oasis child

These are more photos taken during our stay in Batangas. We went during rainy season so we basically had the entire resort to ourselves and only ever saw other guests at the restaurants. It barely rained during our stay but when the rain was coming in, I decided to whip out the ae-1 and take a couple snaps. I think it was only after the rain that distorted the horizon and hid the landscapes I was really able to appreciate how beautiful our surroundings were. Maybe I need to work on learning to appreciate how beautiful things can be before it "rains". It's something I've been struggling with, especially recently.

It's been a while since I've posted photos on here, not that anybody has noticed because this blog literally has no audience, but I'm going to keep it up because I enjoy it. Haven't really wanted to touch a camera for a while now and when I found out I was going overseas I knew it was a prime opportunity to force myself to take photos again. It's been severely difficult the past couple months but I think I've had several breakthroughs while overseas and being able to take photos and enjoy the process of it was so cathartic and healing. I also had an epiphany about my photography. I've been trying for so long to emulate the photographers I admire who take beautiful photos of beautiful models which end up in magazines. I can admire it all I want but that's just not me. I like the candidness of my photography and the softness of it and I like vulnerability and not the kind you can ask of your models. I like that my photography wont ever be in magazines and I like how personal my photos can be to me and sometimes to others. I think the whole purpose of why I started taking photos in the first place was to try and invoke some sort of nostalgia through my images. I want them to tell stories or have people attach their own stories to them and sometimes I think I succeed in that and I feel like through practice and time I can improve on that a lot. I'm probably sounding like a massive wanker so let's move on.

While we were at the Philippines we went to this beautiful place about 2 and a half hours south from Manila. I spent most of the time in the water, floating and swimming and dealing with leg cramps every other minute. It was so beautiful and the second night we were there, we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets imaginable. The sky turned beautiful shades of pink and yellow and I drunkenly took several shots of Riz while she was admiring the skies. I wouldn't call myself a spiritual person, at least not in the religious or supernatural sense, but this was by far the most spiritual I've been, literally in awe of how beautiful the world can be, which I guess I'd forgotten for a while.

Caught a ferry to Cockatoo Island for the biennale with Riz a week ago. It was... interesting. We had a pretty good time laughing at ourselves because to be completely honest, we were really underwhelmed with what we saw because we expected... more art? We left cackling and joking because we were thrown mad shade by some of the staff saying we wouldn't have been able to see everything in the time left until closing and we sure proved them wrong. I mean we did skip a lot of the video installations (???) after a few seconds of watching because some were just absurd (eg. a man running around a field throwing rocks and making guttural noises). At the end of the day we were left confused because we weren't sure if we just saw some "bad" art or if we just don't understand contemporary art. Aw well at least I took some cute shots of Rizelle.

At the end of last month I promised Will we'd go to the blue mountains and I'd buy him an ice cream. When we decided to make our spontaneous Katoomba trip earlier this month, we had no idea it was during the coldest day of the year. Before we left I checked the weather on my phone and we both scoffed at the 4 degrees it was showing and thought it was just a mistake and Will decided to stick to his decision to wear shorts. The trip down was fairly quick and very scenic (once we passed the west). As soon as we stepped off the train it became clear the 4 degrees my phone was showing probably wasn't a mistake. It. Was. Cold. It was a really really lovely day though. Shivering, huddling, runny noses and beautiful landscapes. Funnily enough, none of the shots of the landscapes are any good (curse of the expired film strikes again) but there are several photos (of will) that I really really love. Can't wait to go again, and this time actually buy this guy an ice cream.

Was a huge pleasure taking pictures of the sweet and super talented Bec Sandridge. Still super sorry about using expired film and the super grainy discoloured photographs. Check out Bec's music here.

Earlier in the year, I brought my smena with me during a couple days we spent down the coast. I had no idea I left the camera set to a lower ISO than the film I was using so they came out really overexposed. I played around with em on photoshop this morning and tried to fix the colours.

I tagged along with Will and Bec while they were filming a video clip for one of her songs. We went to the stunning Botany Bay national park. We set up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and braved the chilly winds and the rain. The overcast weather made for ideal lighting for photos but I was an idiot and didn't listen to Will and the little voice in my head telling me to get some regular film. The only film I brought with me was expired film, one roll from this batch ruined Will's photos earlier on in the year and I should've known not to use em. The photos came back so grainy and very blue (which I had to fix using the very basic photoshop skills I have). I was able to salvage a few of em which I'm pretty happy about! Such a shame because it was such a beautiful location and great conditions for some beautiful photos.