From the archives … La Paz

I visited La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, in April 2009. The highest altitude capital city in the world, it is an amazing place. Cities aren’t for everyone but I love them. The buzz, the people, the sights all make me want to snap away. I can’t precisely say what so captivated me about La Paz. Maybe the setting, the tempo of life there, the fact I found it so easy to converse in Bolivian Spanish, the warmth of the people, the mix of crazy travellers who came together in that place.

Visiting there for just under a week, I spent a lot of time just watching the world go by, acting as a flâneur. But this was something I noticed the locals did too. There was a different pace there than in most cities. It had its craziness but it felt like even the hustle and bustle was in slow motion, moving with a languid tempo.

It was the perfect place for shooting film, the slow deliberateness that favours great shots working well with the city itself. I did shoot digital as well, which you can see on my flickr stream. While the digital shots captured the bright abundant colours of this sunny city, the black & whites captured something of its soul, of its rhythm.

Enjoy the images and me know what your thoughts are on the differences between the colour and black & white, between the digital and film.

Something for Kate

Who will be astounded at this post … either because it will bring back great memories or because it took me two and a half years to get these scanned.

Now I am not a food blogger but I will tell you that this is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. Mudbrick is a winery and restaurant on Waiheke Island, only a short ferry ride from Auckland.

We got the degustation menu, which is I guess expensive but it is a filling meal that just tastes amazing and is worth every cent. I am not totally sure if the current one on the menu is the same that we had but even if not … I am sure it is still just as good.

Topped off with a fabulous rosé, the gorgeous fragrant garden, amazing views and brilliant weather, it was one of the best girls’ days I have had.

If you go to Auckland, make sure you go to Mudbrick and stay the night so that you can explore the rest of the island, which I hear is gorgeous.

Moo

A cute little fellow who let us stay on his/her? farm for the weekend a couple of months ago.

Happy Friday everyone!

A journey fast approaching

It seems so surreal to be that in six weeks I will again be walking these pathways.

The visit this time will open up new challenges. It is a little scary but feels so right.

There is an overwhelming amount to do before I go.

I think I may also still be scanning film from my last sojourn while I am there though! These are the first few images of 35mm film I’ve scanned had developed from my time there in September 2012 to February 2013. To be honest they only probably got done as they were the first images on a roll that also had my cousin’s wedding on it.

More are to come very soon … I think. As usual I have not labeled my rolls of film and have dozens to develop. I think I put the correct ones into the lab yesterday. Fingers crossed!

Here be dragons on Mother’s Day

Chinese Dragons are one of my favourite things – I just love them. So I tend to take lots of photos of them when I see them.

Although in Western mythology dragons are often represented as frightening creatures and were once placed on maps to represent uncharted waters, in Chinese culture they represent good luck, power and strength and are highly visible in the famous Chinese Dragon Dances on New Year’s and other festive occasions.

Today I was having a look at the last few polaroids that I needed to scan/edit/post and these were the only two left of my px600 shots (yay for catching up!).

The first image was taken at my grandparent’s house in Brisbane the day my grandmother died last year. The second I took at the lovely Thian Hock Keng Temple in Singapore last September and I gave it to my Mum along with her birthday presents last year.

Both my Mum and her mum were born in the Chinese year of the dragon. I took the photos in the year of the Dragon. I lost both my Grandmother’s within six weeks of each other last year, in the year of the Dragon.

Being Mother’s Day and realising all these little connections as I was getting them ready to post on Flickr was poignant for me and a little sad. I miss my Nanna and my Grandmother a lot but I love remembering them and am grateful that neither are in pain. Last year I wrote a little post about them but it was all too raw at the time to say much more. It still is really.

So Happy Mothers Day to all you mums. Both those who are with us and those who aren’t.

Saffron: Tales from the Persian Kitchen

I’m on a mission to showcase a side of Iran that never makes the headlines. Armed with just a notepad and a bottle of pomegranate molasses, I want to travel through Iran asking a cross-section of Iranians to share their favourite recipes with me. From my 77 year old grandmother who lives on a rice farm near the Caspian Sea to 22 year old hip hop stars in Tehran, I’ll be gathering recipes from fishermen and farmers, teachers and tradesmen, carpet makers and cab drivers. Whilst cooking together, I’ll ask people I meet to share the stories behind the food that they love.

It is fairly rare that I discuss other projects here – mainly cause I am always so overwhelmed with all my own stuff to post. But this is one project that I am really excited about and want to see happen, because it really speaks to me of so many of the things I love: food, spices, diverse landscapes, ancient and modern cities, amazing architecture, colour and conversation.

My friend Yasmin has a Kickstarter project to help realise her dream of a book and documentary that celebrates the food and culture of Iran and her people, showing a different side of this diverse country than we normally see. Saffron: tales from the Persian Kitchen, is a twofold project featuring a recipebook and documentary. It will feature Iranians from every walk of life who will share their recipes as they cook with Yasmin and tell the stories behind their food. And they will of course feature gorgeous photographs of the participants, their food and their country.

Most of all I love this girl’s passion for this project and her enthusiasm and drive for all things in life … meaning things will happen! When she talks about this project her already sparkly eyes sparkle more and as she describes the food and the people and the country you can easily imagine that you are there, with the smell of spices and the noise and hubbub of Tehran around you. This, even if you are sitting on a beach in Thailand, physically far away from any of it. For instance:

I’d like to show you a different side of Iran. A side that entices you with its delicious and sophisticated cuisine; that takes your breath away with its dramatic landscapes of desert, tropical forests and snow-capped mountains; that touches your soul through the poetry of Rumi and Hafez and dazzles you with its intricate, beautiful architecture.

Kickstarter helps awesome cultural projects like Yasmin’s to get going – whether it be musicians, photographers, writers or even theatres and community museums.

This is an all or nothing funding campaign and Yasmin doesn’t get the money unless the total amount pledged reaches her target of £8,000

A little added incentive is some nice presents, depending on which level of funding you support.

The funding will go toward making a pilot documentary & producing sample chapters of the book.

Saffron: tales from the Persian kitchen has ten days left to go to reach the total, which is currently sitting at £7,010 with only £1,490 to go!

So please have a look at the awesome video on the Kickstarter page, share the project with your friends, like it on facebook and pledge a couple of quid if you can … or a couple of thousand – cause I seriously want to see what the mystery thankyou gift is when someone reaches Nuclear Level. Going by all the other gifts … it’s going to be pretty amazing :-)

Man selling spices on the street in Rasht, May 2012.

Made these yummy date pastries when I was in Iran last summer. Perfect with an afternoon cuppa.

Hitting a sushi bar in Tehran last year. Inspired me to create an Iranian take on cerviche …

Getting ingredients ready to make ‘Baghalee Ghatogh’, a special yummy recipe from northern Iran where my family are from. Can you guess the ingredients?

I scribbled these notes in Iran last year as I learnt how to make Kaleh Kabob …

All images & caption text by Yasmin Khan.

Polaroids from Thailand

When in Thailand from September last year until February this year, I really was a bit slack taking polaroids. I admit it. But I got a few good ones (and quite a few failed ones!). I loved the way that the heat affected the Impossible Projects PX600 Poor Pod film. My last post showed one of the MCG taken in Melbourne in the middle of winter where the film turned up fairly true black & white, as did my other Melbourne winter images of Kew. But in the heat of SE Asia it became a gorgeous sepia colour – some of the following images were taken from exactly the same pack as the one just mentioned! It has taken me quite a while to get these up but finally here they are!

I am heading back to Thailand soon and seriously considering which cameras to take with me. My heart tells me to take three – my digital, my Canon TX film camera and my Polaroid. But realistically there are pros and cons to this. Last time I didn’t take all that many photos – about seven rolls of film and two packs of Polaroid. This was in six months and for my normal output is not a lot. I can’t develop my negs or scan them over there without quite a bit of trouble (although I must check out these options further), so it kind of renders film photography a little lacklustre when you can’t look at or work on your images for six months. Plus then you end up in my current situation of having about 30 rolls of film to develop and scan.

With regards to the Polaroid I also have pretty much trashed the film going in and out of airport scanners and subjecting it to heat. The PX600 is okay but the last couple of packs of PX70 Push have yielded little but a blurry pink wash – maybe I just need to find arty ways of using the blurry pink wash though!

And the digital. I love my digital camera. I love the bold bright colours and the ease of using it. But when I travel I often find myself reaching for the film camera before the digital. I didn’t take it to Thailand last time and it was probably a good decision but I also can’t take low light/nighttime images with the other cameras and a digital would be great. Another consideration is that maybe I might want to use the digital to do some professional photography there … to try and sell my services to people by giving digital camera lessons or do photoshoots for people, which of course I would love to do on film but for the aforementioned problems of development.

So add to this the heaviness of everything, the bulkiness, the chances of them getting wrecked in the humid Thai weather. With all this it seems like it might be too much trouble even though I don’t move about much when I am there and tend to live in the same place for months at a time. And then there’s the tripod …

What is your experience of travelling with multiple cameras plus all your other gear? Who shoots film and has been away for a lengthy amount of time? How do you feel about the time it will take till you actually see the results and then having piles to develop and scan? Tell me your thoughts to help my decision. But meanwhile …

Enjoy!

PS small disclaimer – the image of me wasn’t a self portrait … it’s Chris’s first polaroid shot. The light was low, hence the lack of detail in the face … but I really love it.

Country sojourn

Hello lovely people!

I am having a bit of a giggle at the moment as I was just clearing out my spam. Despite it all being a little annoying I also have a bit of a laugh at the grammar and writing which is usually I am sure just done through google translate by a bot or some such. Sometimes I wish the nice things were real people saying nice things because there are some lovely comments … from people who want you to buy fake Nikes ;-)

But anyhoo. I just popped in to say I am just about to deliver on the promised photos of my cousin’s country wedding in Maleny, Queensland. It is a beautiful spot close to my parents’ house (and Woodford for those Folk Festival fans!)

I have been busily scanning as a means to procrastinate around writing my PhD which means you probably will get lots of lovely posts in the near future.  Here is a little taste of what’s to come. This was taken from the verandah of the gorgeous cottage my parents and I stayed at for the weekend of the wedding. What a view!

Looking over the valley you can see the hayshed of the farm on which we were staying and Mt Tibrogargan, one of the Glasshouse Mountains, in the distance. What a special place this is! I have been visiting here since I was a tiny kid and I highly recommend if you are ever around that way to stop and spend a few days in the lovely towns in the area such as Maleny, Montville, Mapleton and Flaxton.

More to come of the view and the wedding itself very soon!

xo

Making my day

I have been a little (okay a lot) inactive on flickr over the last six months or so. The less active you are apparently the less traffic you get and less views and less comments and blah blah blah. Not that this really worries me. But a little part of me does like to think people are seeing – and enjoying – my work. I have tried to get with the social media program a bit more lately on Facebook and Red Bubble and on here – but I’m not as consistent as I would like to be.

Today I jumped on to Flickr and a new comment on one of my images popped up that just made my day:

“Hi Nicole,
I am so in love with all your film shots~My home town-Malacca looks so beautiful under lens!”

Simple but lovely … and it made me feel so happy.

Once I followed the trail from the comment I realised that the sweet Nong Jia Nu who posted it also has a flickr photostream and a blog with gorgeous images of Malacca, including one of my favourite spots, Lorong Jambatan.

We even had a photo of the same white chair that is still sitting in front of the shop after a year.

I spent ages on her site enjoying her beautiful work and I would highly recommend a long visit.
Thus was inspired a bit of a post with some previously and never before seen Malacca shots.

Puppies galore

Hello everyone, just a quick little pic from Thailand to say I am back! For those who don’t know or have forgotten, I was living the dream on a gorgeous Thai island for the last three months. I have quite a few films and some more polaroids to share with you from my stay there coming up in the near future. Also hopefully some wedding photos from my gorgeous cousin’s vintage wedding in Queensland.

For the moment I leave you with this little fella. One of the dogs on our beach had 8 puppies recently and they were so so cute. Very hard to get them to sit still for photos though!

And yes … I finally activated my Instagram account … five months after downloading the app: