Venice produces many surprises.

The old schools in Colombo in Sri Lanka are completely fascinating.  The architecture, the traditions, the uniforms and the influence they have beyond their sandstone walls are something else.  They’re just so historic and colonial- and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way! During my recent visit to Colombo I visited some of the schools that my parents and my parents’ friends always talk about, including St Thomas in Mount Lavinia, Ladies College and Royal College . Many of the schools that I visited originated in the 19th century and seemed to be copied on Oxford or Cambridge or some other old British college.

I got some good photos in St Thomas as we managed to talk our way inside the school gates but we were not so lucky at the Royal College. Enjoy the photos!

St Thomas in Mount Lavinia

Royal College

Scott Schuman aka ‘The Sartorialist‘ visited Melbourne last week for a book signing at the Sass and Bide store at the GPO. I went and had a quick peek. He completely charmed the pants off all his fans. He’s also a very expressive guy!

Friendly face

Serious face

Concerned face

Sneezy

The Man

A few weeks ago I went to Paris Photo 2009 for the first time. It is one of the world’s biggest photography fairs and I was completely taken with the number, variety and magical quality of the photos. I had never seen anything like it- row, after row, after row of exhibitors from every corner of the world- New York, Beijing, South Africa and Germany were some of the countries that were represented.  This year the exhibition paid hommage to photos from the Arab world. I spent two whole days at the fair and it was incredible. True, at the end of the second day I felt I couldn’t look at another damn photo  but it was the the best photography event I’ve ever been to. I would love to know what others or ‘insiders’ thought of the fair.

Some of the photos exhibited in Paris Photo 2009 (there were so many- hard to pick a few)

Aaargh, didn’t get the details

Sebastião Salgado, Antarctica, 2008

Roger Fenton, Pasha and Bayadere, 1858

Irving Penn, The Tarot Reader

Disderi, Juggler, 1860

Girault de Prangey, Ayoucha, Daguerreotype 1843

Demonstration

Richard Avedon, Alberto Giacometti, Paris 1958

Helmut Newton polaroid

So I’ve come home from Paris.  I can certainly feel the 16,000 kilometres that separate the City of Light from Melbourne.

I’m so far away, but I would go back right this second!

My friend who lives in Paris introduced me to Carla Bruni and Edith Paif in her bohemian apartment in the Marais. I’ve been listening to Carla Bruni and Francoise Hardy and other cliche French songstresses to get over my post-travel blues.

Some photos from my trip:

Clock at the Musee D’Orsay

Fauchon Chocolatier

Ensor Exhibition at the Musee D’Orsay

Shakespeare & Co Book Store

Arc De Triomphe

Moulin Rouge

Ok, I have been having way too much fun here and neglecting my blog but thought I would share some pictures of Kandyan dancing and drumming that I took in Kalutara.

I’ve been in Sri Lanka for three days now. The flight here was interesting to say the least, with some interesting passengers.  I was sitting next to a lady who was wearing a black burkha from head to toe- just leaving her eyes revealed. She had the cutest little baby girl with her who basically laughed and giggled  at me the whole way there. I didn’t watch much television. I also got to know the groups of men acting as couriers between India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia transporting cheap goods between these countries by plane to skip the taxes. They are really irritating- talking really loudly, blocking up the aisles, staring at you shamelessly and hassling the poor air hostesses. If you’ve ever seen large groups of men walking around the airport in Malaysia- it’s most likely them.

We also had really bad turbulence on the plane- so bad that I was feeling sick and i never get airsick! At one point they told everyone to get back to their seats and the flight attendants had all sat down and buckled up as well (which is quite common).   All of a sudden a man gets up, spreads out his prayer mat, wears his prayer cap and starts praying. In the midst of ‘allah akbar‘ a few of the air hostesses start calling for him to sit back on the seat. General confusion and hilarity

As for Sri Lanka itself, I’m having a lovely time in this pearl drop island even though it is nearly unbearably hot- you constantly feel like you have just stepped out of the sauna. I haven’t had much time to take many photos between the constant shopping and eating. Also, there are massively armed soldiers (really just young boys about 18 years old) at virtually every corner street who will stop you at least twice a day for ID and vehicle inspection. I’ve been repeatedly told not to pull the camera out anywhere near them. Anyway, it’s been interesting so far. There is some really amazing, colourful architecture and bursts of colour can be found in the otherwise brown, brown, brown land. We’ll be leaving Colombo and going up north for some historical site expeditions soon so i’ll be sure to post some pics. Au revoir!

Sunrise over the city

Locals catching a bus

The main mosque in Sri Lanka

Lady burning something

Some cool architecture

playing chess with my cousin

*

STARTING TODAY!

Join here

“The Centre for Documentary Practice invites you to logon and join the world’s first online journalism and documentary conference. Register now to be a part of this landmark event where the world of journalism will be connected for one day over three sessions and across all time zones.

Throughout the day you will be able to log on and be inspired by some of the world’s best journalists.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear Paul Fusco, Ed Kashi, Jodi Bieber, Marcus Bleasdale, Shahidul Alam, Gary Knight, Adam Ferguson, Michael Coyne, Masaru Goto, Jack Picone, Megan Lewis, Robin Hammond and others share their stories and experiences, answer your questions and discuss journalism and documentary as social activism”.

Very cool. Get onto it!

Markets are officially the best place to take photos of weird, kitsch things.