SHIHAD

Shihad are a great rock band and although I have seen them playing live five times! I still love every show they do! The band from NZ seems to have an obsession for rooting around with synths and their treble switches on their Les pauls which is awesome as it as a dimension to their music that not a lot of bands have. I noticed that on the last tour Johnny has switched from his usual Maton Guitars to Les Pauls and even a Tele as some stage in the set which is cool but unusual for him as I always knew him to play Matons! The change is refreshing though and the sound was great!

In one of these shots, Karl from the band comes up to me at side of stage and runs into me with his bass! It was fun as Karl and I has been joking around before they went on stage and he thought he would continue the fun! I was trying to take a shot of the drummer and he came out to try to block me... mid song! Classic!

SOMETHING WITH NUMBERS

SOMETHING WITH NUMBERS have been on the touring scene for a while now and have played at gigs like BIG DAY OUT 08 and many other huge events which can pretty much guaranty you that they will go off and this time was no exception! SWN were unforgiving in their longish set which included the hit "APPLE OF THE EYE" which went OFF so much that at one stage I though the crowd was going to explode into balls of rubble as they went pounding into the wall of the stage! The closing song was the latest single "BRIGHT EYES" and this did not fail to blast the crowd into a frenzy as the two support bands (CITY RIOTS & THE MEDICS) joined SWN on stage and helped them out with the completion of their set for the night!

CITY RIOTS

CITY RIOTS are one great band with a versatile sound and some great guitars to match their crazy hair!

The live sound given from this 4 piece from Adelaide was a lot more in your face than their CD sound which was a really good thing and it made for a great show with a lot of guitar and even more on stage antics with jumps off the drum stage a regular, the only thing missing was the shirts not coming off !

SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM

Sneaky Sound System have been touring Giants over the past couple of years with their shows nearly selling out all the time and picking up a spot on the Big Day Out festival. They were glad to get up to Queensland after spending the last couple of weeks down in the HOT south of Australia for the BDO.

ELECTRIC MARY

Featuring the brilliant guitarist IRWAN THOMAS who has toured as John Farnham since god knows when and also was frontman for the group SOUTHERN SUNS back in the 80's... This band had the experience to make a crowd love them without even striking a note!

COG

As per usual, COG put on a sonically perfect show which makes up for the lack of movement on stage. Lucius proved once again his massive drumming abilities and reasserted himself in the top spot in the Aust drumming circle.

MAMMAL

This band is going to make alot of waves over the next few years as they power their way into the scene and smash everything in their way!

Their live sets are about 100 times as powerful as their album is and I was BLOWN AWAY by listening to their album!

All in all They are a band that will be around for a long time to come and deserve every bit of greatness that is coming their way.

BEHIND CRIMSON EYES

I had the chance to do a quick shoot with Melbourne (Post Hardcore) band BEHIND CRIMSON EYES before they went on to play their set.

I have loved the music from these guys since I first heard it and I have their 2 albums... and have them on my Ipod..... I just love them. LOL

So having the chance to shoot their show and even do a quick shoot in the dressing room was so special.

My review of their show can be cound in the Feb edition of THE PLACE street press.

TAXIRIDE

I remember when TAXIRIDE burst into the scene back in about 2000-1 ish and they became instant pop stars with their track GET SET. As with most bands with that same past, they were a great band well before they became popular and as fate has it, they are still a very good band with a MASSIVE amount of talent and a very large hit song list, you are going to have a blast at a TAXIRIDE gig for sure! I know I did!

THE PLACE street press

I am Head Photographer for THE PLACE street press amongst other things!

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RIVERSIDE RIDGE in Townsville

CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPH TO SEE IT LARGE!

Well the funny thing is that a lot of my photographs are taken only several km's away from each other...! which goes to show for the high quality of views and attractions here in Townsville!

This was a shot I took freehand while a storm was coming my way. I wasn't even out photographing but had my camera with me so I stopped the car and took some pics!


I really love the sun rays coming thru the clouds and the beautiful green contrasting off the blue the rain clouds are giving off.

ROSS RIVER DREAM

Click on the photograph to see it large!

Here is the Panorama shot I was looking to do when I discovered the Dog Collar...!

Note in the pic that the collar is on the rock where I found it straight after!

TOWNSVILLE CITY over the ROSS RIVER

Click on the picture to see it larger.

I took this shot Free hand with my Canon 50D at about 5:30am in the morning on my way to get coffees for my boss and I at the Port where I work very Casually for SHELL unloading and testing fuel off ships.

LOST DOG on the mouth of the Ross Creek

I was very lucky to find this dog collar on the rock while I was shooting the sunrise at the mouth of the Ross Creek.

It just seemed to be the perfect shot to take as it gave interest in the foreground as well as the fantastic interest that the sunrise was creating.

TONY IRELAND STADIUM TOWNSVILLE

Click Image to see Large!

Panoramic photography is quickly becoming a favourite of mine and I was so happy to be able to photograph a venue that I had not even stepped foot on yet!

I had tickets to go to the opening cricket match (QLD Vs VIC) on NYE last year but unfortunately I had to play a DJ gig on NYE in Airle Beach to 5000 people! so couldn't make it....
The grounds are very well kept and a pleasure to walk on if you are lucky enough to be able to do so.



I actually took ALOT of photographs on this shoot and ended up with 3 really good panoramic shots. Each panoramic photograph consists of over 6 photographs! just to give you an idea of the sort of effort that goes into the making of the panoramic shot.

THE WILLOWS GOLF CLUB hole #17 PAR 3

Click on the image to view it larger.

I was a member of this golf club for about 10 years or so and I played "A" grade Pennants as well as Junior Pennants for the club. I was Junior Capt for a year and Won several club trophies as a youngster.

This is not where my passion with the club ends.

I think the course is one of the best in the country and this is backed up by the countless amounts of visiting golfers from prestige golf clubs giving the course and its members a tongue lashing when they finish a round on this testing course.



I really hope I have given the course the justice it deserves with the panoramic photographs I was able to take with thanks to Don for giving me the chance to get out on the course to shoot the photographs.

The Strand Pier @ 8:30pm

Colour reflecting off the water is a really beautiful thing to capture and can really make a photograph so I jumped at the chance to get the beautiful reflection of the purple and blue lights that shine every night off the Strands Pier which is great for fishing off.

The Pier is perfect for tourists and locals alike as it comes with fishing bays complete with cutting and filleting benches as well as seats for sight seeing tourists :)

Here is two shots taken with my Canon 1000D DSLR camera at about 8:30pm

ROSS RIVER DAM Townsville

This Panoramic View was taken at about 4pm in the arvo when storm clouds were rolling in.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO VIEW IN FULL

I walked up the dam wall with just my camera and a tripod... only to find out that I had no memory card.... = no photographs......

A quick 3 min drive back to my house and I returned with my whole camera bag and all the stuff I would need to take any photograph ever!

The Ross River Dam has a massive amount of wildlife including birds and rock wallabies as well as one of the best views ever.

ANZAC MEMORIAL at the Strand, Townsville

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love taking night time landscape photographs.

This is one I took while on my way home from having coffee at Juliette's on the Strand. :) My coffee place!

There is only really 2 great coffee shops in Townsville... Juliette's on the Strand and Cafe' Nova near BCC Townsville 5 Cinemas.

Green Tree Frogs in Townsville

There is alot of these beautiful Green Tree Frogs in Townsville.

I have about 40000 living around my house and they can almost keep you awake when its raining..... well not quite 40000....

This photograph was taken at my house at about 10:30 at night on a drain pipe....

I spotted it while I was out looking for my cat as she always comes to sleep with me in my bed.

I don't like her out alone... LOL.... So I got my mum who was watching CSI and had her hold my torch while I took about 20 photos....

This was the only one that turned out alright as I was struggling with the harsh light from the torch.

This was taken at my parents friends (Sue and Maurie) house over in Condon in Townsville.

Sue and Maurie love their frogs and told me I should come shoot some with my camera one day.... This was the result.

They have some really great frogs around their house, and while I only got to see 2 on that night, they were good quality frogs to take photos of and I envy Sue for having them at her disposal.

WATER FEATURE @ The Strand, Townsville QLD

Here is another pic from the Strand in Townsville.

This water feature is often victim to Townsville's youth playing practical jokes by throwing Washing powder, Detergent, Food die or all of the above into this beautiful water feature which makes it froth, bubble and go green, red or whatever.... LOL.

Aside from that, It is a great bird bath and not bad for tourists as well.... to look at that is. They bath at the rock pool.... Normally.

The photo was taken on my Canon 50D DSLR camera.

KEELBACK WATER SNAKE @ Riverway Townsville

At the Weir Bridge in the old Thuringowa city which is not Townsville, there is a great park area under the bridge.

I was out taking some landscape shots one afternoon and it was getting rather dark when I noticed a small snake heading up stream along a little drain way.

I thought that the snake was really beautiful looking so I followed it up the drain way and changed lenses and was trying to get some good shots of it....

As it was nearly dark, it was beginning to get totally impossible to get photos but I kept going and lost sight of the snake for about 3 min or so.... I then noticed that it popped its head out of the water and was just sitting there... I was laying on the ground to stabilise my camera which enabled me to use a slower shutter speed to be able to shoot in lower light.

I was only using my Canon 1000D at the time and that lowered my options with the ISO and kit lens which was without Image Stabilisation.

As I was laying on the ground taking about 20 awesome photos of this snake, I felt what I thought was grass or a leaf just brushing my arm. I was too into my shooting of the photo to worry about it until it really started to annoy me. I looked up to see another, RATHER BIGGER, snake which was using its tongue to taste my arm for the last 15 seconds!

I jumped up rather quick and left my camera and bag of lenses until the snake had moved on... SCARY!

This is the end result. I'm sure you will all love it :)

Sugar Shaker Townsville

Hayley and I made our way up to the Water tower near the cutting in the city of Townsville and started to take some landscape shots of Townsville City.

I took this shot with my Canon 50D DSLR Camera at about 1pm lunch time.

RING ROAD MOTORWAY Townsville

I went to the bridge that goes over the "RING ROAD" motorway in Townsville and leads to the Riverway Tavern as well as Riverside gardens.

I was taking 30 sec exposure shots of cars on the motorway as I have included a photo of that here.....

I noticed that a police car was coming up the road with its red and blue lights on!

So I got set up to take the picture down the road of the bridge I was shooting on and attempted to get the car the whole way. The end result was one of my favourite photographs I have taken so far. Notice the red and blue lights leading from the round-a-bout passed my camera....

This shot was taken on my Canon 50D DSLR camera at about 10:30pm at night.