Monthly Archives: May 2009

All Mankind

The Richard Beeston Band (now All Mankind with a fourth band member) needed fresh images leading up to a US tour.

On my recce the previous day, I found a pedestrian footbridge in Silverwater, Sydney – I had no idea what we’d shoot there but I liked the feel. With the guys sitting on the bridge it all fell quickly into place – I brought the camera to their eye level, ensured that all the lines were symmetrical and would all draw your eyes to the same point – disappearing into the distance behind Gavin’s head. Fortunately the weather was mostly overcast which contributed to the muted colour palette (I haven’t reduced the colour saturation) and helped ‘cool’ the image down, bringing out the blue in the steel. For some reason the end result makes me think of The Bronx, or at least as I imagine it from television shows of the 70s and 80s.

In the morning we’d spent our time at an abandoned brickpit in Eastwood – as kids the band members had played here, so they knew it better than they, er, should. We took shots in multiple locations but this one stuck as something quirky that could be used as a back cover image. I didn’t know why I liked it at the time (and I still don’t) – but it worked well enough for it to be used.

Visualization resources

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Lofoten Islands, Norway

In my twenties I lived vicariously through Climbing magazine, a glossy publication that granted me access to the world of mountaineering and sport climbing through images like these. The September 94 issue had stunning images of the granite walls of the Lofoten Islands that I dreamed of visiting and climbing. A decade later we had the opportunity to visit Norway and finally see (but not climb) these walls.

We flew to Oslo and took the train to Bergen, a pleasant but uneventful town. Then we boarded a Hurtigruten ferry, a coastal service that provides mail, vital supplies and transport to those who live in isolated coastal townships.

Richard With ferry Norway

As we approached Bodo, we crossed the Arctic Circle – this image was taken at around 2am:

From Bodo, we took the ferry to Svolvaer Harbour in the Lofoten Island of Austvagsoya, where a statue of a fisherman’s wife greets returning fishermen and climbers jump across the horns of the Svolvaer Goat. The lattice work in the background are racks where fish are dried to make a delicacy called stockfish.

We hired an old Corolla from a no-frills car rental business and drove toward the tip of the islands, using the bridges that connect the major islands:

And visited lakes where angry Norweigan seagulls made a painful and sustained attack after I walked on their mud flats to take this photo:

The next day we drove to Reine Harbour where we stayed in a Rorbu, a fisherman’s hut. You could even fish from a hole in the kitchen floor.

And this was taken at around 1am from the southernmost point on the island of Moskenesoya:

We then drove back to Svolvaer, took the ferry back to the mainland and boarded a train back to Oslo. As a holiday it was painfully expensive but exceeded my expectations, even those built up over a decade.

A slice of innovation

Here’s proof that there’s room for significant innovation in almost any product:

The standard pizza box design considers only one half of the problem space – pizza vendors and their need to transport pizza away from their premises. With the Green Box, eco incorporated looked at the needs of the end user – plates to eat from and storage for leftovers – and created environmental benefits as well. Brilliant.

A little more of the story is available from their short presentation at Pitchfest and thanks to Stuart for the link.