A different world

Winding down after the whirl-wind that was Monaco Yacht Show 2014, and processing the conglomeration of video and photos allows me to reflect upon this intriguing event.   This is my 4th year in a row attending as a photographer, and my work here has been evolving with new clients and cool experiences which make the show a must for my business and reputation.   "Ahhh... Monaco",  I hear you say... and well justified, as I am surrounded by exotic supercars, superyachts, and most likely some of the best dressed people on the planet.   But this is all just a facade hiding many things very wrong with this place... a tax haven of a bygone era, being held together by the rich and not so famous.   Here is the largest Yacht show in the world, and yet the WiFi internet speeds remind you of how it was to surf in the late 1990's... you walk down to a well established restaurant, stepping over crap left behind by some small trinket dog used more as an accessory than a pet, and when you do sit down to eat, you are hard pressed finding anything but the finest Italian cuisine (what is 'French cuisine' here anyway???)...  Yes, I am aware that many years ago Italy occupied this part of France ;)    And while you soak up this atmosphere, you are listening to a chorus of rather delightful exhaust notes spelling out the hundreds of thousands of Euro's spent on 4 wheels with Monaco plates, only to be annoyingly drowned out by the near continuous emergency vehicle sirens echoing through the streets - honestly... what is going wrong so often!!??   The pretentiousness can be cut by a knife in all directions, with a 'get out of my way' attitude only stopped by someone walking across a zebra crossing.   4-Euros for a coffee so bad they should be ashamed of serving and never sleep at night... and don't get me started on why, at the show, the food and drink venues don't accept ANY credit/debit cards... such an arrogant French attitude piss-take!

Now it is over, all the yachts of various sizes disembark to destinations scattered around the Med to get ready for the Caribbean season or just finish some final charters, Port Hercules returns to normal, crowds vanish, and I wonder why I am still here... might hang out in Nice for a few days... at least the pizzas only cost 10Euro.  I chuckle to myself a little, knowing I will be back next year, and remembering what an Exhibitor said to me in the elevator during the show, "we should stop complaining... god we are spoilt working here".   So true, so I will shut up now :)

German efficiency...

Sitting here now resting in Annecy France after blasting across the German Autobahns over the last two days, and I can't help but feel a little cheated.

Usually when the word 'Autobahn' is mentioned, men (and some women) start to melt at the thought of no speed limits and endless lanes of driving bliss... But after today and many other tens of thousands of klms I have spent traversing Germany, it is unfortunately proven once more a myth.   You see, the 'unlimited speed' idea is just not possible.   Yeah, sure, you can max out your car's speed without being arrested, and therefore (theoretically) get from point 'a' to 'b' very quickly, but it is far from the perceived German efficiency.   For a start, there is only a limited amount of Autobahn with no limit, and then the weather must be perfect, and the traffic too, otherwise they change the speed signs back to 120, etc... which brings me on to the traffic - if you managed to get up a good speed, it is only a matter of minutes (if that) before you are cut off by an Eastern European truck driver deciding to overtake another travelling 2km/h slower, or some old man in a 20yr old VW 1.0lt who decides he must pass a 30yr old Mercedes... you get the picture.   Then you have the contra-flows, where the roadworks dictate ridiculously narrow lanes (usually 2.2m, where a car is approx 2.0m wide incl. mirrors) and 80km/h speed limits for km after km.   And finally the traffic jams... everywhere.  "What does this all equate to?", I hear you ask... well, an average speed of only 111km/h from Nth to Sth of the country.    Quite sad really... Oh, but I haven't mentioned the roads yet... you would imagine that the Germans have roadbuilding down to a fine art, but you are wrong.   Much of the Autobahn network is a patchwork quilt style of aging concrete, some of which is back breaking at speed.   So you dream of taking a sports car on the Autobahn?  My humble Beema with sports suspension, 18inch wheels, and shockingly hard Run Flat Tyres made some of the road feel like corrugated iron... give me Swiss roads any day ;)

Okay okay, there are some good points... mostly the drivers themselves.   The traffic is beautifully organised, with no passing on the slow lane side, and courteous merging, activating the hazard lights to warn other drivers behind of fast decelerating and stopped traffic.   I have rarely seen any accidents either, amazing taking into account the high speeds.  Most of the cars travel between 140 and 180km/h, maybe to do with comfort (on the bad surfaces) and mostly to do with fuel economy.   All this actually makes the Autobahn more relaxing, and a joy to be a part of... And there are some small moments of brilliance, when the new road surface appears, the traffic thins, and the sun shines... then it all starts to make sense.

So has the romance died?   Yes, it has... but if I dig deep enough, many years ago, I can remember falling in love, on a small section just outside Chemnitz... keeps the hope alive that the pain is worth the reward ;)

In the beginning...

Welcome to my first blog post... exciting I know, and wondering where I start???

I'm a professional photographer... and Australian one... living in Sweden, and as many Swedes ask me, "why would an Australian choose to live in Sweden?"  Three guesses I say, with the first one usually the right one - a girl, Swedish at that :) but that is another story which could easily make a large book in content and explanation... one day maybe :)

So here I sit, with the relationship now long gone, still in Sweden, and people ask me again "why?"... and I reply with the suggestion that Sweden can actually be a nice place to live, and have good business prospects, contrary to many Swede's attitudes.   Upon starting my business here as a test idea back in 2011, I have since grown this with many new clients every year while also growing my specialty - Super Yacht Photography.  But there are no Superyachts in Sweden they say... true, with the exception of 'Vibrant Curiosity' which cruised past Malmo in 2011 giving an amazing photo opportunity you can't get almost anywhere else in the world.   Then I enlighten people to the fact that the majority of leading Super Yacht shipyards in the world exist in the Nth of Germany and Netherlands, so Malmö is an ideal hub not only for driving to continental EU but also flying out of CPH.  Much easier than from Australia!

"Super Yachts... wow... must be exotic", some say... true, but the work is very incestual, few and far between, and the work is very high demand in both time and quality, so it is not all Sunglasses and Autographs :)

Stay tuned for more...