First stop, breakfast at Degraves.
Then a rummage through Lygon St, with refreshments on route!
We then had a Vietnamese Coffee from The Soap Bar Launderette, which is about as Melbourne as it gets. Such a welcoming space where not only can you do your washing, but you can have a drink, hop on their free wi-fi and just take a great little time out.
Next stop, The Kustom Kommune, which is a community/DIY motorcycle workshop in Collingwood.
We got to meet Jimmy Goode the owner, who ended up saying he follows Zen, and studied and took some inspiration from Zen before opening The Kustom Kommune! Well the tabletops have turned, what an amazing thing they’ve got going!
Not a single spanner has gone missing apparently! SO awesome to hear that.
Turns out Backwoods Gallery are at the same location too! I’m a huge fan of some of the artists Backwoods have shown over the past few years and have always supported their shows through Aus Infront so it was nice to finally drop in (they were shut but were happy to let us in for a geez!).
I hadn’t finished taking photos at The Kustom Kommune, and got chatting to Jimmy then these 2 people approached us, not wanting to keep Jimmy from attending to them (I figured they were potential customers) I thought I’d continue shooting but it turns out the 2 people were from Crumpler (who have been making bags in Melbourne for 20 years!). They had some new bags coming out and were doing a photoshoot and wanted to know if I’d be interested in modelling some of their new bags for them!
Hilarious right?! I’m there with Jess, my muse and model, and nek minnit I’m the model posing on a rooftop which somehow had 2 train carriages on it… random but hilarious fun!!! Was interesting to be the model (good for me to know what it’s like on the other side of the lens), and not having any idea on what to do when no direction was given. Got me thinking a little more about my process when shooting my girls.
On a high from what just happened (what just happened?!) we thought we’d stuff ourselves with more food. We dropped in to Huxtaburger, but having just had the best burger of my life last week these guys fell short with a dry patty. Chips were great though! Salty, colourful and crunchy as!
We then caught up with Tam Tran for drinks at Section 8. Tam runs Natural Aspirations and makes our amazing Bamboo Zen Garage Phone Cases. He’s a bright kid at 22, and onto massive things no doubt! Tam also gave us a lift to the airport (legend!), so that concludes our most awesome spontaneous Melbourne getaway!
Was awesome meeting you bud! Keep in touch, and make sure you swing past when you’re in town again. Beers next time.
100% will be dropping in again for sure Jimmy! Mad to meet you!