Through the camera lens

Valentines Day

2011-02-16T11:54:00.000+08:00

I celebrated Valentines Day for the first time EVER on Monday! But I didn't celebrate it in the normal receive chocolates-roses-sweet texts and cards-go on a date kind of way...I celebrated it with my friends and that means we did something way cooler than what is the norm. Instead we got together, bought a big bag of lollipops, put them in a basket (the kinda that easter bunny carries around and hands out chocolates), made up a mix tape of love songs and hit the town walking. We walked all over town handing out lollipops to all passerbyes, and calling out Happy Valentines Day. I loved Amy's idea of carrying a boom box around with us so that we could have love songs playing all day ha ha...though after a few hours I was starting to hate love songs :-P

We bought BUBBLES!!!

Bubbles, lollipops and songs :-)

"Go on! You know you want one!"

"have these been poisoned?"

"oooh lollipops!!"

Time to hit the shopping centre!

We gave a lollipop to an old lady on the street and she told us to go to the women's club as there was a bunch of old ladies hanging out there..so off we went!

and boy were they happy :-) naww xx

Last stop: The local radio station. We stayed there for ages. Talking out the back with one of the workers, a giant named Ruslan...he took a photo of us and tweeted it! See photo below...

http://yfrog.com/h2hdzjnj

Bubbles, my parasol, a nearly empty basket of lollipops, red skirt and red bag.

Well I had a fantabulous Valentines Day and I want to do it again next year. This is way better than going on date! ha ha. Bringing happiness to other people is so much more fun :-)

Love Chloe xx

Australia Day 2011

2011-02-11T15:40:00.001+08:00

Helllo hello! Here is a long overdue post. It has been way too long since I've written here. Boo. I have no excuse, I've just been too lazy...I've been way too lazy with everything lately! A habit I need to break.

Anywho let's get into the photos! These are my Australia Day 2011 photos. I ended up having a fun night. The day wasn't so great but from 4 PM onwards it was great. Got to meet more of my friends family at their family BBQ (just between you and me: I only went for the food..mmm lots of desserts :-P haha nah I'm just joking, my friend's fam are an awesome bunch!); made a new friend (A beat boxer named Sam) who we hung out with for hours, we even ate dinner with him. I love being with my friends, we always make new friends everytime we go out. and of course we watched the fireworks.

I've been wanting to try out the fireworks setting on my camera for ages and I finally got the chance to use it that night! I was very excited and I got some really cool photos which I will share with you now. Excitement.

My friends walking..looking for a good spot to watch the fireworks

Ha I love this photo. The firework looks like a comet hurtling towards earth.

Fireworks shooting into the sky.

I love the light in this photo.

Looks a bit like a mini tornado haha

Well there you go, lots of firworks photos. :-)

Next Monday is Valentines Day and my friends and I have come up with a few plans of how we're going to spend V Day. I will be taking my camera with me and hopefully will get some cool shots. Be sure to check back sometime next week for the photos.

Love Chloe xx

Self portraits..and more.. while wandering Bunbury

2010-12-13T10:45:00.000+08:00

Hi there lovelies....I meant to post these photos some weeks ago but hadn't got around to it till now.
A few weeks ago Bunbury held an event called "The Shorelines Festival"...it's a poetry festival that is held in different places around the main street. I had a few friends who were performing in the festival so I went along as the support crew..and because I love poetry :-)
I was dropped off in town early so I had a few hours to kill...I didn't feel like being part of the consumerism and buying things, so I took myself for a walk around Bunbury..I had my camera with me so this was a good opportunity to snap a few pics. The following are some photos I took throughout those few hours...I wandered quite far actually, it was really nice and I want to do it again.

First stop, a small park behind some office buildings...it's surrounded by a red brick wall and trees..it's a nice quiet spot where one can go to be alone :-)...In the middle of the park is a giant rock floating on water. I am forever fascinated by how a giant rock can float on a bit of water! It's amazing...

The first in my Self portrait shots...this parasol comes everywhere with me in summer.

Posing on a park bench in front of camera...was just hoping that no body would walk into the park and see some strange girl posing on a bench ha ha

How pretty is this park?...

Entrance to the park.

The main street of Bunbury...busy town hey :-P

Next stop, the beach!...quick pose on the stairs he he

The beach...viewed through my sunglasses

Another sunnies shot..

I set my camera on self timer and put it on the rocks and posed away...

...but I won't bore you with a million photos of me on a beach...look a sea gull! He wanted his photo taken too!

So I obliged and took a few...how lovely does the beach look!

I hope you enjoy these new pics :-)

Much love..Chloe xx

Norfolk Lanes Youth Festival 2010

2010-11-22T22:47:00.001+08:00

Last weekend I spent the day in Fremantle with my aunt and uncle. Fremantle is seriously the best place in Perth. I L.O.V.E. it :-D and oneday I will live there! It is so me; quirky, a bit out there, and different....ok ok I'm getting off subject, but seriously peoples if you are ever in Perth WA you must take a trip down to Fremantle!

Alright, so the reason I went to Freo was for The Norfolk Lanes Youth Festival which was on that weekend and my aunt and I, being the photographic fiends that we are, took the opportunity to get some good photos. Oh and The Joe Kings happened to be playing a short gig there too...what a wonderful start to the festival!.

When we arrived we got caught up in a throng of what seemed to be Sherlock Holmes fanatics. That's what it looked like to me: A few people with pipes hanging out of their mouths, lots of people had fake moustaches and they were all dressed like they'd stepped out of the 1950's. Weird. But it made for interesting viewing and photographing. I didn't end up getting many good photos though. I was too enthralled with some of the great outfits the ladies were wearing to remember to take photos.

Turned out that they were all lined up getting ready for the "slowest" bike race. whoever went the slowest won, or something like that. And I think the cause was for Movember, hence the reason why everyone had a moustache.

Love this lady's red hat and shoes. And all the old fashioned bicycles! I love them :-D

Next we found ourselves on a blocked off street that had been set up for some skate ramps....I thought this little guy was so adorable!

Pity the guy in the white shirt was in the way, the photo would have been a lot better.

I was sitting on the kerb here and I really did think that skate board was going to fly out from under his feet and hit me! It stopped before it got too close to me thankfully haha.

Once we'd had our fill of photographing the skater dudes we made our way over to the main stage on Norfolk Lane. The best place to be. I love music, it makes me feel so alive and happy. I could have stayed at the front of the stage all day haha. Anyways, the first band that played went by the name of Hurricane Fighter Plane. I really enjoyed their music and songs! We even scored their EP for free. woo! free stuff ahaha.

I definitely want to see this band perform again.

And then The Joe Kings came on! yay :)

Ryan!

Phill!

One of my favorites

Another favorite

Off came the shirts.

Ryan's hair is defying gravity!!!

It was really different seeing them play during the day. It's better for taking photos, as in I didn't get so many blurry photos. But I get more effective photos at night when there is stage lighting.

The end of yet another fantastic set. :-D

Ok last 2 pics. I was fascinated by this graffiti artist. He had his face covered and I was curious about what he looked like underneath.

He got the crowd involved in his piece by asking passer byes to have a game of noughts and crosses..cool :)

Ok lovelies that's it from me today. I hope you all enjoy these new photos. I had a ball taking them!

Much love, Chloe xx

Day trip to York!

2010-10-05T14:04:00.000+08:00

Girls road trip! Woo hoo. Still pumped from the previous night's shenanigans, we decided to road trip it to York for the York markets...which according to the internet were amazing and had heaps of stalls and produce etc etc. ...and we wanted to take photos of course :-)

Ok so the markets were a dismal let down: 6 or so stalls of very average produce/food/clothing...we were rather shocked haha but oh well at least there was lots of things we could take photos of. We walked around the town taking pics and browsing through local shops and exploring York. Was fun. I love hanging out with my aunt, we have such fun together!

So here are some of the photos I took:

York here we come!

These flowers were beautiful and smelled just as good too. I love how the flowers are winding themselves around this tree branch.

Main street

How hilarious are these band names!

What a delightful place to sit and eat

Random gargoyles on a tree stump!

On our exploration expedition we found a river...I love the reflections in the water. You can see my reflection

Belinda and I on a suspended bridge over the river...it moved quite a bit hehe

dumped rubbish in the river

View from the bridge

the bridge

We found a lovely old catholic church.

Much love, Chloe xx

The Joe Kings single launch at The Fly By Night

2010-10-05T13:14:00.001+08:00

Hello all!

Last Saturday..the day I'd been awaiting for over 2 months, finally arrived and like always some drama ensued. I decided to catch the morning train up to Perth so had to get up at 5:00 am and be at the station for a 6:00 departure...arrived with 15 minutes to spare, I went to the kiosk to buy my ticket only to have my card decline!! Eeep, my heart skipped a few beats when I heard the words "sorry your card has declined". So my brother tried to pay and his card declined!! :O Ok so obviously I wasn't meant to be on that train...so I caught the afternoon train instead...nothing was going to stop me going to this gig, not when I'd been looking forward to it for months, it was the Joe Kings single launch and this gig was the last opportunity I had to see them play before the head over East for a national tour, I HAD to go. hehe

Anyways I made it up to Perth :-D Aunty B and I had fun getting ready for the big night, we played the Joe Kings EP while doing our makeup to get us in the mood hehe. On the way down to Fremantle we picked up my aunt's friend, he is the funniest bloke! Had us laughing all night :-D

The Joe Kings...what can I say? They were amazing!..they are amazing every time I see them actually. They pulled a decent crowd, around 300 or more people were there. The atomosphere was great! No fights, no dramas, 'twas a very positive experience, everyone was happy, and excited. Aunty B, her friend and myself all enjoy photography so we had such a grand time comparing shots and experimenting with different angles. Unfortunatley we were only allowed to take "no flash" photos so it was hard to get good photos...but oh well, we had a blast anyway. :)

The huge poster wall at the Fly By Night.

Some random upside down umbrellas :)

Stage crew setting up for the main act...

...and on they come!

I loved Ryan's glittery cardi! Looked great on stage

Phill and Riley

I love the color in this photo

Belinda and I...We love the Joe Kings :-D

I placed my camera on the stage

The crowd had a blast! These boys sure know how to get the crowd pumped :)

Phill using a glass bottle to run along his guitar strings....the effect is so cool. I love it when guitarists do this!

Phill loves the floor haha, he's always on it

Triumphant end to the night

had to show off my new Joe Kings shirt :-D

A morning walk in the park

2010-09-26T23:05:00.001+08:00

Hey there everyone!!!

I took a few photos a couple days ago on a morning walk. The sky was so amazing...oh so bright blue with fluffy white clouds that looked like cotton wool :) I took more photos of flowers on the flower setting on my camera...I'm really getting into nature photography lately. I'm trying to think "out of the box" with my photography, obviously I need a lot more practice..but I have improved :)

View through my sunglasses

Check out that sky!

I love this photo

Sunlight shining through the trees

Taking in the scenery

2010-09-04T19:53:00.001+08:00

Hello there peeps :)

Today my grandparents and aunt visited for my mum's birthday. Pa, aunty Belinda and myself went for a drive down to the beach to take some photos. Belinda and I had a blast clicking away at the scenery and experimenting with different angles. Here are some of the photos I snapped :)

The beach photos I took using my mum's slr camera, the flower and tree photos I took using my point-and-shoot digital camera. I am experimenting with the different settings on it. Today is the first time I've used the "flower" setting on my camera, i was so excited to see that the photo came out rather well :D Yay I'm so excited.

I am trying to take more photos as I want to build up a bit of a portfolio for when I do photography units at uni next year, just incase I need one :) Boy I can not wait for next year :D Sooo excited hehe.

Tyre tracks on the beach...

My aunt, a fellow photography enthusiaist :)

the long trek down to the beach...

reaching for the sky...

First time using the "Flower" setting on my camera...this one isn't such a good one but I liked that you can see the ant on the petals :)

a better shot..

As Anne of Green Gables would say: "A walk down Lovers' Lane" :)

Well that's it from me today. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Love Chloe xxx

2010-08-23T22:20:00.001+08:00

hey there followers...it's been way too long since I've updated this blog. It's just that I haven't been taking photos lately :( I still don't have any new, good, photos...however I want to show you all the camera I am looking at buying (when I have the spare money hehe)

The Canon EOS 50....around $1500 but I've been reading up on it and it does sound like a very good camera. I am also looking at the Nikon (can't remember the exact name of it right now) which is very similar to the Canon and it's a bit cheaper too. My aunt just bought the Nikon camera so I shall have to have a play on it and quiz her on how well it performs.

Actually I do have a couple new band photos to share. I went to a gig a few weeks ago with my gig buddy, Kate. We went to see Louis and the Honky Tonk play in Bunbury. I only took about 4 photos that night, I wish I took more but at the time I didn't feel like viewing the gig through a camera lense :P Anyways 2 of the 4 turned out alright so I'll put them up now :)

Leigh Gardiner...lead singer for Louis and the Honky Tonk.

Great singer, and performer. I enjoy watching him on stage :)

Well, I shall endevour to start taking photos asap! I think about it everyday haha, just always seem to be too busy. That's where good time management comes in handy. lol

I must fly....so, until I write again, au revoir! xo

A rockin' time at the Rosemount

2010-07-15T23:18:00.002+08:00

Who: The Joe Kings
When: 13th May 2010
Where: Rosemount, Perth

My hands were shaking, with excitement and nervousness as I walked up to the security guard at the door. I fumbled through my purse til i found my ID then handed it over, rather apprehensively as I don't look 18. The guard looked at my card, looked at me then back at the card. "ohh great, he's gonna refuse me entry." I thought but he handed me back the card and with a "have a good night love" I was permitted entry into the Rosemount to see The Joe Kings for the first time!

I had heard rave reviews about the Joe Kings from a few people, and Ryan (drummer for the Shallows) is also the drummer for the Joe Kings, so I wanted to see what his other band was like. When I heard they were playing in perth on the 13th of May I thought "what the heck, I'll do it, I'll go up" and so I did hehe. And I am so very glad I did :-D The performance from these guys was fantastic, I loved them as soon as I heard the first song. Wonderful catchy, energetic music played by some very talented musicians. I danced (and photographed) the night away...well to half past midnight anyway :)

The crowd loved the band, there wasn't a person sitting down. Everyone was up on their feet, getting their dance on. It really was a fun night. It was great to see everyone dancing and having a fab time!... We left that gig, a big fan, ready to rave about the Joe Kings to everyone and anyone hehe.

I do hope you all like my photos :-)

Setting up...

Jack's way of getting our attention: Use a speakerphone

Jack and Phill rocking

Ryan

Phill!

I love how this photo came out...very rock starish hehe

Phill, and Ryan in the background

I love this photo too

Mandolin time

Ryan's turn on the keyboard

Back to the drums

I do hope you have enjoyed this post.... :-)

Love Chloe xx

Dilip and the Davs

2010-07-04T23:17:00.001+08:00

When: Friday, 25th June 2010
Where: Settlers Tavern, Margaret River
Who: Dilip and the Davs

This was my first time at a Dilip and the Davs (or, The Davs, as they are most often called) gig. And it was my first time at Settlers Tav in Margaret River. Both turned out to be much better than I expected. Yes I had been told by the band's trombonist (Jonathan Brittain) that the Davs were awesome but I still wasn't too sure whether I would like them or not and I had been told by my dad that the settlers tav was a real rough place. Sorry dad but you were wrong on this account. I loved the Tav (as it is known as among the locals and bands who frequent the place), it has a beautiful country charm about it and it was clean and nice inside. I mean really, it is Margaret River, of course it would be nice, right? Well, maybe not...hehe. Anyway the pub was nice. The band turned out to be pretty awesome too. I'm really getting into Jazz/Blues music lately...why has it taken me so long to discover this genre of music??

So I had a rather fab time dancing to the bluesy rock that the Davs pumped out...a few times the music was so fast I ended doing some rather odd running/jumping on the spot dance thing, trying to keep up with the beat...so glad there was no mirrors, I probably would have fainted with horror/embarrassment if I could have seen myself dancing :-P Oh well, I had a blast and that's all that matters haha.

I must admit I didn't get into the music quite as much as I do with the Joe Kings but still The Davs are a great band and fun to dance to and I am definitely going to see them again ASAP! :-)

Now photo time! By the way, all these band photos so far have been taken on my Fuji Film digital camera. It's not that expensive or fancy but I am pretty happy with it's overall performance and I think it takes pretty good photos most of the time. Anyways hope you enjoy the photos....

Sound check...1,2,3 testing, testing

Rowan

Max, Harry, Dilip and Jonathan

Rob...an AMAZING guitarist.

Interacting with the audience...there was an audience, you just can't see them in this pic :-P

No Oil field for Margs...the gig was held in support of the protests about the proposed oil rig off the margaret river coast!

The Joe Kings

2010-07-04T14:21:00.000+08:00

When: Thursday, 1st July 2010
Venue: The Prince of Wales
Who: The Joe Kings

The first time I saw this energetic blues/rock band (....comprised of Jack Stirling (lead singer), Phill Leggett (guitar), Riley Watson-Russel (bass guitar) and Ryan Brewer (drums)...) was at the Rosemount in Perth. As soon as they got on stage and picked up their instruments, the crowd flocked to the front of the stage. There was an air of excited anticipation, everyone was pumped and ready to dance before the music even started!! So I was very surprised when I walked into the Prince to see that the pub was the emptiest I've ever seen it (admittedly I have only been in there 3 times). I was expecting a big crowd and excited people! Then again, this was the first time that The Joe Kings had been to Bunbury so they aren't well known and don't have the big following down here as they do in Perth.

The band started off with their usual energy and catchy music. I was itching to dance but no one else was dancing and I was a bit too self-conscience to get up by myself. I managed to sit through a few songs and then lead singer Jack Stirling gave me and my friends the cue we were waiting for: "Alright everyone, this next song I want to see everyone up and dancing." I looked at my friend, she looked at me, yep! up we jumped and from that time on I danced the night away, not even caring when it was just me dancing by myself at times.

Towards the end of the night more people got up and had a dance which is great. And even though there wasn't much of a crowd, the people who were there I think were pretty impressed by The Joe Kings and I reckon next time they're in town there will be a bigger crowd. I mean what's there not to like really. They are energetic, brilliant musicians, play great beats that just make you wanna get your groove on, and have good lyrics. I for one will be buying their album :-)

Here are some photos I took on the night.
Enjoy :-)

Riley, Phill and Jack

The recently shorn Jack (last time I saw him he was sporting a bit of a mullet)

Ryan

Hand shot