Got to spend a week in Sydney last week for work, so I got in the weekend before to meet up with friends. As usual, when the weather cooperates, I just had to get out on the water for a spot of kayaking.
Garry, Bridget and Natalie joined me for a short, leisurely paddle from Spit Bridge to the nude beach just past Balmoral and back. Perfect conditions to be out on the water too, for it was pushing 40 degree Celsius on land! When we returned, we splashed around in the cool waters for a bit to cool down, then met Kate and Aidan for a cheeky lunch by the Skiff Club. Good times!
Definitely grateful for the work opportunities that me back to Sydney to see these and other lovely folks!!!
Writing a look back on the past year hadn’t crossed my mind this time, not to mention my complete overlooking of the fact that another decade had just flashed by. I only realized this after the deluge of posts by friends online, listing their accomplishments, highlights and lowlights.
Photographically speaking (since this is technically a photo blog), 2019 was a year I spent capturing my experiences, vs. actively seeking out sceneries to photograph. There’s an important distinction here. I focused on the latter in 2016 and 2017, where I joined photography Meetup groups to visit beaches along the Sydney coast every weekend at sunrise, and later on with Sydney by Kayak every morning in Lavender Bay. My goal then was to learn to see, capture, and appreciate the same environments in the different seasons, clouds and light.
Here in Singapore, the beach-scape hasn’t inspired me to the same extent, though I admit it would be a good challenge to take up, to try capture the different essence that is Singapore. In any case, my motivation to consciously and actively seek out scenes to photograph has waned, and accordingly my DSLR and various lenses has for the most part, stayed in my cabinets.
So, 2019 was the year of documentation, of recording our numerous journeys and adventures around the world, and of little moments with friends.
We rung in 2019 while still on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, where we learnt that at those altitudes where the air is so thin, it’s safer to stow away our cameras and focus literally on just placing a foot in front at a time.
When Jeff went to Shanghai for work in January, we also made a weekend trip out of it, and spent long hours walking around the town, delighting in the clean streets and charming old school architecture.
In March we joined a friend for a weekend in Yangon. It was like stepping back in time, into a Singapore in the 1950s.
We also did our first week long kayaking and camping trip in Coron and Palawan in the Philippines. There, we got a first real taste of ocean kayaking, where wild waves and currents freaked us out just a tad. But the food, freshly delivered each evening on long tail boats, was heavenly, as was dips in the crystal clear waters at our lunch and camping spots.
We also spent a long weekend in Bali, where we dove at Manta Point and Crystal Bay, and also visited some padi fields.
Over the Labour Day long weekend, we visited Hoi An in Vietnam. We may have spent one too many days in that little tourist town, but had did enjoy visiting the Champa temples in My Son.
Mid-May, we went to Sydney for work, and made most of the weekends visiting with friends.
Over the Vesak Day long weekend in May, we went to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Even though the weather was unforgiving, we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the different temples. Apart from the main Bayon temple, which was crawling with tourists, most of the other temples were quiet and serene.
Natalie visited for two weekends in June, so we went to Langkawi in Malaysia for one of the weekends. We were a little disappointed that none of the beaches had kayak or SUP a rentals because of the (small) surf, but we still had a relaxing weekend splashing about in the sea and pool.
August saw us visiting Copenhagen and Greenland for the first time. The food in Copenhagen was stunningly expensive but delicious, and the kayaking in Greenland was addictive.
In September, we spent another long weekend in Sydney, this time for our friends’ Garry and Linh’s wedding.
When we got back, I found that I had an extra week and a half before I started my new job, so I booked myself on a week long trip to Nusa Penida in Bali.
October saw me travel back to the States, the first time in almost five years, to San Francisco for onboarding. I made most of my weekend there, meeting up with various old friends.
Over the Deepavali long weekend in November, we went to Yogyajarkta with a friend. We weren’t blown away by the Royal Palace or Ratu Boko, but Borobudur itself is grand and worth a visit.
In December, we did the Raja Ampat liveaboard, and so thoroughly enjoyed the diversity and richness of live in these Indonesian waters, we are seriously considering jettisoning our plans to kayak in Greece this September for another liveaboard aboard the Blue Manta to Komodo Islands.
Jeff’s family visited over the Christmas break, and after a few fun and relaxing days touring Singapore’s attractions and lounging in our pools, we spent a couple days in Bangkok.
2019 was definitely a good year travel-wise. It turned out fantastic career-wise too. So I’m stoked for the many more adventures 2020 will bring!
Render from Zaha Hadid Architects of the Western Sydney Airport
On the rendering of the spiffy new Western Sydney Airport was a familiar picture: of three kayakers (Laura, Jeff, and a reporter from Time Out Magazine) out on the glassy pink waters of Sydney Harbour. The photograph had been flipped, so that the Opera House appeared on the left of the image, rather than on the right, as would have been the view from Lavender Bay. But it was my photograph alright.
Laura was stoked, understandably so, for the indirect publicity to her business. For her, any exposure was good. But, personally, as the photographer, I was conflicted. How did the architecture firm, who had created the rendering, gotten my picture in the first place? I’d only given Laura and Time Out Magazine permission to use that photograph. Had Time Out perhaps sold them the rights to use the picture?
Having read countlessarticles and blog posts about infuriated photographers finding their photos illegally used in the wild, and their often frustrating and fruitless attempts to get due credit, I didn’t think that it was worth the effort to go down that rabbit hold. Instead, I just posted the link to the article on Facebook, to wonder aloud, digitally, on the situation.
So I was quite taken by surprise when friends quickly weighed in – mostly with outrage that my IP had been stolen. I’d reasoned that because the firm had only used my photograph in a rendering and not an actual print, it wasn’t a big deal. But friends insisted that I should still reach out and demand credit and / or payment. One friend in particular, told me: “I think it’s more for the principle. U don’t need the money but there are others who do this for a living. I also only realised these few years how hard it is for freelancers.”
Feeling curious about the provenance of their photograph, in the end, I decided to reach out to the Cox Architecture team in Sydney, using the emails that a friend helpfully provided. Within minutes, I had an answer from the lead, stating that they were provided the photograph from Western Sydney Airport themselves. So I went on the airport’s site, and contacted their media relations team.
Almost just as quickly, someone from the team responded, telling me that they could confirm that the photograph and the rendering had in fact been provided by the other architecture firm of the winning team, Zaha Hadid Architects, and that they would help me reach back out to the firm to get to the bottom of the business.
Bleah. This was the rabbit hole, that I didn’t want to get into. It didn’t seem worth the effort.
Imagine my surprise, when I woke up the next morning to receive a most apologetic email from a Senior Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects, readily admitting that someone there had screwed up. They asked if they could purchase a one time retroactive license, and asked for my price and the payment method.
Wow. I had NOT expected this outcome at all, and so quickly with no excuses proffered. I pondered about what to do for a while, and weighed in suggestions from a few friends.
I also searched online for reasonable prices to ask for, but they ranged from nothing to the thousands! I didn’t want to seem greedy and overask for a simple photograph, especially when they’d been so gracious. Neither did I want to charge for too little and set the precedent for other photographers. In the end, I decided to ask them to make a one time $50 donation to Make-A-Wish Australia.
They not only readily agreed, but also raised the donation to $250! I couldn’t have asked for a happier outcome. 
Through this incident, I learnt many things: 1. That people (my friends at any rate!) care about IP and credit that should be properly accorded 2. That I should speak up and ask for my rights, if not for myself, but for others who might find themselves in my shoes 3. That there’s never any harm in asking 4. That there are good and decent people who will readily admit to erring (especially encouraging these days with a US President who models the exact opposite behavior
Our friends Garry and Linh tied the knot last weekend in Sydney. It was the perfect excuse to make the trip back for a visit. Just a long weekend, coming right off the heels from our Greenland vacation.
As always, we jumped on the chance to hit the water for a spot of kayaking. Just a quick 10k nip from Spit Bridge to Bantry Bay and back with Dani, done and dusted in time for us to clean up to get to the wedding too!
The wedding ceremony was beautiful. It was held at the Oatlands House, outdoors, on a cool spring evening. They exchanged vows under the golden glow of the setting sun. Afterwards, as the temperatures dipped, we moved indoors for the festivities – bottles of premium Japanese sake and wine. Fun times!
I managed to meet up with a few other friends too, which was always lovely, and also squeezed in a ferry ride and a walk across the Harbour Bridge. Ah Sydney. It was so good to be back. We need another excuse to make a return visit…
We’d the opportunity to spend a week in Sydney. Work during the day, catch ups with friends over meals in the evening. And on the weekends, we did what we loved best in Sydney – exploring the outdoors.
Our original plan to kayak the first Sunday we were back was scuttled due to gusty winds of up to 45km/h. And our attempt to go again the following Saturday was stymied by the strong winds again, as was the SUP ball game our friend had planned for us in Manly.
Oh well. But Lisa had another idea up her sleeve happily for Saturday – hiking in Lane Cove National Park. It’s a beautiful little area of land, so serene and quiet amongst the trees, and so close to downtown! We spent an enjoyable 4 hours just meandering around, stopping for a warm cuppa tea (ginseng gin tea anyone!?).
The winds finally did die down Sunday morning though, before our 3pm flight. Garry, Jeff, and I managed to squeeze in a two hour paddle from Spit Bridge to Bantry Bay and back, one of my favorite training routes back when I was training for the Massive Murray Paddle. Good times.
My new job is with a company headquartered in Sydney, so I had the good fortune to return for a visit 3 months after leaving. 🙂
One of the first things I did was to schedule in time on the water. On the weekends, I went out paddling on the inner harbour, lousy spring weather be damned. And one morning before work, Laura, who had just returned to Sydney from a month back in Scotland, kindly arranged for a small crew of friends to go for a sunrise paddle, for old time’s sake.
Oh hello, glassy water.
Another glorious, peaceful morning on the water. Everytime Laura posts pictures like these on Facebook / Instagram, she gets bombarded with naysayers, claiming that we had to have photoshopped the pictures because no way Sydney Harbour is so flat and calm. Haha, that’s only cos they’re too clueless to enjoy the early dawn before the ferryboats stir up the water. 😉
We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather this weekend when the group of 7 of us tripped down to Kangaroo Valley for a spot of kayaking and camping. The skies were clear, the air crisp and cool, and there was not a hint of breeze. A complete opposite of our January experience really.
As we sluiced our way down the river, we gawked at wombats, eagles, and kangaroos, and reveled in the delightful chirping of birds. The water was a perfect mirror of the stringybarks along the riverbank.
Fall is definitely here though. By 430pm, the sun had already dipped below the line of trees up Yarrunga Creek. But we were already comfortably set up in our sheltered campsite, and the beginnings of a merry campfire going.
In the morning, well, pre-dawn really, we clambered out of our toasty sleeping bags and eased our way into the water. The fog was thick, enveloping, mysterious. The perfect ambience for our quiet sojourn up dead tree gorge. As the sun rose and warmed up the air, the fog slowly dissipated, leaving behind a steamy film on the water surface.
After what has seemed like an interminable but welcome summer, fall has arrived in Sydney. This week, the air has taken on a noticeable chill in the mornings when I head down to Lavender Bay to push off for our daily sunrise paddles.
I take it as a compliment when people ask me what camera I use for my photos. After all, if they didn’t like them, they wouldn’t have bothered right? Still, there’s more to picture taking than a state of the art camera. And this past week, I’ve had the opportunity to practice what I preach.
I’d dropped my DSLR on the Coastal Walk the weekend before – boo – and while my camera’s at the shop, both Laura and Lisa kindly lent me their mirrorless cameras to use. They’re great nifty cameras, don’t get me wrong, and the photos thankfully have turned out such that I can’t tell at a glance which were taken with what cameras. Nonetheless, I miss my trusty camera, which I’m so used to, snapping pictures seem like a breeze.
Anyway, it was a lovely long Easter break spent on the water. Sunrise paddles every morning, and I managed 3 longer paddles during the day as well. A 31 km paddle on Friday, a 10 km paddle Sunday, and a 24 km paddle Monday. 😀
I was furtively trying to signal to Laura to cut her briefing short so we could launch and catch most of that colour
If anything, these past few days just showed us how much Western Australia has to offer, and what little we’ve seen of it. Back in Sydney now, but already dreaming of going back and exploring all the other nook and crannies, including Broome, all the way up north in the further reaches of the state. Oh well.
In descending order, our highlights:
Biking and snorkeling around Rottnest Island. I huffed and puffed my way around the island; it’s been too long since I got on a bike! But the weather was glorious. Hot sun with a steady cool breeze, and if we got too sweaty, we just cooled off in the water.
Kayaking to Penguin Island where, along the way, we paddled up close to lazing sea lions and a pod of dolphins
Walking short sections of the 135 km Cape to Cape trail. Stunning coast line. Oh to walk the full distance!
Sneaking in a cheeky 2 hour SUP along Cottesloe Beach just before our flight. The water was soooo clear and inviting
We also managed to get in a bit of wine tasting in Margaret River, but for perhaps the first time ever, our heart wasn’t really into it. We just wanted to get back to the beach!
Exploring the Pinnacles
Male sea lions rule this little piece of land just off Penguin Bay – WA
Pod of dolphins just cruising by
Checking out the sea lion sanctuary – Jeff’s GoPro
Bird sanctuary on Penguin Island
Cape to Cape trail
Sunset over Surfers Point – Margaret River
Checking out the wines in Margaret River – Leeuwin Estate, The Watershed, Voyager
We know we aren’t supposed to pet the quokkas, but they didn’t get the memo and crawled all over Jeff
ptanphoto 
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