A little Sydney fix

The river's been quiet for a while.. lots happening in my n'online world. I had a solo show mid September, which I meant to post about last month... but didn't. I will though. Soon. Ish.

These trees are just fantastic...

Last weekend I went up to Sydney to see Bill Henson's new show at Roslyn Oxley9 in Paddington. I've liked his work for years but this was the first time I've seen them on the wall. They really are luminous - haunting and dark, but I wish I'd seen a pre-digital collection as I found the digital noise surprising and a little off-putting. I'm being nitpicky though aren't I? They were quite stunning, I'm still a big fan. I was happy to have visited twice - as soon as I drove in on Friday evening and then also on Saturday afternoon with Mandy.

I loved Saturday. It started with a lazybreakfast in Balmain with great company and a rich assortment of friendly folk and their dogs passing by. Around midday I drove over to Surry Hills to meet Mandy and her family - which I've been meaning to do for 18 months or so. I'm so glad we finally hooked up - really made my day! We walked around in the rain and I remembered why I love this part of Sydney.

Lovely mandy

Oversexed French bulldog

This is Marcel (above) from ici et la. This store is so gorgeous - I can afford very little inside these doors but Marcel furiously humping an unsuspecting stool was free of charge.
 

ici et la

After meandering for a while, we went back to the Bill Henson show and then wandered up to Sibella Court's store where she was launching her book. I came away with some nice old-style scissors and a few other odds & ends. This brown lab was raiding bins in a laneway.. Tsk.

The other wonderful I did over this weekend was to reconnect with my cousin Stephen. I hadn't seen him or his kids for around a decade and meeting up again was really lovely. He and his partner were so generous, warm and hospitable and let me stay with them both nights. They were very tolerant of my gushing at the apartment, photographing it from all angles, exclaiming at the beautiful things all around, the walls of books and sort of kind of scoffing their wine. Thanks guys! X

This amazing mirror perhaps deserved more time and creativity but this was all I gave it...

Trang wouldn't let me take her picture but eventually we reached a compromise... Poor Lee might not be too pleased with this one of her hunched over with her destroyed knee, but Stephen is wonderfully unfazed by my incessant clicking.

Stephen took this picture of his beautiful daughter Lulu

Sleeping Tilly

My neck had gone into spasm a week or so before Sydney and was still fairly stiff and sore, so the tank was only brought out for a little while. I do adore this camera - I just wish it weighed a little less!

And - these trees!!!

the dew point

This is not the first time Karine and I have run a roll of film through both of our cameras, but it's the first time we've done it from opposite sides of the globe.

These are the first of 36.

Swamp monsters

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Wollongong with Jude to see Flight of the Conchords. If you haven't come across these two before, I barely know where to begin.. perhaps with Albi. Then we can move up to the raunchy Business Time.

 

 

Despite having a cold and feeling a bit snotty and rotten, I loved it. Laughter and wine proving again to be the best medicine. We stayed in my wonderful friends Danielle and Mark's apartment in Port Kembla but didn't have much time to explore. (Last visit there prompted this post).

This visit was fleeting and we stopped only twice on our way out - once for breakfast and once for some pictures. On the edge of a park there was the irresistable allure of thick viney undergrowth and dark swampy pathways leading in...

There were these nestlike constructions everywhere. I can only assume they are flood debris but I'd never seen them before. What kind of bird makes these I wondered....? 

This cafe, recommended by Danielle, looked so lovely. It was right of North Beach overlooking the sea. The menu looked delicious and the people were great but - they had no power that morning due to roadworks.

Jude had a meeting in the afternoon so it was time to get on the road and head back. I need a long roadtrip and soon. This was all over in the blink of an eye.

Sneaky Jude took this picture of me. My camera is bigger than my head.Funny that every picture in this post was taken on my little 35mm. I must like lugging the tank around for exercise.

The same and not the same