Street, Sydney - Hello Geoff

Meet Geoff.

He's the guy who greets us every Sunday morning at the church, always with a quick quip or two. I wish I'm as jolly when I'm his age!

Shot taken in the church (during the Palm Sunday service actually) as we were learning how to make crosses out of palm leaves!

New York, Street - Inside the Guggenheim Museum

Fifty two years on, the Guggenheim Museum in New York is still an architectural marvel. You could aim your camera anywhere inside or even outside the Guggenheim, and if you just take a little extra effort in cropping the curves beautifully, you'd get an amazing picture quite easily. I think I was pretty lucky with this photo. As I was there once they opened their doors, the museum's still pretty empty. Only one of the many guards looked out to the throng of tourists lining up at the ground floor.

Melbourne, Street - Girl, Federation Square

It feels good to be back out onto the streets of Melbourne, prowling for a good photo opportunity, seemingly walking around aimlessly. To me, it forces me to encounter, to take the time and effort to discover parts of the city I would not usually walk pass. Perhaps it's because I've lived here for a bit, so a lot of things do not surprise / excite / interest me that much anymore. And that actually makes it more and more difficult to be excited by my own photos sometimes. Or maybe I just need to 'get back into it'. 

But when I was walking around Federation Square, trying hard to observe and pick out something interesting and failed, then walking down a quiet side exit, I saw this girl who's probably on her break using an iPad. As I walked past her, I noticed that the brushed aluminium exterior of one part of the Federation Square (never usually photographed for tourist pictures) actually makes a great, monochromatic background. Its black lines all point downwards. And the girl sitting there immersed in her own little world, contrasted against it. She anchors the shot, framed by another smaller rectangle in the corner. What's more, the hand rails point to her too! Perfect. This is why I love street photography.

Melbourne, Street - Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar

Hej hej! (In case you didn't know, that's how the Swedes cheerily greet each other - pronounced "hey hey".) Being a big fan of Scandinavian designs (especially mid century furniture), naturally, I visited this year's Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar  to immerse myself in their lovely culture, snap a few photos, try some Scandinavian cuisine and maybe even shop for Christmas presents. Held at the Swedish Church in Toorak, Melbourne, I actually felt transported to Europe! Well, not that I've been there.  But really, all the shop owners were happily greeting people in that soft-spoken and friendly manner, some patiently explaining to visitors a little about their culture, or sharing a traditional Swedish recipe using the foodstuff sold there. The bright red glow of Christmas ornaments lit up by sparkling lights all add to making me wish I was browsing in one of the many traditional European Christmas markets out in the snow, taking in the fragrance of roasted chestnuts in the air. Sigh...

There's just something very beautiful about Scandinavian design. Beauty in simplicity and form and function, which I believe, a lot of photographers would really appreciate. But at this bazaar, there were more Scandinavian traditional items. Traditional wooden Nordic horses, Christmas wooden toys, herrings, hand-dipped candles, jams, clogs... I'm glad to report that Ikea didn't set up shop!

Also, maybe because it was organised by the church, the items there, especially the food, were of great value. Trust me on this. Having been to a few crafts markets here, they really do try to rip you off just cause people are usually more willing to shell out money in these occasions. For a mere $2.50, I enjoyed some homemade apple strudel dessert. I paid just $3.50 for a Norwegian waffle which came laden with homemade jam. Hope they keep it like this next year and I'll be sure to visit again!  

Oh, and I must get myself to the Nuremberg markets sometime in the future! Pre-Christmas next year perhaps? Till then, I have some concentrate/essence bought at the market to make Glögg! 

$1 and $2 Australian coins are gold in colour. Hence.

Swedish lollies.

Jag älskar dig!

Traditional hand-dipped candles. 

The Scandinavian version of Aussie's Vegemite. 

I'm not usually one to love to hype things up. But this waffle was actually really good thanks to the jam. Maybe because when it comes to 'festival', I usually don't expect much.

Love this shot. They were chatting in Swedish. Do you see what else I see?

Some cakes left on the window sill! Don't know why, but this scene suddenly reminded me of all the fairy tales I used to read when I was a kid. There must be a story about leaving some pies on the window sill and birds ate it or something like that?

Another very VALID reason to visit Sweden. HOT!

But of course.

And the viking saw that all is good and joyous, and partook in a traditional Swedish game of Kubb.

PS. This post reminds me of my time in NY just last Christmas. You can read about it here:

• New York, Travel - Bagel with lox at Russ & Daughters
• New York, Street - Christmas Eve at the Union Square Holiday Markets

Melbourne, Street - Witnessing battle at the War of the Walls

Five graffiti artists. Five walls. Two-hour countdown. Now BATTLE. That's the whole idea behind the sold-out War of the Walls which gives street art lovers a chance to see up close and personal how some of the best graffiti artists use mere spray cans and a whole lot of skills to create truly outstanding pieces of art. I can't possibly miss this opportunity to get some cool photos.

Held at The Void in Collingwood, Melbourne, it turned out to be quite an awesome night as the cool kids downed Kirin and boogie-ed like no one's watching to DJ Tom Showtime's beats. After the artists were finished, everyone was given marbles to place in jars to vote for their favourite piece.     

Here're my pictures covering the event. You can see some more on War of the Wall's official Facebook page here. 

The crowd started coming in. Chilling out while awaiting for the event to begin. 

That's Rad 11 on the right, one of the graffiti artists on the night.

I think he would be very pleased with this portrait of him.

And this one too. 

Ohnoes. (How do they think up these names??)

Broes (foreground) and Mr Reliable (background) getting ready.

Couple Nike Airmaxes.

Rad 11 reads Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

Stunning.

He probably designed his tattoo himself too?

El Toasto working on his monocle-wearing boxing kangaroo.

DJ Tom Showtime.

I'd love this as my comp's wallpaper.

They were giving away prizes to the crowd.

His colourful jacket caught my eye. I quite like it actually.

All the cool kids say what?

Super rad monkey voodoo skull thingo by OhNoes. I voted for this!

Super stylo shot man. I wished it was me in the picture!

This one too.

And then they danced away happily ever after in colourful pants and hats.