten.

We knew our hotel was in the red light district but it didnt bother us, that said Dan and i went ahead of the girls on our third night and found things slightly different. On our walk of 500m we had doors swinging open at us like a cowboy film, with loads of girls dressed in very little trying to tempt us in, one even offered to 'F&*k me real good' (nice chat up technique). We had discovered that Saigon without a wife / girlfriend is a little different.

We had drunk a few beers at the Latin Bar every night, on our 2nd to last one we ate there and also listened to a fantastic house band whilst drinking 26 beers. After the gig we went out with Edward (bar supervisor) and his girlfriend Chance (a great singer) and discovered the real Saigon. We hopped in a cab whilst Sam hopped on the back of Chances moped and headed to a district that stays open all night, there we bartered for drink and had a great time.e

Please don't think we only drank, we also ate cheesecake and went to the War Museum. Here we learned more about Vietnamese recent history and the events of late 20th century were especially moving. It was hard to walk around the museum with its photography, guns, planes, tanks and execution equipment all of which was depicting the harsh treatment on Vietnam and not get a tear in the eye. We've certainly found the people to be friendly in the main and a part of me wanders why after some of the treatment we saw. I also appreciate there are two sides to every story.

We are now in Phnom Penh and i'd love to write so much more about the people, architecture, history and brilliance of our trip down the Vietnamese coast but I find it hard to articulate it in writing, so I'll bore you with some pictures of Saigon. I'll post more soon as its nearly time to explore Phnom Penh.

A multi vehicle face off at the lights, including the pavement.

A fairly standard traffic scenario in Saigon.

Royal Palace gates.

A sign at the war museum. I have a picture of tiger cages that prisoners were kept in, but it disgusts me.

A worker at the War museum, its been open since 1975 and is being extended.