In Australia the Labour Day long weekend varies by state. In WA and Victoria it’s in March, while in Queensland it’s in May. In NSW and SA it falls quite neatly in early October, forming a bridge between the Queen’s Birthday in Jun and Christmas (yes, you’ve guessed it, in Dec).

Most people look forward to the long weekend as a chance to have a rest and perhaps get away from the city to enjoy the first days of spring at one of the many beautiful spots along the northern or southern NSW coastline.

I, on the other hand, was keeping busy with the camera as long weekends ultimately also lend themselves to special events. And I had two of them.

The first was on Sunday night. SpringRocks was a celebration of dance music at The Argyle, one of Sydney’s biggest bar/clubs located in the historic Rocks district of the CBD and a Speedlite’s effective range from the Harbour Bridge. SpringRocks was promoted by Paul Strange, who I do social photography for at both The Argyle and Favela in Kings Cross. It was a big event consisting of 9 hours of dance music DJs and bands performing in each of the 3 main rooms. I was down for a 5 hour shift during the peak hours of 9pm – 2am, and as if shooting moving targets in a dimly lit, busy environment while trying not to knock anyone’s drink out their hands wasn’t enough to manage, I decided to make things even more interesting by setting both the camera and Speedlite to manual. Well, I like a challenge!

Highlights of the night were Helena, one of the up and coming DJs from the UK who moved to Australia a year ago:

RadioInk, with their rock-infused dance pop:

Dirty Laundry, one of the most entertaining dance acts I’ve seen:

And headliner Dave from the Potbelleez, now one of the mainstream dance acts following their hit Don’t Hold Back:

I was really happy with the way the shots came out. The focussing of the 5D MkII in dark conditions was excellent and I achieved a nice balance of flash and ambient lighting by adjusting the settings manually. My full set of photos can be viewed here.

A few hours of sleep and I was back out for my friend Louise’s 30^th birthday party at her Bondi pad. Louise is a top girl with loads of great mates who all know how to party and can make any time a good time. Lou had asked if I would take some photos to record her historic day and of I course I said I would be delighted to (well, there was free beer as part of the deal!).

It was an awesome afternoon and I’m sure when her memory comes back Louise will have great recollections, but here are a few shots to remind her!

However, there was one young man who will never forget the day. Lewis, having only been in Sydney for a few weeks, suddenly found that he had accrued a whole load of new friends!

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