Self Indulged Online Travel Magazine
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  • January21st


    The publishing site ISSUU has recently released a mobile app for Android users (Apple users will have to wait a little longer I’m afraid) which means that now you can read Self Indulged at will. How exciting is that! Just type m.issuu.com in your mobile phone browser and follow the prompts to download the app for free. Once you have the app search for Selfindulged (all one word) and you can download all of the issues to your mobile phone to read anytime, anyplace without having to be online. Double click on the text to bring it up on your phone for easy reading.
    Next time you’re waiting for a bus or on the train to work, Self Indulged will keep you company…and what’s even better is it’s all for free! 
  • December24th

    Tallinn St Johns by Sandra Herd

    Two nights ago we saw the biggest gingerbread church in the world.

    We watched as the church was decorated with yellow and blue icing…and then we watched in delight as huge ‘bites’ were taken out of it.

    We were witnessing an unusual light display put together by video mapping artist, Taavi Varm. His canvas was St John’s Church in Tallinn’s Freedom Square. For nearly twenty minutes the church morphed from one spectacular light display to another as images and lights projected onto the church facade delighted us, and the thousands of others who had come to watch the closing display to celebrate Tallinn as European Capital of Culture 2011.

    The light show was accompanied by ten churches around the city filling the Old Town with the sound of their bells, ringing in harmony and complimenting the light show.

    The ‘grand finale’ was the setting alight of a huge 2011 ‘sculpture’ which you can see in the foreground, creatively called, ‘2011’. Unfortunately there was only one can of lighter fluid and one man with a match! By the time the ‘1’s were alight the 2 and the 0 were nearly extinguished which made us giggle. The highlight though was the fantastic work of Taavi Varm, it was a beautiful display and a real treat for us as we’d only heard about it the day before. By the time we arrived for the show there were thousands of people already in the square. Luckily I found a spot on the hill to position the tripod and get some shots off. The shot above is, of course, the gingerbread church.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

  • November27th

    EUROPE-3005-Edit

    We haven’t had much sleep over the past two nights….we’ve been hunting. Chasing the light. And we found it.

    On Friday night we drove for 2 hours out of Tromso chasing a glimmer of the illusive aurora borealis.  We did get a glimmer but only a small one, at midnight we gave up and drove through the sleet and rain for another 2 hours back to Tromso. Last night was wonderfully clear. We drove 20km out of town and were treated to a striking sky show from about 11pm to 1am. Granted, it’s the not the greatest aurora photo of all time but it’s hopefully the first of many while we’re in the arctic circle.  It’s also the shot that means I can put a BIG TICK next to #2 on my bucket list – “See & shoot the aurora borealis”

    Tick!

  • July21st

      Beijing_Gifograph_Sandra-Herd

    Street food in Beijing: I first saw this photo effect a while ago and then more recently a series of fashion images by Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg that were really inspiring.  I’ve been dying to try the effect in some of my travel images and have been capturing them since I arrived in China…and now I’ve finally had chance to do some processing.  The term coined for these animated photos is the ‘Cinemagraph’ but I’m calling mine ‘Gifographs’ becaause it is, after all, just a humble gif. This was taken on the street outside our hostel in Beijing.  The Happy Dragon is down a side street to the North-East of Tiananmen Square, there’s no outdoor area to sit and the beers were expensive so we sat outside on the street in the warm summer air with another traveller from Canada (Hi, Flora!) and ordered cold beers and meat skewers from the guy in the photo. The beers were cold the food was good and cheap and the whole evening cost 75RMB (about  $10 ) for the 3 of us. Gotta love China!

  • February1st

    Seamans Hut_Sandra Herd1

    It’s been a while between posts and, even though I haven’t put in an appearance here, I have been busy working on a million projects…honest!

    After spending a fantastic Australia Day aboard the True North I was keen to try out some of the sharpening techniques that Nick Rains discussed and, with all of the storms that are flying around Australia at the moment, I thought this image was fitting. (Pleased with the result on the hi-res file…it’s hard to see the effects with this squished up jpeg!)

    It was taken last year on our hike up Mt Kosciusko, the very top of Australia. There was a storm rolling in, we were kitted out in our warm waterproof jackets and hiking boots and I grabbed this shot on the way up. On the way back down we could barely even see the hut, never mind photograph it so, like many others before us we took refuge inside Seaman’s Hut until the worst of it had passed over.  We sat inside munching beef jerky and yearning for a hot cuppa. There’s a visitors book inside full of messages from other hikers who have made the trek from Charlottes Pass, some caught in snow storms, some spending the night so that they can be at the peak for the first dawn of a new year and some just looking to take a 5 minute break from the 18km round-trip.

    It was built in 1928 as a sanctuary for travellers after Laurie Seaman and Evan Hayes died on the mountain in 1928. They were skiing on the mountain and were caught in a blizzard and probably didn’t stand a chance. The hut was built by Seaman’s family as a shelter to help prevent further deaths on the mountain.  Although we were in no danger that day it was still a very welcome sanctuary for our weary, wet bodies!

  • January5th

    Southbound_Shots International

     Kitty Daisy and Lewis_sandra Herd1

    2011 kicked off with the first festival of the year, Southbound!

    Dave and I headed down to Busselton for New Years Eve and saw the new year in dressed as pirates at the Esplanade hotel. (The less said about that, the better!)

    Next morning we strapped our gear to a fridge trolley and headed across a paddock full of cow patties for 3 days of camping at Southbound music festival.  I was shooting for Virtual Festivals and spent 3 days in the HOT HOT HEAT, clinging to any shade I could find and chugging down gallons of luke warm water (drinks got hot real quick too – except for the beer, drank that fast before it heated up!).  On the second day we got chatting to some guy who asked how old we were…when we told him he said “God you don’t look that old! It’s nice that you still get to come to things like this!!” I told him I was shooting the festival which then seemed to make sense to him, god forbid I’d be there just to have some fun….next time I’ll pack my zimmerframe!

    Had a great time although next year I think I’ll give the camping a miss and head for a lush hotel with a pool instead.

    Peaches was WEIRD, The Jezebels rocked as did good old Living End, Public Enemy kept the public waiting for over half an hour – Flava Flav’s clock had obviously stopped but they did get the crowd pumping when they finally took to the stage. Ash Grunwald was a pleasant surprise and The Cuban Brothers were hilarious, a great choice as last act on the last night.

    I’ll be posting some band shots later in the week…still recovering from the sleep deprivation. Us ‘old people’ need our sleep.

    Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with a fabulous 2011 to come!!

    PS. Come to think of it, out of all the bands we saw Paul Kelly was kind of a highlight for me. Uh-oh, maybe I am getting old afterall.

  • September29th

     Rally

    I do believe in my last post I said I would post some images of the rally…..and then September fell into a big hole and in a few days it will be October.

    So, here I am playing catch-up with a few photos of the rally….starring Mr Fletcher in the middle shot spruiking on behalf of us West Aussies. Standing up in front of all of those people would put the wind up anybody but he did a fantastic job, especially as Ken Duncan was such a hard act to follow! He conveyed the message that the rules over here in WA seem to be a bit more relaxed…which was true until just this week the council responsible for Cottesloe Beach decided to add a whole heap of new rules. One is the banning of commercial photography without a permit. Hmmm…yes that’s getting old but wanting to ban the flying of kites….well that’s just outrageous! Quick…we need to hold another rally! I LOVE watching kites (just got back from Bali – plenty of kites there and no anti-fun police). And who among us hasn’t squealed in fear and excitement, holding the string as the pointy end spirals out of control at lightening speed towards the top of your head.  Get a grip Cottesloe Council!!

    The other news is that the new online mag SELF INDULGED is going great guns!

    Huge thanks to everyone who has supported the mag so far and for the kind emails and comments that have been flooding in. Tell your friends to subscribe for the chance to win an iPad. Subscription is FREE, hell the mag is FREE so there’s no excuse for not taking a peek.

    Self Indulged Issue 1

    If you haven’t flipped through it yet check it out HERE and help me continue to spread the word. There are plenty more rally photos inside and links to photo competitions with some great prizes.  The Where’s Dave? competition has been won but there’ll be another chance to win in Issue 2.

  • August15th

    Coral Bay by Sandy@SHOTS

    I was in JBs a few days ago and all of the TVs were playing the same amazing footage of our ‘Earth’ from the air and my eyes were glued to the screens. The sound was down but I knew right away whose imagery it was (I’m a big fan of YA-B) so I enquired at the desk and they told me the dvd was called HOME by Yahn Arthus-Bertrand.

    I watched it last night…with the sound turned on.

    The photography was stunning, the narrative was terrifying.

    Well worth a look!

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  • April14th

    A few people have recently emailed to ask about the magazine that I freelance for.  It’s called the Whingeing Pom and has just celebrated it’s 2nd birthday.  I usually do the covers and shoot & write the travel feature….spreading the joys of travelling this fabulous country to anyone who’ll listen.  See some examples HERE & HERE.

    The mag is a great read for anyone and everyone, very tongue in cheek and lots of fun and is sold in newagents all across Australia.

    Happy Birthday Pom….here’s hoping you get to a grand old age (cos there’s plenty of things left to see and do!)



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