IF NOT HERE, THEN WHERE?

VLAK AND WHITE

Got a ten page photo spread in VLAK magazine which is published out of Prague. I'm thinking very seriously about having a year of black and white...

SUPER HEROES!

This looks good. UPDATE : It's VERY good. See it here...

MORNING WALK

CHOPPED ON THE WEEKEND

IF NOT HERE, THEN WHERE?

TATHRA

Roadtrippin with the family from Sydney to Melbourne via the south coast road...  Stopped for the weekend at one of our favourite places Tathra.

As much as I like Sydney, after five months away  it's SO good to be back in Melbourne!

PICTURE LOCKED

Just locked off the final episode (9) of Puberty Blues series 2. Bittersweet feelings mixed with a deep and very satisfying sigh of relief and exhilaration...

It is finished.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

It does get better than this... just not very often...

CABIN FEVER

Long days cutting with Dany Cooper (who is awesome!). Ep 7 finished, about to lock off Ep 8. Ep 9 still to go...cabin fever setting in.

WRAPPED

We wrapped shooting Puberty Blues 2 last Wednesday. Spent the last day shooting as a 2nd unit / reduced crew of only about ten or so. It was a perfect way to end a little more relaxed and free than 'main unit'. What we shot wasn't really 2nd unit material, it was actually the last three scenes of the last episode of the series. I woke up the next day with bitter sweet feelings. I love shooting, even when it's stressful and everything seems stacked against you, I can always  look around and see where we are and what we attempting to do and I just get really excited by it all! But it definitely felt like it was time to stop though. I've been away from my family and friends in Melbourne for nearly 5 months and I feel like my time in the world needs to come to an end.

That said I felt a saddness for those wonderful characters I may never get to see again. I may never stand in the Vickers lounge room and watch Judy and Martin bicker or witness Vonny and Ferris fuck with each others minds. I may never sit in Sues bedroom and overhear Sue and Debbies most intimate conversations. I may never get to hang with Gary or Cheryl or laugh stupidly with Roger and Pam.

The characters of Puberty Blues feel so alive to me. I cant help but feel that even though we have packed up the props, dressings, cameras and lights that they are still there in those places, their lives continuing on regardless of whether we are there to capture it or not. I miss them all.

POSTCARDS FROM PUBERTY BLUES 2 #5

FIRE WORKS

I took the first photo below at Matauri Bay nestled just below the northern tip of the North Isalnd of  New Zealand in January this year. On a warm summers night I watched a  bunch of kids setting off fireworks, having the time of their lives. I sat on the beach with my kids in amazement at how wonderful and free spirited it all was and how in Australia today this would be unheard for kids let alone being able to make it happen in a film.

I've shot quite a few fireworks sequences and trying to get an actor anywhere near a live firework is near impossible. The process ends up being so regulated with safety concerns and restricitoins (all for good reason) and the sequence I believe always ends up feeling a little 'sanitised'. But after alot of planning and tests I was so happy last Friday night that I was able to replicate that image (and a whole lot more!) not only as a photograph but as part of filmed sequence. And I might add in a highly controlled and safe environment. Satisfying!

Matauri Bay, New Zealand, Jan 2013

Kernell Beach, Australia, Aug 2013

POSTCARDS FROM PUBERTY BLUES 2 #4

TWO DOWN, THREE TO GO

Have finished Eps 1 and 2 of Puberty Blues 2. And now deep in pre for my second block where I'll shoot the final episodes 7, 8 and 9. Never shot three episodes at once before. Shooting two at once is tricky enough, three is a mind fuck... feeling a bit rooted.

I heart Kurnell.