Cat Power @ The Forum Melbourne

A couple of weeks ago I was given the amazing opportunity to photograph Cat Power for FasterLouder. It was a last minute thing, so my gear wasn't all that up to scratch (no time to hire) but I was relatively happy with what I shot. I felt very privileged to be close to Chan (and I was super close!), she is a very talented woman.

Here are just a couple of images.

And the link to the full gallery is HERE.

And not only that, Chan herself liked my photo on instagram. Heheh. Cool.

Manic week of awesomeness

This week just gone has been amazing:

* I photographed my first dirty pub gig, and I got squashed, bruised, other people's sweat on me, and I freaking loved it.
* I saw Garbage at the Forum here in Melbourne and then proceeded to hang out with the guitarist Duke Erikson for several hours afterwards, and meet and converse with Butch Vig.
* I then went to Soundwave yesterday and was front row on the barrier for Garbage and scored a setlist for my dancing, singing, crazy escapades. Also managed to get close to the god of music Mike Patton and his band Tomahawk, which was a bit mental. Saw plenty of other bands yesterday but those were my highlights.

So much awesome in only 4 days. It's safe to say I'm completely exhausted! But happy. So happy.

Enjoy some photos. First up, Fucked Up at the Prince of Wales on Tuesday:

You can see the full gallery at Faster Louder (who I was shooting for) here: Fucked Up

Here is a couple of my favourite images from the night, from the band O'Brother:

Massive thanks to my friend Simon who leant me some gear and a lot of moral support. Thanks Sime, you're a legend. x

Next some Instagram photos of my manic week!

Edit: my little sister sent me this photo of us hanging out with Duke. Thought I should post it here, seeing as it was part of my awesome week! As well as his autograph which I made him write for me (fangirl!)!!

Defending myself against the evils of instagram

So, most of my friends and family know that I'm anti iPhone, for a bunch of reasons. And one of the things that irked me about the exclusivity of iPhone users was their smugness for using instagram ("ner ner, you Android people can't play with us, ner ner")... When instagram expanded into the Android world I was dead set against signing up. I had no interest whatsoever in joining that realm. Most of it to do with upholding my non-conformist agenda.
;-)

A couple of weeks ago I realised that I hadn't seen ANY photos from a friend on facebook for ages. I knew this was weird because she was away on holidays in qld and I wondered where she's disappeared to. So I sent her a text saying I missed her and hoped she was well etc. She replied that if I was on instagram I'd know exactly where she was and what she was up to. She wasn't being a smartarse, just letting me know that she was still active on social media, just not where I was hanging out. I had a bit of a sadface and thought to myself "well that sucks", but didn't think much more of it.

Since I quit the book of face 3 days and 3 hours ago I realised that one of the things I missed most about it was seeing photos of people that I love. Photos of their kids, their adventures and their lives. I stewed on it. I shrugged. I thought twitter might fill the void. But most of the people I love aren't on twitter. It wasn't going to cut the mustard at all.

So I bit the bullet and signed up to the thing of evil.

I did it because I miss my loved ones. And even though I hate admitting I'm wrong, I was wrong to be so stubborn and shun it because I didn't want to be a sheep.

Here are the things I hate about instagram:
* people take photos of random and stupid shit
* it's so "cool" and "hipster"
* I don't want to see photos of food and drinks
* most of the arty filters look ridonkulous
* and the big one - I am sad that people have resorted to using phones to capture every photographic memory. I'm sad that people are shunning "real" cameras and better quality imagery for the sake of convenience. I'm sad that some kids might grow up with only phone photos of themselves. P&S cameras are cheap people (well some of them are). I beg you all to spend $100 on a cheap camera to throw in your handbag or pocket or glovebox so that when you're out and about you can take photos of your kids that aren't grainy as shit and that you can actually print. I realise this means it's harder to share with your friends and family on social media and that it requires some extra effort from you. But trust me when I say your kids will thank you later on.

I know of a family that recently celebrated the birth of twins. Those teeny babies were in hospital for several weeks and have not long been allowed to come home. Every single photo of those babies from the moment they have been born has been taken on a phone camera. They are grainy, out of focus, and generally terrible quality. I'm glad that mum and dad were able to capture some memories of their tiny babies with the means at hand, but I'm SO sad that they don't have anything better than that. I feel that they will regret that terribly in the years to come and I feel that their babies will be disappointed when they are older.

And another thing: over the last couple of years I've been thinking of "funeral photos". I know it's morbid, but I've had reason to think about it. I put together a slideshow for my Nan's funeral. I helped find photos for my Poppy's funeral. I watched a friend's funeral slideshow a few short months ago. I want my funeral slideshow to be kick arse. And I don't want it filled with phone photos. Because they simply aren't as good as photos taken with an actual camera.

Here are the things I like about instagram:
* my friends and family are there

Happy Sunday all. xo