Freedom Rider Shoot

So, I got talking to a mate at church about his fashion label "Freedom Rider".
Long story short we ended up planning a shoot.

I have selected my three favorite shots, and here they are!

This is my favorite shot of the day.

Model: Sarah Sligo
Clothing Label: Freedom Rider
Hair and Make up: Tegan Henderson

Trying to create a bit of desperation between the models..

Meanwhile, check out that sweet top!

Model: Sarah Sligo and Brydon
Clothing Label: Freedom Rider
Hair and Make up: Tegan Henderson

Modeling can be manly! Here's proof!

Model: Brydon
Clothing Label: Freedom Rider
Hair and Make up: Tegan Henderson

The bricks I got from a friend's house.. she has plenty after losing a few chimneys in the Feb quake here in Christchurch.

They made for great props, and fantastic weights for keeping my lights from falling over!

Speaking of lights, here's a shot of my rig on the day.

Well, i've got to get this house ready for an inspection tomorrow..

So I best be off.

Hope you like the images!

Enjoy,
Jonny.

Photos and smiles

Hello to anyone reading this blog.

Due to a request from a near and dear artist friend of mine Huei Yin,
I will now be uploading and explaining photos to this site as a sort of portfolio thing.

My hope is to display some cool photos of things as people have never seen them before..
but failing that, hopefully just some cool photos that will make you smile :)

So we'll start with todays activities;

A few days ago I discovered my EF 18-55mm IS III which came with my camera had a big stupid dust spot in it!
How very annoyed I was when I found out Canon would not cover this!
So I bought a Sigma 18-50 EX DC and thought screw it, lets turn my old canon 18-55mm into a macro lens.

Here are the results.

As you can see I need a lot more practice with this gadget.
I was also shooting at 1600 ISO which with a 1000D is not a good idea (but what are you gonna do right?)





Enjoy,
Jonny.

First practice.

I've got a practice booked with a mate Tim who will be at his flat.. he will be on drums.
Should be awesome :)

Gonna see if I can borrow a combo off Andy.

THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! Been too long.. can't wait.

Enjoy
Jonny

New Years Resolution

Yes yes yes, it is a tad late to be making one of these but what ever happened to the good old "Better late than never" attitude?

Since I last blogged a lot has changed, and even more has happened! All of these things put together have encouraged me to get my life back into swing with music, God and generally being a useful member of society - rather than what I felt I was becoming not too long ago.. which was quite the opposite.

In any case I feel like I'm back on board, and it feels good!

I've been doing a bit of band staling recently. For those of you who don't know, Tim Cedermin (Airplay's former pianist) has gone and gotten himself super talented and is currently gigging with a band called SuperShip. They are brilliant, and will be playing Fat Eddies on the 22nd of July starting at 11pm - 2am.

William Alexandar, Airplay's former drummer has gotten himself accepted into one of the best acting schools in the UK - this still blows my mind (although it was hardly a surprise, if that makes any sense!) so he is off to London shortly.

Steven Utting (or Viking) Airplay's bassist is up in Wellington studying - unfortunately I've fallen off his radar so I'm not totally sure what he's doing.

Andrew Knopp has become Mr. Andrew Knopp after marring his Jazz School sweet heart Victoria - who has her honors on bass and is amazing! Andrew has also graduated with his diploma in Jazz and a BM. He now spends his days working for my Dad as a printer (printing the work I bring in as a rep.. also for my Dad).

Any way, I am going to carry on AirPlay myself having recently met a few pretty keen musicians. I finally got my gear sorted (although... you can never have too much!) for now I'm thinking of just keeping things simple - three piece, drums bass guitar voice if possibly. I will miss having a piano and another guitarist (as I'm hardly the best!) but we'll see how it goes.. perhaps we will expand in the future.

My recording gear is broken - for which I blame andrew taylor of musicthingz.co.nz NEVER BUY FROM THIS CON MAN!!!

For now, I am just updating to say that I'm back and will be here for a long time to come.

Witha ny luck I will be uploading a linking some practice video shortly!


Enjoy,
Jonny.

Seems all I do at the moment is build stuff.

Hello there,

I finally have the internet at my house again!
It's been a little while, but here I am again.. and hopefully I won't be as blog-lazy as I have been in the past.

We will mark this era in time by writing up a little bit about recently projects.

Firstly, I have made the following in the recent past;

10watt Stereo Hi-Fi Amp
Zvex Wolly Mammoth
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Fuzz Lab Jr
Rat II (actual clone!)
Junk Fuzz
Sugar Free Fuzz
Lazer Whale MkI (self oscillating fuzz for bass, with Oct up function!)
Lazer Whale MkII (not housed or tested. Made for sale)
Hot Cake
Greenringer w/Oscillation
Green Ringer
Panda Fuzz (Muff Pi)
Big Muff Pi
Marshall Shred Master
MXR Distortion Plus
Custom Drive

in the pipe line are;

Zvex Machine
Zvex SHO
Zvex Box of Rock
Actual Fuzz (not junk. But simple.. gain, volume. Easy)

Any recommendations are totally welcome.
Also if anyone would like to look into purchasing any of the above pedals,
it can be arranged with out any issues.

here's a photo to keep everyone happy.

Enjoy,
Jonny.

Pedal time!

Any time is pedal time when it comes to my life at present!

As some may note, i've been interested in building my own gear for a few years now, and have managed to rack up a fair collection of home brew pedals... which actually work!
Often with tiny differences to the orignal circuits, but you then again.. I have very little to use as comparison.

I've really got to get a little camera so i can document some of these builds.. not bragging, but they're actually starting to get kinds good!

Just for fun, here's a quick stock take of the pedals I've made 'successfully' off the top of my head;

Sugar Free Fuzz (silicon junk fuzz, made of what was lying on my desk. Housed in an eclips pack)
Fuzz Lab Junior (visit beavis audio dot com for more)
MXR D+
Marshal Shred Master
Big Muff Pi (x2)
Green Ringer (one with mods, one with out)
Custom overdrive bassed on the blue clipper, and a prinston.
Blue Clipper (no mods.. this is a fantastic overdrive! Stupidly powerful)
Hot Cake
RATII (nill buffer... a little different, but still fun)


I'm sure there are a few more, but can't think of them right now.

Any way.. the whole point of this is MEANT to be so i can find those perfect sounds for this album. hehe.. been promising it for a few years now huh.
I've got to be less lazy, and just record!!! Perfection can only be obtained when you actually do something!

okay... time to go home.

I'll get some photos. HOpefully one day i'll get good enough to join the greats on beavisaudio.com :D

Enjoy.

Jonny.

Bricks, stones, heavy metal.

Hello people...

I'm trying to write this email from an optimistic perspective which is a delightful change for me.

I'm currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I now work as a sales consultant, helping my clients solve problems in the areas of design, print and web development.. i.e. help their business grow.

Sounds simple enough.. but recently it seems like everything I do is wrong.
However there is no support to help correct my wrongs etc.. and having not done this before, training would be a fantastic step forward.

So I'm currently putting together a campaign for a particular target market...
which has just been shot down by my manager.. not all that useful however, as there wasn't any real feedback.

So we'll see how it goes, hopefully I can get my head back into a good copy writing space, and go from there.

I'll keep you posted actually on the response... and perhaps someone else with the same issues could benefit from it. Always nice.

Enjoy
Jonny.