On the morning shoot yesterday, I failed to capture the setting moon or the sunrise to my satisfaction. However I did get a self portrait. The red rock is certainly the most appropriate background for the shadow as it’s the dominant item in the East Pilbara landscape. I like the idea of representing myself as a shadow – the detail of my looks aren’t important. And the hat and the tripod are my trademarks!!

Due to popular demand, we’ve extended our range of 16″ x 24″ canvas prints that we keep in stock. We’ve now got over 20 images as prints which can be viewed by calling us on 9175 2581. Choices include East Pilbara landscapes, Newman town, mining and Karijini.

And don’t forget we’re going on holidays from 28th March – 12th April so make sure you grab your Pilbara gift before we leave town.

After much frenzied research and booking, we are now set to go to Singapore and Phuket in 2 weeks time. We’re decided on a relaxing trip right now and all of the exploration and photography will be done later in the year. I’ve also got trips to Paris, Rome, Dubai and Prague booked for the rest of the year. If that doesn’t satisfy my baroque yearnings nothing will!!

So big shout out to Louise at Flight Centre who has gone above and beyond in her service. In preparation for the travel I’ve bought 2 new toys. Most people would know me as a bit of a techno dinosaur but I’ve recently gone from one end of the techo scale to the other. I’ve got an Ipad. Although it doesn’t have the full functionality of a laptop, I think it’s great.  I use it to email, surf, write notes, read books and watch TV/movies. Unless I’m travelling as an engineer, I just take my Ipad and leave the heavy 17″ laptop at home.

While travelling as a photographer, I take an ImageTank which allows me to download images straight off my CF card from the 5d2 and again avoid the use of a laptop. Previously I was lugging one or even two large hardshell suitcases when flying to Perth. I did my first trip without checkin baggage this week which was excellent. Of course I’ll take a Samsonite hard shell when I go overseas but I’ll lug so much less gear.

Roughly 10 years ago I was working in West Africa and from those experiences I now only use hard shell suitcases. You might be expecting the African nation to be the problem but infact our gear got broken into more at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. People just slash the soft cases with a knife.

Yesterday we went to the Mia Mia Hotel and hung many canvas and framed prints in the restaurant, reception and meeting areas. If you would like to check out some of our prints, please go down and have a look (and stay for something to eat of course!). All prints are for sale.

Big thanks to Tilly for being supportive of Purely Pilbara.

I’ve been madly researching and ringing for options on  our upcoming holiday. The radiation risk is our greatest concern. We had booked flights with Malaysian Airlines on the Jetabroad website. Interestingly Malaysian Airlines posted on their website on Saturday that they would change or refund any Japan flights for the next 3 months. When I contacted MA, they said only Jetabroad could issue the refund.

So I waited until this morning and rang Jetabroad.They will refund the full amount minus $100 per person for admin fees. Very reasonable. I notice that the MA website has changed and doesn’t mention refunds so we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime Chris and I discussed other destinations. Chris liked the idea of St Petersburg (yes, he surprises me too!) and once I saw how much baroque architecture was there, I fell in love with the idea. I could also tag on some days in Rome and complete my Baroque odyssey. Unfortunately 3 weeks is nowhere near enough time to get a Russian visa. It’s much harder than China if that’s possible. Passports have to go to Canberra and be accommpanied by letters from Russian and Australian tour companies.

So now I’m looking at a relaxing holiday to Phuket/Singapore. Given all of the other trips I’ve got coming up to exotic places and given my health has been terrible the last 2 weeks, it’s probably the sanest idea (but not the most exciting!). Many thanks to our wonderful agent at Flight Centre who is so patient and efficient.

The situation in Japan does not look good and I hope emergency relief is felt soon for the people particuarly in north east Japan. Kyoto of course is inland and is south of Tokyo so it was not devasted by either the quake or tsunami in the way that the north east coast was.

Many people are asking us if we’re still going to Kyoto (due to fly out on 30th March). We simply don’t have enough information to make a decision. Learning from the tsunami affects on Thailand, if Kyoto had recovered enough and needed the tourist dollar we would definitely go. If we are going to be a hindrance or if there was a threat to our personal safety from things like radiation, we wouldn’t.The current travel advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs is to reconsider travel.

I remember feeling tremours quite often while living in Port Hedland in the 70′s (don’t know if that’s still the case). We even had earthquake drills which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case in the south of WA. That’s nothing like an 8.9 earthquake but I still have a healthy respect for earthquakes, water, cyclones and anything else mother nature wants to throw at us.