Mark Jensen enjoys a golden shower

Not that type of golden shower for all you sicko's snickering to yourselves. Started as an idea over coffee, admittedly not mine, and pulled off just for fun. Would make a cute scam ad for pasta or bathroomware I guess.

Mr Jensen is executive chef and part owner of Red Lantern in Surry Hills and is best known for his guest appearances on Ready Steady Cook.

Interestingly, he is also a serious cyclist, which as far as chefs go must be quite a rare combination of talents, not to stereotype or anything.

Styling by Andrew de Sousa and retouching by Todd Sotheren at Creation Theory 

Sod fireman, I wanna be a Photographer

Remember when you were growing up and some well-meaning aunt trying to make conversation with a 7,10,14 year old asked "what would you like to be when you grow up?" Immediately you were transported 10 years into  the future in which in your imagination rendered you in movie poster pose, fighting a monster fire while carrying a svelte damsel...er scratch that..puppy- if you were 7.

So if fireman wasn't your thing it might have been cowboy or nurse or police(person) or something else romantic and exciting given you were naively unaware of the stigma of public service or blue collar endeavors.

Personally I plucked the vocation "Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist" out of thin air because I figured with such a small area of expertise there can't be much to learn ey? Boy, was I wrong about that.

I'm certain that many glamorous vocations were imagined by pimply adolescents over the decades as these jobs were popularized by TV programmmes of the era, I mean who didn't want to be a chopper pilot after watching a barely sober(?) Jan Michael Vincent in "Airwolf" (OK that was the 80's) or more recently every kid wants to be a CSI since the  questionable performance of David Caruso as Horatio made that look uber-cool.

Yes, it might look like they work in a warm -gelled architectural glittering masterpiece where there is are dozens of fancy machines that blip and bleep and spit out data, and all computers announce a verdict in flashing red banners with more bleeps like a frikkin' poker machine, but as anyone who has ever worked in a government lab of any description will tell you, they are grey,  deeply depressing and devoid of energy, and that decomp has a presence on the nose that literally induces the gag-and-flee reflex in any normal human being. Glamorous it aint folks.

So I hear that every Gen YZ'er now has photographer on the top their list of wannabe vocations (aside from just living off their parents), and why not, you just buy a camera and do a quick course and you are set to go. Exotic locations, beautiful models and fame await all who simply take a few pics of their sk8'r buddies and post them on Flick'r.
There is no tedious study or exams involved, you don't have to be bright or clever, and you will never have to wear a suit or cut your hair. Its basically like being a surfer. Only with more chicks.

I get asked all the time "My son/brother/boyfriend wants to be a photographer, what do you think? I have to use restraint not to pull a face and say "Has he considered the exciting world of tax auditing?"
Don't get me wrong, I encourage young fresh talent who push like a railway shunter to get into this industry- because they will crack it-Eventually. If their work has merit and they are mad-keen living /eating /sleeping the medium then nothing will hold 'em back. Just know that there are many of those out there- far more than there used to be- and the pool of work is getting smaller and the money less. We are no longer revered as the alchemists who could capture a scene or object on transparency film with a 4x5 view camera and make it look better than reality. The digital age has given the impression that its just a press of a button (click-SHIFT-F8), but its even more layered than ever. There is so much to learn and know and stay abreast of, and its changing fast. You can use software to do almost anything, but TALENT is God given, and VISION has to be absorbed over years of practicing the craft.

The top end of photographers have worked for years, and will continue to work tirelessly on every aspect of their craft to continuously impress the client today, and in addition will spend half their life on continual self-promotion to ensure that  clients will remember them tomorrow. No guarantees, precious little loyalty, no dental, no pension, and even when you are not physically working you are thinking about some aspect of work. You don't switch off at 5.

 So the question is not whether junior wants to be a photographer- but how BADLY he/she want to pursue this and how MANY YEARS it will take to build a decent portfolio and life sustaining client base to get to a point where nothing will ever be certain anyway. Sound like a good deal?

Some work with Andrew de Sousa

Been doing some projects with Mr de Sousa and really enjoyed working with the man. I must admit most of the stylists I've worked with in the past have been women so its good to be able to shoot the breeze with one of the blokes whilst working. Andrew is a passionate foodie and an absolute Nazi for good ingredient and produce. He also knows where to get the best stuff in Sydney. I hope to do many more shoots as a team.

Rant #?

I don't rant that much..OK maybe I do but thats what happens when you have an opinion, but I don't WHINE, except when I'm really peeved, so here goes....

Why is it that most of the litter I see around, often in the same spot every day, originates from McDonalds. Maccas packaging must be the most recognized form of litter blowing around the streets. OK, maybe second by a small margin to the ever present Coca Cola bottle.

Now I'm not going to climb atop my soapbox all holier than thou, but c'mon, what is the common denominator here.

Clearly there are not enough garbage bins provided or the council is simply not working hard enough to pick up after Mr Macca Snacca. I would never allude to the possibility that Mr Macca Snacca might be inspired to actually walk the 25 paces to where a garbage bin is provided, or, no wait, I'm going way to far to imply he might actually hold onto his packaging until a convenient garbage disposal solution presents itself.

Now to what does one draw a parallel here? Lots of people eat Maccas or KFC or whatever and clearly 99% of those actually do dispose of the evidence properly or we would be swimming in McNugget pouches. So what's up with the rest. Did mommy's little darlings always pick up behind them or is it just a rebel-without-a-clue attitude that "someone below me will pick up after me, co's thats just how I roll"

I'll put money on the fact that within 100m of any fast food outlet is a cluster of packaging, and let me tell you Mr Fast Food Giant, your branding aint lookin' so good when its trash on the street ey?

Now what triggers this little rant is that as visual people we are probably impressed a little more than most by the awesome (overused word but in context here) natural beauty of little corners of the earth we have the pleasure to see in our travels, local and abroad. But why on Gods green earth does some idiot, whilst standing where I'm standing and looking at the same breathtaking scenery, decide that here would be just fine to chuck his frigging Dr Pepper or BonzaBrekkie wrapper I mean, who the hell is expected to follow after m'Lord and pick up the junk that is so thoughtlessly pitched to the ground. The throwaway generation is defining itself by doing just that, but please aim it at the bins provided, if its not too much effort.Ta

Lets not get started on the tagging thing which can't even pretend to be real graffitti.

Peace out

The Defection

Ok, this is frikken weird, as I begin writing this blog, the next bit of music on the iPod random play (and following Linkin no less) is a classical piece entitled simply "Canon in D-Major". Its a genteel little piece that conjures up images of Summer high tea and blokes in stockings. I digress, but seriously, as I hinted in a previous post, I've made up my mind.

After almost 20 years (Ok most of that time shooting was on medium format film and then digital), I'm going to move over to the dark side. Canon has fortified itself as the industry standard. This becomes obvious when gear hire establishments will only hold Canon stuff. Using a Nikon in our circles is becoming , well, like using a PC. There nothing wrong with it. It works, it just isn't the industry standard.

BUT, Canon has another brand new market. Its video capabilities are making it a standard tool of trade for the film guys. Whole episodes of House and 24, not to mention countless scenes in feature films, are being shot on a 5D. TVC's- sure. If they can get away with it, it beats lugging a 35mm Arriflex, and the results are cinematic with a wonderful shallow DOF that, up to now, has not been possible. ( i don't think?)

I'm not going to go to detail, but I'm keen on this stuff. I had a taste of Directing TVC's and I see the confluence of still and motion inevitable in our future. 

So, I'm embarking on that band wagon in an exciting direction, along with many other shooters, and as we photogs blend into the melting pot of film guys and wedding videographers(horror) and all other, we are bound to see those with a visual signature create some beautiful clips- and we are bound to see a plethora of crap too.

Binge Drinking (and other passtimes)

Been holding off on showing these until the Campaign launched, and that was held up for a while, but finally I can show some of the images from GPYR's "When to say When" shoot for the NSW Gov. Anti Binge Drinking thingy. AD was masterfully pulled of by Dave Joubert who was nursing a hangover and precious little sleep. Despite this, the man was a pleasure to work with, and I'm super stoked to have had the opportunity to do so.

Shooting was done in tandem the TV crew, but thankfully I had the time to inherit the set after filming, re-light with flash to freeze the action, and get the cast while they were still warm. Performances were excellent, and kudos to Director Gemma Lee (TaxiFilms) for a fantastic casting job.
I used the opportunity to try a Nikon D3S in tandem (lots of tandems today) with my D700. (Medium format was not needed). Although the unit is of course superb, I didn't feel it quite lived up to the launch hype, and unless you really need the high ISO stuff...well, lets just say I didn't feel the need to own it. In fact, I get the feeling that my near 20 year relationship with Nikon is about to come to an end. More about that later

The images I'm posting here are from a personal alternative story to the stuff that ran.

The message comes across clearly methinks...drink too much and you will make a tool of yourself at the least, or get into serious shit (or dead) at worst.