Perth Beach Wedding – Renae & Ywain

A few weeks ago, the gloomy weather in Perth decided to stay away, and the beautiful Spring sunshine arrived for Renae and Ywain’s wedding.   The weather was perfect – one of those days when you think to yourself “This is why I live in Perth!”   Renae & Ywain – thank you for letting me be part of your wedding day and capturing your love for each other!

The shoot started at the boy’s house.   It was also the day of the West Coast Eagles’ final in Melbourne, and this kept the boys entertained for a while!

We scooted quickly over to the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe where the girls were getting ready.  It was definitely beach weather with lots of people chilling at the OBH.  I just loved the amount of natural light streaming in through the windows that day.

Renae and Ywain had organised a 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine from JC Classic Automobiles.  According to the driver, John, it turns out that he bought and carefully and personally restored this American car as a labour of love!

After the wedding, the bridal party had a couple of hours to chill out and wander around the Surf Club and beach for photos.  Yes, we did get all the shoes off, but luckily no-one got too wet 🙂

There was an amazing sunset that day, so we just HAD to get back out on the beach one more time before the reception at the Surf Club.  I can’t believe how fortunate we were with the sky that evening.

The reception was held on the balcony of the City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club overlooking the beach where the celebrations continued!

ANCA WA Choral Festival Concert Photos

ANCA is the Australian National Choral Association – an organisation which aims to encourage and promote choral music and choirs in Australia.   The WA chapter has just been reformed and they had Choral Festival Day to mark this occasion.

No, this was not a “concert” – it was a festival where for a few hours, everyone first did a warm-up, then different choirs sang for each other and it all finished with a big “sing” – where everyone learnt a song together.

It was a fantastic session – the age range of participants ranged from Primary School to people in their 70’s-80’s!  So many choirs and people were interested attending that there weren’t enough seats in the venue!

I was there to take some snaps to document the day.  The hardest part was choosing the right time to click the shutter button as many of the items were quiet – so I had to time my shots with louder parts of songs, or right at the end just before or with the applause.  Maybe I need to investigate a mirror less camera body one day or some noise dampening for the Nikon D700 🙂

Here are some shots from the day!

PCCC Fundraising Concert Photos

A few months ago, I was asked to take some photos for a church fundraising concert.  It was great to see such a huge audience turnout for the concert, which unfortunately pushed me right to the backs and sides only.  However, there were many different acts so I was able to move around between items and get different angles.

The best part of the event was the last item where various ensembles all combined together!  It was wonderful to see the adult choir, childrens choir and orchestra all together.  Was it professional musical standard?  Of course not, these were all amateurs doing something for a good cause.  But what struck me was the gusto – the passion that they all had – well done to all!

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the day!

Too Wicked?

Oh My Gosh..

Is it possible to get too much Wicked?

The entertaining musical Wicked is currently playing in Perth, after seasons in Melbourne and other Australian cities.  Our whole family just could not resist going.  After all, we were hooked after seeing it on Broadway and then later in Melbourne.  Unfortunately, we just missed out on seeing it in Japan which I’m sure would’ve been a blast!

Last Saturday, we made our way through an extremely happening and crowded Burswood to join the packed Burswood Theatre to watch Wicked again.

It’s such a well done, well produced show – I still am taken aback by how smoothly everything runs, how fantastic the set and costumes are, how memorable the songs are that take you on a rollercoaster ride, the clever story and how the story weaves around The Wizard of Oz.  It’s awesome. 

But for some reason, I was not blown away this time. 

Maybe the initial euphora of the first time viewing the show and ensuing excitement has dissipated. 

Or maybe I’ve listened to the Official Broadway Cast recording so many times that anything different makes me think it’s not right.

Or maybe the tempos were just a tad fast on Saturday night, giving the feeling that they were rushing through parts of the first act.

Or maybe it was me being annoyed that Bert Newton got more applause as the Wiz than the other musical theater performers.

Or maybe it was the guy sitting next to me who didn’t clap after any song until the very end of the show, obviously having being dragged there by his partner.

In any case, if you HAVEN’T seen Wicked before, definitely go – it’s worth seeing at least once!  And by going, you’re “voting” with your feet and money that productions like this should continue coming to Perth.

And if it’s too expensive, you might want to try the Wicked lottery tickets each day, or keep a lookout for some cheap last minute discounted tickets that are going around now.

Perth Lindy Exchange and the D700

Last weekend, the Perth Swing Dance Society held its annual Lindyhop Exchange – called Hullabaloo!  It’s a fantastic long weekend of swing dancing, classes and social get togethers.  People from all over Australia come to Perth to socialise and dance!

Unfortunately, wifey and I don’t do many of the events or classes anymore – in the last few years we’ve just turned up for one social dance night only.   I guess we’re getting “over” it a bit.  Plus it’s hard to find babysitting.  Yes – I thought it would get easier when the kids got older, but they just end up with more extra-curricular activities!

We did get out to the Saturday night dance – it was the Hullabaloo Hop in the wonderfully character North Perth Town Hall.   The Hullabaloo Hop is the traditional night when they hold the Jack and Jill competition – basically a social dancing fun competition where entrants get paired up with some other random entrant, and you are judged on how much fun and connection you have with each other.   Entrants wear a number on their back to identify them.   We also had an extra special treat – the local Oz Big Band swung the house with many Basie and other swinging charts!

I took the opportunity to take my new Nikon D700 out for a spin.  Armed with my 50mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8 lenses, and looking forward to using 3200 to 6400 ISOs, I had a ball!  The D700 performed better than I expected – photos even at 6400 ISO were usable with not as much noise as an 1600 ISO image from my old D80.   And there’s something about the D700 sensor – the colours just seem so much nicer.

Here’s a selection of some of the photos from the night!

Screwed by jump in Nikon D700 prices

Aarghh!

My move to a full frame Nikon is complicated!

I’ve finally sold my Nikon 17-55 f/2.8, and Tokina 12-24 f/4 through eBay.  No problems with the Nikon lens, but hit a snag with the Tokina when the first winning buyer decided to change their mind after winning the auction.   Even more frustrating is the delay from waiting to be able to raise a non-paying buyer case and then closing it, coupled with the fact that with eBay now, you can’t leave negative feedback for a non-paying buyer!

Anyway, that’s all done and it’s all sold.

Then I moved onto buying the Nikon D700 body.

I did my normal thing of comparing the prices on B&H, and on eBay sellers like DigitalRev.  Then I decided to look local, and found that PRA Imaging had the Nikon D700 body for only $2295!  What a steal – that’s even cheaper than eBay or B&H! 

Unfortunately they didn’t have any in stock last week and I was told that there should be some coming in on Friday.  I thought, cool, I’ll go in and pay by cash.

So I called on Friday, and they said that the shipment will be coming in on Monday instead – today.

So I called today at lunch, and they said that they’ll be coming in this afternoon but I should put a deposit on one if I really want one.

I was scared that they will all be sold out, so I gave them my credit card details and was ready to go ahead with the deposit when I asked to double checked the price.

$2295 right?  NO!!  Apparently that was last week’s sale price!!  It’s now gone up to $2785, practically $500 more – or a ~20% price increase!   It seemed that they would not budge on the price even if I paid by cash, citing the worldwide Nikon price increases due to stock shortages and the impact of the tsunami on the Sendai plant where they manufacture the D700’s.

I was sooo frustrated and angry with myself.  Why didn’t I just pay for it by credit last week at the fantastically low price?

Too bad for PRA, it was straight to eBay for me – I just need to now pay GST/duty when it comes in *sigh* but it will still be significantly cheaper.

The next problem?  Getting back the wide range on my lenses.  I’ve literally just got a 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8 and my 70-200 f/2.8 now! 

I can’t afford the 24-70 f/2.8 yet, so it’s looking like either a third party zoom, or maybe just a prime like the Nikon 35mm f/2.  I can’t stomach buying a 24mm f/2.8 if I will buy a 2.8 mid range zoom one day.

And the next thing?  Selling my good old D80 body as the final part of funding my change to full frame.

Can’t wait until this is all over…

Henning Kraggerud Masterclass

Our state orchestra, WASO, started an excellent program last year where they get visiting soloists to give a masterclass to local musicians.  

Last night, I quickly rushed from work, dropped Little Miss 10 home, then made my way to Hale School to see Henning Kraggerud give a violin masterclass.  He’s in town this weekend to play my favourite violin concerto, the Sibelius.

It seems that WASO, together with partners UWA, WAAPA and AUSTA, rounded up 4 lucky local violinists to play.

And what a great night it was!

We heard movements from the Prokofiev and Korngold violin concertos, a showy Smetena tune, and Ysaye’s extremely difficult Ballade.

And like Renaud Capucon’s masterclass, much of what Henning was trying to draw out from the players was moving from beyond notes to making music and story telling.   Is that the key ingredient that sets these elite apart from the rest?   There definitely was some “magic” that Henning was able to make when he made his violin sing.

It’s not just story telling and musical interpretation but amazing technical prowess too.  I was extremely excited when it was introduced that Shaun Lee-Chen was playing the Ysaye (and jealous! I wish I had the time and ability to learn and play this!)  Shaun played it really well – his technique is definitely very solid and intonation was really good.   I thought, what could he say to Shaun?

A lot apparently!  Henning knew the Ballade back to front, playing it with even more ease – unbelievable.  The interaction between them and going into details and “tricks” of the Ballade was purely brilliant, insightful and entertaining.  Reading his bio, no wonder he knows it so well – he has recorded all the Ysaye unaccompanied Violin Sonatas! 

And the volume and depth of sound that came from Henning and his violin – amazing.  I wonder if he really was playing on his Guarneri del Gesu last night.

WASO and sponsors (Apache Energy) – thanks for putting this on.  It definitely is a win-win – raising the profile and respect for WASO’s soloists as we get to see them work behind the scenes, but also improving and inspiring the music community in WA.

More info

WASO’s Masterclass program – http://www.waso.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=292

Henning’s Biography – http://www.imgartists.com/?page=artist&id=207

WASO concert this weekend – http://www.waso.com.au/EventDetail.aspx?ProductID=2485

Bike Cat, Flaps and Ping Pong Bats with The List Operators

OMG!  Last night Wifey and I ducked into the Fringe World festival in Perth to catch a show.

The vibe in the Fringe World courtyard is so cool.   That area outside the Perth Art Gallery was so dead and unused, but the bar, food and chill out area with the loungy cushions and hanging lights has really created a real arty..  Melbournesque atmosphere.   I wish it was there permanently!

We grabbed tickets to see The List Operators, a Melbourne comedy duo.  We weren’t quite sure what to expect and although there were some slow moment, I was literally in tears with laughter many times during their show thanks to some some slapstick, audience interaction and rude sketches 🙂

The atmosphere inside the Spiegeltent was all that I expected and more.  I love the cozy booths that line the inside, and the wooden floor feels really nice to dance to!

When I got home last night, I was straight away back on the Fringe World website, thinking of what show we can see next.

More info:  http://www.fringeworld.com.au/

Wondering if I should enter the Freo Eisteddfod

Well, it’s come to that time of the year again – I’ve looked up the Fremantle Eisteddfod website and they have the 2011 schedule online!   The closing date is 18th March and the Eisteddfod will be held between the May 12-21.

For the past 2 years, I’ve dusted off my violin, and used the Freo Eisteddfod as a goal to work towards – to learn one of the great violin concertos.

In 2008 I learnt the Wieniawski 2nd, but didn’t compete.   In 2009 it was Sibelius.  In 2010 it was Tchaikovsky.  

Both experiences created MUCH stress in my life.  But it actually helped me keep up my violin.   You see, after the month of May in the past 2 years, I really haven’t picked up my violin at all (except for the YouTube Symphony thing).

So I’m wondering if I should do this again in 2011?   Learn another movement from a great concerto in 3 months? 

I really have left it quite late this time around.   I was hoping I could do the Brahms, Barber or Beethoven, but there’s really not enough time.   I guess I could learn the 3rd movement from the Sibelius or Tchaikovsky?    Or tackle something different like the Carmen Fantasy?    Or maybe play something with less notes to learn like a Mozart concerto.

Or shall I just leave my violin in its case this year…

Fringe World in Perth

Looking around at what’s on in Perth this coming week, and was reminded that the Fringe World was on – 3 weeks of eclectic entertainment in the heart of Perth.

I really want to get to a few shows – if only to experience the atmosphere inside the amazing looking and historic Spiegeltent!

Unfortunately I’m a bit late in buying tickets so some of the popular shows are already sold out…    if you’re a swing dancer, mark down Sunday 13th February – the Darling Buds of May will be performing!

All the info is here:  http://www.fringeworld.com.au/