The Light Fantastic TLF: November 2008

Validation

I have been sooo busy of late...well what's new? I have many images and comments I will share when I have a moment to breathe, but as an interim post let me share this clip. It is NOT short, but worth every minute of the view. I hope you enjoy. I loved it and it really sums me up at present I think.

Lately, part 3

This is a clip of me on You Tube that will give you a brief look at me on air on TVSN the home shopping network with the presenter Malvedere. I have sold cameras on this TV station for Samsung and Kodak in the past, and recently Nikon has asked me to represent them and sell their cameras on TV. This was the second show and went fairly well. I am on each time for an hour, and I am always amazed at how quickly those hour shows go. Rather than subject you all to the task of listening to me or watching me for a whole hour Marcelina chopped it down to a couple of minutes. Thankfully! I will not subject any of you to this again, but I did think it would be interesting for some of you to see me on air, especially those who visit from overseas!

the above pictures were taken by Callum the floor manager, not me!

Just before this TV appearance on Saturday night I was doing some training for camera enthusiasts and camera club training at a major retail store in Sydney City. Each class I ran had around 70 people in them and it was very exciting. Before that I was in Dural, Sydney's exclusive large property suburb in the cities north west for a family portrait. It was a great experience. One of the ladies, I covered her wedding some years ago and she is still so radiant. This particular lady is blind and still knows the importance of having some great images. Sharing her wedding pictures with her all that time ago was a very special experience I shall never forget. I ran her finger around each picture and explained what each picture contained and how it looked. So great was her recall that a week or so later she still "visualised" the images and remembered. A marvelous experience.

Then after the TV appearance at 9:30pm I had to go straight to a concert with the previously spoken of Australian rock band The Angels!, Leo Sayer was also there and completed a set of songs. I was able to catch up with him backstage, and knowing he would be there previously I printed a couple of pictures of him which he loved and also autographed for me. He then said "I remember you! when you sent me an email with the pictures I went on and looked at your blog and website, Very good!, I might even leave a comment there soon!!" Wow, Leo Sayer checks out my blog occasionally!

I have come to know each of the band members, crew and their respective partners quite well, but I had not had the opportunity to be photographed with the band and crew, but backstage on Sunday morning at the end of the concert was the chance I had hoped for!

I got home from this concert at 4am! then had to be up on Sunday to go out to a family function with extended family members in the Kogarah area. It was fun, and I had a T-Bone steak that was Yummo! I love Roast Lamb as well, but there are so few places these days that have the appropriate sauces to compliment meats. Roast Pork should have apple sauce, and teak, in my opinion should have bearnaise sauce and Lamb should have Mint sauce or mint Jelly.

Then after lunch I went back to my brother in laws apartment which is a penthouse apartment in Sydney and so, with a great view and full stomach, whilst the others were chatting my eyelids drew heavy and I slipped in to the arms of Morpheus. The greek god of sleep!

There is so many different things I have been doing of late, I truly feel blessed to be a art of such an exciting time. I feel very honoured to have the talent and ability that is growing more and more, each time I use it. It has made me realise the truth to the statement, "use it or lose it!" Indeed.

Lately, part 2

The first assignment pictured here was a fundraising event for the Luke Priddis Foundation - a foundation set up initially to help the Rugby League star's child born with Autism and has now reached out and helped many, many children with a variety of Special Needs. The first picture is of the Noll Brothers which were also at the Breast Cancer Foundations golf day in part 1. These guys gave of their time freely and drove almost 10 hours to share their talents to help people. What truly great guys and entertainers. Adam is pictured below singing and Damien is waving. There were lots of news readers and NSW television celebrities were there and it was a real great night. I was grateful to be a small part of this great function and cause. It was held in the Waterview Convention Centre at Homebush Bay which was in the Olympic precinct for Sydney's 2000 Olympics. It is still well utilised and is a great assett to have for Sydney siders.

This is Luke Priddis above. He was playing for the Penrith Panthers and is now moving clubs to go to the St George Dragons. Go the Dragons! Luke is such a great guy, genuine and very courteous.

This is Holly Priddis (Luke's great and organised wife), with the lovely Chris Bath the Channel 7 News reader with Luke Priddis.

A shot of the volunteers helping on the night! Great ladies.

Adam Noll, singing his heart out!

Chris Bath presenting.

This group is a collection of very talented young people with a range of intellectual disabilities. They are a very moving and graceful group called the Merry Makers, and is there any doubt that this is exactly what they do. They were featured recently on 60 minutes Australia and I have had association with a few of them who have Down Syndrome and it was a thrill to see and cover them as one of the items of entertainment at this event. Wonderful people. There is a lot of pride and love around and from these special people. Their website is here if you wish to have a look.

http://www.merrymakers.com.au

Due to popular demand here is another one of the little man, Denzel. Here he is pictured with his Nan Grace who just arrived back from the airport returning from New Zealand and as a treat we went to KFC. I asked him to have a picture BEFORE he ate, and he complied but made sure I knew that he was doing it against his will! after the single shot was taken he walked away from nan and went straight to his chicken and burger! I love the hand on his hip! Very assertive me thinks!

This picture above is a very gratifying gift to me from accomplished part Aboriginal artist Robyn Caughlin. We met thru our work in Jeans for Genes and I happened to be looking at her artworks and said, "one day I will be able to afford one of your works Robyn", after some time and with NO prodding from me, she asked me for some of my jeans and to autograph them. She then asked me about my life, and asked for a couple of pictures of me, so she could get a feeling of the person I am. With that she painted my jeans into this very large frame and created what you see.

I was blown away. I must admit the ONLY think I find hard to look at is my face in the artwork.

Robyn said she believed I would be VERY successful in life, in my ambitions and with my passion I could do anything. I am humbled and gratified.

She added a small statement by saying "you occasionally lose hope Craig, DONT!" Have faith in your dreams and have faith in yourself. So she painted the words have faith on the bottom left to serve as a constant reminder to me.

"It IS coming Craig, I see it."

One of the most humbling things about this generous gift of time and care, is that she indicated she had seen something in me, and wanted to do this to help me.

It is also humbling that someone else sees my hopes and dreams and believes in them as much as I do. It is a very powerful thing. I remember when I was in junior High School struggling with identity, puberty and self esteem that one of the things I remember clearly is that at pivotal points in my life, people were there to help guide me through the channels of life, and they often said they did this because they believed in me.

I included this picture of Robyn above. I am still speechless. You cant see the outline of my jeans very clearly, but the blue in the centre surrounds my autograph on the jeans which are diagonal.

I am very honoured. I really appreciate you Robyn. Thank you doesn't convey how I feel adequately enough.

Robyn and I at her Gallery in the Blue Mountains

This painting is worth $150,000 and has been valued and purchased I believe by the Australian national gallery.

Lately, part 1

I have been a little quiet in sharing some pics recently, not because I was holding out, but I was trying to catch up on some sleep! I have been burning the candles at both ends for some time and it is always taxing when you try to cheat yourself out of sleep. It ALWAYS catches up with you. This is part 1 of a 3 part install over the next couple of days as I combine and center a number of images and thoughts and bring them all together to share. It is afterwards as I compile these thoughts and images do I seem to say, Oh yeah I did that didn't I. Life is getting too fast, but I sense I get closer and closer to my dreams each and every day!!

Anyway, I will share some images I have taken over the last couple of weeks sprinkled with some thoughts. These images are just a few of literally thousands I have taken over the recent couple of weeks. The most notable person I had the chance to meet this past week was the wonderful Chris Isaak. What a gentle man and a marvelous talent. I saw him in an interview once a few years ago on TV and thought privately, I would love to meet him one day, and I now have. He had his drummer, Kenny Johnson with him throughout the interview, of which I was the only photographer, together they punctuated the interview with songs and it was really a treat musically and informatively. The anecdotes Chris shared about his experiences with Roy Orbison, and Scotty Moore (Elvis's guitarist) were particularly amazing. I was struck with how genuinely nice he is. There is still a sense of fragility I felt about him but I loved meeting him.

An anecdote of this clip is that Chris mentioned that his friends really thought he and the model were in a relationship, despite his protests denying such a relationship they didn't believe him. The model in the clip is former supermodel now photographer Helena Christensen who was once a former love interest of the late Michael Hutchence lead singer from Australian Rock band INXS (in excess). I had met both Michael AND Helena once as well.

After the Chris Isaak interview I took Denzel and Marcelina to an Italian Restaurant Called a taste of Tuscany!!! Good thing I never married an Italian. I would be huge! I love Italian food.

Then I was asked to photograph an evening with some rally drivers who had donated time to some corporate people who paid for the opportunity to go around a race track and off road track with the drivers. All money raised from the small group was $27,000 which was donated to Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets program. This mild and tireless worker has dedicated his life to helping others in the fringes of society, and he is a fearless advocate for the youth and has been a major influence for good and has helped many lives turn around. A true blessing to have in our society and a wonderful man to have officially met. I did photograph him a couple of years ago but never had the chance to actually meet him.. The two Great Danes are his two dogs. I have added more rally pictures because people asked to see more of these!

I also covered an annual corporate golf day to raise funds and awareness for, Breast Cancer research. It was a great event held at Twin Creeks Troon Golf course at Luddenham west of Sydney. They had a few local celebrities participate. They included Andrew Daddo, a media presenter, and part of a showbiz family here in OZ. The Noll Brothers, older brothers of Shannon Noll, a great couple of guys I have met and photographed previously. They remembered me also. Then there was the stunning and gracious late night newsreader from Network Ten, Sandra Sully. The entertainment was the very accomplished country singer and artist Dianna Corcoran. What a really beautiful person she is. Talented certainly but very courteous and kind. I took some pictures of her and she autographed her latest CD. We knew some mutual people and I think we will cross paths again in the near future. I would love to do the shots for her next album, will wait and see. I noticed she was with a friend so I introduced myself not to be rude. Once Johanna Hemara introduced herself to me, I said "are you the same Johanna Hemara who was at the age of 10 or 12 the star of the one time Australian talent show called Star Search?" To which she responded, I was 14! and yes!!! She was blown away that anyone remembered her at all. She was a talented young lady who yodeled her way into the heights of that program and into the hearts of many people around the country. Having said that, I am not a fan of yodeling really but I appreciate the skill and talent required to do it. Johanna also sings well and has written the song I included in the You Tube clip below Dianna's clip. She was so pleased I remembered her, she gave me her latest CD and I got it autographed as well. A simple and happy experience for us both I thought. Here are some pics of that event.

President-elect Obama

Pictures from ninemsn.com

Well, The American public has spoken. I personally never thought I would see an African American President. Wow!I am pleased and proud for those who will now look at the US very differently, and hopefully, positively. I honestly believe that in 8 years time, or just beyond, start watching for Governor Schwarzenegger. I am not sure America or the world is ready for the Terminator to become a President, but I heard a man who interviewed Arnold once after his first low budget box office flop, and he asked Arnold, "Where to from here?" to which Arnold responded, that one day I will become the biggest grossing box office star in the country, maybe even the world! The man who was interviewing Arnold laughed thinking Arnold was joking, but realised quickly his resolve and steely determination were resolute. Look what happened! His last question to Arnold was what do you want to do after you accomplish that? Become President! I have not added the quotes in because I have paraphased a little, I would have to go back to the author/ interviewers MP3 file I have and listen to it in full again.

The inspiring thing about this is, that America has once again shown itself to be the land of opportunity.

Regular visitors to my blog will know that I try to distance myself from politics, yet on this issue I have been caught up in the last furlong race between the two candidates, the position reportedly the most powerful position in the world caught my interest as the choices and decisions the winner makes could affect the world. I thought Senator McCain's response was gracious and courteous. The speeches from both were inspiring. We certainly live in interesting times, I eagerly look forward to the future.

Enough of politics for now.