NIHILIST MANIFESTO

My Birthday

2010-05-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

For my birthday Pieta, Jenna and I went to Pressure Drop. A play/gig about English life in 2010 for middle class white folk. It was at an art gallery called the Wellcome Centre in Euston.

Billy Bragg and his band provided the music. Wicked.

There were 3 stages + Billys stage scattered throughout the space. The crowd gathered and moved around the gallery as the actors moved from stage to stage. It was amazing. Fantastic, passionate acting with a great storyline and rad tunes provided by Mr Bragg and co.

I got to meet him again which made my night. He's so cool! I got an autographed book too which I can add the Bragg memorabilia pile. He's playing 20 nights so I may go back.

After the gig we headed to Shoreditch as I was taking photos at a bar called McQueen. Cool place. 3 rooms, bars, bands, djs, performers. It was a rad night, with rad peeps.

The next day we decided to hit the park and catch some rays. We bought a shit ton of food, cider and Jenna bought me the raddest cake EVER. It was a STIG Top Gear cake. U rock Jenna. haha genius.

Evan and Amanda joined us but after about 45mins the clouds came so we went and chilled at Jenna's. That night I was working at a new place in Brick Lane called 93 Feet East. Trendy area in east London. It was wicked. Amazing bands and DJ's. Huge crowds, 2 huge rooms, outdoor bar and food stall area serving all sorts of cuisines. I got asked to take photos there every event they have now so I'm pretty psyched about that one. Only thing that sucks is getting there and back! 1 hour each way isn't fun. But that is London.

Tonight is Gang of Four and after party! Yew.

Some photos of my Bday weekend.

Springaling ling

2010-04-26T03:24:00.000-07:00

So Spring has arrived in London town. The weather has been amazing the last two weeks, getting up to..GET THIS 20 degrees! Nothing but sunny days, although today is overcast ;(. I spoke too soon.

I have been doing a bit of photography in a few clubs around London. From trendy designer bars where the cheapest drink is 25 pounds to, alternate clubs in Camden playing wicked bands to Cabaret style bars in Shoreditch. All fun, all interesting. Money is okay, contacts are good too. I don't want to do club stuff forever but it will help build a good client base for more photographic/design work.

Kate Scissor was over from oz Friday night. We showed her around Brick Lane (a cool spot in East London), there's everything from outdoor bars, restaurants galore, food stalls, markets, vintage clothes stores, op shops, old style diner bowling alley, record stores, galleries, clubs. Very rad spot. We had a few drinkies there then decided to move on and just go wherever the night took us. We stumbled across the Ten Bells pub where Jack the Ripper frequented and got his victims drunk before slaying them silly.

We then stumbled across a silent film being screened in Spitalfields, there were tons of people sitting down watching the film. What was cool is there was a rad instrumental post rock band playing along to the film haha. Crazy. There was a cool outside bar with heaters so we had pints and desert before heading onto a cocktail bar down the road. Deadly, we punished about 6 cocktails each..that I can remember. Then ended up in Oxford Street somehow, again..can't remember. The rest of the night was a blur. I passed out in a bus and must have dropped my phone. A nice lady woke me up and handed me my phone. Genius.

Last night we went and saw Parkway Drive. It was mental. Sold out at the HMV Forum in Shoreditch. People were going off. It was so good to see the Byron boys shredding.

Anyway some photos below of the park "common" just up the street from our place. It gets packed on weekends now, people stripping down to their undies. Freaks!

Camera Gear to date..

2010-04-20T02:32:00.001-07:00

Canon 50D Dslr Body

Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flashgun

Canon T50 35mm Film Slr with 50mm Lens

Tamron 70-300mm 3.5-5.6 Lens

Samyang 8mm 3.5 Fisheye Lens

Canon 28-135mm IS 3.5-5.6 Lens

Canon 17-55mm IS 3.5-5.6 Lens

Fancier Sling Bag

Fancier Ball Head Tripod

Lowepro Travel Bag

Lomo Fisheye 2 with Flash

Lomo Fisheye

Lomo Underwater case

NEW WEBSITE FOR EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-04-18T02:44:00.000-07:00

Yo, I have created a new website for my club/band/event Photography.

Check it out and pass it around.

tagyoureit.tumblr.com

TAG YOU'RE IT

I also have a new email address - danenicholaswalker@googlemail.com

RUSSIAN CIRCLES & EARTHLESS

2010-04-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

Of late..

2010-04-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post an update of what's been going on in ol Blighty of late.

Clapham Junction (my hood) life is bloody sweet. Love the area, great house and housemates, rent is super cheap for London $140 aud/week...Double room, super fast unlimited internet, 600 cable tv channels (I only watch one station...DAVE, 24hr Top Gear) and all bills included. Dooshin! Food and grog is super cheap here, plus we have a fresh fruit and veg guy who sells his produce on the street on our doorstep. Full bag on Fruit+Veg for under 3 pound. 6 pk 440ml beer (any type) for 5 pound. Large Pizza from Tesco's 1 pound. Travel is expensive though and gets costly if you go out lots like I have been. Buying drinks at pubs/clubs can get expensive but I usually get free drinks if I'm taking photos. There are some rad bars that do all you can drink (any drink possible) for 5 pounds from 7-9pm.

So after not working for around 7 months I think it's about time I start looking for something. My funds are depleting although I'm not too worried, life is good and I'm happy. It's hard to get bored in London, if I was bored I probably would be working already.

I don't particularly want to work for anyone and I'm enjoying photography so I intend on pursuing it until I'm either broke or making enough money to survive. I applied for a casual photography job the other day at a designer/up market club called Supperclub, in Notting Hill - they are all over the world. I got a call straight back and was asked to come for an interview shortly after. I got the job the next morning. It's 15 pound an hour which good for UK pay...thought it was 12 but my math sux. I'm looking forward to it, plus the opportunities to get more work from here are going to be good. It's cool because I get to party, get free drinks, get to meet heaps of people and don't have a boss on my back. I just do my own thing.

My mate Wade has been helping me out with work and getting my club photos up to scratch which is awesome. I bought a $600aud Flash last week, it works wonders. It would want to at that price! I just bought another lens today for $50aud. Score! Plus about 60 Photography magazings for $30.

Wade's girlfriends band Paper Crows just got signed to Lily Allen's producers new label so we did a full on photoshoot for them. It went extremely well, we shot it in the woods in the outskirts of London. Their producers came down to see how we were going. They were surprised I think and very happy with our work. They work with the Pussycat Dolls, Tom Jones, Shakira, Destiny's Child etc so it was bloody cool for them to be so stoked on our photos. I'm sure it will bring some more work our way. So now Wade and I are teaming up to create a photography business over here. In the middle of it all now. He has good connections, his photos are great and we have very similar ideas/styles which works well. My background in design and photo manipulation helps too. So there's no reason why we can't make some money doing what we love and working for ourselves. We're both very passionate, motivated and....pretty broke! So that helps.

I've been surviving on freelance work from back home, doing design stuff for various people. It's keeping me even which is good. Although I just bought several hundred pounds worth of gigs tickets for some upcoming shows. So many good bands coming it's stupid. These are some of the gigs I'm going to.

Grails (fav band at the moment)
Earthless
Shrinebuilder
Cancer Bats
Trash Talk
Against Me!
Slayer
Converge
Between the Buried and Me
Kylesa
Billy Bragg (playing on my bday)
Cathedral
Astra
Russian Circles
EYEHATEGOD
Band of Horses
Red Chord
Aborted
Cold Cave
Dinosaur Jnr
Eric Clapton
RATM
Crosby Stills Nash
Sepultura
Black Sabbath
ZZ Top
ELP
Uriah Heep
AC/DC
Iron Maiden
Megadeth
Iggy Pop
Trap Them
ETID
A Storm of Light
Jeff Beck
Motorhead
Echo and the Bunnymen
Alice in Chains
Motley Crue
Anthrax
Gallows
Rollins
Municipal Waste
Sick of it All

And I just got a call from Ben Walker (literally while I'm typing) saying that he has tickets to Glastonbury for me if I work 3 shifts there. Led Zeppelin are confirmed to play! F*&k! Goosebumps.

Other than that, I'm loving it here. There's so much to do every day/night, wicked bars, pubs, restaurants on our doorstep. 7 mins to central London. Tons of wicked art and creative people. The weather is awesome finally too. T-shirt weather, 18 degrees and SUN! Everything is starting to look nice now, not grey and beyond freezing. I want to start exercising, I'm so unfit I think? I've lost 7 kilos since I left. My diet is healthier than ever, WAYYY less booze too. Just not enough exercise. Plenty of walking but it's not enough to keep fit. I would be happy to live here for a few more years yet but will be home when my visa runs out in 18 months. Might try and get an ancestry visa after that. I don't want to go home. More travel though in between... Italy, Austria, wherever.

Back to Morocco end of May when Rob arrives, then Switzerland with ROBBOOOOO and Ev! Wicked. Cannot wait for that!

So that's pretty much me up to date.

New Paintings

2010-03-24T09:32:00.002-07:00

I started working on some new paintings lately. Loving it. Please click to enlarge. I've added 3 of Leah to show you the process of building up the artwork.

Paris

2010-03-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

We went to Paris. Was fun. More to add soon.

Morocco

2010-03-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

Morocco, O country of no ration, beautiful landscape and clogged toilets. How I love thee!

So we arrived in Agadir safely with an amazing sight as we landed, the Atlas mountains. I did not expect to see them covered in snow. First irrational sight.

We got to our apartment right on the beach at Hash Point in Taghazout that night after a hilarious taxi ride with Mohammed Taxi. Shane had prepared an amazing Tagine for us to feast on. You're the raddest! Thanks man.

We woke up to toxic smoke burning on the beach below us, I couldn't beleive the amount of rubbish there was. Pieta woke up with bites all over her face. We were literally 50 metres to the water, and that entire space was rubbish. Very sad to see. The weather was freezing and it was raining. They had recently had major floods which made the place even messier.

Our first thoughts weren't that great of Morocco. Especially after what Pieta saw on the beach...it was a man malesting a cat, repeatedly. Cool!

Shortly after I saw a kid playing with 2 syringes.

The next day we cruised around town and check out some local surf spots..rain hampered most of our plans. We decided to head to Shane's work to help him prepare dinner for the guest's at his work. It was great fun and the food was amazing!

The next day the weather turned amazing so we got to see the good side of Taghazout. It made such a difference. The beaches looked cleaner and everyone was happy again. Even Mohammed Cat Malesterer. I hired a massive long board which turned out to be way to big and heavy. It ruined me haha. So unfit. So I swapped it for a shorter, lighter board. The surf was cranking pretty much the entire time we were there, everywhere.

Anchors point was the biggest, just up the road from our place.

The landscape is stunning, dry desert with green patches of plants meeting up to stunning beaches. It really was an amazing site.

Food was cheap, a loaf of bread was about 15 cents aussie. Amazing bread too. A Tagine was about $4aud. We headed to the local Souk (Market), it was so cool. Amazing produce. These olives were the best I've ever had and they were $2aud/kilo.
Spices galore! Heaven!!!

Mike arrived a few days after us so we decided to hire a car and cruise up the coast towards Immsuane Bay, a killer surf spot. There were so many ridiculous surf spots the whole way there, all empty. The drive up and around the mountains were amazing...winding all the way up with views of the coast. When we arrived at the top to look down at Immsuane we could see the snow capped mountains once again. It was bizarre as the temperature was about 30degrees.

The next day we decided to head south and visit Paradise Valley which was like being at the Wild Wild West ride at Movieworld. It was surreal and so cool. Photos are crap and don't do it justice as we were driving through.

We had plenty of time left so we decided to go further down to Tifnit, Shane got the word that it has dooshin surf so we decided to check it out. It was scorching hot, around 33+ and the surf was scorching too. Sucky shorebreak. Shane busted 3 leashes on his boog and a local nearly drowned. Good times.
This is when the diarrhea started. I had to race up into the dunes to offload the package. Luckily I brought TP in my backback!

We had major problems with our apartment the entire stay. We didn't have a proper shower, I got locked out of my room, Pieta got locked in. Our toilet overflowed. Fridge didn't work. We weren't given towels, toilet paper, soap etc. Shane convinced the landlord "Mohammed Apartment" to give us a refund of 1 night, we tried for 2 but he was a stubborn wanker...which took 45 mins of discussion. He promised to pay us the next day. We didn't see him for 2 days until I called him several times as the toilet overflowed and our shower was still broken. I blew up as he said he wasn't going to pay us a cent and blamed everything on us and said it was our responsibility not his! haha. I was not in the mood to take shit. What's funnier is that Shane was cooking dinner when he came over and he said the meal needs water added. I said no, leave it it's fine, Shane is a chef, you are not. He told me to add tap water. I refused and told him not to touch and especially don't add tap water, we argued for a few minutes then he added tap water after yelling at me that it's great safe water. I tried to stop the dick but he did it regardless. We argued for about 30mins ended up in me leaving the room as I was so close to smashing in his stupid face. Anyway the meal ended up being watery and Pieta and I got violent diarrhea. I had it bad for 7 or 8 days. Shitting water and violent stomach cramps. Cheers for that DICKHEAD!

To make things worse, the next morning he came into our apartment without knocking or saying a word, let himself in, then continued to let himself into our bedroom, where we were sleeping to ask if the toilet works.

Anyway beside the room troubles everyone else was pretty cool. I think a driving surf trip would be the go next time though. I will definitely go back..just not to stay at Mohammed Apartments place.

Clapton Beck..

2010-02-15T10:25:00.001-08:00

Valentines day was spent with my gorgeous girl at the 02 Arena in Greenwich for the Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck concert. Beck shredded his little fingers off and Clapton was simple amazing. The place was packed to the rafters. We were literally in the rafters, 20000 people back. We still had a great view, the huge crystal clear monitors helped though. Sound quality was amazing although a little quite for us! The train ride home was fun. Hah! 20000 old foggies trying to get back to London. Jesus! I've never been pushed down by a granny before. They know how to hussle an ozzie white boy out of a spot on the train I tell ya!

Awesome ASIMO..

2010-02-12T05:01:00.001-08:00

Family..

2010-02-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

I HAVE ANOTHER BLOG..

2010-02-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll!

I have a new blog just for my photography work. My photos are slowly improving but I have a long way to go before I will be happy with them. Anyway, check em out..

www.danewalker.blogspot.com

I will continue to add to this blog also!

This is England..

2010-02-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

View from halfway up St Paul's Cathedral

Don't buy Israeli Apartheid..

2010-02-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

Please don't puchase any Israeli products, food or services..

The UN Resolution of 1947 allocated 45% of British Mandate Palestine to a Palestinian State. In 1948, Israel occupied 78% of the land, leaving just 22% -- the West Bank and Gaza -- to the Palestinians. This is all they have been demanding since 1993. Now, Israel is robbing more than the better half of these 22% left. Six million Israelis are to have about 90% of the land (and water), whereas three-and-a-half million Palestinians, many of them refugees, are pushed to starve into what is left, locked behind gigantic walls in open-air prisons, with no land, no water and no hope. The moral way to peace, love and security, no doubt.

The Apartheid Wall will be 8m high and probably 1.000km long. For comparison, China's Great Wall -- the only human-made object seen from outer space -- is 6.700km long, whereas the Berlin Wall was a dwarf, just 155km long and 3,6m high. Keeping silent on this gigantic project and its genocidal implications, meant to prevent any fair future settlement (not to mention the Road Map), is a moral crime, of which almost the entire Western media is guilty.

Immortal Technique..

2010-02-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

I pledge no allegiance, fuck the president's speeches. The dirty water that bleaches your soul and your facial features. Drowning you in propaganda that they spit through the speakers and if you speak about the evil that the government does the Patriot Act will track you to the type of your blood. They try to frame you and throw a federal indictment on you to show you love.

This shit is run by fake Christians, fake politicians, look at their mansions, then look at the conditions you live in. All they talk about is terrorism on television, they tell you to listen, but they don't really tell you their mission.

They funded Al-Qaeda, and now they blame the Muslim religion even though Bin Laden, was a CIA tactician. They gave him billions of dollars, and they funded his purpose. Fahrenheit 9/11, that's just scratchin' the surface.

They say the rebels in Iraq still fight for Saddam but that's bullshit, I'll show you why it's totally wrong. If another country invaded your home tonight, it'd be warfare. I wouldn't be fighting for Bush, Obama or White America's dream, I'd be fighting for my people's survival and self-esteem.
I wouldn't fight for racist churches, I'd be fighting to keep the occupation out. You ever clock someone who talk shit, or look at you wrong? Imagine if they shot at you, and was raping your mum.

And of course Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons, the US sold him that shit, after Ronald Reagan's election. Mercenary contractors fighting a new era. Corporate military banking off the war on terror. They controlling the streets, with the failed attack. Trying to distract the fact that they engineering the crack.

I will fight the people that support you and like you because innocent people get murdered in the struggle daily. This isn't no alien conspiracy theory, this is real. Written on the dollar underneath the Masonic seal.

Crystal Palace 1km beneath Earth..

2010-02-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

Next holiday destination...1km below the Chihuanhuan Desert, Mexico.

Deep inside Naica mountain, the Cave of Crystals is a horseshoe-shaped cavity in limestone rock about 10 meters wide and 30 meters long. Ambient temperatures hover around 60c.

Volcanic activity that began about 26 million years ago created Naica mountain and filled it with high-temperature anhydrite gypsum (giant shards of which are pictured above).

When magma underneath the mountain cooled and the temperature dropped, the anhydrite began to dissolve. The anhydrite slowly enriched the waters with sulfate and calcium molecules, which for millions of years have been deposited in the caves in the form of huge selenite gypsum crystals.

Religion...The Greatest Story of all time..

2010-02-03T10:28:00.001-08:00

Understanding Religion...please watch.

Understanding the federal bank and the economic crisis..

2010-02-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

Panorama from St Pauls..

2010-02-03T09:59:00.001-08:00

Pieta and I visited St Paul's Cathedral recently and ventured up onto the roof to grab some shots of the ever vibrant and colourful London City. It was raining, windy as hell and needless to say..FREEZING! But it was totally worth it.

The cathedral was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to head to Italy and visit the Basilica. I think it's a joke the amount of money that was spent on these things but GOD, they are beautiful. If only people would see the truth behind religion??

The staircase or rather staircases were just wide enough for me to fit in. As we got higher the space got smaller and smaller and seriously quite dangerous. 530 stairs later, we were on the roof.

Below is a about 6 or 7 shots spliced together..please click to enlarge.

First Fisheye Shots..

2010-02-03T03:39:00.000-08:00

Below are the first Canon 50D shots with Samyung 8mm f3.5 Fisheye Lens. I don't have a tripod yet so the images aren't very stable. Although I have just put one on order so my photos should get a whole lot better real soon. Click to enlarge.

Vertigo 42 Building...we had a $28aud Cocktail just to see the view of London (42 stories up) and to take some shots. View was stunning but the cocktails were shithouse.

After I took this shot I was asked not to take photos..

But I snuck a few more in..what are they going to do?

Hampton Court, 15pound entry and freezing rain. Maybe another day huh!? Our feet literally took an hour to stop hurting after walking through freezing puddles. This photo captures the moment brilliantly... "Can we please go home DAAANNNEEE?"

Rock ON!

Be Healthy yo..

2010-01-27T06:00:00.001-08:00

F*&K computers and ghetto chavs..

2010-01-27T02:46:00.000-08:00

I got my Macbook back yesterday after paying a shitload more to get it fixed and waiting nearly 2 weeks. I started it up as soon as I got home as I was on a tight deadline. I needed to finish an ad that afternoon. I flicked the switch to fire it up and....nothing. It didn't start. Straight back to the shop for another 4 days! So over it.

Also I'm still waiting on my guitar that said 24hr delivery. It's been nearly a week now too. Love the service.

Oh and I saw a chav guy bash and abuse some ladies, strangle a baby whilst in the possession of a 9mm pistol. Awesome!

Virus after VIRUS..

2010-01-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

I finally got my pc laptop back. It lasted 3 days before shitting itself due to more viruses after I bought virus software. So I took it back to the shop. Paid them again, only to get my machine back with none of my design software or the Anti-Virus software. Meanwhile they still have my Mac. Sick one. So I can't upload anymore of my NEW FISHEYE photos because I don't have the software to compress them. Hopefully soon..

New lens..

2010-01-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

Now I am officially hooked on photography. My photos still suck but I'm learning something everytime I go out and shoot. I purchased a 8mm fisheye for my Canon 50D. Arrives in a few days so I'm really looking forward to heading out into town and shooting some architecture. It has a 180 degree shooting range for great wide angle shit. Here are some examples from that lens.

Np. these pix aren't mine.