RIP Beach Aquariums

Posted on 21 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Goodbye Beach Aquariums.

My dad’s old aquarium shop in Bondi Beach has shut it’s doors for good. My Dad left it back in the 80′s and gave the business to my Uncle John who’s been running it ever since.

Amazingly, over the years John never did anything with the shop, he basically just ran it and never cleaned or maintained it. I remember playing in the little rock garden in the front of the store as a little kid. That painting on the glass was really vibrant once upon a time!!!

Sad, but hey, it had to happen. Bondi Beach is being overtaken by hipster cafe’s and the rent has gone through the roof over the years.

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American Zen

Posted on 19 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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I came across an image of this desktop toy set on tumblr. I did a search for “American Zen Day Dreamin’ in the Garage” and managed to find a new unopened one on eBay USA. Had to have it!

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Star Wars x Santa Cruz Skateboards

Posted on 18 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Couldn’t resist. Santa Cruz Skateboards have done a collab with Lucasfilm and they’ve released a limited edition collection Star Wars skateboard decks.

Had a hard time choosing between Vader and Boba Fett. Went with Vader in the end (but still really want the Boba Fett deck!).

PS: Not sure if these are going to be sold in stores locally but I got my deck through the Skates.co.uk online shop (shipping was damn fast too).

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Kesii

Posted on 17 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Early last month Kesii and I talked about teeing up a shoot for whenever she was next in Sydney next (she’s from Queensland), she’s in town and had an hour to spare today and although I prefer all day shoots I was more than happy to get snappy.

Kesii’s gorgeous right?! She’s so photogenic. Couldn’t take a bad shot of her. She’s currently about to graduate from Engineering, but she’s also working on JD Alterations, an upcoming side project/family business.

As usual, more shots on my tumblr: http://justinfox.tumblr.com

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Jenny x illest

Posted on 12 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Another day another shoot?! I shot Jenny yesterday in some illest gear which we’ve got on sale in our shop. I love the almost voyeuristic shot of Jenny midnight snacking on the nutella (check the size of that thing!).

More images on my tumblr.

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Jenny Shoot #3 – Zen x Domo x Zoomer

Posted on 10 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Jenny’s so keen to shoot she caught 2 trains from way out West to come in to Zen for some snaps late yesterday afternoon. Our last customer in the shop got a few snaps of Jenny with his ride, then we closed shop, cranked Zen tunes up and got busy.

It’s so hard to take a great shot in the garage. The big lights give off a green tone and the natural light gives off a blue tone due to blue plastic roof sheets. I thought I’d make it even harder for myself and I grabbed a few of our Bunnings flood lights which give off a very yellow hue.

As usual, you can view higher res pics on my tumblr.

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Jenny Shoot #2

Posted on 7 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Jenny just got back from EDC in the USA, and even whilst she was over there she was messaging me to get ready to shoot again! This time she wanted to shoot outside, with a bike.

It was all last minute but I grabbed my Kuwa (it’s got flat tyres and I couldn’t find a pump in the house!) and I’ve still got keys to the beach house so we headed down there to shoot in the remaining afternoon light (which was glorious!).

Later that night we tried my new studio setup but the backdrop is just too transparent (cheap shit). I’ll have to look into getting a new backdrop ASAP.

More photos on my tumblr: http://justinfox.tumblr.com

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Stu-Stu-Studio

Posted on 5 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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I think a set-up like this would have been but a dream 10 years ago, but on eBay this kit cost me $200 shipped which I think is awesome value! Sure, it’s cheap stuff (just like the light tent I bought a few years back for shooting Zen products), but it works. The kit came with a green and a black backdrop sheet too. I’m thinking they’re a bit transparent, might have to look at upgrading the material in future.

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iblazr LED Flash

Posted on 4 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Mounted to the GF1′s hot shoe. So cute!

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Worked a treat (iblazr comes with a diffuser too but I didn’t use it in this situation).

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End result.

Last week I got an iblazr LED Flash, today was the first time I’ve used it in practise (I shot the new Zen iPhone cases, more photos a couple of posts below). It’s mainly made for phones, but I had to give the cold-shoe a go on the GF1. It fits great, and works a treat! Definitely a handy little thing to have in my everyday bag.

Visit: MobileZap, if you’re interested it’s $60 and you can buy it here.

Posted in Photography, Toys | 3 Comments

Fuku

Posted on 4 July, 2014 by Justin Fox

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Sashimi. Can’t resist.

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What I came for. Saikyo miso black cod. LOVED the presentation of having the wrapped cedar (which was alight) opened up at the table.

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Flesh was so soft, smokey, sweet and delish!

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Who isn’t a sucker for crackling?!

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Duck dish was great too.

Watch how you pronounce it! Fuku is across from Din Tai Fung at World Square, it’s been there a while, and to be honest, it’s one of those restaurants I’d usually avoid. Not exactly sure why, maybe it’s the way their menu looks (photos, bad layout, a bit cheap), maybe it’s the venue (it’s way too big, the rent must be nuts), maybe it’s the staff (I noted many of them were not Japanese), maybe it’s a combination of things… in any case we ate there last night as I really wanted to try their Akita Sugatayaki, traditional Japanese smoked grill wrapped in cedar wood.

All in all it was a good night, a bit of Sake, a sneaky Margarita, great company and some decent food (but a bit too pricey for what it was IMHO).

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