Lao New Year - Oz style!

This morning I had a taste of Pii Mai, or Lao New Year, festivities. Nothing novel there, given that I recently spent five years in that country. Except that this time it was in Sydney -- Phrayortkeo temple, near Cabramatta, to be precise. I'd long been curious to check out the small but proud Lao community here. And on the basis of a few hours of tak bat (alms giving to monks) and some excellent spring rolls, sticky rice and laab, I'd say it was, well, very like being in Laos.
One notable exception was the white plastic laundry baskets that were carried in the wake of the monks. On receiving alms -- mainly packaged food and drink snacks -- on their silver trays, each monk would turn and tip the offerings in the baskets. It didn't exactly add to the magic but then Lao Buddhist practice is nothing if not pragmatic. It is also a lot of fun. Once tak bat was complete a senior monk did the rounds merrily sprinkling the crowds of lay people with water.
I'd be curious to see what goes on outside the temple. Lao itself is a nation of party animals and Pii Mai is the biggest and wildest of them all. Cross-dressing, ice-cold water throwing, drinking games that take you from sober to staggering in roughly 10 minutes, sound systems with internal-organ-rupturing output, dirty dancing... and a great deal of traffic carnage. Australia is an rule-bound, nannyish land but no doubt some of that same mischief is being played out in those distant suburbs as I write.
If you're interested there are some Laos party pics here.

Paul and Enya's wedding

Last weekend I flew up to Brisbane to photograph Paul and Enya's wedding. Paul is an old friend from Laos and Enya, perhaps the bubbliest person you could hope to meet, is from Shanghai (although given her Aussie twang you could be fooled into thinking she was born-and-bred).  

The weekend had a distinctly Chinese flavour with a lion dance, complete with deafening firecrackers, at the couple's house-warming the night before the wedding. The day itself was a dream to photograph:  some lovely - if challenging - light, a beautiful location in Brisbane's New Farm Park and Powerhouse, and a suitably joyful couple. Enya's outfit was stunning, topped off with eye-lashes that looked like they might become airborne at any moment.

Sydney Mardi Gras 2010

Dykes on bikes, bears, Osama putting the ‘fun’ back into fundamentalism, a vast army of gay surf life-savers... all par for the course at Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
This was my first gay Mardi Gras. Clearly it once had a little more edge, but with the battles largely won - especially in gay-friendly Sydney - the focus is more on good clean camping it up rather than administering hardcore political spankings. Indeed, the police, armed forces, church leaders and the government of New South Wales each had floats. At times it seemed more of a celebration of ‘the establishment’ than of a once-frowned upon minority. The Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, a well-known supporter of gay rights, promoted herself with gusto from the back of a soft-top.

In hindsight I should have got myself a press pass. This wouldn’t have been difficult by the number of point and shoot-operating photogs weaving their way through the parade. As it was, I was squeezed against a barrier, snapping what came my way. I used the opportunity to test out the Canon 35mm f1.4 lens.  Given the crowds I didn’t want to carry a huge kit and in order to capture the ambience I avoided flash. The section of street I was on was murky and I was very glad of the super-wide aperture, although at times I missed the zoom. See more pics here.

Timor L'Este with Oxfam

A little over a month ago I travelled to East Timor with a team from Oxfam Australia to document its projects there, my third visit in as many years. I absolutely love Timor - both East and West. It is dazzlingly beautiful and manages to cram arid hillsides, lush forest and alpine peaks between two pristine coastlines. While life there continues to be tough - most communities are completely cut off from roads, markets and services during the months of the rainy season - people are nothing if not resilient.

Here is a selection of shots taken for Oxfam:

http://www.photoshelter.com/c/tomgreenwoodphoto/gallery/Oxfam-in-East-Timor/G0000QFZfAQ5xg5A


Oxfam in East Timor - Images by Tom Greenwood

A new antipodean dawn

* - Images by Tom Greenwood

Hallo. Is anybody there? This is my first post of my first blog. And what better way to begin than with a healthy dollop of self-promotion? So here is a link to my new website, which in turn trumpets my launch as a Sydney-based photographer. So it's all very exciting. If you look at the site you may notice that not many images feature Sydney or Australia. In fact, not a single one. But that is about to change. Bring on the lucky country!