The Batblog by Photobat

Jimeoin at Late and Live

Day 3

Next day wasn’t too bad, took some photos and saw some shows (Nigerian Span Scam II, very dam good and also Geraldine Quinn from Melbourne who was amazing and I can’t wait to see her when she has a full voice, not a festival induced lurgi voice)

Also did a little shooting at late and live, featuring Jimeoin, The Umbillical Brothers and also Simon Munnery, with a guy called Richard Howard as MC. Backstage there wasn’t a lot happening, had some other comedians drop in including David O Doherty, Daniel Kitson and some who I didn’t know. Munnery’s facial expression when he saw me was priceliess, he was just working his way into the room saying hi, shaking a few hands then saw me and said hi… then the double take. He really didn’t expect to see me there, in Edinburgh at all. So it was good to see him.

The Umbi’s annoying Jimeoin

Also came up with an idea of shooting a Cludeo based series around the Gilded Balloon as it has a lot of the rooms. So now I have to organize it all, and probably hire some lighting.

I’m into the right sleeping pattern for the festival now. Out late, Up late.

After getting off the bus from Edinburgh airport I had some problems… I have no idea I had to go to find the Flat. After looking at 2 maps that didn’t have the street on it, I jumped into a cab and the cabbie was equally puzzled as to where it was I had to go. Eventually one of his cabbie friends pointed us in the right direction.

I new Dave the landlord, he showed be about, it’s not a bad little place, it even has a sofa bed. The bathroom is tiny, literally the size of a couch in length and width. But it’s all I need.

Dave mentioned that they were about to have the place completely re done as soon as the festival was over. He bought it a little while ago after the lady who lived here died in here…

So after a shower and getting back to feeling human I went off on a bit of a wander. I’m about 10 minutes from the Royal Mile and 15 from the Gilded Balloon where the exhibition is. I was wandering a bit vaguely when I bumped into Howard Read, a comedian friend. He showed me where to get baked potatoes and also where a few of the venues are, including the Gilded Balloon.

The exhibition is very well installed, the lighting is a bit average but I can’t really complain. It is in a café which is quite busy. I noticed that one of the photos had strangely soared in price… but I think that is because Boothby Graffoe had thought he was worth 1000 pounds.

After having a look, I bumped into some more Australians out the front, also Karen who is the director of the venue. Then another discovery that a friend Ged Wood is one of the Admin guys for the venue, so I then got all the passes that I needed for the venue.

I then got back to wandering, found myself a little lost, but then bumped into more people from Melbourne who pointed me in the right direction.

I saw a show called the Birth Of Cool, about the start of beat poetry, all about Alan Ginsberg, and others… I nodded off during the performance as the jet lag set in.

I didn’t realize how late it was, probably because I didn’t notice that the sun sets at 10pm. So I wandered back to the flat, made some calls then crashed.

Not sure what time it is, or what time zone it is. Australia is still below and I decided to do some work, got out the laptop, got it on, and there really isn’t enough room to do any work … but I can manage a little, then as soon as I get going, the guy in front puts his seat all the way back leaving me havingt he laptop screen facing a bit down. Agh. Anyway

So far, I’ve watched a movie, tried to read a little, havn’t slept yet, I’m saving all that up for the next leg. The sun is low, we passed over Ularu and the other big rocks… The Olgas. That was very Aus.

Anyway… enough for the time being as it hurts to look at the screen this way. Agh.

7.10 am… yesterday I think… well It’s the 11^th here. I’ve got a latte… well, it’s a good attempt at one and a bargin at 2.19 pound… so that’s about $6 aus or something… have to drink coffee sparingly. I’ve fired up the new Ipod for the first time… put it on random all songs, and it chose London Calling by the Clash followed by the Sex Pistols… think it knows where it is.

I’m sitting in gate 5, Heathrow Airport awaiting my connection to the lovely city of Edinburgh. After the flight I’m fealing ok, got in at 5.30am, we booked the connecting flight with a few hours to clear poassport control and customs… it took a total of 20 minutes and there are 3 flights that leave for Edinburgh before mine, I could have changed, but as the nice man said, I have connecting luggage… so another 2 hour wait.

I’ve developed a slight headache since arriving, nothing to major, I have to take another of my Singaporeian Panadol, god bless large multinational pharacutical companies in keeping their branding the same everywhere. My other major purchase in the 45 minute stop over in Singapore was a 1.5 liter bottle of water.

The ladies I was sitting next to all the way from Melbourne were on the way to do a bus tour starting in Vienna and taking in all the sights from the Sound Of Music. That would be a bit of a riot, a bus load of mid to late year old ladies traveling around Europe singing such hits as Do Re Me, How do you solve a problem like Maria and who can forget that song that the kids sing when they are going to bed. It would probably be a great thing to document, the old ducks with their dragged along husbands.

The ladies, where were mother and daughter (I forgot their names straight away, a problem that I have). The Mum was about to turn 80, and as like any good 80 year old, she had a large collection of drugs, one of which I used to stop my sudden outburst of hay fever.

I did sleep for about ¾ of the flight from Singapore, but we were served breakfast at 3am GMt, which kind of shook me up a bit, would have preferred sleep.

On the flight I watched the movies Peaches (OK, I liked it, all I expect from an Aus film.), Sin City… which blew my mind… now I want to do some serious lighting set ups for portraits to recreate the gritty contrast of that film, I hope they bring out more like it, I have to see Sin City again on the big screen sometime. Also saw a bit of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, which I had seen before and I appreciated it a lot more the second time around, it is a great adaptation, still think it could have been improved by including a few of the classic lines “Arthur- In times like this I wish I had listened to what my mother told me.” Ford - “What did she tell you? Arthur – “I don’t know I wasn’t listening”.

I’ve hit the dazed feeling… I think the coffee has pushed me over.

I might go see if I can find a map of Edinburgh so I can hit the ground running.

Wish I had a towel…

Dam.. i blogged and wasted money in this internet airport thing… and it ate the post…
dam dam dam.

well more later.

Zonked and still in Aus with 1 hour left

Airport… lots of fun… nice people with “probes” to see if i’m carrying any explosives. Nice lady, very thurough.

Poor Tom, see previous post, he gave me alift to the airport this morning, having to get up at 4.30am. And he headed straight to Cradle where i’m sure he is going to get snowwed in. I thank him muchly and hope he gets some awesome photos.

Met up with Josh and Justin Heazlewood this morning, very good, also Pina and Kelly, filled in my time quite nicely. I have also taken some pics on the new little camera, we will see how they come out.

So, i’m getting prepared for the first leg to singapore, it’s goign to be a “very empty flight” but the final leg to london is going to be “full”. So sleep on the menu for the first leg then some work on the second leg.

I have water, I have book (The Untouchable by John Banville… better be good or Clive at Fullers is goign to get an abusive email). I have Ipod fully charged, laptop fully charged and some other bits and pieces to keep me occupied. Just had a nice juice and salad for lunch.

Time on this expensive internet thingy is running low, so no time to spell check… sorry.

- 4 hours to go

OK..

Bags packed… kinda.

Lift sorted.. yep.

Work finished, mostly

Files onto laptop, check… oh.. not yet..and transferring now.

Phone charger, yes, toiletries… not yet have to shower, so leave pack in bathroom so I will remember them, camera, batteries, memory cards, cloths, notes for people to do somthings that I ran out of time for, jet lag cures, tickets… hang on where is that, ah, inth living room on the floor, money – pounds and aussie dollars, power conversion plugs, new ipod installed with songs.

Ok all done, think I’m ready to go to bed.. yep, time to fly.

The Prize Winning Photo of the Award Winning Tom Putt

1 Day to go…

I’ve been away from the office for 3 nights, just what I needed, some time away to forget about packing and all that goes with finalising all the work I need to get done before I go.

First night I was in Hobart, met up with one of my couples from the last wedding season, had a bit of a deconstruction that I did learn thigs from. So thanks Sean and Nat (long time readers!). I then went off and met up with Wellington, who gave me some tips and generally gave me the big pep talk about how amazing the Uk is going to be. Following that I met up with Sarah and John for a little bit of Dinner followed by Architecture in Helsinki concert (great once they got into it, but I think I like the tighness and production of the live CD’s too much to really get into it.

Saturday morning was a bit of a going away breakfast, great turn out, great group of friends and we even managed to keep up our spirits even though it was the worst service/food that any of us had ever had. It passed the point of being annoying to being funny, plus we managed to get a good discount, it will be the last time I head to Mummies in Battery Point for a while. A tip for them was to a) make sure the toast is cooked enough so the butter can melt onto it, b) peal the kiwi fruit before putting it into the muesli, c) explain to the customers that there will be a delay due to the chef being sick. I kinda fel bad naming them, but really, it was bad and I hope that I can go back in the future and have a great time like I have had there before.

Then it was off to Freycinet for the annual AIPP conference. Next couple of days were great, relaxing looking at photos, being inspired and taking a few snaps. I managed to win a couple of categories in the photo competition, the people section and also the overall winner for my shot of Tom Putt. It was great having Tom down, I speak to him daily in over the net or on the phone to Melbourne. It was also great to get to know his wife and daughter a bit better.

Nick Meladonis, Tony Hewitt, Alice Bennett and Tero Sade were our inspirational speakers, I have new ideas and thought on what I am going to do in the UK and also when I get back home. My landscape photography has also had a bit of a shot in the arm, so expect some very nice pics.

I managed to pick up a slip in portrait album, a set of books from one of out speakers and to top it off a dam funky little digital camera that looks like an old twin lens reflex Rolli. I sat in a café on the way home and read the instructions and 2 people asked me about it, so it will be fun to use and meet curious people. It does look like a toy, but it has a 2 mega pixel CMOS sensor. I’ll document the trip to Edinburgh with it and upload it here. Have a look at what i won.

So I am now all relaxed and prepared for the last frantic day of getting everything done, will I succeed? I reckon there is a good chance.

Below are the other 3 shots I entered into the photo comp.

Some Rock Patterns, with inspiration from Michelle Kenna

Graham Carter - The Fuji Man

Bit of mood over the Hazzards

6 to go…

Why is one of my current favourite bands playing in Hobart tomorrow night? Of course I have to go and se them. So to Hobart I go. I first have to catch up with one of the brides from the last wedding season, have abit of a deconstruction about my wedding photography, the good the bad ect… can only lead to good things.

Then to meet up with Wellington to work out how to interview people so he can turn them into stories. Not too sure how it’s all goin to work. I’ll probably go and buy an ipod that can record from a mic. So bit of shopping in Singapore.

I did manage to get a few things done, there are still many little things that are all around that I’m sure will disappear in the day and a half I have left in Launceston.

Refuge exhibition is under control, weddings are under control, portraits are coming together, packing… well that can wait and there isn’t a lot of other things to get onto, of course the whole getting a studio space and everything that goes in it and the marketing that will put the people in it… that’s all going a bit average.

So… I watched the last episodes of the Amazing Race and Lost that I can see before I go. Dam them both for finishing just after I leave. But I have now read the episode guides and know what happens. Amazing Race ending great, Lost ending just annoying… I think I’m over it now, don’t know if I actually care about it any more, meaning I’ve wasted 20 something hours of tv watching. Nothing compares to my old favourite.. Cold Feet, yeah, it was kind of like a soap opera but it’s the only thing on TV that has ever got me going (and the end of that show was also a little bit of a let down).

Ok, to bed now.

7 days left.

Things are a bit frantic, lots to do, little time left ect.

Above you will see the nice flier that the Umbilical Bros are using in Edinburgh.

You might recognise some of the photos on it, I think it’s one of the best flier use of my photos to date, I’ll be seeing their show on the 14^th I think.

So things are getting moved from one place to another, things that I need to take with me, things I don’t need, things I want to take but haven’t got as far as buying them and even some things that I didn’t know I had. One thing that was coming and now isn’t is Wellington, my partner in media stuff and shared accommodation. It’s a pity he’s not going to make it, I’m sure he will have a part to play in all this still.

I’ve also managed to fit in 3 shoots in the last few days, and have got the orders away to be printed too. Add to that the wedding albums that have finally arrived and the latest batch of big prints back from Melbourne things are going fine.

New business card has arrived too, some people like it, some people don’t, I personally like it and it’s a bit different.

I have an interview for The Mercury tomorrow and a photo on Friday. I don’t have an exhibition to stand in front of here, so it will be interesting to see what the photographer does. More news as it comes to hand.