First editorial update of 2011

Hi,

A happy new year to one and all. It feels like a lifetime ago that I wrote an editorial update so here goes. It’s actually been a bit quiet on the photo front hence why it has taken me a while to blog.

Lynda Bird found an injured fruit bat and its baby and they are now being cared for my Marina Tretiach at her home. To start with, it took me about 5 minutes of staring to actually find the baby bat as it was hiding under its mums wing. The only give away was seeing 2 sets of feet holding on to the washing line (which is its new home perch until the baby gets a bit stronger). Seriously cute little things! It’s funny, when I see hundreds of bats flying in the sky it’s quite eerie and merging on unpleasant but when you see a couple up close, you can’t help but want to give them a cuddle – especially when one’s being fed by a pipette!

I had the hard job of going around the Hornsby Shire and looking for people enjoying the school holidays. This is generally a nightmare job as no-one wants to talk to a journo and a photographer when they are out enjoying themselves. Luckily for me, I came across a couple of guys who were more than happy to play along and kept repeatedly throwing themselves in the water for me! Thanks a million Jake Plunkett and Joshua Mayo you made my day!

Northbridge clarinetist Laura Altman is co-director of the Now now music festival with Naremburn’s Sam Pettigrew. These guys played for me whilst I took their photos and they can make the most amazing sounds out of their instruments. Laura often plays the clarinet with only half the instrument intact and Sam does all sorts of off things to make sounds out of his double bass like using clamps on his strings as well as tapping the wooden sides. The NOW now presents music and film without borders, with acts ranging from free jazz, to doom metal, to hip-hop beats, to feedback noisescapes and everything in between!

During the school holidays, Ku-Ring-Gai wildflower garden in St Ives ran programs for kids to have some fun and learn about nature. Charlotte Millner and Ben Browne along with 15 other kids, learned about the life cycle of butterflies. I highly recommend going along to the wildflower garden, it’s a tranquil slice of paradise in the middle of busy St Ives, great for a walk or just some quiet time to enjoy nature

When I found out that I was meeting a man with a 100-year-old Rolls Royce, I got very excited, I love interesting old cars and I’ve never seen one like this before outside of a museum. Barrie Gillings and his wife Margaret just celebrated the milestone birthday of their 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Barrie was lovely enough to give me a ride around the block in it and it was serious fun! Everyone looks at you. I felt like the Queen! Apparently it has a top speed of 100mph which is impressive with only 3 gears. This car used to be a hearse and Barrie had it converted about 50 years ago into what it is today.

I had the easy job of photographing Vera Fernandes who is one of Australia’s latest independent pop artist set to burst onto the music scene. She’s so photogenic so it was a fun shoot!

Mosman resident Stephen Van Mil has gone from treating injured cats and dogs to nursing a $60 million film budget. The former vet is now in partnership with Hollywood actor Mel Gibson to make 2 big budget epic movies, one is based on Tim Winton’s novel Shallows about Whaling.

I was called to a press conference in Chatswood about a man who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in Artarmon. The police were calling for witnesses to come forward. I had 15 minutes to race to the job and got there just in the nick of time.

In light of all the terrible weather conditions in Queensland and Victoria, the Weather Channel’s meteorologist Dick Whitaker recalls and recounts a huge storm on the North Shore 20 years ago. The massive storm – our most ferocious since 1914 – struck the North Shore from the north-east at 4.40pm, devastating St Ives, Pymble, Turramurra and Wahroonga, with hail, flash flooding and wind gusts of up to 230km/h.

that’s all for now folks… I’ll be posting another editorial update shortly as well as a wedding

Hope you are all well

Dan