MAJOR EVENT

Mere hours after a largely mixed photographic performance at the Dead Man Running Premiere I got a front(ish) row standing position at a second premiere, that for the movie “Chloe”. / The “Chloe” Premiere. Also known as ‘the premiere 50 Cent wasn’t at’ (admittedly, once the other premiere petered out, more people wandered by and joined this guy) / The photographers from the Dead Man Running premiere basically packed up their gear and crossed Leicester Square en masse and found places to sit down and upload their pictures while their ‘press pen’ was constructed / One of the Paparazzi says something to one of the other paparazzi. Possibly a jibe about then being a Pentax shooter, .. I wasn’t really listening. But it was a moment / Ivan Reitman. True to the staggering amount of skill I bring to my movie premiere journals (cough), I actually thought he was the director and the other guy was the producer. Anyway, Ivan Reitman has (among other things) directed such films as Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, and Kindergarten Cop. / He’s the director of “Chloe”, Atom Egoyer. An awesome name, if nothing else! / Actress Amanda Seyfried has been in such films as Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mean Girls (2004). And this one / Ah, nighttime photography at film premieres. Either you turn up the grain and suffer the quality, or set a fast shutter speed and pray for paparazzi flash-assists to help you out. (I did okay on this one) / The Paps to my immediate left were screaming for Amanda Seyfried to come back and turn left just one last time, which benefitted me immensely as her eyes passed by my camera when she turned. I have to say though – with Paps these days sporting speedflashes and 8+ frames per second (compared to my 3fps) do they really need more than two or three seconds to get their shot?? / Actress Julianne Moore has been nominated for no less than four Academy Awards™ but is sadly yet to win one. She was in the sequel to Jurassic Park, though! / Another shot of Julianne Moore. And hey, I happened to like The Lost World! / Perhaps not the best of portraits, but I maintain this shot has merit. (Then again, at this stage it was cold, threatening to rain, and I was very hungry. So at that point a Big Mac also had considerable merit…) So that’s… what… six premieres / galas in something like five calendar days? Good times. Next week will be quieter. I think. And what it means is that I have another journal to add to the expanding Archive of Movie Premieres Of which the last few (not counting the one I’d been to just shortly before this one) were: / An Education – Thompson! Mulligan! / Bright Star – Jane Campion! Boris Johnson! / The Road – Firth! Mortensen! / The Men Who Stare At Goats – Clooney! Again! / The Fantastic Mr Fox – Clooney! Murray! ... Cindy Crawford?? And I really am starting to put together a shortlist for a second Calendar such as the one below: /

On Saturday my brother and I went to the Super X at skilled Stadium in Geelong. Although our tickets were in the General Admission Standing area, after the event started the security personnel let us all into the seating area. The view was still restricted to around 25% of the track, but it was a good afternoon out. / All I need for next years event is a good lens and a lot of practice… Chad Reed – Monster Energy Kawasaki / Flying High / Dan Reardon – Woodstock Honda Thor Racing / Dan Reardon followed by Jay Marmont / Nice Pyjamas / Mud Flicker / Suzuki 338 / Yamaha 151 / Red Bull gives you wings.. / Up up and away /

Hey all! As you may know I have been running Freelancer Unplugged now for 2 months or so and last night was our first EVER event. We were so lucky to have a video camera, audio recording, photos, great people and enough alcohol for 60 people! (We had 15-20). Here are some pics from the event Very shortly we will have Video and Podcast audio for you to enjoy. We managed to cover quite a few questions relating to freelancing: Should you charge your friends?, What are the hurdles for a freelancer just starting out?, How do you find clients when freelancing? – and also discussed questions to do with profile building: Are websites and web precense optional items?, How important is SEO (also ‘what is it’) and Is it better to be a specialist or generalist as a freelancer? We will be having our next event January or February so PLEASE sign up to the website as a freelancer so I can keep you informed!

Zac Efron. It’s two words every girl loves and every self-respecting pair of eardrums fears. The situation? A premiere for the film ‘Me & Orson Welles’ in Leicester Square, a mere day after the small premiere the night before. Crowds were anticipated to be huge, and residents of London within two kilometers were warned to cover the ears of their dogs just in case the lusty screams of teen girls got too high and too loud, though I may have made that up for dramatic effect. Still, I metaphorically had an ipod set to some seriously heavy bass tracks, and joined the fray. / It’s a new premiere! And this one has actual cachet : Zac Efron. And Claire Danes. And the dude who directed ‘School of Rock’, whose name I don’t remember and whose film I did not watch. / Here’s a lady checking out The List of expected attendees. I meanwhile used the opportunity to check my status. Position in crowd fairly close to front? Check. Spare battery for camera? Check. Empty memory Card? Check. And finally…cripplingly bright light shining directly into camera? … yeah. That too. / I’ll stop taking variants of this shot when I get bored of it. And I’m not bored of it yet! / “What was it like working with Zac Efron? Oh, I couldn’t stop screaming whenever I saw him. I was terrible to work with” Richard Linklater directed ‘Me & Orson Welles’ Oh, and for a little bit of fun, check out the cute blonde girl with the blue/purple jacket on the right, and how many times she shows up in this series of photos. Coincidentally, I swear. / “Zac Efron? He’s here?” Estrogen levels at Leicester Square were at critical ranges last night, if I’m any judge. Oh, and look.. a cute girl with a blue/purple jacket. / This may or may not be Hugh Dancy, who may or may not have been ‘Prince Charming’ in the movie ‘Ella Enchanted’. I’m basing this off the conversation the girl two behind me and to the left in the crowd was having on her mobile while all the screaming was going on. How she maintained any sort of conversation is a question all on its own. / Wireimage informs me that this is Jools Holland. The name sounds familiar, but in this case I was just taken by the expression on his face and his innate not-Zac-Efron-ness. / You may be wondering whether I’ve ever wished that I had a tall, strong girlfriend upon whose shoulders I could perch at premieres. The answer is yes (…. although if I’m honest, probably not for the express purpose of Zac Efron premieres.) / I’m not sure who the lady in blue dress is, I’m just intrigued at the body language of the girl in red further behind her. I’d love to think there’s some kind of feud going on. / Actress Kelly Reilly being interviewed (left of frame). My position in the crowd was not ideal, and I could theoretically have gotten a better vantagepoint at time of arrival. However I stayed where I was because I figured it held the best chance of getting celeb shots when they were standing relatively still in one spot for a while. Oh, and look.. a cute girl with a blue/purple jacket. / Claire Danes! (and who is in the background…? Oh, look… a cute girl with a blue/purple jacket) / Actress Claire Danes was ‘Juliet’ in Baz Luhrman’s “Romeo+Juliet” and the lead female human in “Terminator3 : Rise of the Machines”. And she’s pretty, too. That is all. / Actress Claire Danes takes a wind machine with her wherever she goes. It’s a massively expensive indulgence, but it does its job. / “What was it like working with Zac Efron? Oh, I screamed every time I saw him… I was terrible to work with” / This is Christian McKay, who plays Orson Welles in the film. (“I’m here with Christian McKay, and I’m going to ask him what was it like working with Zac Efron. Did he scream like a girl every time he saw him? Stand by to find out…”) / Spot the Zac Efron (part 1 of 2). If you feel the need to scream when you find him, go right on ahead. I’m told that’s a perfectly normal response. / “So, Zac. What was it like working with… uh… Zac Efron? And did you … umm…. scream…? Oh. Right.” Zac takes it all in his stride. / “Yes, Tom, I still have a little bit of hearing in my left ear. That’s how I can keep acting. However, my doctors have advised I’ll probably have to retire in a year or two if the girls don’t stop screaming” / Ladies and Gentlemen, the man, the myth, the majesty, and curiously forward leaning awesomeness of The Efron, without any fan obstruction. (The surgeon general advises that long-term exposure to Zac Efron may be harmful to your health) / Spot the Zac Efron (part 2 of 2). This is probably the easier one of the two. / Actress Kelly Reilly is pretty, and along with this film she has also been in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ (2005) and ‘Mrs Henderson Presents’ (2005), movies I’ve heard of but not actually seen. So there you go. / If I were director Michael Bay (Transformers, Bad Boys) I’d probably feel compelled to put an American flag in the background of this photo. / Director Richard Linklater attempts to reflect back some paparazzi flashes. It’s an odd play, but it might catch on. / This may be Ben Chaplin, and if so : he’s in the film. Or he could be one of the geeks from the sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’. Either way, he also has a curiously forward leaning pose. (How’s the ‘cute blonde purple/blue jacket wearing girl count going?’, I hear you ask?) / ….it’s going quite, well, thank you. (I swear, I believe this was how I composed it to take the shot of the girl on the right without getting the big boom camera on the right into the shot. I can’t speak for my subconscious, however) / It’s a movie premiere, Yellow Cap Guy has been safely sighted, and all is well with the world again. Until next time! Does it join the archive of my 50+ premieres? Why yes it does The last couple of which were: / We are the people we’ve been waiting for -The Fonz Dissed Me!! / Harry Brown : Michael Caine! / Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 / Nowhere Boy – Scott-Thomas! Taylor-Wood! Finally, here’s an exhibition you can view on redbubble -or break into an office to see ‘live’ / And here’s the calendar for the exhibit: /

British Billionaire Richard Branson! / Noted Feminist Germaine Greer! / Former US President Bill Clinton! / ‘The Fonz’ Henry Winkler! All of these played themselves in this film/documentary, and might therefore have been possible attendees. However, since this premiere was billed in advance as ‘small’, this was probably the first clue that not all of the above would, in fact, show up. And indeed, most didn’t. Only one did. No, not him. And no, not that guy either. And not her. (Although these photos and a lack of online assistance as to their identity might imply I have some kind of world exclusive on these shots, sadly this is not quite true : there was one (1) camera crew, one (1) outdoor red carpet photographer, and two (2) inside arrivals photographers.) But whatever, the carpet was red, and the cap on the head of the guy three down from me was yellow, so you know what that means… / ‘We are the people we’ve been waiting for’ is a film/documentary about the deteriorating education system in England, which is surely an important enough topic for everyone to stop updating their facebook status profiles and go and see? / Contrary to a belief surely few people have, Red carpets aren’t actually dragged fully unfurled through the streets of London and into Leicester Square…. They’re actually transported in rolled-up form. (Handy!) / It’s The Fonz! By which I mean…. I’m far too young to know who this guy is. I’ll need to check the internet. Bring on Richard Branson already. (My mental attitude might have been caught by Mr Winker, who not only declined to sign my proferred travel journal, but left the pen he was holding flat on the open page before walking away. Yikes!). Anyway, Henry Winkler played a character called Arthur ‘Fonzie’ Fonzarelli in the 1974-84 TV series ‘Happy Days’. The character was popular enough that he made guest appearances on other TV shows over that time. / Sigh. I got dissed by ‘The Fonz’. (‘The Fonz’ appears unconcerned). / The Fonz uses one last opportunity to not sign an autograph. / This is not Germaine Greer, and not Bill Clinton. ….and probably not Richard Branson. / This is the cast and crew of ‘We are the People we’ve been waiting for’ who could be bothered to pose as a group (thanks, Fonzie). Owing to a complete lack of pictures on IMDB and wireimage and gettyimages for this film, I don’t know who any of these people are. Well… except for the girl second from the right. Her name is Natasha Cooper. I have ways. (And they are non-verbal) (okay, that came out wrong…) / Yellow Cap Guy is distracted by something that is not even close to as interesting as who I was photographing at the same time. I have no explanation for this. At all. / Actually, by a process of elimination (also known as ‘using the number of girls in the cast listing and their names‘), I have concluded that this is probably Amy Scott. Or Germaine Greer. (Or, maybe Sir Richard if he’s doing it for publicity). / These two are either Scott Harlflett and David Bryant, Scott Harlflett and Ken Robinson, or David Bryant and Ken Robinson, because there are three child leads and these are two of them. / Actress / Student Natasha Cooper does some impromptu posing. Anything to keep warm, I suppose… the weather is getting more wintery these days, poor thing. / “If I can hug against that furry microphone, I’ll answer any question you ask, no matter how weird or lengthy the required answer…” / If you ever want to know what I look like, this is pretty much exactly what I don’t (More specifically, I’d wear an LA cap and if I’m forced to do a hand-symbol, I’d do a westside (aiii)) / If the fifth member of the cast was in this photo, it might almost have been a case of labelling it a “semi-exclusive candid ensemble shot”. (And next time I’m out with my friends, I’m going to insist we recreate these poses….) / If this is the director of ‘We are the people we’ve been waiting for’, then (a) I managed to photograph him – woohoo – and (b) his clout was not sufficient to insist ‘The Fonz’ get out of his comfy cinema chair and pose with the rest of the cast. (The Fonze clearly doesn’t move once he’s got his choc-top icecream and mega-gulp Pepsi) / Yellow Cap Guy readies his 40-second unsolicited script pitch for the director. / (Actually, no, sadly he wasn’t, but how awesome would it have been??) So… that’s that, then. Fare thee well, young stars: go out there and make your lives extraordinary! I’ll just head home and get steel myself to do battle against the thousand screaming girls at tomorrow’s Zac Efron premiere….. Until next time! It goes without saying It Joins the Archive of Film Premieres Oh, and if you can’t make it to London and/or past security in my old office, I now have my own (kind of) exhibition of movie premiere shots!! /