Forever Barbie - 50th Anniversary

Who would not love to look their best forever? Barbie is the most popular plastic doll for girls in history and she still looks her best and trendy after 50 years.

Forever Barbie, celebrating 50th year of a pop culture icon - Barbie - is being showcased at Federation Square (top floor car park). It is the biggest Australia has ever seen. In fact, it is the biggest Barbie exhibition ever in the southern hemisphere!

With over three hundred Barbies, from the yesteryears to the new. From retail models to custom made ones, accessories - bags, glasses, shoes, more bags, houses, furnitures, automobiles (and space shuttle and horses) and pets and of course Ken (which may be classified as her pet also?)! From Barbie doll size to life-size fashion designs...

Not only Barbie fans will find it interesting. There are heaps of merchandise to purchase as well and I don't mean just dolls! Barbie is more than just a doll!

If you haven't checked it out yet. I highly recommend it, especially for this school holiday. It will be open (since Friday, 26th June) until Sunday, 12th July. Checkout the Barbie site for more details.

KEN: "To debunk all the rumour claiming that my relationship with Barbie is rocky, here is proof! We love each other and we are very happy together.

All you eligible bachelors out there, go look somewhere else!

Fans, thank you for your unwavering support to both Barbie and me! XOXO"

The King of Pop Michael Jackson has left

Very sad and unbelieveable news that Michael Jackson (29/08/1958-25/06/2006) has passed away this morning at the age of 50. He was such a great performer, so talented.

His life and career was filled with so much drama and he was undoubtedly the most influential music performer in the last 30 years. On the same day, Farrah Fawcett, one of the original Charlie's Angels also died. She was one of the most beautiful during my childhood years. ;_;

Must say like many, I was somewhat turned off by Michael's look in his later years after the plastic surgeries and skin condition... when he was given the nickname Jacko.

Nevertheless, he was a significant person during my childhood. Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White are some of his songs that have permanent residence in my memory.

It was quite a moving experience at Federation Square tonight. They screened many of Michael's top hits on the giant screen. Many stopped, stood there, sat there, cuddled another and watched. There were older folks, younger people and even some kids.


While there was some technical problems here and there (the video flickered and the audio could not be heard in some songs), people patiently waited, looked on... filling in the gaps with what they remembered and remembered so well.

I wonder about all the memories that must have rushed back to each person as they saw Michael perform... I felt like everything came to a standstill for a moment...


It is so sad that he is not with us anymore. No doubt he will be remembered as a legend, a great achiever, one who won many hearts. Lets remember him for his amazing talent, wonderful songs and moon-walk. RIP Michael.

Melbourne Weekly Eastern A Celebration of the Nation

I am going to be a copy-cat this time. Just noticed one of my pics in the local Magazine - Melbourne Weekly Eastern (Feb 3-9 aka week 5 2009 Volume 3). Below is the pic and the article. :)

"There were flags and barbecues, music and citizenship ceremonies across the nation last Monday in celebration of Australia Day. In Manningham, 63 people became Australian citizens and many more enjoyed the festivities on offer at the council offices in Doncaster. Mayor Charles Pick (second from the left) and councillor Fred Chuah (right) were on hand to announce Manningham's Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year. Heather Ambrose (left) was named Citizen of the Year for her work with Manningham U3A, and Eve Ember (second from right) was handed the Young Citizen of the Year for her outstanding achievements in tae kwon do, at school and as a teacher of martial art."

Manningham Council, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to serve you. Looking forward to serving you again.

Congratulations Heather and Eve for your excellent achievement!

Visit here for more information about Manningham U3A or if you want to help or sign-up to a course. Heather is the Volunteer Coordinator and she teaches Psychology there.

Australia Day 2009

Happy Australia Day! Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Birthday Yuski (my Maltese)!

This is a special year - CNY, Australia national day and my dog's birthday all rolled up together on the same day - 26th January, 2009. Finally (for once anyway), I get a public holiday for CNY. 恭喜發財 (Kung Hei Fat Choy)! Got to work hard this year. It is the year of the Ox!

This is Alexndra Valmorbida, a teen-idol, talented singer and song writer. Her voice is powerful and demonstrates skills and finesse beyond her years. Well done Alex!

Read her profile here or at MySpace. She performed the Australian National Anthem - Advance Australia Fair. Below is the lyrics.

The rubber-band covered part reads, "We've golden soil and wealth for toil."

Speaking was the youngest mayor, Cr Charles Pick, presenting citzen and young citizen of the year awards, introducing Australia Day Ambassador, Mark Mitchell (Con the Fruiterer in The Comedy Company, a little ad here), etc. What an achievement.

A few excited kids ran around during the celebration, proudly waving our Australian flag. A wonderful and beautiful scene. :)

My wife just uploaded some pics of our Yuski on her blog, check them out here. He is really cute!

Lao Silk & Craft

Lao Silk and Craft is a company that seeks to help and support Lao producers enter markets that appreciate the distinctive arts & crafts of Lao. Boby, the founder says, "I believe that supporting trade is a way out of the poverty rural communities face. I want to encourage the villagers to become self sufficient and preserve their culture and traditions. I want to ensure the continued development and training of local farmers and weavers."

Lao Silk and Craft is the only Lao business enterprise recognised by the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) for its practice of fair trade with the Lao mulberry farmers and silk weavers. Here is a good blog with more information.

This is Kommaly Chanthavong. In Febuary, 2008 during the Sustainable Living Festival, I was fortunate enough to meet Kommaly, Boby's mother, who is the inspiration behind Boby's business and founder of the non-profit organisation, Lao Sericulture Co. in Laos.

She is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005. Fantastic achievement!

All products are hand-weaved together and takes months to do. Natural dyes are used which is responsible ethically and friendly to the environment. Read this to find out more about the benefit of natural dye, and this about the labour intensive process (17 steps) to produce this wonderful product.

Lao Silk and Craft's products include traditional, hand-loomed Lao silks and traditional Hmong appliqué, embroidery and batiks transformed into beautiful fashion accessories, babyware, homewares and décor - including silk scarves and shawls, bags, cushions, quilts, wall hangings, table items, kitchen items, and baby items.

Australia Sports Model of the Year - La Femme Physique Australia

Thank you very much to Brett for your encouragement. Thank you Clint for the pass. What an amazing experience. Great to catch up with you Christine and Mag. Nice to meet you again Patrik. I love your work. Nice to meet you Christian. Thank you very much to all the new friends as well - Wendy, Shenelle, Ruth, Bianca, Amanda, Jennifer, Nicole, Anna and Tricia. What can I say? you are all beautiful!

May our Australian team rack up all the prizes at the WNBF competition. Aussie aussie aussie oui oui oui!

It was Australia Sports Model of the Year- LeFemme Physique Australia Calendar Launch held at the Transit Lounge, Federation Square. Look at how much fun these photographers (and video cameraman, Christian) are having. I can't wait for the next event.

Let me introduce to you, from left to right, Fernanda Ramos and Wendy La Roche. Wendy is the defending world WNBF title holder. You just have got to read her bio. She is a wife and a mother of two, postgraduate in Marketing, in IT, modeling, an athlete and body building competitions. Amazing woman!
Garth Ploog performed live at the launch. Garth is a jazz singer / songwriter. He has appeared in musicals and TV series such as Neighbours and Australian Idol. In 2004 he was the youngest male to perform on the show and reached the wildcard final. There are lots of his music and videos at MySpace. His complete profile can be found here.

2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival - Opening Night

Wanted to photograph Federation Square crowded with people (just like during 2006 FIFA World Cup when it was broadcast at Fed Sq. I missed that).

There were many excellent cultural performances. How excellent were they? Just watch the reaction of the crowd.

Music performance dominated the evening. A very strong crowd made up of people of all ages and all races - senior citizens who brought with them chairs, office workers, students, families, youth and kids.

This picture of the jumping girl do no justice to how high (thus excited) she was jumping. She is not that much taller than the boy in front of her! She should be in our Olympic volley ball team!

This guy can dance, he and his friends had so much fun. Just look at how he is transfixed to the performance on the stage.

And what about this girl (and her partner - the lucky red shirt guy behind her), she was great - photogenic, moves great with the music, really enjoying herself, a pleasure to photograph. I killed many shots on her. Basically everyone in the front close to the stage were dancing. It was just crazy. The only person who didn't appear to be enjoying himself was the guard who was standing by the edge of the stage watching for any mis-behavior. Even he must be happy to say the crowd was good and behaved well.

That said, I must say I was very happy about how nice people were. They were polite and caring. Some even made effort to let me move around. I was pleasantly surprised. Australia is a great country and Australians know how to have fun!

OK, what were they cheering for? What were they dancing to?

This guy is good. Notice he is actually facing the crowd, not the marquee? That's right, he was conducting the crowd as well as the orchestra. He did really great to stir up the crowd.

Everybody's favorite, John So, the Melbourne mayor

Victorian premier John Brumby

Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures 2008

Spent almost two weeks shooting Alfred Deakin Lectures 2008. Most lectures were held at BMW Edge at Federation Square in the CBD. There were a few held out of town and one at Melbourne Town Hall also. I must say I was skeptical at first thinking to myself how boring it was going to be shooting lectures and academics...

Well, to my surprise, they were (most of them anyway) were very stimulating lectures. For examples, exploring the possibility of regeneration which is only possible with liver and our muscles in human compared with such as worms, star fish and some lizards which have much greater regeneration power. Clear zebrafish being the new lab rat for the 21st century, being completely clear, makes it very easy to study... The topics were very diversified - biology, technology, computing, web, art, human rights, urban, transport, space travel, ethics, climate change, etc. Of course, sustainability is the buzz word on everyone's lips. There were international speakers, older respected speakers as well as voices from some of the smartest young people of this generation.

There were lectures as well as debates. To sum it up, I feel my mind has been challenged and innovation is working in me! Of course, I have learnt a few new things about photography also.

OK, about the pics, the first two are basically of the venue to show you how amazing looking BMW Edge is. The picture may look better cropped to give a more panoramic view...

The third picture is of former deputy prime minister of Australia Tim Fischer. He was great to photograph - so much expressions. Well, that's because he is a passionate advocate for rail transport that he was speaking on.

The last is one of the young voices, Larissa Brown. She helped to save a forest in Costa Rica! I will leave it as an exercise for you to find out more about her work if you are keen.

Sorry, no technical details on the pics... this post is long enough as it is. No post processing was made and most were taken at very high ISO to keep shutter speed high for sharp result.