Heard of it? Probably not, and I don’t blame you despite the fact it’s been presented at Queensland’s very own Gold Coast continuously for the past three years.

This year Underbrand (where I work) were lucky enough to have APSA as a client and through their own good will sent us three invites to attend the ceremony itself. Granted we finished up all of their work first, of course…

Despite weeks of staring at APSA content and imagery it wasn’t until attending the ceremony itself that I realised the understated importance this event has to world cinema and the many cultures that are personified through it. I could babble on about this all night but I’m going to make you read up on it yourself at their website. All I’m trying to do here is plant a little seed of guilt and intrigue (mostly guilt) in your mind.

In short, the movies featured from this event are from 70 countries around the world – that’s half the world’s film. Although you may be well versed in the latest Sarah Jessica Parker film, it may very well be worth checking out some of this year’s APSA nominated movies even just for a bit of a refreshing change from Hollywood. (Yes, I do love how that website turns up on the first Google search page of her name.)

But wait, there’s more.

Brisbane is lucky enough to be currently hosting the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art. Well worth checking out, and just to entice the indy kids it features one of the coolest/biggest painting of three skulls I ever dun seen (see below).

For more details check out the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art website. The photo top-left is of Zhu Weibing & Ji Wenyu’s People Holding Flowers, the ‘Cool Skulls’ I didn’t manage to jot down the artist or title of. If you know this one please contact me, although I’m sure I’ll be going back at least once before it all ends in April. ‘Cool Skulls’ is actually titled Flowers, Fruits & Portraits by Shirana Shahbazi in collaberation with Sirous Shaghaghi (thanks for the info Ellie).

I Landed a New Job!
Today marks the second day of employment at my new job with Underbrand – a branding and marketing agency based in New Farm. Yes, New Farm meaning I only have to walk past a few woolsheds to get to the office – no more traffic! My official role is ‘Creative Executive’ which means I will be working on a bit of everything – print, web, photography etc. Already I have been able to work on some really exciting projects as well as learning a lot from the very talented Craig and Christine Bridge who are responsible for giving me this amazing opportunity. My biggest challenge right now is waking my brain up - as my previous job really was more mechanical/repetitive than anything else. I’m starting to ramble now so I will continue with a few more points of interest.

Neat Espresso
It had only recently occured to me earlier on into the year that ‘oldmate’ Wil had opened up his very own cafe in Brisbane. Upon hearing this I met up with him explaining my services that could help him out and he has just recently got back to me about taking action on this. We recently did a very spontaneous photo-shoot of his shop and a few concept shots that could be used in ads,print or even to be framed and hung in the shop. Our next step is developing a simple and clean website for the shop – so far I have registered the domain and setup a simple auto-size page for now with just the logo. I’ll be meeting up with Wil this weekend to discuss the website further and possibly score more free coffee off of him as a result. Check it out so far: http://www.neatespresso.com/

Ran/Run Live at the Troubadour – This Thursday
As previously stated in my last post, the very talented duo that make up Ran/Run will be playing there first real live show at the Troubadour this Thursday. So if you’re keen on checking it out: get in contact / check out the details / I will see you there.

Wide Awake Thoughts – Blog Launch
My amazingly talented and always fashionable roommate Jess has silently launched her blog over the weekend.  It features fashion/marketing/branding and all that jazz in relation to her own style, interests and Brisbane itself. It’s a little bare on content so far but she’s very quickly warming up to the concept of writing to strangers on the World Wide Web: wideawakethoughts.wordpress.com

- S L E E P – (Another exciting day at Underbrand awaits!)

On the weekend I had a fun shoot with Alex Zamfir and Stephen Lusher who were after some portrait photos for their acting/modelling portfolios. I’m still without almost all the equipment that would be helpful in a portrait photoshoot but I think we went alright with natural light and the 50mm. To the left here, we have a silly magazine-cover mock up I did of Alex, just for a bit fun.

Check Out the Photos Here

I’m hoping to get an off-camera speedlight kit for my 580ex II so I can properly use it to its full potential. By the way, if anyone wants to donate some Pocket Wizards that would just be swell. In the mean time I’ll probably just have to invest in a very long sync cord.

While I’m here I thought I’d share a new Sebastien Tellier video for his song L’Amour et La Violence. Anyone who knows me knows I am a rather big Tellier fan and this happens to be one of my favourite songs from his latest album. Check it out:

Okay, I am aware this place is starting to form cobwebs already but I’m really trying to keep it pure and only post original content that hasn’t already been regurgitated by a million other blogs. If you’re looking for some cool links and possibly to stalk my daily life you can always follow me on Twitter. Rest assured though I am working on a few showcase projects  to post here – both projects that I’m involved with and local happenings worth mentioning/supporting.

In the mean time please feel free to check out my travel photos from earlier in the year when I visited some friends in Paris and London:

P A R I S | L O N D O N

I got my first SLR only a couple of months before leaving and I’d have to say; exploring two of the world’s greatest cities really helped me develop a love for photography. I’m currently looking for experience and/or an internship with a professional photographer in Brisbane so please contact me if you’d like me to fetch you coffee.