Charlie's Worldtwo went on an adventure
Posted on July 10, 2011
It was one of those weekends coming up where the girls were round at their father’s, the weather looked ok and we were looking for things to do.
Usually (as past posts have clearly shown), we’ll wander out for coffee and end up having either breakfast or lunch and then spend the rest of the weekend sleeping off all the calories.
Well, not this time
Mangles Bay
Posted on June 26, 2011
I had a few spare hours yesterday as Jay was writing, so I packed up the camera and headed out to take some shots. I initially wanted to go to one of the jetties in Rockingham and get some more long exposure shots, but I’ve kinda done that to death for the moment already.
So I wandered over to Mangles Bay, where the boats are moored with the aim to get some boaty/long exposure/moving sky style photos
noodling
Posted on June 16, 2011
I took the little LX5 out in Perth today. Just pointing it at people, things, places – it’s awesome. It’s fast, small, discrete, lightweight – the perfect little camera for every day.
Weekend
Posted on June 6, 2011
So as you all know by now, it was my birthday and I got an awesome camera.
Well, as tradition has it, I’ve been taking photos left right and centre – wife, children, pets, outside, everything. Nothing is safe. I’d do the same with the big cameras too, but it’s more fun with the little sneaky silent one – muhahah!
Its a long weekend for Foundation Day here in Western Australia – yes, 1829 the Swan River colony was founded.
Fremantle
Posted on April 14, 2011
I love Fremantle. It’s the closest thing to a town with charm here.
For all the beauty and space and cleanliness of Western Australia, its all a bit new, which means that most places near here are modern and somewhat lacking in character. Ok, totally lacking in character.
Perth is the same, most of it is pretty new, and the bits that are older have been somewhat overwhelmed by the modern stuff. Shame really, I’ve seen some pictures of the city in the 50’s and it had all the charm of Fremantle.
Went for a walk
Posted on March 19, 2011
When the kids go their father’s house every other weekend, Saturday is the ritual lazy morning day.
Jay and I chill on the sofa, have a late breakfast and catch up with each other’s lives. Well, it’s hard when we’re busy during the week to get a solid block of time to not have to think about other stuff.
Today we decided to go for a little amble down to the foreshore and get morning coffee.
Lull
Posted on December 29, 2010
Well, dear readers, I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas 🙂
Its that little lull in the proceedings, that odd time of the year now between Christmas and New Year when nothing much happens. Some people are at work, a lot of shops are shut on the Public Holidays that are in lieu of the Christmas weekend, but most people are kinda just mooching about waiting for their New Year parties!
I had a good day yesterday – I dropped little ‘un off to a friends house for a play date then headed down, yes, you guessed it, to Safety Bay. Well, it was blowing about force 5 against a crystal blue sky and 31C – how could I not! (and it’s the same again today)
As I drove up along the road, I could see the sky was full of kites – a very good sign that some decent riders would be there too.
And I wasn’t disappointed. A lot of the pros that are here for the summer season have teaching jobs with the local kite surfing school, so they’re all set, but generally they’re busy until the end of the day, but there were still plenty of really good guys there, including Aaron Martin, who I’ve met before and was kind enough to pull some moves again, Ian Curry-Lindahl, a young kite surfer from Belgium over on a 2 week holiday and also local rider Justin Brown
I stood in the water for 2 hours with the wide angle lens, got soaked and got some incredible shots that have taken the best part of a day to whittle down to a handful of the best pictures. So, here, for your viewing pleasure…kite surfing photo heaven!
First up – Aaron Martin
This guy is really up for some risky stunts – coming up close in relatively shallow water and taking off right over my head – pulling some crazy moves in the process. Even going as far to crack his head on the sand in only knee deep water. Big respect – got some fantastic photos, but man, you’re nuts!
Next – Ian Curry-Lindahl.
He’s such a nice guy, soft Belgian accent, big smile. He has also competed a few times on the PKRA pro circuit, so he’s no slouch with the kite, that’s for sure. He has a totally different style to Aaron, using his smaller build to his advantage to do quick twists and turns in the air, never going for the huge air, but rather focussing on the technical difficulty of the tricks. He was very good to watch, putting in a lot of energy into every move.
Lastly, one of the Safety Bay locals – Justin Brown.
This guy was funny, his sense of humour comes through in the faces he was pulling and the crazy tricks he was doing. He’s obviously been kitesurfing for a long time and he’s currently looking for sponsorship – he deserves it too – he was very entertaining to watch and clearly has a good time out on the water and in the air (he pulled one of the biggest jumps I have ever seen)
I have so many other shots from this session, but it’s so hard to choose my favourites!
Brrrr, its a bit chilly
Posted on December 19, 2010
Yes, it’s cold, I might even have to put some jeans on.
All of you in the Northern Hemisphere, up to your necks in white global warming, are probably thinking:
“Ha, yeah right, you’re in Perth, I’ve watched some cricket (ok, it’s pretty unlikely that any Americans would say the last bit as cricket is as foreign to them as baseball is to the rest of the world) – it looks pretty warm down there”
Ok, I’m being a wag, I’ve just had the old crappy useless evaporative air conditioning unit replaced with a new big monster one and it’s a bit efficient. Perhaps a bit too efficient for its own good. Jay is sitting at the desk in a one woman huddle, pretending it’s all fine. Being a hot person (I know, you all want me, right?) like I am, this chill suits me just fine!
We all took the doggy for a little walk along the beach (yup, the one that, I have to remind all of you repeatedly about) at the end of the road. I think the dog actually took the girls for a walk, rather than the other way around
Anyway, with all these digs and jibes at your chilly snowy weather, what I’m really doing is setting you up for some photos to give you all some Christmas cheer, so here for your viewing pleasure, are the dreary surrounds of suburban Waikiki.
And Piper, as special as ever.
I know, its a hard life.
Ok, for balance, there are some downsides – being 40C hot in a suit is no fun and it might rain tomorrow for a bit.
There, happy now, snow people? :p
mad dash
Posted on December 7, 2010
I had my Tuesday free time again tonight, but as the sunset and golden hour is now later than the time I have available, its difficult to get any decent landscape shots.
So, as there was a good breeze, I bolted down to Safety Bay to see who was out on the water.
I met a lad from Devon with a camcorder in a waterproof housing filming his mates doing some cool tricks. It turns out he’s Ned Taylor, UK #1 freestyle champ. Not that he even really mentioned he did much kite surfing. So much modesty! I’m sure I got some shots of him the other day actually – be good to see what he can do for the camera.
Anyway, we had a good chat – he was really getting in there with the filming – very cool – all those wide angle on the water shots you see on TV of kite surfers – well, that’s how they do it – waist deep in water!
I got a few shots, but I had so little time – shame really – hopefully I’ll get another chance to come down and take some really cool shots of them all out practising.
I’ll be back for more soon 🙂
More kite surfing
Posted on December 3, 2010
Yes, you might well be bored shitless of these posts by now, but I have more kite photos.
It was blowing a hoolie yesterday so I popped down to Safety Bay (which I am told is one of the best freestyle kite surfing spots in the world) to see who was out. It was high tide this time, so no toe nipping crabs. And it was freezing compared to the weekend too.
There were a few people out on the water – most notably Cesar Portas from Barcelona, Spain.
He’s currently number 13 on the PKRA Pro kite surf tour and bloody hell, he’s good. He was doing tricks I’ve not seen any of the locals do – not that they are not good, I’ve got some awesome shots of them as you can see in my past kite surfing posts, its just he was incredible.
I managed to stuff up a lot of the really good shots I had – somehow my lens wasn’t tracking the action properly and the autofocus was off pretty much every time. Bah! He even did a huge leap right over my head, which the camera spectacularly failed to focus on at all. Really not happy – especially as all the pro’s have now headed off to the Gold Coast for 10 days for the Australian leg of the PKRA tour.
Anyway, here’s what I managed to salvage..
Charlie's World 
