Important News- NEW BLOG!!!

I've spent the afternoon transferring my blog to a new address. Many years ago I registered http://simonbills.blogspot.com with a view to using it as a travel blog, this didn't really pan out the way I had planned so it's been lying dormant for several years. It's now been defrosted and brought out to replace Billo's Photos which just doesn't sound that professional, don't worry, my entire backlog of posts can be found at the new blog.

This will be my last post here.

Make sure you check in to http://simonbills.blogspot.com going forward to see what I've been up to, also don't forget to change any bookmarks you might have as it would be a crying shame for you to miss any future spider related terror posts.

Missing the UK?

I've been back home in Adelaide for 2 months now. Wow. That went fast. So far I'd have to say my return has gone extremely well, better than expected, after a few weeks of feeling unsettled I quickly found my feet and am loving the lifestyle Australia has to offer.

However.

It's not all beer and skittles, there are certainly a few things I miss about the UK. Rather than give you some sort of extensive list I'm just going to jump straight to number one. The main thing I miss is the absence of MASSIVE DEADLY SPIDERS.

As part of my move into my new place last week we moved a BBQ from my parent's shed. We moved it quite a lot, from the shed to the lawn, from the lawn to the trailer, from the trailer to the new back yard – you get the idea. The whole time someone was holding the BBQ like this:



Three days after moving in I decided to fire up the BBQ for some tasty sausages, imagine my terror when I saw a GIANT DEADLY REDBACK spider crawling on it. Needless to say the sausages were cooked on the George Forman that night. The following day I did some investigation and discovered this insipid arachnid chilling in her web about 10cm away from where our ungloved hands had been earlier that week. Still can't believe I didn't check! As if a redback alone isn't terrifying enough there were 3 sacks under there which I can assume were filled to the brim with THOUSANDS of REDBACK BABIES. I was forced to euthanise the redback family, I don't like to kill spiders but I make an exception for ones that can kill babies and the elderly.





So, still jumpy after my earlier discovery I opened the laundry door to disturb a HUGE huntsman spider. I know these guys almost never bite people, and they're not deadly, but phobias aren't rational and it still freaked me out more than in should. Maybe it was because I'd recently watched this clip?



He quickly ran to the top corner of the laundry, he was happy, I was happy enough, we each knew where each other stood and kept ourselves to ourselves. This is what he looked like.





The following day I was enjoying a little TV when I saw movement on one of the lounge chairs. Uh oh, another BLOODCURDLING SUPER SPIDER.





I think I've pretty much seen the worst of the infestation, my place isn't big enough to house too many more big ones, and I've given the perimeter of a house a good spray which should keep any would be party crashers out.

Looks like last week's excellent galah has been countered by the events of the last few days. Hopefully the next wildlife I see will be another good one, koala perhaps? As long as mum doesn't have to come and get it out of my house with a broom I'll be happy.

Flamin' Galah

Alf Stewart would have loved it. Yesterday as I gazed out my kitchen window I noticed a galah perched upon the fence in my carport. A real life flamin' galah just sitting there practically begging for his photo to be taken!! Needless to say I was happy to oblige, I rushed to the spare room, attached the 70-200 big bertha and shot a few shots through the grubby window. If nothing else it proved that such a classic Australian bird was on my property, but the shots weren't exactly blog worthy, it was time to move outside. As I got closer and closer Gary (that's what I've named him) was totally un-phased, I moved all around him, left to right, behind, always getting closer, I eventually was no more than 1.5m away. Gary was just playing it cool.

It was a perfect house warming gift generously bestowed upon me by Australia's native fauna, although it must be said the ice cream scoop I received that night ran a very close second.

Here's a couple of shots around the house, plus a bunch of Gary.















Don't forget Adelaide, I live here now and am taking booking for weddings and portraits so if you know someone who's after some beautiful, fun and elegant photos then point them in my direction!

Changes afoot

In the unlikely event there's any Simon Bills Blog tragics out there you may have noticed it's been a little while since my last post. My first instinct is to explain that this is due to my impending move into my new house keeping me busy, which is true to an extent, but that I remember that I've managed to squeeze several hours of Australian Open tennis into most days this fortnight and my moral high ground looks decidedly shaky.

So, tomorrow is moving day, perhaps the most exciting day of 2010 thus far (and there's already been quite a few exciting days so this is saying something). I've been busy over the last month acquiring all sorts of essential home-wares in the post Christmas sales (my parents' lounge room pretty much looks like a Harvey Norman warehouse) and tomorrow it all goes into my new pad. I've also inherited a bunch of second hand furniture from my parents and my brother (actually, some of it is 3rd hand having started with the folks before moving onto my brother and now to me - just like a school uniform) which will give me the skeleton ingredients of a house.

After years of living in flats in London and Edinburgh I'm super excited to not be sharing a wall with any neighbors and having my own little backyard. Midnight Rock Band sessions can now be enjoyed without the nagging feeling that I'm keeping the whole building awake. Another thing I'm pumped about is the spare bedroom I'll set up as my office, having a vacant room is a luxury that just doesn't exist in central London so the plan is to get a massive monitor set up in there and run the Macbook Pro as a dual screen. This will also be better for my back than hours of slouching on the couch editing photos (or writing blogs...)!

Oh, here's some news that's even more exciting than my new house, the couple I did the maternity shoot for a few weeks back are now proud parents to a bouncing baby boy!! Congrats Miranda and Dan, can't wait to meet him!

And because every blog entry deserves a photo here's one I took when the Tour Down Under went through Stirling last week.



The next entry will be sent from MY NEW HOUSE!!!!!

Lance and the Tour Down Under

Those of you in Adelaide will be well aware of what's happening at the moment, and let's face it, you've probably had just about enough Lance-mania for the decade, but those overseas might be impressed to learn that Adelaide is currently hosting the Tour Down Under which features none other than global sporting icon Lance Armstrong.

Yesterday saw the lead up event to the tour proper, a 50km street race around the CBD of Adelaide, not dissimilar to the track the Formula 1 cars took 25 years ago (wow, was 1985 really that long ago??). This street race didn't count for the actual tour, I understand there was some cash up for grabs so the cyclists were slugging it out for that as well as to have a final warm up. I didn't expect Lance to really try too hard in this event, I mean, the guy turned up in his private jet last week so he's not exactly desperate for the cash, so I was thrilled to see he was part of a break away pack of 4 of 5 riders when I arrived which made taking his photo a whole lot easier (I was running a little late after some cricket in the nets ran a little over time - I love this country!).

Without further ado I present Lance and the Tour Down Under.















For the photographers out there I changed the focus setting to AI Servo to accommodate rapid fire shots which remain in focus (I have it set to 1 shot for pretty much everything else I shoot besides sports). I also set my camera to high speed burst mode (6 frames per second on the 40D, 3.9 on the 5D2 I think) and basically fired off a lot of shots when the guys rode past. In fast moving sports like cycling, actually, in pretty much any sport, it's very much a game of hit and miss, you need to do everything right in terms of framing and focusing and exposure, but beyond that it's largely a game of luck, the more you shoot the more chance you have of getting a killer shot. I was at the cycling for about 40 minutes yesterday, I took 360 photos, 90 of which I've kept. OF those 90 there are around 25 which I'd consider decent shots, the best of which you've just seen. It took me 60-90 minutes to go through all the photos, delete the shots I don't want and edit the photos I plan to keep.

Miranda and Dan: Maternity Shoot

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking a heavily pregnant Miranda and her husband Dan for a maternity shoot around Adelaide. Now, I've seen pregnant girls in my time, but I've never seen one who looks like Miranda before, everything about her looked identical to when I last saw her 12 months ago, only she had a basketball stuffed under top. It was almost comical.

We headed to a couple of places I plan on becoming very familiar with as I shoot more weddings and portraits round Adelaide, the botanic gardens and the beach. As expected both places were a treasure trove of photographic ideas and I'm super happy with how the shots have turned out.

For the photographers out there, I've learnt in recent weeks just how different the light is in Australia compared to the UK, it's so harsh and there's just so much of it. In the UK most of the time it's cloudy and you don't really need to consider where the sun is in the sky, over here it's a whole new world which I'm loving wrapping my head around. Harsh bright sun can be tricky but you can also get some interesting effects, I used my reflector yesterday for the first time in 12 months and it was gold.





















Don't forget, if you're after a wedding or portrait photographer or know someone who is then get in touch.

Oh, in other exciting news my new website is all but complete, I will be launching it at midday tomorrow (Friday) so make sure you check in!!

That was sooo last decade

Yesterday I was issued a challenge from my friend Steve at a BBQ.

"I bet you can't use the phrase 'that was sooo last decade' 10 times today"

The gauntlet had been laid down, and after some clarification on a few things it was game on. The rules were pretty loose and lazy, but the vibe of them was that you had to sneak it in such that any newcomer to the conversation wouldn't think what you were saying was weird, ie it had to make sense and be applicable to the conversation.

I got the ball rolling straight away and by the time I went to my cousin's 21st later that day I was already up to four. With a totally fresh group of people to work with I was in full flight, my sister in law arrived with a new hair colour, a reddish tint rather than her usual blonde.

"Why the change of colour Amanda?"
"I just wanted something a bit different"
"Good call, blonde hair was sooo last decade anyway"

I was chatting with some cousins about my secret mission when one of them asked me what I'd do if hadn't reached the full 10 by the time I went home. I replied that I might have to finish it off online, maybe hit a few chat rooms, only problem being that chat rooms are sooo last decade and it's all about Twitter these days.

Later that night I was at another birthday party discussing favourite words with a journalist, I asked what her favourite word was knowing full that no matter what came out of her mouth my reply was going to be "that word is sooo last decade". Thinking back I probably came across as a bit of a jerk, I needlessly insulted another friend's Champion t-shirt labelling it as last decade's stock.

Unfortunately when it was all said and done I fell two short of my targeted 10. I was obviously disappointed but able to console myself with the knowledge that accepting stupid challenges is sooo last decade.

Speaking of things last decade, or more specifically, last year, I have compiled my favourite shots of 2009. I've excluded shots taken at weddings, this is all personal stuff with a handful of couple shots of friends thrown in for good measure.

Click here for the slideshow, sit back, relax and enjoy the show.