I’ve been away for the week to the Gold Coast for a working holiday and a bit of a photo mission. While I was there I just had to go and experience the Surfers Paradise Hard Rock Cafe. What a place. The memorabilia is absolutely amazing.
The Hard Rock Cafe is a great night out for any music fan. You can spend hours wandering the walls checking out all the bits and pieces signed by various artists who have been there over the years as well as some very valuable authentic one off items owned by some famous artists. The are some great live photos walking up the stairs that really caught my eye. As a live music photographer I would really be happy to end up with one of my live photos to end up signed by the artist on the wall of a Hard Rock somewhere in the world.
The standout pieces for us were the Guns ‘N Roses Harley Davidson right next to the cashiers, Elvis Presley black denim outfit(well that was more my wifes fave than mine), Kurt Cobain outfit, all the signed guitars, photos, surfboards and stuff everywhere. It was good to even see some current artists stuff there as well, with Thirty Merc making an appearance downstairs in the cabinet. It is a great experience and I cant wait to go there again and hopefully catch a live band as well.
Oh Yeah, we did eat at some stage and the food was great too.
If you want to find out more, heres the link for the Surfers Paradise Hard Rock Cafe
Tags: Australia·Gold Coast·guitars·Hard Rock Cafe·music memorabilia·restaurant·surfboards·surfers paradise·Thirsty merc

In a world of anonimity, where you can click on a link and view peoples little universe shared in a blog, how do you show people that you really like their work? For my photo blog I get alot of comments from people saying how much they like my photos, Thanks and I really appreciate the feedback. If I was a poet I would guess that people would do the same. But how do you return the favour when all you have is an email address attached to a website address from someone who has enjoyed your work enough to leave a comment?For me, I always check out my commenters websites. I dont just go along and read the first page I like to read quite a few posts to get a feel for the people who take the time to leave meaningful comments on my work. I take the time to return the gratitude by reading their work and alot of the time leave a comment as well. So far I havent had a comment from anyone with a crap site, so congrats everyone on the quality of the blogs out there.
Being a blogger, I know how much time we all put into our little bits of real estate on the internet so I also like to play a little bit of santa and click on peoples ads as well. This is my way of giving a monetary return to the people who take the time to read my page. Adsense, adtoll, whatever it may be, I know we all make that little bit of money from people clicking on our ads so hopefully over time my click thanks will return a paycheck for my reader. Its anonymous, no one knows youve done it and it gives a little surprise when people check their ad balances.
I also do the same for entrecarders who drop on me. I try to visit as many entrecard blogs as I can, and I always drop a card when I do. But if I really like the site, and read further than the front page I will click on a few ads while I am there. Bloggers need to stick together so its up to us not to just drop and run, but really check out each others work, encourage each other to continue and click each others ads to show our appreciation of each others work. I know some Entrecarder will always drop and run, but if you see a card from me you can guarantee I have read your most recent posts and more than likely dropped a nice little tip in your ad jar.
How do you show your appreciation to fellow bloggers?
Tags: ad·blogging·click·click thanks·Digital Photography·entrecard·link love·money·Photos

I stayed in Goulburn for a few days this week to help our southern plant out for work. I had a bit of spare time after work so I decided to have a look around. Where I stayed was right next door to The Big Merino. So I had to go and have a look. Built in 1985 as a monument to Goulburn and the surrounding districts fine wool industry, it stands 15.2m high, 18 metres long and weighs in at 97 tonnes. He is an impressive life like model of ’Rambo’, a stud ram from a local property, Bullamallita. Recently relocated to his present home just off the Hume Highway, its worth stopping in to check him out and look out his eyes over Goulburn.The Goulburn district is an area rich in Australian history and culture, with sweeping plains, rolling pastures and dramatic gorges. Discovered during exploration by an ex-convict, John Wilson, Goulburn was Australia’s first settled inland city and was named after Henry Goulburn, the Secretary of State for War and Colonies at the time

Goulburn War Memorial and Museum
Located on the top of Rocky Hill standing at a height of 20 meters is a square tower of stone conglomerate and concrete known as the War Memorial.
It was built by public subscription in 1924 as a lasting tribute to the gallant men of Goulburn and the District who served in World War 1.
A tablet inscribed with the names of those enlisted from the District can be found inside thee tower.
The lookout gallery at the top of the Memorial provides spectacular views over the city of Goulburn and its surrounding environment.
Housed in the adjacent cottage is a valuable collection of artefacts allocated to the city of Goulburn after World War 1, consisting of weapons, personal items used by soldiers, memorabilia and medals.
Tags: Australia·Big Merino·Goulburn·Hume Highway·museum·NSW·rambo·sheep·War Memorial·wool
Quick post today. Went out to my sisters engagement party last night in Muswellbrook and this Garden Orb Spider appeared making his web from the clothes line. I waited until he was finished spinning his web and caught this lucky shot of him. There were quite a few throwaways due to his web moving in the wind, so I was pretty happy to catch this shot, nice and sharp.
I had mucked around with a few Strobist setups using off camera flash but there was too much movement which was frustrating and there was beer waiting to be drunk. So when I chimped this shot I was happy and put the camera away for the night. If it had of been a windless calm evening I would have played more and maybe got some more interesting photos. I am looking forward to getting a macro lens to really bring out the detail in those hairs!
Technorati Tags: digital photography, flash photography, garden orb, Nikon D200, spider, Nikon SB800, web
Tags: arachnid·closeup·Digital Photography·flash photography·garden orb spider·hairs·macro·night photography·Nikon D200·spider·weave·web