Tonight a friend of mine and poet Ghostboy invited me to come to one of his performance and to have dinner with his wonderful girlfriend and author Katherine Battersby along with some of the band members from Golden Virtues. How could I turn down such an offer. Camera in hand I rocked down to the Judith Wright Centre and enjoyed some lyrical genius and caught up with some familiar faces.

Sometimes in life we do silly things, today for me the stupid thing was something called “The Fast Food Lasagne”. Inspired by the creatively insane gents over at EpicMealTime.com we decided it was time to put a Brisbane spin on the Lasagne.

Warning: I may have died as a result of eating this; I’ll let you know if I’m alive in the morning.

Ingredients used:
• 2kg mince
• 6 big macs
• 6 Hungry Jacks Angus burgers, no vegetables
• 1 Litre McDonalds Mac sauce
• 6 pork sausages
• 2kg cheese
• 6 servings onion rings
• 1L Jack Daniels
• 2 Tins tomato puree
• 1kg bacons
• 2 onions
• 1/2 block butter

Prepare your feast in style, Purchase some Jack Daniels, Purchase some Big Macs, Purchase some Angus Burgers and don’t forget the Onion Rings.
Dice your bacon eyes and dice some onion. Place 1/2 a block of butter into a pot, add the onion and bacon until cooked. It’s time to add 1-2KG of mince. De-skin your sausages and add some of that smoooooth Jack Daniels to make up your sauce! Add your pureed tomatoes and apply sparing amounts of Tomato and BBQ sauce. Simmer until all cooked.
Whilst this cooks, use your left over bacon and bake that magical pig in the oven, flip and repeat. You need to layer your lasagne somehow.
next up, we do the fun part and the method is simple.

Lace the base with Big Macs, cover in meat, bacon, cheese and then apply some onion rings. Layer two begins shortly after with the Angus Burgers followed with meat, but don’t forget your Mac Sauce. More cheese, bacon, onion rings and even more cheese. Bake on 150 for 40 minutes and up the temps to 200 to crisp the cheese for 15 minutes. Serve, Devour, And Endure.

I will leave you with a collage of images, take from them what you will. I have a fast food hang over.

I hope this sums up why I might not wake up tomorrow.

Last week two of my very good friends came up from Canberra for a little R&R; Rowdiness and Restlessness. Simone and Shanan are two of the most intelligent and down to earth people I know and I’m glad to call them both friends. Shanan’s initial reaction to a holiday wasn’t a great one, he was unsure and after Simone and I badgered him considerably, he folded and conformed to the idea of a small break in Brisbane. It had been over 9 Months since I saw Simone last which was part of a manic tour I did hopping 4 states in three days. Had I not been on this manic tour in the fashion I had, then I can honestly say I wouldn’t be as close to these two as a I am today. I’m stoked to have had them here and the experiences, stories and general feeling of my extended weekend was the most amazing thing I’ve managed to be involved in for some time.

Disclaimer: For those who know me well, I have a warped sense of humour and I get a great joy from embarrassing my friends and I feel it’s something about making them smile or blush uncontrollably which leads me to do the silly things I do. You will understand more as this trip continues.

Day One
Arriving at the airport I was 20 minutes early so I found a seat close to the terminal.

Imagine the looks on the faces of an airport which is full of travellers and then the look on Simone and Shanan’s faces when this was presented to them. So soon after the meet and greet it was off to my favourite spot, EURO CAFE for some Breakfast with Nicholas, Simone and Shanan. Happy Birthday Nicholas, I hope it reminded you of Europe.

We headed back to my place to unpack and to introduce some people who hadn’t yet met…
Introducing STORM, my beautiful Python. She’s pretty much the most affectionate snake I’ve come across and maybe I’m biased but hey!



Shanan and Simone quickly made friends with her, she loves everyone!

We head out and about and returned home to play a game of dress ups… We did a good job of it.


It was only 9:07pm when we hit bed, the 3:30am start for Simone and Shanan had taken it’s toll.

Day Two
A lazy start to the day saw us all being nerds and uploading photos online for our friends and family to see, though some of us were being weirdos and creeping over the office divider in my house

Before departing I snapped some quick photos outside of my lovely friends


We headed shortly over to the Shorncliffe Pier for a stroll along the water and to do the touristy thing

Shanan Strutting his stuff and working it for the runway cameras

We headed to Chermside shopping centre soon after to poke about and see what was happening!
A short trip home and it was time to start the fun as Simone wanted to learn to breath fire!

My breathing

Simone’s second breath ever
I was pretty impressed at her ability for a first timer. Soon after we headed to the Valley to show the two about with Nicholas. Nothing says “fun” like a photo in the car!

We may have coaxed Shanan into drinking a lot of shots and to get him a little drunk. Chartreuse, Jagerbombs x 2, Sambuca and a Blue Tongue.

Day Three
West End markets was the morning ritual for a comfortable Saturday morning in Brisbane, albeit overcast the day was pretty perfect. We all bought things like Lime Cordial, Lemonade, Pizza, Lollies and Strawberries

Straight back to my house to see the snakes and to act like fools.

That night, The Photobooth….
The rules are simple. What happens in the booth, stays in the booth…. Until the next morning when they’re put online for all attendee’s to see! A selection of images were added for comical value

We may have told Shanan that Tequila isn’t a heavy drink and that it’s a good way to party, you know… for the first time properly drinking… Sorry Shanan!



The Poster and how people were greeted in the airport.

Dressed down a bit as sitting out in the cold took its toll on my lack of clothing from earlier on.

Shanan ended up a little unwell and we may have drawn on him and posed with him whilst he was “sleeping”.
Instead, I offer you a photo of Shanan proclaiming his sobriety with a photo.

Day Four
A slow start to the morning was good for all and a sleep in was well earned before a trip to Kelvin Grove KFC to help Shanan’s unwell stomach

Whilst he ate, some of us posed it up for photos. Next on the agenda was a tour of South Bank on Sunset followed by a trip to my favourite evening spot…


MAX BRENNER!
Waffles and a White drinking chocolate later, I was a happy man.

Now, I have a Sunday tradition I’m not one to pass up for anything and that is going for a ride. We met up with the boys for a while and took a spin around a car park doing tricks on our bikes and teach tourists how to ride a fixie


Next cab off the rank was to head to Mt Coot-tha to see the lookout and show the views from Brisbane’s best tourist spot.
Next thing you know it’s 1am and we all need sleep!

Day Five
The last day of guests was the hardest for me, I’m a a bit of a softy when it comes to good-byes. Fitting in with our busy week we headed to Queen St Mall to shop, scout and visit places.
DFO got the final port of call before we headed to the airport.


I was a little sad to see my friends off but you know what, friends don’t have to live close to be friends.

To sum up my week in one word? AWESOME.

Thank you very much to my two beautiful Friends Shanan and Simone. I cannot thank you enough for coming to visit, partying, having fun and being guests in my house and giving me an excuse to relax for a few days without thinking too much about work. I look forward to seeing you both again soon!

When my friend Tracey phoned me and told me she needed a wedding photographer for her sister’s wedding, I was a little bit excited as I hadn’t been out on my own shooting a wedding in a while. I second shoot for Studio Sixty some weekends and love every moment of it, so you can only imagine the delight when someone said the words “full creative control”. Matt and Sara were probably one of the most fun, open and loving couples I’ve seen to date. Thank you for allowing me to capture your day and THANK you very much for the BIG lollypop! Enough words though; The photos can talk.

The Boys

The Girls

The fabled and AMAZING Lollypop!

Thank you for letting me be a part of your day, I had a blast!

Not all photographers have an amazing story and not all of them have something inspiring to tell you, I guess you could say that I’m one of those people. Sure I’ve had some fun times and gone some funky places. I’ve hung out the side of helicopters and crawled beneath the cities we live in, I’ve been around Australia and I’ve been paid to do it, though among all of it I’ve come from somewhere humble and I did it on my own with the help of a few people who saw something in my photography. For that, I thank you all.

2006 was an odd journey; It was a year of good times, great times, sad times and terrible times. I learned and I grew and most of all I got to experience life on my own. I was living for myself and not conforming to what my father often wanted me to do which was to get a “real job” as a tradie. I’m glad I stuck to my guns and went with it, I really feel like I made a wise choice.

May 5th saw the purchase of my first Digital SLR, a Canon 20D along with a 24-85 USM. 6 days later I decided to fess up and I bought a 10-22USM Lens and from there my love developed and accelerated at a pace even I couldn’t even comprehend, I had become an addict to the shutter. This post will detail some intimate parts of my life and a part of my journey and the images posted are my experiences and my personal development, they are also my memories. Not all the shots are quality nor are they posted for photographic merit, they are posted because they meant something to me; whether it an important memory, a story or just something I enjoyed doing. From going back and looking through my 2006 catalogue of images I’m teaching myself a valuable lesson, “Never forget your roots”; I’m not sure what it is but looking back has reminded me of how much I used to shoot for fun… This is personal food for thought.

May – The honeymoon period of owning a camera, I shot a photo every day without fail, some good, some bad, it was fun

My first night shooting with my camera, for some reason we hit a graveyard. Out of focus and badly composed…

June – The month of learning

A 70-200 Lens and a 580ex and here we were at Nashville High School photographing Aaron Winters at a gig.

My first solo session in a drain, my first time experimenting with light painting on a serious level

July – The first job

My first job, nothing can sum up the meaning this image has looking back, my first job, my first bit of coin as a photographer.

August – The move

A convention in Sydney and a lot of diecast model cars

Train yards and light painting. The very next night, I was living in Melbourne…

September – The month of what would shape my future

My first bout of Melbourne drain craziness!

October – A generic month of fun, no sleep and urban exploration

Two points if someone can identify this species of fish. Bonus points if you can tell me the sex of the fish too.

The day I got a lip ring, Mum, Dad and my brother all said don’t do it. I believe Dad even threatened to disown me if I did… Needless to say teenagers rebel good.

November – The month which shaped 2007

The 1984 ST-141 Corona, the car which clocked 1900km in 2 days with only one blown heater return hose.

Arriving back in Brisbane I surprised my friend by turning up on her doorstep the day of her formal

The first time I laid eyes on the girl I would spend the next 13 months of my life with

December – Experimentation and memories

2006, I gave you hell and you gave me life love.

Looking back, I experimented more with my photography. These days I know what I want and I walk in with something in my mind and so far this has done me well. My goal for the next year is to go back to my roots and play more, challenge myself and take more happy snaps.

The following photos are snippets of my life from 2005, parts of me I miss, parts of my life I miss, but most importantly things I won’t forget because I have the memory of a photograph. Take what you want from this post but this is 2005. The year I took a step into what I love doing, Photography.

Self portraiture on a hand-me-down “3″ Branded phone was hip. I even sported a turtleneck styled jumper. Talk about Classy.

My fabled ‘Cyphotilapia Gibberosa “Ikola”‘ or in layman terms, Ikola Frontosa, alongside my beautiful clown loaches ‘Chromobotia Macracanthus’. Above a ‘Dimidiochromis Strigatus’ female (possible hybrid/cross)

Potential Alpha Ikola Frontosa

My Gibbiceps catfish as a baby, with my nasty male Cobalt Blue Zebra ‘Metraclima Callainos’

Bloodworm feeding time with the whole colony in sight. 4 Ikola Frontosa, 10 Electric Yellows, 3 Cobalt Blue Zebras, 2 Gibbiceps Catfish, 4 Clown Loaches, 3 Dimidiochromis Strigatus and hidden in there would be around 4 or 5 Peppermint Catfish.

An overview of my basic setup

Cricket photos in Melbourne on a 1D2N with Andrew Murdoch (Melbourne Photographer). My first real go on a Canon SLR, if it weren’t for that trip I dare say I wouldn’t have pursued photography.

Working hard at the Brisbane office of Hallam OzConnect.

Redcliffe Jetty

Seb, my best mate and his mother at his year 12 formal.

Seb again.

Last but not least, my favourite shot of 2005, my Breeding male Bristlenose Catfish shot on a Fuji Finepix S700.

My advice, take more photos. You never know when you might want to look back down memory lane.

Week in week out; Sunday night we hit the road on our bikes and take to the street. Our rides have become a weekly tradition which is something I’m slowly beginning to form a real love for. Sunday night is no longer the quiet night at home, it’s become the great night out with the boys for some exercise, a beer and a good time. Endorphins, tasty beverages and health, what more can you ask for?

I think I’ll let the pictures paint a picture of a simple evening.

Why? Because fixie!

This week hasn’t been the best of weeks for my bike, two flats; One right after Jason Starr replaced my busted tube. The frustration was more that I couldn’t ride it for about a week. I had literally just come in after shooting a wedding and having had Jason’s help re-fitting then BAM, and we’re flat again. Luckily my mate Mik had a spare tube and was conveniently headed to the same side of Brisbane tonight for my ride. I was meeting the boys on the same side of town he was headed to, so he was the perfect candidate for asking a favour… This was supplying me a tube last minute. Thanks mate; I owe you some Kofta for sure!

Two weeks running I’ve gone a bike ride with fellow fixie riders around Brisbane, a trend I am hoping to continue each Sunday evening, If you’ve got a fixie, email me and we can probably tee something up! Tonight’s plan was simple; Meet at the West end base of the go between bridge, ride where the road takes us and maybe stop for a beer along the way, you know… for hydration. Tonight’s riders; Nick Granger, Jacob Scheer and myself.

The starting point was an easy one to get to for all of us so the convenience of a city ride this time was well spotted by Nick. I had not met Jacob before so it was good to meet another rider tonight. We set off at a pretty steady pace, taking it as it came and just getting to figure our dynamics. Due to nick and I not owning lights for our bikes, I managed to use some electrical tape to attach one of my best torches to the front of my bike, whilst Nick used zip ties on a magnetic LED round light. Jacob on the other hand decided to go with only a rear light which was a great thing as Nick and I both had dismissed that. We took off through South bank initially and headed along until The Goodwill Bridge. A quick sprint up the bridge and over to QUT @ Gardens Point, followed by a dart through a portion of the CBD, down along the water towards the base of the Story Bridge. Nick, Jake and myself decided to try and sprint up Ivory Lane (for those of you who know where the Medina Hotel is, you will know how hard this is) and needless to say I got about ¾ the way up before literally running out of the ability to ride, Jake cut out around ½ way and Nick powered to the top. I was pretty impressed how well I did for my first proper attempt at a large hill on this new bike. Nick’s red face was a give away that his choice to sprint to the top wasn’t an easy one but he killed it! I’m impressed buddy. You done good. (Intentional grammar fail)

The next plan of attack was head down McLachlan Street and turn right onto James street, head down along the shops and down to The Powerhouse for a hard earned beer, you know… for hydration sake. Along our ride down to The Powerhouse we kept a pretty solid pace and darted in and around the place. We stopped at Watt for a beer and we bumped into one of Nick’s friends, a fellow car enthusiast. Perfect! Beers, Talk of cars, good company, the way I like to do it. Departing shortly we made a bit of a dart along the river until we popped out at the end of New Farm park, up a few blocks, down Moray street and up to the Story Bridge. A short-pit stop to retention my chain proved perfect and the bridge was shortly conquered.

Along the next section we darted down to Kangaroo Point Cliffs and did some big skid stops down the hill, I nearly lost it and shot myself into a pole, probably would have learned better that way, but glad I didn’t. Sprinting along the walkway we ended up stopping to take some shots at the lit section of Kangaroo Point and be clowns. A tripod would have helped but beggars cannot be choosers when you’re riding with minimal amounts of gear on your back. The boys couldn’t help but pose it up, which is something I’m coming to love about my friends; they just LOVE to play it up! My second pit stop saw me flip my front tyre around to stop a slight brake noise. Instant success, just add a 15mm spanner and you’re good to go again! After a short sprint up along we landed in South Bank once more and made a bit of a ride past the restaurants to attempt to find a bite to eat, needless to say 9pm on a Sunday night is not the ideal time to try and get food at South Bank.

Along the way I spotted a great set of stairs and proceeded to photograph the boys doing what they do best, pose it up.

I didn’t have to ask, I merely pulled my camera out and snap snap! Amidst the boys hard work we were shortly introduced to a friendly little Possum who resembled the boys, posing it up for the camera. After a short break we decided it best we ride back to the cars. A short chat about another ride was the topic and at sheer chance, my childhood best friend Seb Devine rode past with his girlfriend Kirsty McKenzie. Timing couldn’t have been more perfect as I was just discussing about riding some more.

Heading off with them I did my second pass of South bank, up towards the Mater, down through West End and looped back to the car after a short stop at 7/11 for some water and sugar. Besides the one creep who was eyeing off Seb and my bikes whilst we were in 7/11 we had a pretty decent little ride. I can’t help but love when life throws you amidst your friends by chance!

Tonight’s verdict? Super Happy! I had a fantastic night and intend to document more of my rides with friends and hopefully start taking some more images along the way. It’s nice looking for inspiration.

Now for some photos of the rides!

Nick’s converted road bike

Jake’s “dumped on the side of the road” bike, a track fixie

My Bike

About 2 weeks after the Brisbane floods two of my friends Nick and Brad suggested I buy myself a bike and convert it to a fixie. At first I was I was excited by it and hunted a frame down pretty quickly. For a while I was looking for wheels, how I would modify my setup and attempting to figure the colour I would paint it. A few months had passed and I was still thinking, still attempting to devise where I wanted to go with the bike before I was approached by a friend Miklav who suggested I buy his bike. The offer was good, the bike was great, so I jumped in and bought a pre-made bike.

After discussing the purchase with Sally and Jason at Studio60 Sally and Jason both agreed I should jump in and make the purchase of a proper fixed gear bike built on a track frame as opposed to the angled drop cage I was attempting to modify to suit. A big thanks to Jason for the advice and help on it. Look forward to riding more!

My purchase consists of the following:

1975 Hoffy Track Frame (Made in Sandgate)
32 Spoke Shallow V-Rims
Roselli Carbon Forks
BMX Cranks and Pedals
45:16 Ratio Gears
Selcof Head
and a set of chopped and flipped track handlebars, aka “Bullhorns”

The bike is basically the exact setup I had intended on running for myself however it worked out much more efficient to buy a pre-set bike with all the work done.

needless to say I’m in love with the bike and am loving the additional challenge of riding fixed. I look forward to clocking up more KM on it!

The only adjustment I’ve made since purchase was increasing the height of the bars.