Fire Poi

Summer brings warmth to Wellington, and with it comes those who play with fire. Fire Artists...jugglers, staffs, poi, chains, etc. Every Tuesday night Frank Kitts Park and the lagoon light up, with fire spitting from spinning and twisting metal. Don't forget to bring your bag of marshmallows!

Fire Poi, basically a metal handle and chain with a ball and wick on the end. Sometimes the ball has extra material stuffed in it to soak up more flammble liquid like kerosene or paraffin. I believe it actually originated from the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. The word poi meaning "ball".

This is my version of Harry Potter getting his fire poi on. Harry Potter And The Poi Of Fire. In theatres next month.

Homer's BBQ

So this past Saturday one of my officemates, let's call him John Homer, had a little open house BBQ. I THINK in Kiwi tradition, you fire up the bar-b and then just invite people to drop by throughout the day/evening...or maybe that's just how it turned out.

It was an eclectic yet interesting mix of Weta employees and doctors (John's housemate Adam is a doctor). Just like a grade school dance but instead of boys on one side and girls on the other, it was computer geeks on one side and medical nerds on the other...haha...nah, just joking. Actually everyone mixed and mingled quite freely, couldn't ask for a better group to spend a nice sunny afternoon with. Who knew we could all get along so well!

The Host. Homer's house has an awesome patio for entertaining with nice views over the city. Seen here chillin' with Shannon and Denise...and some Johnnie Black. I decided I would blind them all by practicing some Strobist twilight shots. Not bad for my first attempt, but I also had Jogle by my side helping me out. Thanks James!

The view through the kitchen window out onto the patio. The counter-to-ceiling windows in the kitchen open out fully to the patio, like I said, an awesome setup for parties. And yes, there was a lot to eat and drink.

Ameria (Adam's girlfriend, far right) caught me taking candid portraits earlier and when she saw me with the camera later on, she 'hammed it up' for me a little and I almost missed this shot cause I wasn't expecting it.

Couple of candid portraits. The afternoon light on the patio was too nice to pass up. Hiding in the back of the kitchen and shooting 'commando style' through the open windows, I was amazed at how many people caught me in the act...haha. My colleague Christine seems to have some sixth sense at knowing when I'm pointing a camera in her direction...it's almost spooky how she knows :P

Christine, fellow Cretard and Canuck. This is one of the only pictures I got where she wasn't giving me the 'evil eye' for photographing her...heh heh :P

Judith, she works on the film side of Weta.

Lei, she doesn't work for Weta, she's Lonnie's girlfriend. Lonnie and I are in the same office.

Agustine, affiliated with the Argies. This guy has the most insane card tricks.

Jogle, aka James. He totally knew I was taking a shot of him but played along and pretended not to look :)

Last one, not so candid though. Sarah and James.

A Leap Of Faith

When the temperatures rise, how do Wellingtonians cool off? They take a dip in the ocean! Entry point, find the nearest launching pad down along the boardwalk somewhere and then run, jump, dive or get pushed off it!

This image above was partially inspired by photos from Celine Fremaux (Discover Vancouver Blog) and Sarah Wilson (fellow Weta colleague/photog).

Sometimes all you need is a helping hand from a friend...or a "friendly shove" in this case :) It's about a 1 or 2 storey drop to the water from up there.

However, what happens if the friend who's supposed to give you a shove needs one herself? :P

Aside from the "wooden plank" there's also the boardwalk bridge to jump off of. Note to self: take photo of the WARNING sign on the bridge...no jumping off bridge as boats may be passing underneath.

Mihaeres and Jade...they were a lot of fun. This was Jade's first jump, it took her a few minutes to get psyched up and then I think Mihaeres convinced her he'd jump with her. The conversation probably went something like this:

J: "Wait, I'm not ready yet."
M: "OK. How about I jump with you?"
J: "OK."
M: "OK, we'll jump on three. One...Two...Three...."
J: (screams on her way down)
M: (laughing from on top of the beam)

Fresh Paint

It's been a while since I stopped by Boombox, and I knew that they had redone the alleyway. So I stopped by today to catch up with Elie and snap some shots of the new wall, done by Tim and his crew, the Triple "S" Crew.

While I was there I noticed a little chrome low rider job by the door, so I took the opportunity to snap a couple quick portrait shots of Elie. See...I don't ONLY take portraits of girls! :)

New Look

Well hey, it's a new year, why not a fresh new look? I tried a couple variations of other header images, wanting to keep it "New Zealand" themed. In the end I decided I still liked the original image but went with a different crop and ratio to fit the new page.

Now what kind of image can I post to go along with this blog entry...how about a pic of our new office! This is our new office at the new building. Difficult to see, but there are four desks in there. Two against the window facing each other, of which I'm standing in the corner behind one of them to take this picture. The other two are perpendicular to each other. I sit with my back to the wall, in front of the Canadian flag (yes that's my desk), with Eric to my right side...he's under the patio umbrella. That's right baby!!! We've got patio furniture in our office!! :) Baloney, that bad luck stuff only goes for rain umbrellas, not patio umbrellas! :P

The strip lighting underneath the umbrella gives a nice ambiance. Only thing left to do is find a bigger couch. That one in the pic is the old couch from Julian and Lonnie's old office...it's got to go...

Oh, and why did I decide to go for a new look with the blog? Meh...partly getting tired of the greenish look and partly to get back to a plain black background...posting pics on black always looks better :) Hope you like it.

Bodyrock Breakdancing Competition

Today was the 9th Annual Bodyrock Breakdancing Competition, held in downtown Wellington at Civic Square. Different from most breakdancing competitions which feature crews battling each other over a predetermined number of sets, today's format was straight from the streets...or so I was told. Individual one-on-one battles, just throwing down until you're out of breath or out of moves. Judges who were also battling determined who would advance to the next rounds. Open to boys and girls of any age, 4 to 40. The weather took a turn for the better, and the crowds jammed in to check out the dancers and listen to the beats.

Unknown b-boy in a Side Chair freeze.

B-boy Jay Perfect in a Chair Freeze.

"Baptized 2 Boogie" is what it says on his shirt. The eventual winner and repeat champion was B-Boy "Stretchmark", seen here mid windmill.

Even the audience wanted a piece of the action! :) In between rounds, those that didn't make it to the next round would still battle for fun. After a while though even they ran out of energy, which left the circle open for anyone to get up and get their groove on.

These B-Girls can throw down!

Canadian B-Boy "Bounce" now living in Japan, was one of the three celebrity judges.

Patricia and Roja, Patricia sporting her new "accessory" from Canon :)

No she wasn't participating in the competition...she was more interested in what was below that drain anyways. Jamie, Roja and Patricia's daughter.

Check back soon...more pics to come.

NZ Beach Volleyball Tour

This weekend was Round 4 of the McEntee Hire Beach Volleyball Tour, down at Oriental Parade Beach. A New Zealand professional series that includes some international teams from Brazil, Sweden and the US. The weather didn't co-operate fully as it was quite windy with huge gusts at times. Not the best conditions to play volleyball in, and with all that fine sand blowing around, not the best conditions to take photographs either :( Luckily my camera gear is still functioning...I think...

Camillinha Saldanha was Brazil's Under 21 beach volleyball champion from 2005. Her teammate Lili Maestrini was last year's Under 21 champion. Needless to say they are the team to beat this season.

Poetry in motion. It took me a few tries to get the shot I wanted of Camillinha's jump serve.

Brazil versus New Zealand in the final round. Susan Blundell looks on as teammate Anna Scarlett tries to put one past Lili Maestrini's block. In the end Brazil was triumphant 2-1.

Susan Blundell in an impromptu game of beachball soccer.

This was a missed shot, but I thought it was still kind of amusing.

This pic is to show that I wasn't there JUST to take pics of scantilly clad women! But lets just say that if it was a mens only tournament, I might not have showed up :) haha...I'M KIDDING!!!

The US contingent. Paige Davis warms up with teammate Jenelle Koester, regulars on the AVP series in the United States.

Caught a couple of guys enjoying the view from their seats...HAHA...you may need to click on the image to load a larger view so you can see their expressions.