So this morning I woke up at like 6am (about 8 hours earlier than normal since im nocturnal mostly) on about 4 hours sleep. For some reason this put me ina fantastic mood and even though i was simply wandering around the house most ofthe day cleaning and washing I was still in a great mood, singing and laughing like madman. Probably one of the better days that i have had in ages.

I then decided that because i would be working from 10pm - 5am that i should go and have a nap.

BIG MISTAKE.

While i slept perfectly the first thing i got to enjoy once i had awakend was a email from my employer who was passing on a complaint made by a customer of the club i work at.

To sum it up, said customer approached me requesting a high resolution print copy of a photograph i took while working the previous week. The customer approached me via my private facebook adress.

I politely requested that all business enquiries be directed to my business account/email simply so its easier for me to keep track of. I also informed him that prints and digital copies were indeed available for purchase.

As soon as the word 'purchase ' became involved I was suddenly not a 'decent bloke' because i wished to be paid for my work. This was accompanied by a torrent of abusive assumptuions made as to my character.

Is it just me or does no one seem to understand that as a small business and self employed artist that my time and resources arn't infinite and as such i need to atleast make SOME money in order to cover my costs and continue operating?

This was compounded by the marketing manager of the club (who pays me as little as he can get away with) stating that he personally expects customers to be able to get free copies of the images. Australian Copyright Law states that I am the owner of the images in this case. I did point out that i was happy to provide them for free to customers if the club was willing to foot the expense. Suddenly and unsuprisingly my refusal to provide free services made sense.

All this occured in the single hour before i began work. Needless to say i was not in a very bouncy mood when i arrived. Not expecting anyone to read this really. Just needed to get it off my chest.

Hope everyone else had a great day and are smiling away

Much Love,
Benji

ok so what have i been up to lately?

One of my best friends (Al) recently joined me in being 24 and we all went and hung out at his for drinks and tried to recapture the crazy days. Not so much success is getting crazy, i think we're all getting a bit past getting pointlessly out of control adn we ran out of beer way too quickly

heres a quick snap of me and my friend katie at the shindig, i didnt wind up taking many pictures as it really wasnt a super interesting night photographically but it was good to get a quick pic with someone i hadnt seen in ages.

Iv also tried to make sure i alwasy have a camera on my person when im out and about in my free time so that i can capture all those intersting little things i see.

heres something i came across when i was out shopping

I also took a really strange photo of my dog (who is the biggest sook ever, but super camera shy)

Other than that iv just been feilding emails from work, photographing clubs and generally faffing about. Oh! i went to a fairy photoshoot the other week which was great fun. Ill have to put some shots up later !

Much Love
Benji

PS. Sorry for the horrific spelling but i tend to type way too fast and i cant be stuffed going back and correcting it all.

So it was my birthday yesterday (happy birthday to me ) not quite sure how i feel now that im 24.

Feels quite strange in that i really dont feel any different at all. I got mostly money from everyone which is awesome as now i can afford to finally buy a laptop and a new camera lens. As well as some new clothes, which i am in desperate need of lol not that im like a bum or anything i just tend to always wear the same stuff so it wears out super quickly. i am definitely going to buy myself a new set of converse as my current pair is just about dead. maybe ill buy 2 so i have a work pair and a home pair. my work ones tend to get destoryed very quickly.

Got an insane amount of birthday wishes from people all around the globe including two good friends who recently moved to england and i miss like crazy.

I went out to dinner with the family to celebrate though which was really nice, my two best mates popped in quickly during cake time as they both work insane hours and scrambled straight to mine from their jobs which was really nice. Unfortunately i had to work last night as it was one of my regular gigs but the crowd was really good and we had some random theme that seemed to have everyone in a good mood. My birthday just seems to be such a weird day for me.

on a side note i managed to lose my credit card somewhere within my room or the house as its dissappeared and i have turned my room upside down to find it. i swear that as soon as i stop looking i will find the damn thing.

I think im finally realising that the age old maxim of "the friends you make in college are the friends you keep forever" is true. I barely seem to have time to myself and for catching up with my current friends but as much as i love them i would love to meet some new people. i just miss the unguarded fun you can have with new friends as theres no history and no preconceptions.

I swear that the older i get the less i feel like i have my shit together.
Right now my shit is so all over the place i couldnt find it all, even if i had a week of spare time and a metal detector.

Job front is going strange, applied for quite a few new jobs, and even had one of the places i regularly photograph contact me about possibly working with me direct and cutting out the company i work for (which actually does nothing apart from take a good chunk of the money that i earn). Lots of people aproaching me to work with them on portfolio work also, gratifying to see that my name is getting out thereand that people like my style of shooting, but kind of annoying that none of them actually want to do any work towards actually organising a shoot. So while they want to work with me, they dont really want to 'work' per se.

Personal life is just about dead at the moment. Made a few new friends but most of the others have been out of contact as we are all just flat out these days.

Also starting to think im completely socially retarded as I feel super uncomfortable in crowds these days, despite working in nightclubs. Makes me antsy talking to anyone for more than 5 minutes now. :/

ok so just incase any of you have been wondering what iv been up to lately with my photography work....
here is a few shots from my shoot the other day. the first is a combined shot i would consider publishing

Today i also got around to reorganising my library of novels. I discovered i own all but one of Raymond E Feist's Novels, most of the collected works of Robin Hobb, Way too many Discworld novels and just an excess of fantasy and scifi overall

Now I am enjoying basking in the success of an organised room and having all my trilogies,quartets,series etc in order by book and writer

Ahhhhhhh

Ok was just cruising through all the conversation threads, discussion groups etc and found possibly the most amusing post I have ever seen in the masturbation thread. (yes i below to that group. Everyone one does it and if they dont they're lying). But to the 'point' (haha). It was in a post about how people masturbate. What i found hilarious was how one of the male members of the group thought it was acceptable to wade into a discussion on female masturbation in order to give his opinion.

As soon as I began reading a man's opinion on this i could not help but think of the phrase. "Ducks discussing shoes".

I cant get it out of my head.

I recently saw a question: "Can differences in musical taste be a deal breaker? [in relationships].

My response got kinda out of control so rather than rant on the forum ill do it her

I think yes it can be, as its impossible to enjoy your favourite music if it sends your significant other off into a hate rant/ complaint binge.

Im into quite a variety of musical styles including folk-rock, pop , classic rock and punk so im not exactly a music nazi. I do however have an extreme dislike of going to show or live performances. Not so much because of the music but mainly because i work in that industry and it just feels way too much like work these days. Also some of my favourite bands also happen to suck live my main problem with shows is that its comes down to my dislike of 'watching someone do something ' as an activity.

If i wanted to watch someone fiddle around with a guitar (skills and talent aside) that is something i could do at home. likely for free, in a much better seat and without drunk douchebags jostling me or attempting to start a fight because they can.

Its the same reason i dont watch sports. If i feel like sports on a particular day I go play some soccer or hockey.

Music sounds better when you arent being;

1.sent deaf by over powered amps
2. not being shoved/ elbowed or pushed around by drunk dicks
3. Not forking over $100 plus for the above.
4. Not blitzed off your face.
5. in danger of having a cigarette stuck in your eye (yes that very nearly happened)

Just my view. and yes i understand its quite bitter but its from my experience. I know you will always have a better time if you go to shows and festivals with an open mind but in the last 4 that iv been to I have nearly been punched inthe face for no reason other than being unable to escape a fighht that errupted in the mosh pit, nearly had my eye put out by a douchebag smoking in the mosh, harrassed by people asking if i had drugs/booze/etc and other generally crap behaviour.

Ok so after working in the hospitality industry since i was 14 years old, I have now finally concluded as to why relationships suck so much. Its not so much that dating and relationships are bad or sucky in or of themselves. its more the fact that these days, every person you meet is a selfish, ignorant prick.

This is exactly why I am single, i am sure theree are plenty of decent people out there but I dont see any compelling reasons as to why I should tie myself to someone who isnt willing to put just as much into an actual godforsaken relationship.

One example of these people I keep running into was posted an a club page I submit photos to "Dude there were more photos than this! Where are the rest?" to which his friend accurately summed up the reason as to why the guy only got one photo submitted. "Dude you are lucky he even took it after you kicked him".

Now where the fuck do people get off thinking that KICKING SOMEONE is an APPROPRIATE manner in which to gain their attention? If someone is working and providing a service the least that they can do is go to work expecting NOT to be PHYSICALLY ABUSED just for being there. Im pretty sure thats somewhere in the goddamn United Nations Bill of Human Rights.

Also on the note of there being 'more' images if you pull faces/look too drunk/give the camera the rude finger.....etc. Do NOT expect these images to be uploaded! This is not the sort of image that either the club or myself as the artist wish to portray. If you want photos like that of yourself then get out your goddamn hipster iphone and instagram yourself. I could care less. I get paid to deliver a certain number of QUALITY images and then my job is complete. If i get more than i need to i am obviously going to leave out the ones of people acting rudely/inappropriately. No one wants to go to a club when half the photos are of drunken dickheads who are likely to ruin your night!.

Breathe. Just Breathe.
/endrant

So its been a little while since i last posted. I've had adventures!

On the 21st I finally got a few days off after 2-3 wks of working everyday and night doing photoshoots and then photographing clubs. Went over to rottnest (small island off the coast for our international friends) to visit my friend who has been living on the island for work for the past 5 monthsbut whom i hadnt seen for almost a year. We both had our time off line up so used it to catch up.

We spent two days shooting the breeze about rubbish and the previous year as we caught up on the latest news and new developments in each others lives. Missed hanging out with brent so much. We played a heap of board and cardgames and rode around the whole island checking out all the beaches. We went to big and little parrokeet bay, big and little salmon bay, georgie bay and the main bay out where the ferry berths are.

I swear nature wanted me to work for my holiday as the wind was always blowing in the opposite direction to which we were riding. EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Went and got fish and chips for the one dinner i was on the island for. Im not usually a huge fan of fish and chips but for 24$ we got to huge peices of fish each (im talking the size of your face) as well as a huge helpin of chips. After that we chilled for a bit before crashing as we were both dead tired being normally nocturnal people.

The second morning we spent riding around, checking out more beaches and having a huge laugh messing around in the surf. The we chilled out watching some anime as I packed up my gear. Ferry ride on the way back was super choppy but the waves seemed to just lull me to a completely relaxed state. Was a very well spent monday and tuesday off

Photos below

More piccies!

And a few more

And that was just a fraction of the trip
Benji