The Hmong people still live very simply, away from technology and what we would consider life as normal. It was really refreshing to spend time in their villages and I really love the friendly laid back vibe.

Here are a few more images from along the way.

A young boy dries off on the end of a fishing boat on the Mekong river.

A young girl playing outside her family’s shack.

The local soccer team prepare for kick off

Mother and baby go for an afternoon stroll.

A toddler hides from me behind his father’s bike.

A family’s footwear gathers outside their front door.

A  young girls peels the skin off a root vegetable with a big knife at a market

A family unpacks fresh vegetables from a day’s farming. They will be sold at a market the following day.

Sims, Amy and I having dinner in one of the villages we stayed in. It was pretty much just rice and leaves, not that tasty but when you haven’t got anything else its not too bad.

I’m heading to Sydney in a few days where I will be based for a little while working at the Transfer office. I hope you all have a great Christmas wherever you are. Let’s hope for plenty of new experiences and adventures in the New Year.

The last week I have been travelling around Laos. It’s been an amazing adventure and a real eye opener. I have been on the road and river with Kearrin Simms who has been based here doing research for the last nine months.

Most of the trip has been spent with locals in the more remote villages and away from the main tourist trail which has been great for genuine photo opportunities and some interesting experiences. But it has also been very challenging as they have barely even seen a camera before and are quite hesitant and hide away.

Here are a few snaps of the trip. I will post the best work once editorial commitments have been met.

Simsy having a go at one of the traditional Hmong games in one of the bigger villages we went to.

Two girls in their traditional  Hmong clothing  whom we got introduced to.

There are loads of kids playing on the new roads that have been built by the Chinese.  It seems really dangerous at first but you soon get used to avoiding them on the bikes.

Chillies drying on the banks of the Mekong

Coming into Luang Parbang last night on the fast boat.

Every year Capture Magazine (Australia’s top-selling Pro Photography Magazine) releases an Annual Edition with some of the best professional photography for the year featured throughout its pages. Over 2,100 photographs were submitted and less than 130 made the final print edition. I was stoked to have two images selected and printed in this issue. One image was selected in Advertising and the other in Editorial.

It’s also been nice having some down time over the last few weeks. Yesterday we went out to Cape Kidnappers where a friend farms and did a little pest control.  It’s an amazing bit of land with grand cliffs that drop away to the to the ocean.

Last week NZ Geographic magazine announced the winners of the 2011 Photographer on the Year competition. Is was great to see the other finalists’ work and I received a Highly Commended in the landscape category. They printed a shot in the Nov/Dec magazine alongside the other finalists and the local paper decided to do a little profile. I also got the latest addition to my mounting camera equipment pile and purchased the x100. I have wanted a small but good quality street camera for some time now and finally settled on this. I can’t wait to get shooting with it.

Below are a few images from a shoot I did for fashion designer Maddie Lawson

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Credits-

Fashion Designer: Maddie Lawson
Textiles Designer: Maddie Holder
Models: Stacey McCall , Frith Armstrong
MUA , Hair: Unna at The Emerald Parlour
Assistants: Nick Holder,Oscar Bolderson, Rachael Brookfield

An old image I came across while editing today, man and the moon.

It was a gloomy drive north up the east cost of the South Island. I drive past this iconic little crayfish hut every year. It sits alone just out of Kaikoura – their way of life around here seems to move at its own very slow pace. Looks like the fisherman had a sleep in this day.

Hi all

I have found myself a little tied up with different photography ventures lately and it’s been hard finding time to post blogs. I’m going to be making some changes to my website over the next few months reflecting developments in my work. I will start posting an image every now and then with a little description/story so check back regularly to see what’s been going on.

Since my last post there has been a few things happening. I have a new position as Photo Editor and New Zealand Editor at Transfer magazine. I’m a finalist in the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition, one of the first competitions I have entered, so I might start doing that more often.

I have also been putting time in to a personal project that I will hopefully be happy with and finish one day, and I just got back from an amazing Heli trip into Isobel Glacier where we camped for a night on the glacier.

Now I’m hitting the road and heading north for a while. Don’t you love this time of the year, sun on your face,  and fresh summer scents in the air.

Nick Hyne – one of the biggest storms in the last 30 odd years hit Queenstown this last winter. I took this portrait of Nick while we were out exploring a different looking Queenstown.

There is always a lot going on in Queenstown at this time of the year. It’s the competition month and lots of international crew come in for a few weeks to compete and check out what NZ has to offer. Unfortunately we haven’t had fresh snow in a few weeks and a few of my jobs have had to be called off. There has still been plenty of work though and we have been pushing to get results. The forecast is looking brighter for next week and I’m looking forward to spending some time in the wilderness.

A shot of me getting extreme, with Queenstown in the background. It was an amazing day and I knew where to find the good snow. We had pretty amazing conditions compared to anywhere in this zone.

When I find time I like to experiment and shoot lots of arty stuff. This frame is exposed over about 20 minutes as the earth turned creating a stream from the stars.

If you live in Sydney please go and check this out next week. The exhibition is on in Bondi. I think the gallery will be open for around six weeks. I’ll have a few images on the walls.

This is Nick Brown. He grew up just around the corner from me in Havelock North and we used to go surfing together as groms before we had even got into snowboarding. He fast became a well known name in the industry as one of the top riders. I have spent a good chunk of time travelling different parts of the world and more often than not Browner is doing the same.

Below is a shot that didn’t go to print but I think is worthy of being pubished. Nick charging a pretty decent cliff in the Washington backcountry.

I recently got sent some Mons Royale gear from Hamish Acland. He owns and runs the show for Mons and he is doing a bloody good job of it. Their gear is great and keeps me warm when I’m out shooting.

So we shot a few images with Tera and Meesh in the gears last week. Below is a sneak peak. Hope you like them.

Model- Terra Lynn Labadie.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea

Model- Meesh Batchelor.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea

Model- Terra Lynn Labadie.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea

Model- Terra Lynn Labadie and Meesh Batchelor.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea

Model- Meesh Batchelor.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea

Model- Meesh Batchelor.  Stylist- Victoria Lindrea