Bubblers in Lorne & Apollo Bay

This is the second part to the earlier post on Red Bubble's trip. I'll let the pictures do the talking....

Chris doing the Aussie Bloke thingy

David does the feeding to the King

Wen does what he does best

Jo's giving the look

Chris' looking at his beer Jess salivating her dinner

Julie's enjoying the chat topic

Claudia's looking some where

David's enjoying the moment

Mel from QLD join the Bubble for the weekend

John with his schlong, urm....I mean long huge lens!

Michael's taking a few shut eyes

Claudia's chilling out (baking) on the warm sands

James' meditating..........with his gear

One group of Bubblers painting Apollo Bay Red (that is after Lorne)

What great moments we had over the weekend!!

Many thanks to Jo for organising the awesome trip!! Now bring on the next one....Hang on...The Club first.....!!

Memories in Lorne, Great Ocean Road & Apollo Bay

It's been really some hectic 2 weeks for me. Hence, the silence. I have been taking and editing loads of photos in that fortnight and still am -from jugglers, birthday, random shoots and travel. That is because I have picked up bits and pieces from my master who has been willing to illuminate me.

As part of the Red Bubble Melbourne, we paid a visit to and overnight in Lorne over the weekend. It was certainly a blast and getting closer to some of them whom I have met during my first RB meet in August. RB Melbourne is certainly made up of diverse groups of people - cultures, personalities, job backgrounds. Fun, warm, friendly are some of the descriptions I can put in words.

I definitely love the drive along the Great Ocean Road to and fro from Lorne (Apollo Bay). It reminds me of the stretch in Penang leading to Batu Ferringhi albeit a much shorter. Both shares the similar winding and steepness with trees all around. I'm glad I joined the trip, especially the teasing of playing catch up by a Bubbler with his red hot Golf GTi.

About 20 of us spent most of the time by the beach and weather was just awesome for a beach out! Shooting by the beach and even having someone handpainting a portrait, talk about art!

I have to admit that there wasn't much sceneries to take other than the horizon which is pretty much similar. Where we are do have some pretty sunrise (and not sunset) but there were just too overcast for the sunlight to come through. In fact, all of us slept in as it drizzle in the morning and of course the late night we had!

Feeding the wild cockatoos and King Parrots on the balcony of the cottage are some of the memories I would reminisced. It was so up close and personal with the birds and they are not very shy of us, so long we have the seeds!

Here are some of the shots taken:

Welcome to Great Ocean Road

The Horizon

Pathway to the Ocean

Cockatoo with its Crest Displayed (just for a few seconds after landind)

The King & I

One thing led to another and I did have the opportunity for a model shoot too with art direction! Certainly, there were some keepers from the shoot. I'm still very excited by the experience though I did have some disappointments. I'll leave it for my next post.

Cheerios.....

Awesome Weekend

I had a blast on Sat. Being a spectator in the Princess Theatre for the longest play, I was not only mesmerised by the stage setups but mystified by Anthony Warlow's deep and strong voice. Anthony Warlow has been playing the role of the Phantom of the Opera for the past 18 odd years. This would be his last return to Melbourne.

I am not really a musical fan but this Andrew Llyod Webber's The Phantom of the Opera really sucked me into the musical world. We booked for the seats about 3 months ago but could not really got the session we wanted and ended up with the Saturday Matinee show. Well, it's better than missing the show all together. I can understand a friend of mine who went for 4 times in the past few years.

After the matinee show, I had the opportunity to go out shooting again. This time, it's with my maestro whom I'm learning from. At least I didn't do it all alone where there could be at time drunkards and rascals. Here are some of the shots taken.

Fireworks along the Yarra RiverColour or Black & White? Guess I'm confused!! Why not both?!Looks like my camera?! I actually painted this!Tunnel or Tunnelled Vision?! Depending on how you look at it......

In the past 2 weeks, I have learnt a fair bit from my maestro in almost all parts of photography. More on www.whoalse.com. These are some of the results but there are plenty of room for improvements!

Wonderful News

In the past week, I have 2 friends who got engaged! Time really flies when I could recall the good ol' days. One is a childhood friend from my swimming days and the other is a very good friend from my uni days.

For now, let me just focus on this uni friend of mine from......urm.....it's complicated. A Sabahan who is a Perthy but now staying in Melbourne! I may possibly share a few stories about her. Stories from the uni days, perhaps! And more.....I was given the opportunity to bunk over her (and her fiance's) place when I first got to Melbourne.

Allow me to rewind the time a little. Pictures show a thousand words...........

21st Giggling Bday in Perth
Cake in her face....or maybe she's just hungry!Chris & I in PerthHungry Chris On her bday in MelbourneDon't mess with her when she has this look! For me, I'll mess with her even more!Recent Bday Pic of Chris chopping the Cake!

It's just too bad I have some not so good photos taken when in Perth.........

Connected Ties

It seems that PwC Penang has certainly brought us up really good. Some of us agreed that it has played some pivotal roles in our lives. It does bring us together, wherever we are, every now and then. A fellow ex-PwCian recently visited Melbourne and we managed to meet up for Dim Sum (aka Yum Cha but I'm still more used to DS) in Shark Fin House yesterday. How would I give up that opportunity for meeting up though I am still coughing?

Robin aka Batman's sidekickWhat?!Look! Is it a plane? No, it's Robin!Ain't that a nice Grafitti

Once a PwCian, always a PwCian - PwC Penang, that is! It's Connected Thinking, Connected Ties! :)

Til next time........

Saffron Revolution

The recent uprising in Burma that started off by the Buddhist monks have caught the attentions of the world. It is the biggest rally against the military rule in 45 years!

What causes this protest by the revered monks in the society? It all started with the removal of the fuel subsidies by the military junta. As a result, petrol and diesel prices doubled while compressed gas had gone up 5-folds. This just fits the saying of "The Rich get Richer". The 14 senior members of the junta have assets in foreign countries. This just shows how rich they are when the civilians are living in dire conditions. In fact, the Senior General Than Shwe has chartered a private plane to fly out his family to Vientianne, Laos. That shows how rich he is when his assets in the US have been frozen for years!

In fact, the killing of some of these monks and particularly the Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai at close-range have instigated more supports for the protesters. If such cruelty can be done towards foreigners and the very-much-well-respected monks, I am sure the junta is able to do much worse to the civilians. They probably consider themselves elite and this is no different from the Nazi days.

It's time for the junta to be "house-arrested"! Freeze all their assets, wherever they are and stop supporting them through businesses and trades.

My heart goes to all the monks and protesters out there. They have the courage and determination to keep fighting. Their spirits will not be dampened with the killings. There will always be replacements with renewed spirits.

I suppose this colour is the closest to the saffron/crimson robes wore by the monks. As such, this flower is in support for and a tribute to those involved (and perished) in the Saffron Revolution in Burma.