Today I photographed a wedding.

Two very beautiful young people – beautiful in every sense of the word.

I won’t put their images up here until I get their permission. But the wedding was held in magnificent grounds on a private estate in the Dandenongs, outside of Melbourne.

I get very nervous before I photograph a wedding. I’m always terrified I’ll screw it up somehow.

Wedding photographs are important. Very important. I feel a huge responsibility whenever I shoot a wedding.

And today, before the ceremony started, the father of the bride came up and began talking to me. He is a Frenchman, very urbane and charming – and it turns out that he’s led an incredibly exotic life, running a charitable organisation that tended to refugees on the Afghan border during one of the major conflicts in the 90s, and then he and his family were in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit, and he spent the next seven years working on the reconstruction of villages, and the rehabilitation of the local popular.

But what terrified me about this man is that he is a celebrated published photographer.

YIKES!

He’s had three books published on life on the Indus River in India.

We got talking about Buddhism and Hinduism, of which he knows a lot, and whilst I found him to be an enormously fascinating man, he scared the hell out of me.

Because I was about to photograph his beautiful daughter on the most important day of her life.

Did I say YIKES? 

Anyway, the day worked out ok – some of my shots are good, verging on acceptable. The man’s daughter is stunningly beautiful, so that makes up for any technical deficiencies on my end.

Tomorrow we head down into Melbourne, where I do an interview with a film distributor for the Film Producers School website, which I’m working on for QUT. Then Jennifer and I stay overnight with the Landers Express.

It will be good to see them again.

One last thing about today – the ceremony reminded me of the day I married Jennifer, nearly thirty-three years ago. And I looked at these two beautiful youngsters, and wondered what life has in store for them.

What joy, what sadness, what beauty, what tragedy.

Whatever it is, whatever lies in wait down their path, their love will get them through it.

The outlaws Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Doc Holliday – these are names that most of us are familiar with, largely because of Hollywood.

They are infamous “Wild West” outlaws.

Australia had outlaws too. They were called “bushrangers.” And the most famous was a bloke named Ned Kelly.

Ned Kelly has been immortalised on film too – one version starring Mick Jagger, and a more recent movie starring the late Heath Ledger, produced by a mate of mine, Nelson Woss.

Most Australians laugh at the Mick Jagger version, because he’s as far off being an Aussie as a “shrimp” is from being a prawn.

 Ned Kelly has taken on the mantle of Australia’s Robin Hood – although the reality is vastly different to the myth.

The myth was the subject of a series of iconic paintings by one of our greatest artists, Sidney Nolan. His paintings based around the Ned Kelly myth are amongst this nation’s most celebrated works of art – selling for millions upon millions of dollars.

Why am I starting off this trip blog raving on about an Australian bushranger?

Because tonight Jennifer and I are staying in Glenrowan, which is the small country town in Victoria where the myth of Ned Kelly was forged. This is where he was gunned down, wearing a vest and helmet made of iron.

He wasn’t killed, thanks to the armour. He was shot in the legs. He was later charged with the murder of three policemen, and hanged. All this in 1880.

Ned Kelly was a very political Irish Catholic – and he still retains cult status in this country, even though there’s no doubt he killed three coppers.

Glenrowan today is a very small sleepy town that lives vicariously off the legend. We stayed in the town’s only motel, and ate at the famous Glenrowan pub – which has a replica of Ned’s outfit on display out front.

We drove 700kms today to get here. I wanted to see the police station, which had a very tatty Australian flag flying out front… read whatever symbolism you like into that!

Here are the cameras and lenses I’ll be taking on the road trip –

SONY system:
Sony a7s – full frame
Sony 70-200mm f4
Zeiss 16-35mm f4
Zeiss 24-70mm f4
Leica 18mm f3.8

NIKON system:
D700 – full frame
Nikkor 16-35mm f4
Nikkor 24mm  f1.4
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Nikkor 85mm f1.8

FUJIFILM system:
Fujifilm X-E-2 – APS-C sensor
Fujinon 18-55mm f2.8-f4 (27-87mm equiv)
Fujinon 14mm f2.8 (21mm equiv)
Fujinon 60mm macro f2.4 (90mm equiv)
Fujinon 35mm f1.4 (50mm equiv)

Why all the cameras?

Well, the Sony system is largely for video work, but I’ll also be using it as a stills camera for the wedding – particularly with the spectacular 70-200mm lens.

The Nikon system is also for the wedding – for fast focusing and also the sharp-as-a-tack 16-35mm lens. Also for desert work, because of the weather sealing, (keeps dust out) and because of the delicious 24mm f1.4. An amazing lens.

And the Fuji system is for everything else. Discreet documentary photography – an easy walk-around camera because of its size and weight.

Luckily I’m not carrying all of this on my back!

If I were walking the Camino, I’d take just one camera and two lenses – the Fujifilm X-E-2 with the 18-55mm zoom, and the Fujinon 14mm f2.4. That would cover me for just about everything, and would give good image quality.

But for this trip, I have the luxury of a car, and so I can take the whole she-bang.

Tomorrow we leave home and head off on a three week, nearly 7000km (4300ml) road trip, which will take us into the spiritual heart of Australia.

We first drive down to Melbourne, where I’m taking some photos at a friend’s wedding. After that, we’ll catch up with The Landers Express, which is always a breathless occasion!

Peter & Julie Landers, of Portuguese Camino fame, have kindly invited us to stay overnight, so it will be a great chance to catch up – as long as they don’t break out the White Port. Last time we visited I brought them a 44 gallon drum (or thereabouts) of a Mudgee White Port.

I wonder if there’s any left?

From Melbourne we then head north, up to a remote aboriginal community north of Alice Springs. It’s called Utopia. We’ve been invited to film with some aboriginal elders – some wise men. I want to get their unique perspective on intuition for the PGS film.

We’re living with them for a few days, and they’ve also given us permission to film some ceremonial dances, which they don’t often do. So that should be fascinating.

We then drive back to Alice Springs, overnight, then the following day make our way to Uluru – once known as Ayers Rock – an iconic Australian symbol.

I’ve traveled extensively throughout Australia, and there aren’t many places I haven’t been to during my time as a documentary maker, but I’ve never been to Uluru.

I’m looking forward to it. To me, it seems to be the spiritual heart of Australia.

Jennifer and I are staying there for five days to attend a Consciousness Retreat, convened by a very famous US spiritual channeller named Kryon. Jennifer has been listening to Kryon podcasts for years – and he has very strong and well articulated views on intuition.

We then drive back home –

We’re back about two weeks, then we’re off to Italy for the Assisi Tour, then Turkey to film with the Sufis, again for PGS. So it’s a busy time now up until mid June.

Here is a link to the Retreat –

KRYON GAIA GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS RETREAT 

Wow – I’ve just been doing through the process of getting my book up on Amazon as a softcover –

I want it to be full color, because of all the photographs – and they’re saying the minimum pricing for the book will be US$38.18.

Of that, I will get a royalty of less than $8. And for their “expanded distribution – to other retailers etc – I get a royalty of 70 cents. Yes, 70 cents per book on a sale price of $38. The rest goes to Amazon for printing etc.

Crikey.

If it wasn’t full color it would be roughly the same price as my other book – about $16 or so for the softcover. The print version of The Way, My Way, is black and white.

I’m sorry about this – I want the book to be affordable- but there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s the price that amazon has set, because it’s color. And I really do think this book needs to be in color, because there’s 85 beautiful photos in it…

This is not one of them – I just like the shot. Two beautiful ladies, so happy…

I witnessed a moment on the street last week in Sydney, and it’s stayed with me.

It was nothing really.

These kind of moments happen all the time, however I found it useful – personally – to examine the moment and break it down into its component parts.

Very simply, a woman walking across a street, against the lights, was honked by a turning car. She turned around and gave him the finger – he leaned out the window as he was passing her and screamed abuse.

Moment over.

No big deal, right?

Why would I waste my time thinking about this?

Okay – the woman was pushing a pram, with a baby inside. She was also talking on her cellphone. She stepped out off the curb, thrusting her pram out front, after the green pedestrian walk sign had turned red.

It was a busy inner city intersection and this thing happens all the time.

The car turning into the street had to wait for her to cross. He had a green light, and he knew that she shouldn’t have stepped out on the red. But she had a pram. What was he going to do, run her down, and the baby too?

She felt she was in the right – probably because she had a pram and a baby, which she might have felt gave her some kind of special privilege.

The driver felt he was in the right, because this woman was walking when she shouldn’t have been walking. Not only that but she was on the cellphone, which probably riled him.

So he gave her a blast on the horn, she gave him the finger, he then screamed at her out his window, she screamed back.

In that one little interchange you have all the elements of war.

Seriously.

Both parties feeling righteous, both feeling indignant, both responding to aggression with more aggression.

Why was the driver in a hurry? He could have waited three seconds, maybe five seconds, and the woman would have walked across the street and he wouldn’t have been delayed.

Five seconds – that’s all.

He could have waited five seconds, let her pass, and gone on his way.

Equally, the woman could have waited on the curb for the next green light – a wait of what? two minutes max? She was talking on the phone, so waiting on the curb for two minutes surely would not have been a problem.

Were they both in such a hurry?

No.

She wasn’t walking fast, which probably aggravated the driver. She was casual. Distracted, talking on her cellphone.

Was he in an emergency rush?

I doubt it.

The lady bugged him. She made him angry, because she broke the rules. The rules state that as a pedestrian, you shouldn’t walk against a red warning signal. She broke the rules. And so he felt aggrieved, and felt he had the right to abuse her.

She meanwhile had given no thought to the safety of her baby in the pram. Stepping off the curb, against the red warning light, she thrust her pram out in front of her, completely oblivious to the turning car.

Had the driver not stopped, he would have hit the pram, and no doubt injured or killed the baby. What did she care? She was on the phone.

What was more important to her – the baby or the phone call?

Let’s say the driver had been on his cell too, had been distracted, hadn’t noticed the lady with the pram, and had hit them. Who would have been in the wrong? How would a jury determine damages? She was, after all, crossing the road illegally.

Let’s paint another scenario.

Supposing the driver, about to turn into the street, and seeing the woman crossing the road with her pram, waited for her. Waited patiently, and gave a moment’s thought to the kind of life she must lead, as a mother.

He would have had to wait between three to five seconds. And then he could have driven on.

But no – he turned and he blasted her with his horn and screamed abuse at her.

Supposing the woman, after the driver blasted his horn, pulled the phone from her ear, turned to the driver, shrugged and gave him a beautiful smile and said: Sorry. Instead of giving him the finger, then screaming abuse back at him.

Him being patient and forgiving, her being apologetic, is an equally plausible scenario.

But it didn’t happen that way.

We all do it. We all do what he did, and what she did.

And we all could also do the plausible scenario – be forgiving, be patient, say you’re sorry and smile.

It’s not that hard…

I’ve got a busy period coming up.

And I have to make some big decisions.

In situations like this I check in with my PGS. And I ask Jennifer to ask her Higher Self.

This is how we make decisions.

On Thursday we drive down to Melbourne. I have to take photos at a friend’s wedding next weekend.

Then after that we drive to Adelaide to meet with some potential investors regarding the PGS film.

Now here’s where the decisions come in – because towards the end of the month we’re attending a big spiritual “convention” at Uluru – and shooting for PGS.

Plus we’ve been invited to film with some aboriginal elders up at Utopia, a very remote aboriginal community about 800kms north of Uluru. This again for the PGS film.

It’s important to get an indigenous perspective on intuition, and these elders up at Utopia are holders of ancient wisdom.

So the decision is – do we drive or fly? Driving will involve about 6000kms – some of it over rough roads.

Flying means a three hour flight, picking up a hire car, and if the car gets knocked up on the roads, then it’s not our problem.

My PGS has been telling me we should drive – I asked Jennifer today to check in with her HS, and she got back that we should drive too.

So we’ll drive.

It would be much easier to fly, but we’re both being told we should drive, so that’s it.

That’s how we do things…

PHOTO CAMINO is finally all done – and now it’s up on Amazon as an eBook.

In the following days it will also become available on Apple iBooks, and in a print edition, also on Amazon.

As I did with my pervious book, I will offer this new book free to you guys on this blog who have supportd me now for so long –

My only stipulation, again like I did last time, is that you write a review for Amazon, and also for Goodreads.com.

I don’t market my books at all – sales are purely word of mouth – and reviews help enormously.

This offer is just for this weekend – contact me on:

billpgsblog@gmail.com

Of course if you want to buy a copy anyway I won’t stop you!

To those of you who do receive a free copy, I would also ask that you do not pass it on to anyone else. I do not place any DRM on these free copies – Digital Rights Management – and so I would ask that you respect the integrity of my authorship.

Here is the Amazon link:

PHOTO CAMINO ON AMAZON

I’m thrilled to see it up on Amazon. And I hope it will provide a useful resource for anyone considering taking a camera on the Camino – although the principles in the book apply to photography generally.

And the book also serves as a general travel book on the Camino, because of all the photos – more than 80 in all.

For those of you who take a read, I hope you enjoy it!

For those coming on the Assisi tour – I’m attaching a distance and elevation log that Sandy Brown has just posted.

Sandy walked the Via de Francesco, The Way of St. Francis, last year, and did so with the intention of writing a detailed guidebook.

Kind of like a John Brierley guidebook, but for The St. Francis Way.

I’ve been talking to Sandy since last year. I liaised with him during the preparation of the tour’s itinerary, and I have an advance copy of his book, which is fabulous.

And what’s pleasing to note in these elevations is that the largest elevation is in fact a descent – from the St. Francis Monastery in della Verna, which is where we start our walk (we start our tour in Florence, but the walk from the St. Francis monastery in la Verna) – and it’s all downhill that first day.

Whew…

The following days are all very manageable.

Not far off now. We still have some places free… so get in touch if you’re interested. It’s going to be an amazing walk, through the Umbrian countryside to Assisi… very special.

(In the table below, the first column is the number of kms, the second or middle column is the ascent, and the far right column is the descent.)