andybseesthings

Touring Musician turned aspiring Photographer | Punk/Rock/Ska Record Producer at Music Box Recording Studio | Owner of Music Box Media | Travel | Member of the Human Race

[andybseesthings]

AUSTRALIA TRIP  ::  DEC 7 2016 - JAN 7 2017  ::  [Part 1]

First up - Melbourne! If you want to learn about a few awesome hidden bars, how to have your phone stolen within 48 hours of arrival and general other golden pieces of information in this fantastic, beautiful city, read on....

Late night touch-down at Tullamarine airport and a swift Skybus saw check-in at the first night’s backpackers at nearing midnight. We chucked the bags in the room, changed into clothes that didn’t smell like a locker room (try as you might, over 24 hours travelling on flights and through airports has an adverse affect on your personal hygiene) and asked the friendly guy at reception for a low-key bar that would still be open. Enter The Highlander Bar - fully recommended. Vibe for days, and a sweet collection of booze.

This lasted us one drink, and come their closing for 1am, and showing that NOTHING was learnt from the USA trip back in the summer, headed straight for the Crown Casino - taking the above picture of the Casino on the way! To be fair - It’s a great place to have a few drinks and exercise the excitement that comes with the first day of travel, drinks weren’t horrendously expensive and for a while we were $60 up! When the next hour was to be 4am, the backpackers was calling. Next up, we moved on to the much nicer Greenhouse Backpackers, bang in the centre, and so started a few days and nights of exploration. The first afternoon, an old friend of mine from the UK that now lives in Mornington (Hello Pete!) came up and checked into Greenhouse for the night too, and we hit some bars. I’ve been out here once before and Pete and I had gone around the rooftop bars in the daytime, but with night falling we hit some other lesser known spots. Total must sees:

The Croft Institute - Cocktails with Syringes, areas that look fresh out of a horror film, and a sweet vibe, this asylum get-up is found down some winding chinatown lanes. I don’t want to give it all away, just make it an essential stop!

The Rooftop Bar & Cinema - Found at 252 Swanston Street, this bar is an awesome place to sink a cold one in the sun, and a lively bar with cool views at night. Not too expensive, and when you’re heading up or down this building to the rooftop, stop off at: Cookie Bar - Awesome beers on tap, funky vibe and well - you’re already in the building so why not! Ponyfish Island - Ok, so probably better known, but still a great place to chill at day and night - Situated under one of the footbridges that cross the Yarra from Melbourne CBD to Southbank, the views of the city from here are superb, and it’s totally chic vibe is ideal whilst watching the world - and boats - coast by.

We ended up opposite Flinders Station watching a pub covers band, and chatting to anyone and everyone that came and sat at the huge table we were on. Anyway, come 2am, I realise that my UK Phone (a new Samsung Galaxy S7, which I’ve come to love using for shots when my camera isn’t around, especially as it shoots RAW) is... not on my person. I’d been tapping my pocket thinking I had it, but that was the old S5 we’d brought and put an Aussie simcard in. Crap.

Still, these things happen, and the next day I heard about a spate of pickpocket theft in that exact area. Sucks, but it’s just a “thing” at the end of the day, so un-deterred, we went to the back of St Paul’s Cathedral and chatted to the homeless chaps living on the street there, and took time to listen to what brought them there. This is partly going to be covered in a future post, as it relates to a part of a new musical project I am putting together, but for now, it led to this shot with this guy who had such a hopeful outlook on life that talking to him was such a pleasure.

My mobile phone recommendation goes thus: Travel with one phone on you. If you have more than one, keep one in your bag. It’s so easy, after being used to having to check for one phone on your person, to then on travel not be used to having two on you, and forget to check for both. Especially after a few beers. Don’t get me wrong, a spare is a good idea and in fact on this trip completely was a lifesaver, but yea - don’t be Johnny Two-Phones out in bars if your observational skills are anything like mine!

The next and following days we walked the streets of Melbourne taking in everything we could, including all of the awesome street art that adorns so many walls. So popular, and you can see why to be fair! With Christmas looming, the festive feel everywhere was addictive in the sunshine, if a little odd for a Brit that is used to cold at this time of year! Also took the trip down to St Kilda - Absolutely love SK, and the laid back way of life there. Can’t recommend it enough! I did go out at night and take some night shots and timelapse too, but that’s for another post. What I do love about this country, is that I sat on the corner opposite Flinders with my camera on a Gorillapod Tripod for a good 45 mins taking timelapse, with hundreds of people crossing the roads and walking by, and not once did i have ANY trouble from even one person. You try that in the UK...

After this, we headed out of the city to stay with family for a few nights, taking in Philip Island and Mount Dandenong (below - amazing view!) among many other beaches and sights - oh and Ramsey Street. Yes, yes, tourist location 101 i know but y’know - You have to see it when nearby! It’s like a guilty pleasure.

Anyway, with batteries recharged, the flight to Coolangatta was next on the cards..

[andybseesthings]

IT’S TRAVEL TIME AGAIN!

So in 36 hours we’ll be catching a flight from Heathrow to Melbourne, to start a four-and-a-half week trip around Australia, taking in Melbourne, Surfers Paradise, Mackay, Urangan, Noosa, Brisbane & Perth. Now if I can just get all this gear in a bag and it not weigh about 8 tonnes....

Originally winter plans this year were to use the Christmas shutdown to go somewhere cold and snowy, like Banff in Canada, but two or three months ago we made the switch to Australia to spend Christmas with family, and given the investment in flights (and expense once your flight out passes December 7th) the decision was made to extend the trip and take in some more cities to catch up with friends and take more of the good ol’ land down under in.

As you’ve probably guessed, camera gear trumps clothes for me, and after hauling a huge case of clothes around back in the summer in the USA of which i wore a small percentage, I figured - why not take the longboard, find a long thin bag and make that my suitcase?

Well - I’m packing now, and whilst my carry on, which is a Lowepro Pro Runner AW II, take more or less all of my camera gear, my idea for my suitcase is - Well, I think it’s going to work, but man alive is it tight. Still - The process of having to think about every last item going in is actually quite good, though we’ll see if the head or the heart wins when dropping George (my cat) off at my folk’s on the way, where there is a back up selection of normal suitcases!

For any gear geeks, here’s what I’m taking. Planning on shooting a load of 4k timelapse as well as the usual photography, and shooting enough video to try my hand at a little travel vlog upon return:

Lowepro Pro Runner BP AW II Bag [Carry-on Luggage] Nikon D750 Camera Body Nikon 16-35mm F4 VR Lens Sigma 20mm f1.4 Art Lens Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art Lens Nikon 85mm f1.8 G Lens SJCAM SJ5000x Elite “Action” Cam Manfrotto 055 Tripod & Ballhead Joby Gorillapod Focus Tripod Delkin Fat Gecko Dual Suction Mount for DSLR Lenskirt Single Flashgun/Trigger/Shoot-Thru Umbrella Rotolight Neo [This might be taken in place of the flash set up yet] Asus Zenbook 13.3″ Alpine Labs Pulse DSLR Remote Breakthrough Photography X4 6-Stop ND Breakthrough Photography X4 10-Stop ND Breakthrough Photography Step-Up Ring Hoya Pro HD Polariser Wolfsteeth Torch And a tonne of memory cards, trinkets, hard drives, mounts etc. I do have a relatively new Samyang 14mm f2.8 Lens, in fact this is my second copy as the first hadn’t only failed quality control, it must have left the building at that point! But, I’ve decided not to take it. Even though the plan is to shoot some stars - Needs must, and space and weight are at a premium, and it still needs further calibration to not totally suck at infinity focus. That’s one thing I would say is a must when choosing what to pack for travel - If any of your gear cannot be relied upon, leave it behind. You don’t want to risk a crappy lens ruining a once-in-a-lifetime shot, and only find out once you’re home.

Going to try the same plan as in the USA by posting a picture once a day, a strict discipline I enjoyed in the summer. Follow the (attempted!) daily picture on my Instagram at @andybseesthings.

For now - Melbourne, here we come...

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23  ::  [Part 8]

New York! The final part of the trip. Here is how much you achieve with your New York Pass in the space of 4 days and 3 nights, when you throw a night out with friends into the mix that sees you return to your hotel at 6.30am....

Due to wanting to take in as much of the Big Apple as possible, after some research a New York Pass seemed the best way to go (bought from here), especially as we managed to buy with 20% off. There often seems to be deals on the go so it’s worth having a little browse around before committing to buy. So to maximise time there we took the overnight flight from San Francisco and arrived in the morning.

The idea was to head straight to the hotel, leave the bags and head straight up the Empire State building - however it seems between booking.com and the hotel themselves, someone had made a large error, and they had moved our booking back and forth between the the hotels, and had no real record of us. Incredibly frustrated and tired, after an hour and a half of going between both hotels they finally sorted it, and gave us immediate access to our room. As we’d lost so much time, and it was now afternoon, we decided we’d do The Empire State Building at night, and so headed to the incredibly poignant Ground Zero. 

Very sad, really humbling, but a touching memorial to those that lost their lives in such horrific circumstances. The memorial museum equally so, and included with the New York Pass - I couldn’t recommend it enough. It goes down under the two memorial pools, and to the underpinnings of the Twin Towers.

We walked on through Times Square and got bearings, booking slots for the Empire State and the Rockerfella, having decided to go up the Empire at night and the Rockerfeller in the daytime - Both included with the NY Pass, though bear in mind you only get one admission to each with your card, so choose you time wisely! Despite going up the Empire State around 11pm and the Rockerfella during the daytime, it was far busier up the Empire! Literally, 3 deep. Politeness wins here, and I managed to find a spot to balance my camera on the wall in between the railings long enough to take a 4-second long exposure shot..

Just being at the top of such an iconic building is an amazing feeling. The Rockerfeller, while slightly less iconic (and not such a pretty building itself), actually offers even better views, including of central park. We had started the day at the Natural History Museum (again, you guessed it - including with the New York Pass!), which we condensed into around 4 hours, though my advice? give it a whole day. It’s an amazing collection and you really will want to take it all in. Followed this with a walk through Strawberry Fields in Central Park, and headed on down to the “View from the top”.

From here, you can see the Empire State Building, like in my shot above. It’s beautiful, in it’s own way. Whilst the queues for the Empire were a good hour or so, we practically went straight up the Rockerfeller, and the insanely fast lift is incredible, your ears even pop! A word of warning, you’ll need a narrow lens to poke between the viewing glass - You won’t want to shoot through the glass itself as it is filthy! So i swapped my 20mm Sigma Art out for my 35mm, allowing a much higher quality of shot, even if it doesn’t take in anywhere near as much. You aren’t rushed around here at all, and the staff are very friendly, so spent a good hour up there taking in the views.

Afterwards, we hit the Star Wars exhibit in Discovery Times Square (yes, NYC Pass included) and Madame Tussaudes before heading out to meet up with my bandmate Adam and his girlfriend Tara, and also our buddy Chris, from Suburban Legends, for drinks.

And so the shot above depicts two things: Firstly, how beautiful the city can be - endless urban sprawl, lights and colours, splashed with flowers every now and then in strong contrast to their surroundings. Secondly, what the city looks like at a little after 6am, searching for a little breakfast having only just back to where the hotel was after the night out and a lovely catch up with friends. Safe to say, rather than heading out to make use of the New York Pass, bed was a welcome sanctuary for the morning,

The following afternoon and night were spent taking a boat cruise (yes, included!), the Brooklyn Bridge, and taking some nights shots come sunset onwards of Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park, like the photo that starts this article. Brooklyn Bridge is also incredible recognisable as you walk across, both from photographs and from film. Be careful to dodge he cyclists well when aiming your lens up high though! The rest of the trip was spent walking the streets and exploring, taking in as much of the beauty and serenity of Central Park as possible and some cool places to eat and drink, which leads me to my final point.

The New York Pass - There is no denying it represents fantastic value, it really does, and it encourages you to get out and see more of the City, made even easier by the excellent (and thick!) book that comes with it listing all of the attractions that it boasts entry to. However, with this comes one caveat - You feel under pressure to ensure you “get our monies worth”, as it were, especially as it runs on a time limit from activation. We managed to do make plenty of use of it, and actually it really did save us money, but if you want to throw yourself into the culture more, or get off the beaten track more I would really recommend thinking hard about it if you only have a few days.

And with that, 8 states, 3,875 road miles, 11,280 air miles and 4 weeks of unforgettable sights came to an end as we flew home, curled up aboard the plane, the sights, smells and sounds of New York still very much alive in our dreams..

[INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/FLICKR/500PX: @andybseesthings] 

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23  ::  [Part 7]

San Francisco! A much needed rest for the night in Mill Valley down, this is essentially an account of the amount of success likely when to see everything in SF with only two nights before you jet off to the other side of the Country.. Starting with a hike up the huge Mount Tamalpais to the West Point Inn, in a bid to rise above the cloud cover...

Originally we were going to stay the Mill Valley night at the West Point Inn in one of the cabins (honestly, look on their website by clicking their name above, one look at that view and you’ll want to too, especially at the very reasonable prices) but a slight booking cock up on our part meant we didn’t, but next time, 100%. However they were very, very friendly by email and suggested coming to visit anyway, so we got up early, parked up and started hiking up on of the steep mountain trails. On the way we met a group of volunteer workers helping keep the Inn in shape, and the lovely leader came and said hello - A very spiritual chap, we shared a long hug when he found out I was born and grew up in Glastonbury!

Sadly, though we did poke out of the top of the clouds at the summit, nothing else did, so we headed back down the cycle way up, and headed down to The Golden Gate Bridge. The cloud had eased off a little so that the tops of the bridge were visible, but the weather and the weather outlook effectively dashed my hopes of getting a view-of-the-bridge at sunset style shot from one of the beaches - Still, these things happen and means I have a fantastic reason to come back! Still, we did the walk over and back of course.

With that, we headed to our hotel, the rather elegant Harbour Court Hotel. By this point the 3,800 miles we’d covered in our hire Mustang were starting to show, one of the rear windows wasn’t closing fully and the alarm had developed an odd fault were sometimes the car just wouldn’t lock - which I had to explain to the valet parking chap. I’m still not used to the whole valet thing, I think if it was my own car I would be a little uneasy. Anyway, we were right by the gorgeous Ferry Building, and that night we met up with a buddy of mine from my touring days, Kirsten, who took us around some awesome bars, riding trams like the one above into the night!

HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend “Zeitgeist”, an excellent rock bar with a huge menu of craft beers, some sweet food and an awesome vibe. Proper low key dive bar with attitude, and the beers are SO good.

The next day we headed out on foot, over many blocks checking out the skyscrapers and up and down crazy steep hills (seriously, there are roads that must be near on 45 degrees) and over to the Coit Tower, which is a must is you want an elevated view of the city. Despite being a bit cloudy we ventured up, and were not disappointed - the views are incredible! On a windy day you can feel the top move a little, which is un-nerving when poking your head out of an open window with camera in hand ha! The old elevator is a joy to ride and behold, and from there the absolutely insane crooked Lombard Street is a short walk. This was full of tourists, to the point where police are sited at the top and bottom to guide traffic and the sheer volume of people trying to take photos from the middle of the road! Another must see though. From here, more bars were visited, and I headed out to take some night shots of the Ferry Building and the above shot of the City, from Pier 14. It was so warm still, such a beautiful evening!

So, on the last day in SF before flying out, we took the short cruise to Alcatraz Island! We had pre-booked tickets for this absolutely months ago, and just as well - Not only was it totally sold out, they were saying the next slots they had were for August 28th - Well over a month from the date we were there. Utter bedlam everywhere, but the (windy) cruise is a gorgeous journey (and the sun FINALLY shone!) across the water, in view of both iconic bridges and the prison - honestly? A total, total must-see. If you are on the fence about including it or not including it on your trip, I urge you to include it. It is totally worth the money. Such an eerie place, you really get an idea of just what it would have been like there, and there is an audio guide (silent disco, anyone?) which give a tonne of information as you wander around. 

My top tip? Make your own path around, rather than following the guide’s route - You’ll end up with far more time seeing bits and bobs without competing with a crowd that way.

And with that, we caught the boat back, were reunited with Sally, our hire Mustang, and we headed to the Airport to drop Sally off. Over the three weeks we’d had the car, we had come to love the vibe of driving a convertible Ford Mustang in the sunshine. A big shout out to Avis also, as we botched our exit (twice!) coming off the airport turnoff and missed the petrol station, but the kind guy that took our car in waived any fuel cost and didn’t even mind that we hadn’t had a chance to wash the car - a real gent and a huge stress taken off of our minds. We of course had fully cleaned the interior though. And with that, we ordered a rum, had some airport-priced dinner and waiting to take to the skies to New York City, excited, tired, and ready for adventure.. [INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/500PX: @andybseesthings] 

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23  ::  [Part 6]

And so came the section of the trip that started the idea for this roadtrip in the first place - Travelling up into California on the Pacific Coast Highway. We had stops in Anaheim, Morro Bay, Santa Cruz and Mill Valley planned for the next week leading up to San Francisco, and so, with the roof down, hit the highway...

After a little beach hopping after leaving San Diego, we hit our digs for the next three nights in Anaheim, the Anaheim Carriage Inn. Painted in a very “Ryanair” blue and yellow, and featuring a questionable massage parlour that was open until the early hours, it made for a nice base, even if the best way to gather wifi was to hide outside of someone else’s room near the reception!

I have a few friends in Orange County, having toured with a few US bands in my days in Fandangle, and we also recorded an album with then-Zebrahead Guitarist and all-round good guy Greg Bergdorf in Fullerton back in early 2007, so I semi-knew the area. One notable eatery I literally cannot recommend enough that my pal Brad (of Suburban Legends, possibly the most fun Ska-Punk band in existence!) took me for a breakfast catch up was he Pie Hole, in Orange. SO. SO. GOOD! The staff are awesome and gave us samples of various things they did from their inventive menu - totally recommended!

The ensuing days were a slew of beautiful beaches, brilliant bars and stunning sunsets, taking in Newport and Balboa Piers. I’ll let the pictures do the talking, as they effectively set the vibe. Safe to say, if you love classic surf and skate culture with a laid-back vibe, this whole area is for you, 100%.

Whilst staying in OC, we decided to get up early one morning, and hit Hollywood before the madding crowds. You can gleam two bits of important information here:  1. The madding crowds come bloody early. 2. The madding crowds are mad.

Seriously, we parked up at some ungodly hour, literally streets to ourselves, bar some people, presumably, walking home from their night out! But within a few minutes of arriving at the Chinese Theatre, people were out in droves, literally ever other person was trying to usher us into their “celeb tours” bus, and it was total choas - Good. That’s exactly what I expect from Hollywood! When I was over with the band some years back we came up to LA for a few nights in bars like Rainbow (Meet Lemmy - check) and the rest, but it was nice to see the normal side this time.

After finding a cute 50′s diner (best. milkshake. ever.) in the shopping centre behind the theatre, and a useless grey hazy non-view of the Hollywood Sign, we paid the parking fee (not pretty), put the roof down (standard fare on this leg) and headed down through Beverley Hills, the whole way down Sunset Boulevard and into Santa Monica, for a day of beach hangs, sunshine, and lunch and a Mojito at the end of the Pier.

Santa Monica Recommendation #1: Mariasol Cocina Mexicana at the far end of the pier. Santa Monica Recommendation #2: Allow yourself some time to just stare into the beautiful colour of the ocean here..

After all of this sunny beauty, we headed up the PCH, through Malibu, and stopped off in Santa Barbara for a little lunch and a sunbathe, before heading up to our next stop, Morro Bay, arriving just in time to watch the sun set over Morro Rock (an iconic, much-photographed location) as we checked into our home for the next two nights. We looked in to a few bars, and settled on what turned out to be one of my all time favourite bars of the world - Libertines, in Morro Bay.

The staff - awesome. The locals - awesome (Hey Jeff!). The draught beer menu - huge. and also awesome. Great music played on vinyl in the front bar, and live music and excellent food in the rear bar - I really can’t recommend this place enough, if you’re in the area you totally must go in. Say hello to Rachel for us, and make sure you put sign a dollar bill for them to put up with the 1000′s of others!

The rest of our journey up to San Francisco saw, other than a hangover the next morning and directions from kids playing Pokemon Go, a thick fog move in, with the foghorn going off eerie-ly just like in John Carpenter’s film The Fog (total classic, by the way, and mostly filmed just north of San Fran). So thick that Morro Rock was only visible by walking right up to it!

We explored the town more before settling in to two more trips to Libertines, ready for the trip up further north..

The drive up through to Santa Cruz took in some beautiful sights and more icoic locations - we had to take the rough with the smooth as serious cloud cover robbed us of some visibility, but were told that can be quite standard of the California summer. Still, the miles and the sights (such as Pigeon Point Lighthouse below) rolled by and as we approached Santa Cruz the cloud cover started to, rather last minute, show signs of weakening..

SANTA CRUZ - If you’ve seen The Lost Boys you’ll definitely know this town. If you’ve imagined longboard culture or seen countless skate wear and boards you’ll know the name - and this place totally lives up to all of that. I genuinely spent my time here wishing I had packed my Longboard!! (more on that for my upcoming Australia trip in the next week, as I have literally bought a new “suitcase” to ensure my Longboard goes with me!). Even the arcade, which, if you’re from the UK like me conjures up a fairly lame image in your head, is AWESOME in every way. American Carousels are treated as something really special here too, and the really old one here is a must-see. Sea Lions hang out under the pier, you can generally only hear them but sometimes they show up lazing in the water around the (huge) pier too! You can even walk over the bridge that they jump off in The Lost Boys too - but beware in summer, a train DOES use it! (I found this out after i had walked across it, stopping to take photos along the way, and trying not to fall down the gaps!

After a single night in the centre of the boardwalk action and a rather late night (excellent bars, it goes without saying) we ventured off of the PCH briefly to headed up to Redwood State Park, and Roaring Camp, where the train that passes through the main street of Santa Cruz heads up to, but is also a short drive up a beautiful winding road. The ancient trees are really something, and Roaring Camp is a wonderful little slice of how life was, and well worth the time off the beaten track to visit.

From here, we headed up past San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was hiding itself amongst some cloud cover, and straight to Mill Valley for a relaxing evening before hitting he City itself the next day. Vegan dinner was taken care of the excellent Veggie Grill which I can’t recommend enough - so good, whether you are vegan, vegetarian or just a health conscious eater!

Sunset brought up a gorgeous palette of tones, and with clear skies seeming rather likely, sleep came about with ease, dreaming of the city that awaited our arrival the next day.....

[INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/FLICKR/500PX: @andybseesthings]

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23  ::  [Part 5] After two weeks of State-hopping, long distances and an ever-changing landscape, San Diego appeared on the horizon and so started the Californian leg of the trip - sunshine, beaches, the Pacific Coast Highway and much more time for taking in the sights beckoned..

The Motel we’d chosen in San Diego leads me to my first recommendation about researching your travel accomodation: “High Speed Internet”, when mixed in a sentence with the word “Free”, should without doubt be taken with a pinch of salt. Now, I know, I know, when you’re travelling internet access should be the last thing on your mind. But if you’re hoping to research places to see, keep in touch with work, or upload a daily shot like I was trying to, read the hotel reviews to see what the accomodation wifi is really like! It was never really a struggle struggle, but I did spend a couple of early mornings crouched out on balconies hunting out strong enough signal to maintain a connection! All adds to the adventure.

San Diego is absolutely stunning, and full of beautiful beaches, Sea Lions, views and excellent places to eat. I was travelling with a vegan, so we sampled a few along the way, but I’ll write a proper blog about travelling with vegansim and vegetarianism in mind. I was more than happy to sample these places, and could definitely recommend two: Fast Food - Plant Power - Great take on a modern burger joint, but with an incredible selection of vegan alternatives, and healthy to boot. The total bonus? Awesome smoothies, and didn’t break the bank. Alternative - Trilogy Sanctuary - Rooftop Yoga and healthfood open air sanctuary, so relaxing with some deep comfy sofas and tables. Not the cheapest but the superfood smoothies and menu are to die for - Highly recommend the Ginger Spring Rolls!

Spent a good part of our second day in San Diego hiking up in Torrey Pines, where you can walk along a now-disused portion of the original San Diego - Los Angeles road, and then chilling out in and around La Jolla, including seeing these fine Sea Lions up close by La Jolla Park (and not by seal rock, funnily enough!). They were literally swimming with people in the sea! So, so cute and total posers.

We then headed up to Scripps Pier, the whole area of which might be one of my favourite parts of California - Gorgeous beach, loads of barbeque parties, people out having a great time, and seriously beautiful sunsets. Two days and two nights in San Diego was not enough! 

For now, the Pacific Coast Highway and Orange County beckoned....

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23 2016  ::  [Part 4]

This part of the trip saw a LOT of miles covered - We had a stopover in Durango, Colorado, which is a BEAUTIFUL place - If anything, it’s like a different country entirely after being in Utah! There is an excellent Mexican Restaurant in Durango also, by the way. I’ve vowed that I will return and head further north into Colorado at some point, I need to see more!

We headed on down to New Mexico, and took in Santa Fe, a beautiful Spanish-influenced town architecturally, and so colourful. There is an excellent rooftop bar serving local brewery beers, a bottle of which I actually brought back home to the UK - empty, sadly. But most impressive here, and a must-see, are the beautiful dunes in White Sands National Monument Park - The shot of the car and what appears to be a snowy sunset above are both from this Park. The white sand, endless dunes and scorching heat made for an excellent day of sunbathing, exploring and running around in what felt like a movie set! But the cherry on the cake is the way the crystaline white sand glimmers the colours of the sunset when the sun finally hits the horizon - It’s utterly stunning, and I know of nothing quite like it. 110% recommended...

From here we headed on down to the border town of El Paso, in Texas, for the 4th July. This town we almost had to ourselves as we headed out for drinks on the night after the whole country parties, it was like a ghost town. We settled in a beautiful Art-Deco Hotel Bar, and started working out way through their beers. I was lucky enough to make friends with someone there that kindly took me out on to the roof - an experience as scary as it was unforgettably awesome, as it involved dashing across a rooftop full of literally 100′s of massive cockroaches running around, a climb up a ladder, out of a barely 2ft x 2ft hole, and over a straight down drop some 20 stories to the street to a metal gantry holding the hotel name sign up - to shoot the incredibly colourful sunset above bottom right, with a view right over the border into Mexico. Bit of a high ISO test for the D750, as I had no tripod with me up there and frankly to not have my hands shaking that high up balanced above a fatal drop was somewhat of a milestone achievement!!

Rested up, we headed out on the long drive to Phoenix, bound for the start of the West Coast leg, at the base of California....

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23 2016  ::  [Part 3] So the thing about Nevada, Arizona and Utah is that they are HOT. We pick up here as we had left Vegas and hit up the Ghost Town of Nelson - Completely unspoilt, the scene of the explosion in 3000 Miles To Graceland, and once down at the river basin, 118 Degrees FAHRENHEIT! I took a load of shots there which I’ll post up as a set at some point on their own, about 20 minutes at a time in between going into the store (run by lovely locals) for water and to be shown the frozen Rattlesnakes they had. Apparently there had been quite a few spotted in and around the buildings and car wrecks the past month..

From here we moved on to the Grand Canyon. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can prepare you for the sheer depth of it, and I’ve yet to see a photograph that conveys the drop and vast size of the Canyon. Literally breathtaking. 

Highly recommended is hiking along from the main tourit trap areas around the information areas, and heading out along the rim. Of special mention would be “The Abyss”, with a 3000 foot drop (Most of the Canyon is a mile deep... a mile!) and absolutely no safety barrier, like much of the Rim. You spend the day edging closer and closer to the edge each time. It’s actually pretty cheap too for what it is, although I did hear one woman say “Well, it’s good, but it’s not $15 good”. It’s only a wonder of the world, no big deal haha! The squirrel shot above, was taken right on the rim edge, the little guy (or gal) was casually eating balanced above the drop. He even came over to see if I had any food, cute little creature. After two awesome nights here and a killer sunset on the drive in, we headed on up to Utah, with a night booked in “The View Hotel”, overlooking that famous view of the three huge main monuments. I’m not sure of the vibe from the locals as to it’s presence here - It’s a tricky one, and of course a pretty brutal history precedes. Either way, it is a beautiful experience, sadly had a very cloudy time whilst there, but an awe inspiring thunder and lightening storm. Spent the next day going up to Mexican hat, taking the classic jumping-in-the-air pose and then driving up and back down the incredible Moki Dugway (pictured above), a dirt track winds it’s way up with sheer drops on one side at all times - scary stuff for sure but the views were incredible, and very humbling. It really was a full highlight for me, and totally free. There’s a couple of pretty old wrecks halfway up, I dread to think what might have happened there. One thing is for sure - There is a LOT more to Utah than I ever imagined, and we had to miss so much - 150% intend on returning and giving it far longer. Such a beautiful state. And with that, we passed the four corners monument and on into Colorado.....

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23 2016  ::  [Part 2]

Many trips finish in drunken party style in Vegas - Not this one. We flew straight into the heart of LV itself, with the first night booked in Downtown Vegas. We had booked a minibus taxi thing, but with everyone in arrivals heading to the strip we got put in a Limo, for the same price - Nice start!

It’s probably worth mentioning that we flew out from the UK the day after the Brexit vote, so literally every single taxi driver we came across engaged us in politcal conversation haha! This also meant that everything booked, like hotels and car hire, and that last minute extra bit of currency - Was at a terrible rate! Literally $20 less for every £100. But, undeterred... Downtown is awesome. Like, really awesome. The old Casinos like the Golden Bugget really are as down and out as they seem in movies, and it is SO bright at night that i was using my dslr handheld with ease, even at midnight. The Fremont Street huge TV screen canopy (that literally goes the length of the street) is insane - Had an awesome moment at first before i knew it played a selection of songs along to visuals, walking along singing Smashmouth’s “Rock Star”, only to end up joint-serenading a guy I walked past who was doing the same to me, with a passing high five. No words or conversation needed, but both laughing. The top left photo I took just after crossing the street, knelt down in front of the 50+ people waiting to cross next. I had a couple days before we picked up the Hire Car, so spent most of the next couple days, once we moved to Caesar’s Palace on the strip, dodging in and out of the various hotels, and bars. So many bars. You see so many yard-long Mojitos that it’s not long before you give and walk the streets with.... many, many yard-long Mojitos. The time of day is irrelevant, as long as you’ve got $ in your wallet, Vegas is crying out for you to spend it in any way you want. At night street performers are everywhere, like the awesome guy jumping spectators like in the bottom-left shot above. Once we had the car, we hit Death Valley (a note of recommendation - If your first journey in your Hire Car is Death Valley, for god’s sake check the Sat Nav lead works. Ours didn’t and ran out of juice bang in the middle of DV! Luckily we found a TI and got some maps to navigate with. A side note - Avis do not. give. a. shit. Never again). But with that came up out of Death Valley, which needs to be seen to be believed, highly recommend the little ghost town of Rhyolyte and all around Nevada, hitting up the whole Extraterrestrial Highway from Warm Springs, right down the whole way and back in Las Vegas, hence the top right picture! The roads are so, so iconic, and it just feels right driving them with the top down. Arm out on the door - got to nail those cliches, right?! The little town of Rachel is a must for any Area-51 die-hards, and the Little Ale-inn is just perfect - Especially if you’ve seen the movie Paul. The staff are great, the locals definitely used to tourists doing the trail, and they gave us a map and great verbal directions to find the entrance to Area 51 (which we did - and heading up to a sign, whilst being watched, that calmly points out that they can shoot to kill is quite exhilarating!) Actually, when we left the sign, the security followed us out down the track, and then after a while overtook us and sped off, leaving us in a cloud of dust. Literally haha! By the end of that, the white mustang was basically yellow. After 4 days of hitting Vegas hard, it was time to head on the journey, and we went straight to the Hoover Dam, and the ghost town of Nelson, around 45-60 mins South of LV. More on that next post, for now, the bottom right picture is of one of the many perfect wrecks in Nelson. [INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/500PX: @andybseesthings] 

[andybseesthings]

USA TRIP  ::  JUNE 25 - JULY 23 2016  ::  [Part 1] Cramming as many States as possible into a month long road trip was the main plan here, whilst still having long enough to unwind, take some pictures and get involved with the culture. We booked the whole thing ourselves, as although attempting to go through Round The World Experts at first - who, by the way, were incredible - we decided it was far easier to go it alone rather than attempt to explain what on earth it was that we wanted! For future trips I’ll blog as I go, but for this trip, these posts will The car hire - easy. For Mustang Convertible. Because.... because Mustang. Live the cliche! The accommodation? Although catching up with some friends in California and New York, decided upon sorting ourselves the whole trip through. Now, the USA, if you’re prepared to do a fair bit or comparing online and looking around, can be really cheap. Though City Tax and, well... Tax Tax soon bring the amount up if you’re used to our more “inclusive” pricing. Anyway, a selection of motels were booked, and a select few nicer hotels in places that it mattered, which I’ll go into in other posts in more detail - But places like “The View” in Monument Valley, Utah, etc. One major bit of advice - If it says “Free High Speed Wifi” - it probably means “Crappy, slow, lucky-if-you-get-to-sign-on” Wifi. Flights - Well, we went with Virgin - High luggage weight allowance (Camera gear is heavy) and generally easy to deal with, and a good price as flying London - Vegas, San Fran - NYC, & NYC - London. Was it stressful booking all that ourselves? No. But... Man alive, is writing stuff you find out down important. We kept losing vital bits of paper all the way along the planning stage. Buy a folder! Or just don’t have messy people like me involved ;) What kit did i take with me? Using a Lowepro Pro Runner 450 AW II Bag [as carry-on] Nikon D750 FF Body Nikon D5300 Crop Body [Spare] Sigma 20mm f1.4 Art Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art Nikon 85mm f1.8 G Manfrotto 055 Ballhead Tripod [NOT light] Joby Gorillapod Rotolight Breakthrough Photography X4 6-Stop ND Filter Hoya Pro HD Polariser Filter Asus Zenbook UX303UA 13.3″ Laptop [Invaluable] ..and a ton of other stuff, memory cards, a crazy-strong suction mount, a lenskirt, cleaning gear, and an old Samsung Galaxy S5 purely for timelapse and as a backup backup. Luckiily my 35mm and 85mm Lens are both 67mm Filter thread - Which worked out well, huh! Why Primes? I just prefer Primes to Zoom Lenses - The getting involved and moving around with your shot to nail the compostition. And the fact that I could probably do with losing a stone or two!! The image above, by the way, was taken in a Ranch-themed bar in Vegas - Despite having two Nikon DSLR bodies with me on the trip, I took this in RAW format on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Smartphone, handheld, at 50iso. Not a bad advert for Samsung there, I was pleasantly surprised upon returning home and editing it. First stop, and the next post - Las Vegas.. Old, Downtown Las Vegas....... [INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/500PX: @andybseesthings]

[andybseesthings]

Ok, so - It’s travel time again! Flying out for this month-long stateside roadtrip on Saturday, and absolutely stoked! Just finished packing, I think the luggage weight is about 75% camera gear haha. More updates to come, but first just to get a sleep and a final day of work in...

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Well, after some years away from my blog, it’s time to get back into it, and with a slight change of direction - A lot has changed! As I went further from my constantly-on-tour lifestyle of old, my little passion for photography had more of a chance to claim some of my time - so over the past couple of years I’ve been letting that develop, and spending far too much on camera gear!! But much like touring, it is continuing to take me to new places, meet interesting new people, and see the world in yet another new way. For anyone interested, Fandangle are an item once again, we started up again a couple of years ago and have done some awesome shows, been on the Slam Dunk tour (and played Slam Dunk Festival), and will continue to play here and there whenever our schedules allow. I have a couple of continuing new musical projects, more on that as we go ;)  For now anyway, here’s an image i took at sunset in beautiful Woolacombe in my favourite part of the UK - North Devon. If you wish you can catch me on: Instagram: @andybseesthings Twitter: @andybseesthings Facebook: /andybseesthings Flickr: @andybseesthings 500px: ..I think you get the idea..

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So, i thought i should blog and catch up on the E30! After pricing up the cost of doing the V8 conversion properly, i opted for a steel-linered, alloy block M52 2.8 BMW motor, stroked out to 3.0ltr with the Rotating Assembly from an M54 3.0 engine, and with an M50 inlet. Here's the pics of the complete strip-down engine rebuild. Block acid bathed, skimmed to raise the comp a little, bores honed, head bathed and skimmed, practically new everything. Not cheap, but well worth it, and a thing of beauty ha!

[andybseesthings]

So, 4 and a half years after we split up, Fandangle are back! We've all done a lot in the years since, and the time is just right. So yea - the band that brought you this, the most uncomfortable but most fun to shoot video (there's not a lot of standing room in an aeroplane!!), are ready to assault ears - add up the facebook page by clicking [here]. Expect some UK dates in a few months, and maybe even some new music....

The (other) new band is also coming along too, hoping to have a promo cd together by the end of the year - Things have been slow, due to being hella busy!

[andybseesthings]

Pictures from the second of two sessions laying drums for the new band's album! Room mics sounded, once again, sweet as. Nick and i attacked some two-person percussion, check out the set up in the 8th picture - Hella fun..

[andybseesthings]

Allister smashing it last night in Bristol, TOTAL sing-a-long gig!  My pals Everything We Left Behind played a blinder as support too.

[andybseesthings]

Some pictures from the first of two drum tracking sessions for the new band's album... Beautiful sound! Check out the tiny trick snare that's set up in the kit photos - Swapped to it for two certain parts of a certain song ;)