Sydney & International Fashion and Style Blog with photography by Kent Johnson. Travel, Art and Events, Fashion from the Streets and into the Clubs. The lifestyle blog you love to share, Thank you Sydney XX to the world.
I'm in a SHOW - but it's not all about me. The Click! 2016 Photography Exhibition kicked off in great style on Thursday night at Badger & Fox gallery with a strong attendance from the Sydney photographic community and an opening speech by Gael Newton. This year the exhibition is drawn from the Badger & Fox photography collection of Australian and International photographers, along with works by a selection of local photographers that have caught owner/curator Peter Maddison's eye; Brett Hilder, Vivianna Barrero, MikiNobu Komatsu, Peter Maddison and myself, Kent Johnson.
The show is divide across three rooms and the stairway and loosely from vintage and 'historical' photography - original prints - through to major contemporary photography; well they are all orginal prints! If you are new to photography and wonder what classic photography looks like, this is a great show to see a good chunk of the history of photography in one place in one afternoon. Gael spoke about the transition of photography from being seen as an applied art or trade to it becoming an accepted art form in major institutional galleries, and also praised Peter for the quality of the work on show and his unswerving eye for exceptional photography. Weekends only 11 to 5 201 Albion St Surry Hills untill Nov 27.
Fast Food from the Freeway (Brisbane) my photograph in Click! at Badger & Fox Gallery - Edition of 10.
Well I don't suppose this is fashion in a capital F sense but you know what, I LOVE it., but then you knew I would anyway. It's so easy for this look not be be great.. but it's just fabulous; thanks for letting me make the shot. It seems life's not completely over in Kings Cross on a Friday night, not quite, not yet, there's still some ghosts of the past, that remember how it was, days gone by..
Three friends at an art opening, Sign of the Times at Ambush gallery on a Friday night; perfectly coordinated in black and white fashion. On other art show notes. I really must apologise for having dropped the ball on the blog posts, there have however been some sizeable picture posts on the Street Fashion Sydney Facebook Page which I can highly recommend 'Following' Here so as to not miss out on shows while they are actually still on... Two of those below still are, just.. and notes on some to come.
SCROLL DOWN for three shows and lots more pictures :-)
Photographer Enzo Amato with his work at Sign of the Times Ambush Gallery.
While no longer on, this poetry movement and projections art exhibition still deserves a mention, Cunctations in II Parts at Stacks Projects by Angela Stretch with performance by Nalina Wait; opening speech by Juilee Pryor - Well you really had to be there on the night so I am glad I was in attendance and was able to make these pictures to share. You can see a few more and much larger on the aforementioned Facebook page.. go on just 'Like' it.
Cunctations in II Parts performance by Nalina Wait at Stacks Projects.
Angela Stretch and Juilee Pryor at Cunctations in II Parts.
And then of course the new The New Standard Gallery (which may or may not be some kind of new HughesCorporation..) if you are very quick you can still catch the opening show, with the second exhibition with Neil Tomkins opening next Thursday November the 10th..
And if you are reading this today, Thursday the 3rd of November I have a work 'Fast Food from the Freeway (Brisbane)' at Badger & Fox gallery opening tonight. Hope to see you there!
The new Polo S watches and magnums of Pol Roger in a sensually lit Sydney cocktail bar, fabulous food circulating; I even managed to do a little hand modelling too; yes moi! The Piaget people not only know about their watches they certainly know how to set a luxurious tone by putting on a fine and intimate soiree too. The theme for the night was play a different game, and the Polo S is the time piece to do just that. The classic Paiget of the 1980s has had a makeover and the company has enlisted nine game changing men from across the globe and professional fields as ambassadors for the brand including, actor Ryan Reynolds as the official international Polo S ambassador. Check Ryan out in the promotional video on the website.
#PartyUp indeed. Street Fashion Sydney had the privilege of attending the Ultimate Ears, BOOM 2 2016 launch at Carriageworks in Sydney. And it certainly was a cracker of a party. First shot as you scroll down you just can see the countdown to the launch projected on the left; the curtains opening to a massive industrial space, illuminated 'robots' drawing back the curtain on a colour and sound filled spectacle, in we all go... And I am wondering, how will they showcase, 'illuminate' a small 18 cm personal speaker?
So we had a great light show, including projections some light and flame performances, cool DJs spinning tunes; then about 30 or 40 minuets into the night, the head of UE/Ultimate Ears made the totally bold announcement that they were going to switch from the great sounding music PA.. and go to the 100 linked, BOOM 2 and Mega BOOM speaker cross boom above our heads; cue - light up the boom - and as you can see from the size of that space it was a huge call for tiny speakers! How did it go? Well a LOT better than I expected. The music filled the room, loud - distortion free, it did BOOM that's for sure, it was pretty damn impressive. Now it was not as clear as the 'real' PA - but it was quite amazing, and these small speakers are not really meant to power such a ginormous party space but they did. At the end of the night I was gifted a BOOM 2 and have been testing/using it for a few days now - so keep scrolling down for my REVIEW below towards the end of the pictures. Do I know what I am writing about when it comes to audio? Well for a few years I ran an online-retail called Vintage Audio .Com .Au (now disbanded) and we did pretty well & were pretty well known and respected, so I will be giving it my VA equipment review best. The old site is down but if you are interested the old VA blog is still online, here, http://vintageaudioaustralia.com.au/2006/my-cd-player-or-my-amp.html
The 100 Mega Boom & Boom 2 - Cross Boom - It worked!
Party wigs and Glasses - Best after a few drinks.. -
Me and my BOOM 2 - Review below - Pic by vivalaViv.
So what is a BOOM 2, what does it do and do you need one? Lets start with what it is.
The BOOM 2 is a small 18 cm tall 6.7 cm diameter portable, waterproof (for 30 min to 1 meter) wireless/Bluetooth active/self-powered speaker. What that means is it's a speaker with a built in amplifier so all you need to do is supply the source-music via your phone or tablet or device-with-Bluetooth connection. Being waterproof it is basically a take anywhere sound source, a 'boom box' without the size. Power is supplied via Li-Ion battery, up to 15 hours per charge is claimed; this would no doubt depend on how hard you run your sound.
I have been testing my Boom 2 in a small but not tiny studio apartment; first music was early 80s classics on YouTube - Psychedelic Furs, Blondie, Talk Talk, Thomas Dolby, which all sounded somewhat better than I remember hearing them when they first came out.. well TV's didn't have very good sound back then anyway. So even though YouTube is a compressed sound format, the Boom 2 had the music sounding pretty good. I then went for Diana Krall Live in Paris which was my key 'test CD' for most Vintage Audio systems I reviewed. The great thing about this album is I know were systems excel or fall down. Now there is no way a small single speaker is going to reproduce a full stereo sound stage; and I certainly don't expect it too. What I would like if I can get it is rich sound, a feeling for the base, clarity, sibilance on cymbals and high percussive notes, no distortion, fast dynamic response. The BOOM 2 delivers, it delivers surprisingly good sound regardless of it's size.
As I sit here typing this review, I have gone over to full uncompressed music files, Roy Hargrove Crisol Habana, all Cuban brass, percussion and piano and the best thing I can possibly say about the sound is that I am forgetting what it is coming out of, where it is coming from; I am just enjoying the music. For some more contemporary bass heavy tunes I went with Angie Stone's Mahogany Soul, which sounded, great, with full rich sound.
But wait there's more! There's an App for the BOOM 2 too.. of course there is and it's pretty useful as well. There is a 5 Band EQ (I knocked the treble back one notch) and if you have more than one Boom speaker you can set the system up for true stereo sound - now that would be interesting to try; OR if you and your friends have more Booms you can hook them up together to spread the sound, increase, the output, which is essentially what was shown to us at the lunch event with 100 hooked up playing together and that was a LOT of sound.
So should you buy one? Well I think I will be taking mine along on small studio shoots in the future, at least I can be sure of the sound quality and how it works. In fact great for taking on any jobs where you want some music & if you use the phone/App it can double up as a speaker phone too, which caught me by surprise yesterday. I have even seen someone working on their motorbike out in the street (before the launch) and thought that's better than boom boxes used to be! So if you like portable sound, I can recommend the BOOM 2. Would I choose to go BOOM 2 over my stereo, no it's a completely different scenario each with benefits of their own, but it's turning into a great second sound source, to enjoy listening too, with pleasure.
