A video WORKSHOP, A JAPANESE FEAST and SYDNEY fashion WEEK begins

I’m finding it very hard to get my head around the fact that the next time I write our IG Edition, we’ll be in a different hemisphere.

Mrs romance and I are heading back to the UK for a couple of months… tomorrow! It’s been so long considering that we’ve both been back, plus we’ve got some plans for travelling in Europe we need to put into play.

And – as if she needs any a lot more help with it – Mrs R is also going on a week-long functional photography course to learn how to shoot. I think I need that a lot more than she does!

This will be the longest trip we’ll have taken together considering that we first settled in Australia a long time ago. We’re both really ecstatic about it, but at the same time, there’s a bit of apprehension in the air.

Still got to get work done after all.

We hope you take pleasure in this IG edition though. got a couple of great ideas for Sydney eats and drinks plus some fantastic hints for shooting better video.

Cheers

Jim & Christina x

I don’t think there’s ever a time where the sight of this bridge ever gets boring or less pretty. Unless you’re painting it. Apparently, by the time the painters have got to the end of the bridge, it’s time to go back to the start and break out new brushes! It’s a never-ending job!

I’m delighted enough just enjoying the sun go down behind it.

Today, we’re in the Sydney town Hall learning about shooting video as part of the Head On photo Festival. We’re getting a full day’s lesson from the excellent Michaela Skovranova and Olympus Cameras with a mix of theory and functional learning. Looking forward to getting to know my Olympus cam a bit better.

We’re outside getting ready to put into practice some of the skills Michaela has taught us. We’ve got our cheat sheets with us too which include little information nuggets like:

– use a cam with FullHD video capabilities
– use a class 10 memory card (it’s written on them) or faster for video. Anything slower than 10 won’t be able to keep up with the data from your camera.
– For normal footage, set your cam to 25 frames per second (1/50 second)
– For slow motion, set it to 50 frames per second (1/100 second). This is best for up to half speed slow-mo.
– ISO for video – use 160, 320 or 640.

There’s so much a lot more to shooting video than stills, but when you get it right, I bet it looks amazing!

It’s so good to be able to practise skills with some help from a pro. plus all the people in the class are enthusiasts and have other fantastic skills too. The knowledge sharing in the group is fascinating.

Believe it or not, this is a full size camera. It’s the OM-D E-M1 Olympus mirrorless camera, and it’s actually bigger than Mrs Romance’s. It’s a beautiful bit of kit – regrettably my mutant hands make it look like a toy.

We’re playing with the manual settings on our cameras today too, which is really challenging. getting the focus, the white balance and the exposure all ideal while keeping the cam still and maintaining the angle is kind of hurting my head!

But I think we got some good footage for a quick behind-the-scenes vid:

A post shared by Mr& Mrs romance (@mrandmrsromance) on may 13, 2017 at 5:19pm PDT

I edited this together in about 25 minutes just on iMovie – I think it came together quite well.

This evening – just after the Olympus video workshop in fact – we’re in Surry Hills for dinner with some very fine friends of ours. Stevie and Mel from Stevie English Hair and Paul and Ewelina from Refoil are awesome people. We get together whenever we can.

It’s become a bit of a routine now to meet in Suzuya Japanese restaurant on Devonshire Street. It’s a real gem and surprisingly cheap. and they pour their beer like it’s ice cream!

If you do get a chance to come to Suzuya, make sure you buy the miso eggplant if nothing else. It’s amazing!

Today, Mrs romance is back stage of the opening day of Sydney fashion Week. annually MBFWA puts on an extraordinary show. I was lucky enough to be in Milan when the Mercedes Benz fashion Week was in Italy. It’s just fascinating.

I only got to see the front of house performance. Mrs romance – in her Hair Romance capacity – is reporting from behind the scenes, which would be even a lot more interesting.

Tonight, Mrs romance is out on the town without me. She’s meeting up with our charming mate Stacey. They’re at another hidden gem of Sydney: Hacienda Bar.

This bar looks out over circular Quay with fantastic views out over the Harbour and the Bridge. Not lots of people know about this place, even though it’s in one of the busiest parts of the city. check it out for great cocktails, food and – of course – vistas!

I’ve lived in Sydney for 17 years – and Mrs romance was born here, so she’s been in Sydney marginally longer – but neither of us are bored of checking out this city when it looks like this.

This morning we’re having a catch-up breakfast with our superb friend Tash at Euforia Café in Balmain. She and Mrs romance have chose the veggie breakfast – I think because of halloumi!

I’ve gone for the BLAT, because bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato is… well, it just is.

This week’s travel Recap

Each week we go back in time over some of our much-loved travel destinations using never-before-seen photos of our travels. Here’s where we’ve been looking back on this week.

Gaya Island – the largest island off the coast of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo – is a beautiful spot. There are a few places to stay here, but Gaya Island resort has to be the best.

They even set up a beautiful beach picnic for you to take pleasure in to max out the romance. It’s part of our quick travel plan of Sabah here.

Also in Gaya Island resort is their spa, which is the place where I think I found nirvana. The massage I had here was beyond everything. surrounded by rainforest sounds, clean air and a best tropical temperature, and a really exceptional massage treatment. Bliss.

Check out what else we got up to in Borneo with our essential guide to Sabah.

We’re really getting ready for our trip to Europe! exploring what need to be Sydney’s a lot of English suburb – Balmain east – we found this old church. Looking forward to seeing a lot a lot more architecture like this very soon!

Mrs romance is also ramping up her door photographing skills again. It’s a theme she has running through all of her travel photos, and is one of our much-loved ideas for improving your travel photography.

Watch this space for a (much bigger) post on all our photography ideas for taking your travel snaps to the next level.

We hope you’ve took pleasure in this week’s IG Edition. See you again soon.

Jim & Christina x