Easter Traditions, don't transfer!

So I had a pretty good easter, as most of you would see I spent most of it out at a racetrack in Sydney photographing and writing stories about some racing that was happening there. While that was a great part of the weekend a not so great part was the way that other easter traditions that work in places dont work here.
For Example in Slovakia the tradition is to beat girls with a sort of stick, to show your affection, then you get a ribbon tied to it to show that she is happy with what happened, but if I did that here I would probably get an assault charge. In the same way that throwing a water over a girl wouldn't work like it does in Slovakia, I wouldn't get a painted egg. Perhaps a painted face, black and blue with bruising..
It makes me sad to think that in some ways we have lost these, fun? traditions in western society. Instead it is about buying your easter weekend..
For example a great ad I heard easter monday on the radio. At a food store in Sydney if you bought $20 of easter eggs, you would get a docket to allow you to get 10c a litre off your next fuel price. Now how much fuel would you need to buy to make that worthwhile?? well to save $20 you just spent on eggs you would have to buy 200L of fuel, at once... So really only truck drivers would find that deal worthwhile, and unfortunately if I am honest I think some of them really should be persuaded against taking it..
So what do we do with these easter bunnies we didn't sell?
re-wrap them as santa and wait for the end of the year!! cause thats what we did with christmas chocolate anyway :D (Video Below)

Come in Spinner!

Luckiest getaway of the weekend yesterday at Eastern Creek, watch as Peter Simmons spins his EH holden through the field at turn one. How he didn't get hit by anyone is amazing.

Sometimes luck is just with you. Even when it seems it has left the building.... 

Another giant leap for mankind

Today after a long day I decided that what I really wanted to do for dinner was anything other than cook. On my way home I thought I would just pop into McDonald's and get a burger, when I arrived I saw KFC and thought that instead I would get some chicken as I had really had a few burgers lately.
Inside I remembered a new choice on the KFC menu and it struck me how health conscious Australian's have become, we don't like the fat in many things we eat now, demanding that fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC give us "healthy choices". Well this was a new one for the books, its a Burger with two chicken breast fillets, some cheese, Bacon and BBQ sauce, that's it. Yep, no bread. I mean we all know that bread is the worst part of the burger anyway, full of sugar and yeast and its where all the fat gets absorbed into like a sponge. So really, I think what KFC has done is brilliant, removing the worst part of the burger and replacing it with a healthy alternative, deep fried chicken. Without the bread to absorb the chicken fat, you are not eating that fat cause its instead drizzling down the baking paper and onto your hands. Excellent.
Of course with this sort of new development in the eating habits of humans I had to try it for myself and at $7 a pop it isn't the cheapest burger on the menu (but you always pay a bit extra for healthy choices right?). From the first look I was pleased with my choice, take a look at the pic below and tell me you couldn't find this appetising.

As you can see it's called the double as part of MANTIME! yes yes. Well needless to say this "burger" reminded me exactly why we moved out of the caves and into a civilised world, so we didn't have to eat crap like this. The lack of anything nutritional here isn't exactly appealing as that is what you expect when you go to fast food resturants, but really. Ordering this and then eating it I feel I should have just walked into the place and had this conversation:

Me: "Hi I'd like a vat of oil to go thanks"
Server: "Ok sir, that will be $7.50"
Me: "Thankyou"
Server: "Here is the vat of oil and if you just exit through the doors to your left, the Hearse is waiting outside to take you to your allocated resting site, have a nice day".
Me: "oh its not an ambulance?"
Server: *laughs* "Oh no sir, what would be the point of that? it would only increase the price of the burger."

Yes, this is not the way to live forever, and I can't actually see how it could make you enjoy not living forever either.. Strange times we live in.

Having said all this the ad for it is HILARIOUS. check it out...

Good Friday

So today was good friday, lucky me I got to spend my day in the most interesting and fun of ways. As many would know I have started my own photography business here in Australia with a view to building it and getting some work as a writer for publications. This weekend has been one of those opportunities, I am working with a small magazine called Appendix J magazine, it is a small club level magazine for people who race in a certain division of car racing in New South Wales. So this weekend I am writing race reports on the events these cars have throughout the weekend, while being there I also get to see all the other divisions as well, take photos and try and sell some.
The first day today was great, making contacts, seeing racing, taking notes and writing up the story at the end. It was all a new experience and one I enjoyed thoroughly. As with every day you learn some new things or make some mistakes that you need to learn from, like today I forgot my hat and suncream, so I am a little burnt. With two days racing to go this is not a good place to be in, I also forgot my advertising material, so I couldn't give them out to people who I started talking to during the day.
BUT, after a few hours out in the sun, watching some excellent racing, I have a couple of SD cards full of photos and enough notes to begin writing my article for the magazine. Fingers crossed that I do this well, cause this could lead to something..
Below are some of my favourite photos of the Group N guys racing today at Eastern Creek:

1972 LJ Torana

1964 Ford Mustang

Tomorrow will be a new day, I hope action packed. Because then it gives me even more to work with. 

Sometimes the Chocolate just dont cut it..

After a long day at work, it was finally time to go home. But not before a meeting about the new sandwich making procedure for work. Yep, we sat in a room, ate some sandwiches and talked about how to make the new sandwiches. Pretty difficult stuff actually, the process is quite hard to master.

For Example:
Step 1: Take two slices of bread out from the loaf and place on chopping board.
Step 2: Place fillings onto one slice of the bread, piling fillings on top of each other. Eg Lamb, gherkins, cheese, rocket. (if you put the rocket on first you're screwed)
Step 3: Place the slice of bread without any fillings on, on top of the fillings to create the outside of the sandwich. (if you put the slice under all this you are screwed).
Step 4: wrap sandwich with plastic wrap and tape down ends. (if you tape sandwich and throw out plastic wrap, you are screwed)

Yeah its pretty difficult stuff.

End result should look like this:

If you get this you have gone overboard:

If you end up looking like this from making sandwiches then please leave the kitchen and seek medical help:

Anyway, that wasn't meant to be the major part of my story. After making some sandwiches and not looking like the guy above I left and went home. Like any normal person would have wanted to do an hour earlier before getting a crash sandwich course. 

Mum came around and we decided to go out for dinner. At first I couldn't make my mind up what I wanted to eat, you know those nights? when nothing seems quite what you want, so you just circle around for hours without getting anything. Well tonight was shaping up to be one of those nights. Finally mum decided we should go to Bondi, so off we went, down to the beach for the evening. After a while we found ourselves at a place called Moo Burgers. (can you guess what they made their burgers out of?) These vastly expensive burgers were nice to eat but probably not really worth the money. The thing that would make me go back is the restaurant was really nicely set out, had good music playing and a great vibe inside. The chips were also crunchy which is a great thing to find in a place, especially when like me you want crunchy chips. 

After dinner we wandered down the street to a chocolate shop, where mum had been told she could finally get a european style, thick hot chocolate. Needless to say she was quite excited when the man behind the counter told her that yes, the chocolate was very thick, thicker than anywhere else. So mum ordered an happily went outside to the table to wait. About five minutes later when the hot chocolate arrived you can imagine her disappointment when it turned out to be quite a runny, watery hot chocolate. 

You know when you give a child a wrong present at christmas and they complain loudly so everyone can hear how disappointed they are in the present and you? well that was mother when she took her first sips of the drink. Sentences like "what a waste of money" and "I don't think i'll even bother drinking all of this" were uttered. Sentences that one does not expect a mother to say. She really was quite cranky, like a bee who has come back to his nest only to find all the honey gone, she was ready to sting anyone who came near. Cranky Cranky lady she was. So quietly I tried to lead her back to the car. That worked about as well as when you set off loud music in a perfectly quiet house at 1am, everyone notices no matter how wildly you grab at the volume control.. I'm pretty sure everyone noticed our leaving. I don't think we will be invited back, but then again we were not invited there in the first place..

Needless to say, when it comes to think hot chocolate, Europe corrupts and spoils one. For Life!

Rainy Weekend

So on the weekend I went to Wakefield Park, just outside Goulburn NSW to Photograph the MRA round 2 race day that was taking place at the track. On Saturday I had finally managed to buy myself a new Pentax K5 and Sigma 50-500mm Lens, both things I have been wanting to get my hands on for a very long time. I couldn't wait to get to the track and take some new shots to get used to such a good camera I had found myself with.
The day dawned to a rainy Goulburn. In the town centre the day didn't seem to bad, light rain falling on the tin roof making a delicious peaceful noise that only made one want to snuggle up for the day. I pushed myself to get dressed and go off to the track. After failing once and falling asleep under a blanket in front of the TV I finally got out into the car, an hour later than my planned leaving time.
Driving the 15mins out to the race track made me feel more and more worried. It may sound stupid to say but when doing outdoor photography there is rain and then there is RAIN. Today it was RAIN, the driving, relentless downpour that even the gutters and drainage cannot keep up with. When I arrived the track and surrounds were beginning to resemble more a swimming pool than a racetrack. Due to this I seriously believed the event would be called off. I was mistaken.

After signing my release forms, (a compulsory document that needs to be signed to say that I wont sue if I get injured or killed while taking photos) I ventured out to the side of the track, trying to find a vantage point that I could use for the day. It was then I realised that I did not have an umbrella or cover for the camera. With my old camera I would not have worried about it getting wet, but this was a new deal, I had spent a lot of money on this equipment and I didn't want to risk damage to it the first day out of the box. So I searched the car for anything I could use to keep rain off. Eventually I found a way where I could use a shoe box lid, strapped to the lens hood with a bag strap to cover the lens itself and a Cat Empire sweater draped over the camera and lens to double cover everything.
Here is a Picture of the setup:

Standing in the driving rain I looked like the silliest photographer. (Probably more cause I was the only one who was standing out in the driving rain through all the races)

Three hours after arriving, with fingers numb from cold and a cough developing, I decided enough was enough, it was time to go home. So soaking wet and dreaming of hot coffee I packed my bags for the two hour drive home. Happy that I had achieved something and learnt some lessons which I can implement for the next event I will be photographing. The FOSC (Festival of Sports Cars) days at Eastern Creek this Easter long weekend. I really cant wait to get out to that track..

Lastly, I would like to add a series of photos, my favourite from the weekend. Its about a little mini who lost his way.

In a Mini, no-one can hear you scream!