Cinematography from the heart

Happy New Year!

2008-02-09T14:15:00.000+13:00

I started off this new year in Mexico riding motorbikes across the Baja desert! It was an amazing trip and one that I will never forget..... like them all really. We rode from Tijuana in the north to Todos Santos in the south over 13 days cruising through deserts, cactus, rock formations, valleys, over mountains and through rivers and farms. The scenery there was unbelievable at parts and the people were very friendly.

The most memorable things for me.......

The Cactus. They are over 2000 years old each! They don't start growing another arm until they are at least 80 years of age and the ones with multiple arms are really really old.

SCORPIONS! We went to a beach called 'Scorpion Bay'..... called that for a pretty good reason. Every rock you look under has a scorpion under it! This little guy was the biggest we found and it was as big as a 50cent coin. The smaller they are the more poison they pump out.

After the shoot in Mexico I met up with Gerard, Jacquie and Hayley in Los Angeles. We spent 1 day filming a dream sequence and the rest of the time Jake from Steriogram showed us around in his cool van. I went to Universal Studios and have some fun! Brian left me with the motorbike so I spent a week cruising around L.A in style. I cruised Santa Monica beach and then rode up over the Beverly Hills and along Mulholland Drive. It was so much fun and a really nice break. Jado, KC's Cousin let me use his apartment for a few days which was awesome of him!

In other news! I am the proud owner of the new Sony EX1! This camera creates stunning images and I am looking forward to filming a drama with it. We will be filming our next movie on this.

I have finally got my personal website going. I have been uploading photos to that each day and in the next few weeks i should have them all up there. I will try and arrange the gallery and do a little more design on the pages so that they are not so messy. But I don't know anything right now.... it took me 4 hours to add photos.

Right now I am getting back into the groove of a freelance cameraman. I am working on a couple of drama series at the moment. 'Outrageous Fortune' and 'Jacquie Browns Diaries'. I will be learning a lot from each of these jobs and I cant wait to get stuck in.

So thats a quick update from me. There are a hundred things happening at once.

later

lance

Its like i have started a new life.....

2007-12-04T20:04:00.000+13:00

Settling in.....

I have been working non stop since i got back from the earthrace epic. This week alone i have done over 106 hours which is insane really when it is such physical work..... but man, it is fun and i am learning a lot!

Things are going great outside of work.... I moved in to my new flat with Amit on the north shore 2 weeks ago. It has been great living with Amit as we get along so well and also living so close to the city really saves a lot of time travelling each day. The house is situated right next to the wharf in birkenhead and each night the sun sets out over the Waitakere hills. I have 2 baby birds living right outside my window so that adds a bit of wildlife to the scene. A few days ago they started to talk...... hmmm no 'sleep ins' for me on my days off.... if i get them.

I am counting down the days till we go to Mexico..... It is going to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date. Just hope that this time i dont get lost in the wilderness because these conditions will be a lot more extreme than the last one.... at least there is no bears this time. In 2 weeks I cruise down to Queenstown for xmas with the family. Tania and Andrew have moved in to a new 1.4 million dollar apartment so that should be a few days of absolute luxury before we cruise the dessert of Baja, Mexico on dirt bikes yeehaa!!

Scott and Alison came over last week to help me out with my photo book of Earthrace. I have just not had the time to finish the book off so Scott will be doing that and it should be available for sale in the next few days. Scott and Ali are absolute legends and its great to have them in NZ.

I have a lot more to write and a few photos that i will load up in the next week or so. right now tho i am going to go to sleep. good night

lance

Back to normal life

2007-10-27T08:26:00.000+13:00

Well. What a trip!

I arrived in New Zealand yesturday after sitting in a plane for 24 hours with complete strangers resting their tired heads on my shoulders and a cute little girl (her entire family was coming to live in NZ) from Namibia, Africa crying and laughing at me all the time. Why is it, and i am sure Amit gets the same thing, that kids ALWAYS look at me and smile and laugh! Do i look radiculous or something? Dont get me wrong, i love it because i love kids but whey do they do that? I was in the supermarket once and this kid of about 2 pointed at me and laughed! hmmm, anyway.....

I've unpacked all my belongings already.... a sign that i have changed because a year ago i would have just left it on the floor in my room to rot. And, being back in New Zealand is a breath of fresh air... literally. During my travels I have now come to realize that New Zealand really is, the nicest place in the entire world to live and that the 4 million people that live here are the luckiest in the world. Just driving home yesturday i had a huge smile on my face because of how beautiful it is here. I am guilty of taking New Zealand for granted over the last few years and its not until you have travelled the world that you realise how amazingly fortunate we are.

Another thing that I have been contemplating over the last couple of months is how the world really needs help. Not just from a few individuals who want to make a difference, but from all of us who are able to. Education of the issues and what we can do to help is the key and I have made my mind up on how i will help but i hope it makes a big enough difference....

I met up with Tania and Andrew who were up from Queenstown. Was really nice to see them again and also, Max. man i missed them! I could'nt believe how much people have changed in the last 10 months! Amit is coming for breakfast this morning so cant wait to see him again. Will post photos up soon.

I plan to get fit again and start playing all my sports again. Will get into the routine of having at least one sport each night if i can.

And i do plan in writing a blog for each country that i was in over the next month or so....

later

lance

Portland, Oregan

2007-08-27T18:28:00.000+12:00

After an amazing time, i have left europe and arrived in Portland, Oregan for my next adventure...... riding across Washington state on dirt bikes!

I met ryan and Brian at the airport last night after a long but relatively stress free flight. Naturally, being in a new city we went out for a quick drink..... which quickly turned in to a few drinks with Thor, one of the guys who is riding with us and who is also a pretty damn good rider..... he was on Jackass 2 and did a complete loop the loop!

Waking up the next day was easier than expected.... a lot easier! considering that, now, because i have'nt drunk much for ages, i get drunk off 2 beers and we downed at least 7 each! Brian and I spent the day getting stuff ready for the trip. Ryan picked up the beautiful Tara from the airport. After a long day of driving around looking for a new stills camera (unsuccessfully) it was time to head back home and actually learn how to ride a motorbike! especially when the trail we are riding is quite difficult in some places.

So, Ryan and I were in the same boat. He had'nt riden a motorbike for 10 years.... and i had only ridden a motorbike once in my life (excluding the amazing ginger moped of course) and was'nt very good at it back then! So, after some great wisdom from Brian it was time to jump on and give it a go. Wearing full body armor and helmet i sat on the bike rearing to go. Unluckily for me i was blessed with short beautiful legs which make it very hard to touch the ground.... so it was a little difficult to even get on the bike at first. Ryan laughed, he has incredibly long legs. I started the bike, cranked it in to 1st gear and away i went.... nervously awaiting the accidental wheelie that could occur from too much throttle, but, to my amazement, I did'nt do that this time! (last time i almost fell off the back of max's bike) Ryan then had a go and took to the bike like a worm to mud.

After some practice Brian decided to take us to a park to learn some skills. But, on the way we were stopped by a guy in a car. I thought he was an off duty cop who was going to tell me off for filming on the back of the bike without a permit... but it turned out he was a wicked wicked guy who wanted to know about camera's. So, after a small chat he took us to his 'boat house' for a beer. The boat house was incredible! amazing in fact! he also had his 42 foot sail boat docked on his deck outside and then had his speed boat down the other side of his house! So tomorrow he has invited us around for dinner and a wakeboard which will be good fun.

Portland really is a beautiful city. This evening i was watching hundreds of geese fly in and land in the river against a stunning sunset of green and blue colors. Took a mental picture because my stills camera is broken so sorry i could'nt share. Maybe they will be there tomorrow.

am in a happy happy mood right now.

Singapore

2007-05-10T23:49:00.000+12:00

I have been really bad at keeping up to date with me blogs..... and it is important for me to keep in touch with a lot of people who read this so I will try my best to keep it going from now on..... it is hard tho.

Earthrace came and left Singapore the other day. Tomorrow, I fly to my favourite country, India which i am extremely excited about. Just have to get my visa tomorrow at 4pm.... flights at 8.15pm...... hmmmmmm...... pushing it but it should be sweet!

The trip so far has just been amazing. The more countries you go to the better they become! It has changed me a lot.... more than anything else ever has..... and i hope it is for the best. The countries we have been to so far have been Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, San Diego, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Palau, Singapore and now on to India. We are not even half way around the globe and still have the most interesting stops to make! I have shot so much footage and going over it on my laptop makes me confident that this doco will be an extremely interesting watch.

Right now I am mentally exhausted and the travelling and shooting on no money at all is demanding and frustrating. But i love it! My favourite stop so far would have to be Palau. That place has something special about it and is absolutely stunning! I ended up doing some helicopter stuff with Roll em Productions in Palau and seeing it by air is something else! Singapore has been an interesting trip..... the boat left and most of the time i have been stuck inside the hotel room dumping footage, loading footage to TV3, Loading up blogs, loading up photos for my blog, loading up hi res photos, editing b roll footage, editing footage we shot of earthrace at the marina and sending emails, footage logging... so now i can go outside and see Singapore.

Marshall Islands was nice but very small. There was one road from the airport to the other end of the island. The island is shaped like a horse shoe and is only 100metres wide at the most! The marshallese are beautiful and friendly people. I went for a walk one evening at dusk and took photos of the local kids. There is a really nice feeling of community there which i dont think i have experienced anywhere else. Each night all the locals meet up and have games of volleyball, basketball and sing songs.... I wanted to join in but did'nt know what they were singing lol....

Hawaii was amazing also. The scenary of Maui's volcano's and the deep blue water. We cruised up the tallest volcano at dawn to watch the sunrise.... it was so disorientating because it looked like a little hill, yet it took 1.5hours to drive up it! and at the top the view was amazing! There was a weird cloud in the sky that looked like jet vapour... It was actually steam from a meteorite that flew accross the sky as we drove up. I got a great shot of the steam going over the horrizon. I also went whale watching and met Mele who was the greatest guide in the world! I hired a helicopter to go out and film earthrace coming in.... It was so worth spending the money because I got some pretty cool shots of earthrace flying through the water and dodging whales... that helicopter crashed a week later.

I am about to go and have one last drink with Joan, Angie, Arion and Rama who are the coolest bar staff ever! I am sad to say goodbye to them actually.....

Will post a photo of them on my next blog....

lance

Miami - Panama

2007-03-11T03:32:00.000+13:00

Wow, what a blur the last couple of weeks have been!

We arrived in Panama on Wednesday 7th March at night...... The first thing i was thinking after leaving the airport is how much some of the smells of Panama remind me of India.... but not half as strong. The other thought that was running through my head apart from the wind (head hanging out window) was how many photos i am going to be taking throughout this whole trip! I know it was a random thought but when you see Panama, you will know what i mean..... it is stunning in some places!

Before i go onto Panama tho.... i had better fill in on a little of the time in Miami....

Im my last blog i mentioned...o gotta go... update later

Kinder. Children. Bambini

2007-02-26T06:39:00.000+13:00

'Kinder. Children. Bambini' - The book that was published with my photos in it is now available to order on the internet.....

Please go to www.avisys.at and order it!! All proceeds go to AMREF - www.amref.org - (African Medical Research Foundation) and www.sos-kinderdorfinternational.org which help provide medicines and build housing and schools for orphaned children.
It is a great cause and only costs 30 euros which to us is nothing, but to them is huge!

We are sitting in our hotel room on Miami Beach..... The room kinda smells at the moment and we are struggling to find the cause of it! We have the incense burning and all the windows open so that should fix it........ hopefully. All of us are on our laptops working right now..... trying to find sponsors, flights, organize fuel, accomodation etc etc.....

This morning i went and took some photos of the sun rising over the ocean....... Definately a good start to the day and will TRY and do that each morning whilst we are staying here. you really do meet some strange people in the early morning hours which is always uplifting. Yesturday i went for a walk along the beach for a while to gather my thoughts. The thing i loved the most, apart from topless women running towards me, was how multicultural it is here....... even more so than New Zealand. There were people from every continent all swimming together and just having a great time.... Its hard to imagine that happening 100 years ago.......... Here is a photo of the sunrise this morning:

and just a random that i liked:

John just farted......

I found a piece of music on the internet yesturday that really inspired me to be a cameraman as a kid........ Its called 'Cadillac of the skies' by John Williams and was on the movie "Empire of the Sun" - an amazing movie. So have been listening to that song a lot whilst trying to install software on my computer..... a lengthy process..... and john just farted again.

Since spanish is the main language for a few of the locations we are going to, Alison and Scott are going to try and teach me...... I will also try and download some lessons off the internet some time soon. gonna go get some cuban lunch.......

Adios!

www.earthrace.net - Go there!!!

2007-02-22T20:01:00.001+13:00

Yoga! I am now completely hooked on it. Devann, Ryan and I went to a free lesson kindly donated to the Earthrace crew by Jeffrey and Andrea (www.satsangyoga.com) and we had a blast! Some of the moves that you have to do are amazing and completely impossible for short ginga's with stiff muscles! But, the next morning Devann and I went back for a new session and I could really feel the difference in flexibility and my body did feel a lot better...... So have decided to take up Yoga when I get back to NZ or wherever i end up next.

After 3 weeks it was a real shame to leave Charleston..... especially since we had made so many friends there..... but, everything has to end some time so last week Devann and I had to drive from Charleston, South carolina to Miami......... A good 10 hour drive. It is pretty fun driving on the wrong side of the road and some of the rules are a little different which can be confusing. On the way down we stopped off at a pretty cool cafe to get a much needed Chai Latte...... and it was the best i have had in the USA so far. We then went to a town called St Augustine which is the oldest town in the USA. We had dinner and then strolled around town for a while....... St Augustine is definately my favourite place in the US so far.......

We arrived in Miami last week and set up for the Miami Boat Show. I was walking some stuff down the pontoon to the boat and in the corner of my eye, in the sea, I saw a couple of huge brown things drifting up towards the surface of the water. The first thought that pooped into my head (haha) was "they are whale turds!" because I really did'nt know what they were...... and then i realised that it was a female Manatee and its son, daughter, foul, calf, kitten, pup, puppy, cub......... I dunno, lets just say baby! So i was pretty happy for a few hours after that...... Check out this photo of the whal...... Manatees.

Jiye came down from Houston for 6 days during the boat show. Was great to see her again..... Most of the time we spent at the boat show. We only had half a day to ourselves and ended up walking down the beach a long way, climbing palm trees, shopping and holding a wicked python! Check out some of these photos:

- Jiye chases the seagulls

- Miami beach has stunning water

- Trying to get coconuts

- The coolest snake in the world!

We went out to a couple of bars for a couple of nights and had some cocktails. The music was wicked and I absolutely love the metal drums everywhere! One crazy thing i noticed i have been doing since in Miami is humming the theme tune to Police Academy 5!! Crazy i know but that movie pretty much was all i knew about Miami.

Earthrace left for Puerto Rico a couple of days ago... so now the ground crew is completely official. Me, Devann, John, Scott and Alison all stayed in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale which is just north or Miami. Devann left us yesturday which was sad but we will see her in San Diego. Devann and I also went for a swim in the ocean the other night which was wicked! Want to keep doing that from now on as every place we go to during the race is on or near the equator.

We are looking at leaving for Panama city soon which i am very excited about!!!!!!!

Here is a couple of random photos i have taken during the last couple of weeks......... enjoy:

- Earthrace cruises Chareston

- Beautiful sunset

- Miami city at night

- Guy thinks im a freak as i put a little too much sun block on

- Charleston port

- Devann and I keep warm on top of Earthrace

- Earthrace sits peacefully at the Miami boat show

- Jiye took this stunning photo of some random handsom man

- Team Earthrace!!!

Starlight

2007-02-06T03:31:00.000+13:00

In a bit of a daze and could'nt think of a good title to call this blog so I just wrote down the name of the song I cant stop listening too by Muse....great song!

The samurai sword fighting skills are improving a lot. I look forward to the faceoff when Devann gets back. Especially with this move:

It feels like I have been in the States for at least 1 month but it has only been 2 weeks so far.... Things are going great and the boat is well on its way to getting back in the water on time which is great because we then have a couple of days in Charleston at the Aquarium taking people out on the boat and raising money / awareness of biodiesel. We get to visit the aquarium for free and go to the local Imax which is showing a movie about New Orleans so am looking forward to that....

The other night, Jessie, a local boatbuilder had us over for oysters and beers (good mix) and we stood around the fire in his back yard...

And then last night Phil, Ryan and I went to his house again and he cooked us crab legs and corn.....delicious!
Guy, a local boatbuilder also, brought his guns to work yesturday :) I liked haha. I still find it quite weird to know that almost everyone in this state has guns, and big ones at that! Some time in the next few days we are going to have some target practice.

8 days ago we all had Saturday morning off and played bullrush..... I was being pretty carefull as there is no way I wanted to break my thumb again.... but, instead of hurting my thumb I ended up getting smacked in the jaw pretty hard. I was in quite a bit of pain for around 5 minutes and then the natural morphene the body produce's kicked in haha. A week later now, and I can hardly move my jaw without intense pain shooting from my left ear, all the way around my head and back to my left ear.... so, in a nutshell, it feels like my head is stuck in a vice constantly and it is a pain in the neck to eat haha! I look on the brightside tho because when you feel pain, it makes you feel human, plus it should get better soon.... it has to.

We had a fundraiser the other night and played Ryans documentary in front of around 70 people. The night was really fun and we all met, yet more amazing people. This world is full of em and its inspiring when you actually get to meet them! The doco had a great reception but I found it so funny that a lot of American's cant understand kiwi accents hahaha! I could hear people behind me saying "what is he saying".... And if you look on one of the blogs on the earthrace site there is some pretty funny footage of this lady giving an interview to Pete and continually asking him to "slow" his accent down.

Watched my first Superbowl last night! I have only ever seen little bits of American Football in movies and occasionally the odd clip on the internet of a player either scoring an amazing touchdown or breaking his leg or neck... So I found it a very interesting game to watch, tactically speaking. When you dont know the rules it looks like they are idiots and most of the game you would spend telling them to pass the ball like a rugby ball and also thinking that, if the allblacks played American Football they would kick a@%! But, I had the rules explained to me last night and now realise how the game is played.... and i love it! Still not too sure why they wear such tight pants tho.

Lance

On a bit of a down note..... My stills camera decided to stop working a couple of days ago.....So i may not be posting any artistic photos anymore.....It still works on auto tho....just..... I really do feel like I have lost an arm or something!

Earthrace - day..... I lost count :)

2007-01-29T18:35:00.000+13:00

Im just sitting at the kitchen table, its 12.30 am and I am knackered. Jason and Pit are watching TV and everyone else is in bed. Its been a long few days but a really fun ones at that.

Today we played football and bullrush. We had kiwi's versus American's..... and I must say, we really kicked their butts haha! I got smacked in the jaw pretty hard and am having some trouble moving it at the moment.... should ease up tomorrow...... and also my thumb (the one I broke years ago) is playing up quite a bit...... guess I'm not as fit and young as i used to be lol!

We hit the town on friday night and had a blast! We ended up at a really cool bar that played live gospel and blues music! Met a lot of cool people including Blaine and his wife who looked exactly like Jessica Simpson and who are marine biologists (my childhood dream).

Got some cool photo's today of us flying through the air.... will post later.

Bobo, from Alabama, took us out to dinner tonight and we had a typical American dinner. I can't believe how big the plates are here!! No wonder the USA has a huge obesity problem.

Devann and I are learning how to fight with Samurai swords (ok, not real ones.... she made them today out of plastic pipeing but did a pretty good job).... She is half japanese and seems pretty nifty with the sword so I better get some practice in when she is'nt looking.

Tomorrow I should be editing some of the stuff i have done so far and then Devann and I may sit down and do some stuff for the website.

I better get to bed..... an soooo tired!

Earthrace Day 3

2007-01-27T09:00:00.000+13:00

This morning i watched the DVD on earthrace that Ryan had shot, directed and produced. Was a really good watch and I am even more excited about working on this project now. Just to be involved is awesome!

I took the starboard rudder off the boat today and had to dig a hole 4 feet deep into concrete in order to get the rudder out. Anthony and Dan helped so it only took us all day haha! After working on the boat for a few hours we all cruised to the boat yard down the road for a drink. Daniel Hightower (love his last name.... reminds me of Police Academy) took me for a spin on this!!!.....................

It is one of the coolest motorbikes I have ever been on! This thing almost ripped my face off when he took off and believe me... I was holding on for my life! Well.... until I went past the camera haha!

We were going around 50 miles per hour on two wheels when this photo was taken.... When i got off the bike my hands were shaking quite a bit.

After that excitement we went to Jessie's house and he showed us the back yard. He's going to take us hunting some time in the next couple of weeks to get either deer or pig. Have to watch out for aligators.... time to wrestle one... better get it on film.

Driving home there was a pretty cool sunset over the lake.....

Pete and I had to cook dinner tonight... The deal is, we each have a partner and the worst couple at cooking have to run around the block naked! Everyone so far has done AMAZING meals consisting of fresh salmon from Alaska, amazing red thai curry and suculant taco's from Mexico...... and then...... Me and Pete's sausage surprise. Unfortunately, we burnt the main dish of sausages so instead of being delicious, it tasted like it was charcoal haha! So, me and Pete are preparing to run around the block in the nude next week....

After dinner we hit the town. The girl to guy ratio here is 8 girls to 1 guy haha! It's pretty funny for me, Ryan and Pete who are taken haha. We went to one bar which was just like the movie Coyote Ugly which i thought was pretty cool. All these cowgirls dancing on the bar!

Overall it was a really cool day....

Earthrace day 2

2007-01-25T12:40:00.000+13:00

Went to the boat yard today to work on the boat....

Check out the coolest boat in the world!!!!

Helped Phil put on a shelf on top of the boat to stop water coming into the cabin when it goes through the waves. Its quite fun helping out on the boat.

Ryan arrived last night so me and him will start working on the doco tomorrow and organising stuff like flights, gear etc etc. The camera that he is using and hopefully I will be using if we get sponsorship is amazing! Love it.... We just got back from the gym. We are starting to run and get fit for the race and generally just running around.

Check out this photo I took at Phili airport..... It was just like christmas again!!

It was snowing but was'nt very cold. I could probably wear a t-shit outside and still be quite warm..

We all went out to a coffee shop last night which was filled with women and chihuahua's! Wish i had my camera because it would have been a chihuahua feast!

lance

Earthrace - Day 1

2007-01-24T17:55:00.000+13:00

Today was a busy day....

Woke up early for the boat yard. Jumped on the Earthrace boat... which is INSANE!!
It is the coolest boat i have ever seen and to be able to work on it is just a wicked experience. It is twice as big as i thought it was.

We drove the boat up the Estuary in South Carolina. I was filming Pete shaving his head and just looked into the wake the boat was making and saw a heap of dolpin which was cool. There were also lots of pelican which are amazing birds. As we were driving we went past a naval military base and we then got asked to move on and were escourted by boats with machine guns, was pretty cool. One things for sure,,,,, I cant wait to go on the boat from Miami to Barbados! It will definately be a endurace trip.

We arrived at the other boat yard where the boat was then lifted out. Was a nerve racking experience for everyone, especially Pete. It definately was'nt the easiest boat to dock what with the tide moving pretty quickly and the boat being 25 metres with no bow thrusters. But in the end it all went to plan and we spent the whole day clearing out the boat and down in the engine room. I have oil on my shoes and fell into the motor haha! Wasted my knee (which now has a huge lump on it) and got a couple of cuts, was'nt too bad tho.

Ryan arrived back tonight from New York with a meeting with Discovery Channel... fingers crossed its all go.

Im pretty tired now and have huge day tomorrow.

Lance

Earthrace - Charleston, South Carolina

2007-01-23T17:10:00.000+13:00

So the Earthrace begins.....

After travelling for around 43 hours, we have arrived in Charleston, South Carolina...

It truly has been the most amazing trip so far... and its only just started! I have met so many people on this trip so far and every single one of them has been amazing!

Our travels consisted of

5 hours - Auckland to Tahiti (3 hour stop off)
8 hours - Tahiti to Los Angeles (8 hour stop off)
1 hour - Los Angeles to Sunny San Diego! (8 hour stop off)
4.5 hours - San Diego to Philidelphia (1 hour stop off)
50 mins - Phili to Charlotte (1 hour stop off)
1.2 hours - Charlotte to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
4 hours - drive to apartment in Charleson, South Carolina

So, as you can see, it was a bit of a long trip. But, the people we met... man! In San Diego, we had our dinner and drinks brought for us by an amazing couple Andy and Roxanne from San Diego.... thankyou so much guys! you rock! I also met and became friends with Huanhuan from China, Chuck from Orlando, Jaxin from Florida, Connie in San Diego and also Jessie from North Carolina..... I love America already!! Everyone is so friendly!!!

The boat gets lifted out tomorrow morning and then we start work on it... I will be filming bits of it but also working on the drive shaft... should be interesting but i am a fast learner. Devon and Ryan cooked an amazing dinner tonight consisting of tacos and salad and also a bowl of beans that looked like poo haha. Tomorrow, everyone is giving up something or doing something to change their lives in some way..... John and Devon (Yoda) are going on a cleansing diet which sounds interesting... may join them in that.

Overall its been a perfect start to whats going to be an amazing trip... Cant wait to see whats in store for tomorrow!

lance - out

Pohutakawa

2006-12-14T21:06:00.000+13:00

Its been a while...... not because i've been busy, but because i am lazy.... I am sorry for those of you who actually read my blogs.

So, I have been pretty busy lately. Where do i begin......

Bought a webcam today and used it for the first time, which was great haha. It just brings two people a lot closer. It is hard not seeing, for months, the person you care for more than anything else in this world. The webcam just makes you feel like you are almost together in the same room (kind of).

Just thought i would mention that all the Pohutakawa flowers have come out early. Which means its going to be a great summer!

In my spare time I have been learning photoshop, Avid Express Pro and Dreamweaver 8. Lets just say it has probably been the biggest learning curve of my life so far. I've designed my personal website which will hopefully be active in the not too distant future. I've also been working on a lot of my photos for the website to try and get a good portfolio. Need to travel a lot more tho. Will definately look into photography more as a career backup as well.

Had my sisters hen's night last weekend which was a fun experience and have the stag night this weekend in Paunui which is a good 2 hours drive south of Auckland. Me and Max (lil bro) and Kyle had to be the servants for the evening. The wedding is on the 30th december so everyone is frantically getting ready for that. I personally can't wait to get dressed up and have our two familys come together.

Work has been coming along nicely with a few days of freelance work creeping into my life slowly. Its been pretty good for this time of year too so next year is looking like it will be busy. Most of my work for the remainder of the year will be with Sky 1 filming a cheerleading idol kinda show which will be fun. Applied for a job on 2 feature films in January so i pray I get that job as it would be a huge career boost.

gonna go work on my website a bit more now

lance

Pre Five

2006-11-10T15:52:00.000+13:00

Just getting ready for the weekend of filming the independant horror "Five" in the bush, west of Auckland. We are staying in a cool hut in the middle of nowhere for 2 nights which will be fun! Im expecting some pretty scary ghost stories to be told so Im taking a few pairs of gruds haha.

So life is slowly getting back to normal after a strange 8 months of not having a proper home. Just got to find myself some freelance work and should be back in the flow of things.

Got my suit for Tanias wedding a few days ago and I like it haha! Will post some pics from the wedding up in a couple of months.

Next week I gotta meet up with some friends I hav'nt seen for ages which will be cool. Just like old times again. Its been a great experience being overseas for so long because you really understand a lot of things and once you get back you know what your prioritys are.

anyway, i better go finish packing my stuff.

till next week............

Good to be home!!!

2006-11-03T22:59:00.000+13:00

Yes, its true.............. I have finally made it back home and I must say......... New Zealand, I really missed you!!!!!!

The first thing I noticed was the traffic haha. I was driving in rush hour traffic yesturday and I thought the roads were empty compared to London! I found myself laughing because I used to think traffic in Auckland was bad.

Spent a few hours sitting in the sun yesturday working on a shot list for our next movie. I could'nt concentrate too well tho because of the sea and the sound of the waves on the pebbles down below. There is nothing better than sitting there, looking over the water and just listening and having the sea breeze brush against you. I sat out there a tad too long because I got burnt. Having burnt nipples is quite a weird sensation.

Filming starts the day after tomorrow so I am going to be pretty busy for the next 2 and a half weeks. Will update when i can.

Anyway, im off to bed.

lance

South Korea!

2006-09-30T10:07:00.000+12:00

Im back from a truly divine time in Korea!!

The place we stayed at was paradise on earth! We stayed in a valley hidden by mysterious mountains. Even if you were a local you still would have no idea this place existed! There were waterfalls and the most delicious grapes, apple trees, pear trees that you could imagine!! The wildlife up there was pretty cool too. Me and some mates from LA went out one morning to see what we could find..... Frogs, Toads, leach's and every kind of insect imaginable. At night, to make things even better, the sky was filled with fireflys down the valley!! SIGH, now Im back in London, speaking engrish and the only wildlife here is the scrawny foxes (which i love) and cats and dogs haha, oh and cant forget the beautiful pigeons. Send me back!!!

One day we went to a high school and university event and were the special guests haha! There were 10,000 students there! All the students organised every kind of game imaginable for us to play so we spent a good couple of hours playing with them. My personal favourite was making paper airplanes and throwing them through a small heart about 5 metres away (im such a kid!). If you got it in you would get a free icecream haha. By the time it took me to get my plane through the heart a huge crowd had gathered to cheer me on, so funny!! I finally got it on around my 20th attempt, your meant to have just one go :), special treatment. Korean icecream is the BEST! hhmmm. It was definately one of the coolest nights of my life which will be in my heart forever and it was like i had known all of them all my life. It reminded me of the time i was in India when all the Indians lined up for a photo with me at a fort in Hyderabad because they all wanted photos with me because of my hair colour haha! I did'nt mind tho :) I guess i should expect it when I go to countries when all the people have black hair huh.

On the last day we all travelled to Seoul. We went up Seoul Tower to see the view which was spectacular! We then went to Coex Aquarium which was pretty cool. Stuck my hand in a tank filled with doctor fish which clean wounds and heal you. It was one of the most weird sensations i have felt so far. They all flock to your hand and suck and man does it tickle!!!

I will try and post some pics of Korea soon. Come home in about 4 weeks now!! I cant wait. I was only meant to be away for 3 months! Ended up being 8 months!

O yeah! Cant forget the food! Korean food is now my fav, it was delicious!!!! I love Kimchee!!!! (think thats how you spell it)

Lance

I took the red pill and now I see

Al Basrah - South Iraq

2006-08-31T06:30:00.000+12:00

Finally the trip to Iraq has been and gone after waiting for a few months of suspence, now it is over.

Im home safely after one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date. I will try and keep this blog short.

We flew to Qatar from Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire. We then flew with the british soldiers to Iraq in a Hercules which was WICKED! Was a little bit nervous but more excited whilst on the Herc. The scariest part was flying into Basrah and all the lights on the plane going off. It was pitch black and all I could hear was the muffled sounds of the propellors due to my ear plugs. The only available light source was shining in from the city lights of basrah through the one window and striking the soldiers scared faces, moving up and down, side to side as the Herc banked over the city. We were all wide eyed and sweating with our body armor and helmets on. We arrived, had a briefing and was shown to our tents. The soldiers said that we probably would'nt get mortared as they had'nt come under attack for ages. But..... 10 minutes later, whilst having a cool drink in the mess hall, the director and i heard the explosion. Then the sirens went off and we had to put on our helmet and body armor and run for cover. It was pretty scary the first night. It was my first real feeling of fear and i thought to myself "what have i got myself into!!!!". Luckily tho, that was the only fear I had the whole trip.

Me at the helicopter base.

Those things are so cool!

The first day we went out on patrol to visit the marsh arabs. Was very exciting to get out of the base and meet the local people. We met the local Sheik who was in charge of 30,000 people. Was an amazing experience.

I know what your thinking! Such a geek..... goes to Iraq and takes photo of dragonflys! But, i really dont care haha.

The temperature was pretty warm but it did'nt effect me as much as i thought it would. The heat really does suck the energy out of your body, so at each meal i was eating about 3 times as much as i usually would. Jon, my director probably thought i was a pig but i lost 3 kg's for the whole trip!! I think the temperature one day was about 52 degrees celcious, quite warm. There was one stage when i was literally lying in a pool of water on my stretcher. You have to keep drinking ALL the time or you get tired and dehydrate.

The wildlife there was pretty cool!! There were Turtles, Bats, Camel Spiders, Dragonflys, mosquitos, Camels and a lot more creatures. Only saw one camel spider which attacked the two soldiers we were talking to. But it was just a baby and got squashed by one of the soldiers boots. I could'nt believe how fast those half spider, half scorpion beasts were tho!!! and the soldiers were pretty scared of them haha. dont blame them!

There is soo much to write about but i just don't have much time. So, overall the experience in Iraq was amazing and has changed me in a lot of ways. At the end i really did'nt want to leave and if i get asked to go again i will probably say yes.

Since i have been back, my life in England has changed a little too. The day after i got back i took a train to the south coast of England to film the acceptance speech of the winner of the "Lucie Awards" which is the oscars for photography. What a beautiful old couple they were and such an inspiration! Its funny because most documentary photographers / cameramen all have the same personalitys. I got along really well with him (cant name him yet) and his wife and his work was just unbelievable. It really made me begin to itch because i wanted to travel and take photos again!!

When i got back to London i was stuck out of the house for a few hours and being so tired and such a nice day i decided to go and have a nap on the park bench. I fell into a deep sleep and when i awoke i got a pretty big fright! This cute little cat was streched out on my belly purring! I named him Hercules to remember the trip.

Yesturday i met THE funniest old man i had ever met! We started chatting at the bus stop and i just could'nt stop laughing. The stuff he told me about London life was just gold! I have to do a documentary about this guy. That is my main aim before i leave for NZ.

My next big adventure is in a couple of weeks. I am going to South Korea on the 10th Sep for 11 days which I cant wait!!!!

will update later

lance

New beginnings

2006-08-17T07:29:00.000+12:00

Its been a long time since i last posted. Not because i have been lazy or slack, but because basically i needed time away from everything. I was searching for something...... So....... I am calling this post "New Beginnings". Im not changing the way i live or anything, im just looking at this trip as kind of a new start and new outlook on life, and you can expect more posts from now on :)

Its been a week of quite intense emotions and changes, will write more about it next week. I went to Wimbledon library last week to use the internet and had to wait for 30 mins so i got a book and studied for a little bit. As i sat down with my book, Belle and Susan (two koreans) who were sitting across the table randomly smiled and asked me to play badminton that weekend with some of their friends. I was kind of shocked because 1. I am addicted to badminton and havent played it for almost 6 months! and 2. People in London just dont randomly smile and talk to strangers!........... So, of course, i said yes!! Unfortunately, it was pouring that day........ so we met in Wimbledon and i was willing to play in the rain (Thats how desperate I was to play!!) but they took me to meet their friends and we played table tennis and foosball (Two other loves of mine muwahhahaha!!). The atmosphere was amazing and I really felt like home instantly. Met a lot of beautiful and friendly people and have suddenly made a lot of good friends. Its such a contrast in feelings when you lose someone special, for now (had to say goodbye to Cristal on monday) and then suddenly gain good friends... its kind of weird how life always links up like that. Makes you wonder...

The last couple of days I've been walking around london taking photos to be used as backgrounds in a music video. Has been quite nice walking around taking artistic photos..... something which I have to admit, has been lacking lately....... Photography clears my mind.

Heres a kind of artistic and scary view of big ben..........

And yes,,,,,,,,, it is out of focus on purpose! Looks like a water painting and when you see it as a bigger photo it has soothing qualities. HAHAHA "Soothing qualities!!" Im such a geek!

And for those of you who miss me, here is the latest photo of me that Maryam took for her new website www.artclubfilm.co.uk with which i am involved with now. Its still under construction.

Well the photo wont seem to upload at the moment so heres my face anyway:

:)

This week is going to be very busy work wise so i will probably be uncontactable for the remaining week and may not be able to check my emails due to internet cafes closing early. I get a days break on the 26th tho so if you want to contact me i am free then.

I better leave it at that for now. Just want to say thankyou to everyone who has been there for me so far. Bye for now

lance

A felicitous life!

2006-07-15T21:27:00.000+12:00

I have now come to the conclusion that for some reason, I have no idea why, I have extremely good fortune in life. Maybe it was the month i was born in, maybe its because i have strawberry blonde hair or the fact that god feels sorry for me for looking like a leprechaun, but right now, I have been having some pretty good karma!!

Flu and Natural History Museum

2006-03-31T03:48:00.000+12:00

Been recovering from a bad cold that turned into the flu over the last 4 days. Heres a question, why does snot keep coming even after you have just blown your nose!!!!!!! Its really quite annoying. Im pretty sure its from that night in Edinburgh. Poor Ollie, I must have spread the germs around the flat and given it to him haha. Im really lucky i had a couple of days off this week. Have the most important interview of the doco tomorrow so i am really looking forward to that. Make sure you watch 3 news over the weekend / monday to see our stuff. Will try not to get my reflection in the glass cabinet this time :)

Since i spent the last couple of days in bed and i was feeling a little better today i decided to check out the Natural History Museum and to make things even better they had the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition on!! I was very excited because i have been following most of the entries for about half a year, so to actually get to go to the exhibit was really cool. There are some amazing photos there! I think i am going to enter this years competition so will start getting some photos ready for my application. I still cant believe i almost deleted my best photo! If your interested in some of the photos at the exhibit go and check this site out www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto/ Some of the photos really are inspiring.

The Natural History Museum is amazing! There is so much to see and do. I spent about 5 hours there and i still had'nt seen about half of the museum. The amount of fossils and dinosaurs are incredible and it made me feel like i was a little boy again. They have this giant Tyranosaurus Rex robot and it is so real! At least, i thought it was life like, no one really knows tho do they haha. Some of the kids where having heart attacks which bought out the evil side of me because it made me laugh :) Until i got an evil eye from one of the kids mothers. They also have almost every creature on earth in pickle jars! The one animal they did'nt have was a human! I may donate my body to be pickelled when i die, they could'nt get a more perfect specimen than that haha, that would be so wierd. The one animal that freaked me out being pickled was a sheep, poor bugger. They also had a life sized replica of a blue whale (but not in a pickle jar). HUGE! and it weighs exactly 1463 times my weight! Which was a shock to me because i found out i have gained 4 kg's since being here haha. If you don't know, there is a saying among kiwis here that when you come to London, everyone gains 7 kg's. Its because of the pub culture and the pub food. So only 3 more to go for me. I think i can achieve that in a couple of days. My plan for the day was to go to the Photographers Gallery after the Natural History Museum but will have to save that for another day. Its meant to be amazing tho.

This weekend me, Ollie and Poos are going to do a spring clean of the flat. We have suddenly been attached by an army of ants armed with the shear determination to make our live misserable. Little shizers! So on sat morning we attach back armed with mops, sponges, flannels, a hoover (vacuum cleaner for kiwis), and Mr Muscle! Not to mention our brains and brilliance. We should be able to win the war. If we don't then we must be pretty dumb because ants brains must be at least quarter of the size of a grain of sand! We are having a dvd night tomorrow night too. My friend Jessica arrived in London yesturday so will meet up with her soon. Plus, Karman (friend from school) is arriving in a couple of days too so will hook up with her also. The weather here is getting a lot warmer now so i am thinking i will start going for runs and maybe start swimming each morning if i have any time. I always write in my blogs i will start exercising but do i ever follow through, no. But this time i have some encouragement because Kiera Knightley lives down the road haha. Maybe i will run into her one morning by accident :). In the flat Ollie put up a bar to do chin-ups. Back in the school days i used to be able to do 30 proper ones easily, now, the most i've managed to do in one go is only 8! So before i leave for NZ again my goal is to achieve at least 9 haha.

Gonna go and cook some dinner now, Or maybe i will get the chinese guy down the road to cook it for me :) haha, so lazy but his food lasts for about 2 days and it is so good so its worth it.

Adios,

Lance

Scotland

2006-03-26T21:44:00.000+12:00

Update:

The doco is going well. We have interviewed a few more amazing people recently including the Francis Fukuyama who is one of the worlds leading acedemics or meant to be THE worlds leading acedemic. So i am learning a hell of a lot. We took the train from London waterloo to Edinburgh on Saturday night. Was a nice trip on the train and got to see a lot of the countryside. It was nice passing through tiny farming villages. They are really pretty and are basically all layed out the same. You have the church in the centre of town, some houses surrounding the church, then the local shop and the local pub and thats it. We arrived in Edinburgh at 8pm and found some accomodation. John went and met a friend for dinner and then i went to town in search for dinner. Whilst in town this girl (Mei) comes up to me and randomly asks me out to dinner which was great because i knew nobody. So we went to this Thai buffet restaurant and had all you can eat, i was starving! Now i have a friend in Scotland.

After dinner i went back to the hotel. I ended up going to bed at about 1.30, woke up at 3 and could'nt sleep at all and there was no way i would get any sleep so i decided to walk around Edinburgh at about 3.15 in the morning. It was pouring with rain and freezing, plus i had a pretty bad cold but i loved it! I walked from my hotel, down town, around the castle, up through the alley ways to Edinburgh castle which is on top of the hill, then down to the other side of town. The walk took about 2.45 hours and then i did the whole thing again! I kinda felt like Forest Gump when he goes for a run for a couple of years and dos'nt stop. I just did'nt want to stop walking. Although i did have a little lie down in a bus shelter haha. The alley ways leading up to the castle were wicked! The wind and rain was howling through and around the buildings and it was pitch black, talk about scary! I found myself looking over my shoulder quite a few times haha. It was just so silent because there was absolutely no one around! On my walk i came across this graveyard. The first time i passed it it was dark. the chain around the gate had been cut so i was going to go in. But i chickened out :( Luckily i did because i was told the next day that that graveyard was actually famous for having a poultergeist that actually hurt people so that why it was chained up, to keep people from danger! The second time i passed it the sun had just risen so i went inside to have a look. It was a very scary feeling even before i knew it was haunted. Some of the graves where from the 14th century! I took a couple of pictures but will post them in the next couple of days.

I got back to the hotel at 9am and had breakfast. John and i then went and looked around during the day and shot another interview. We then caught the 7pm train back to London. I must have looked like a zombie by the time i got home and basically collapsed onto my bed! Overall it was a great weekend and i really made the most of my time in Scotland.

Today it is Julias birthday so we had a birthday dinner and a few wines. If you want to get rid of a cold have a couple of nice wines, it does the trick :) although i may not be saying that tomorrow morning ha. I get to sleep in tomorrow and then have an interview tomorrow afternoon. We are heading back up to Scotland next week and then i go away for a little bit. I will try and post a few more photos later this week. HA, this blog took me ages to write because whilst im typing i am watching the A-TEAM!!!! I pity the fool!!!

Lance

Aldershot and war protest

2006-03-19T10:44:00.000+12:00

Man it feels like i've been in London for about 3 weeks but its only been 5 days! We went to Aldershot for the trial on Wednesday. It was like being in a movie during the trial. Each of the lawyers were trying to outwit each other and it was fun trying to think what the other lawyer would come up with next. The prosecutions skeleton was soo long that i was almost falling asleep in parts. I felt really guilty about it until the lunch break and i was talking to other journalists and they were all falling asleep too.

Aldershot is quite a depressing town. I went there expecting it to be depressing but this town is so depressing i felt down after a couple of hours!! When people talk it sounds depressing! On thursday morning I woke up at 5am because I cant sleep so I went for a walk. As i was walking down the road this old guy with 2 teeth was riding on a bike behind me. He then rode right up to me, stared at me, and suddenly burst into song!! I almost pissed myself right in front of him because it was so random. He sung "Video killed the radio star" and then rode off as fast as he could laughing like a hyena! Ahh Aldershot, Wanganui of England haha. We stayed in this nice little pub with a lot of character, and a 9 year old girl that fell in love with me!! It was quite embarrassing because she just would'nt let me go! Her mum said she had a thing for gingers haha! So wrong!

I moved into Julia's the other day. It is great having a bed and a nice place to stay. Me, Ollie (Julia's boyfriend) and Julia went into town for St Patricks day. We ended up at the Walkabout bar. It felt weird going to an Aussie bar in England. They have these disgusting drinks that everyone has called snakebites. Im not sure if you get them in NZ but i did'nt like it!! Its half cider, half beer and a little bit of cranberry syrup! Yuck!! We caught a cab on the way home. I did'nt put my seatbelt on and the driver floored it. He then slammed on the breaks and i flew forward and smashed my head on the head rest. The sound of my neck cracking made Julia really worried that i had broken my neck haha! It was bloody painful tho and today, when i woke up my neck was very stiff. Its getting better tho. Talking about injuries, i have slipped twice in the showers here so far and almost smashed my head on the side of the bath yesturday morning. So it really is dangerous here. Yesturday Peter and I went to Westminster Abbey. Its just incredible the history of England! Some of the tombs in there are from the 12th century!

Ive just got back from filming the anti-war protest in London. It started at Big Ben and ended up in Trafalgar Square. Met a lot of very interesting people with different views about Iraq. Must say it made me think what Im doing is gonna be for a good cause. There were thousands of people marching from all walks of life. So i am absolutely stuffed right now. I have been suffering from jetlag a bit. By 4pm it feels like i should be in bed. We've been so busy the last couple of days there is so much to write about but im gonna have to go to sleep. O yeah, my English mobile is +44771 748 2966 if anyone wants to get in contact with me. Txts cost the same as txting NZ too :)

Lance

I have learned a hell of a lot over the last few days about war and different peoples views.

London

2006-03-14T10:59:00.000+13:00

Good ol London!

haha, saw a funny thing today. I went for an early morning walk to Sainsburys (the NZ Pack n Save). Now I think i have seen and experienced a lot in my life and I saw a lot in India. But today i saw a pigeon in south London with Delhi Belly!!! I just could not believe what was happening to this poor pigeon!! I honestly thought i should look for a cork (or a gun)! Poor lil bugger. O man, just had a thought. Maybe it was'nt a viscious strain of Pigeon Delly belly, maybe it was bird flu!!!! If it was bird flu they should rename it to bird poo.

Just got back from the first days shoot. Went really well and am happy with the footage which is good because i havent been happy with any of my footage for over a year now. Am really excited about this project seeing the people im working with and the topic, plus its taking me to yet another country!

We shoot off to Aldershot tomorrow morning. Spending one night there and then when i come back to London i will be moving in with Julia and Ollie for a little bit which will be cool.

Anyway, there is so much on my mind but my body is telling me i have to go to bed. So i will

lance