Melbourne, City of Arts

The last few days, I've been in Melbourne. I have to say, after a few days of looking around the city, I prefer this place much more than Sydney. If I were to live in Australia, I'd choose this place easily.

Melbourne clearly has the city planning process down pat. The transit system (lots of trains and trams) is extensive. The city embraces it's old Victorian era buildings and restores them into modern spaces. The Yarra river runs through the city to the ocean, and is one of the main focal points for restaurants and condos. There are countless galleries, stadiums and arts venues in this sports and culture-crazy city. Coincidentally, while I am here, there is a showing at the National Gallery of one of my favourite photographers: Andreas Gursky. Gursky has the honour of having sold the most expensive photograph ever (at $3.3M USD).

Yesterday, I met with a photographer I've known online for several years. He and I have corresponded a few times, so it was nice to meet with him in person. Marcus Mok, is an accomplished photographer, with several shows and many publications. I admire his work, and it was a great meeting over the last few days. He gave me a lot of good insight into the realities of working as a photographer in Australia, and in his previous home of Singapore. Marcus shoots much of the same stuff I do, but makes a decent living doing it. He was generous with his time, and showed me around the city.

Today, I met with another couple of photographers that Marcus knows from Sydney. One was Garrie Maguire. We talked at great length about the process of self-publishing your own book. This is the current trend known as "Print on Demand", where you can advertise your book online and when people order a copy it is printed and shipped overnight. It avoids the whole process of printing and warehousing thousands of copies of a book that may or may not sell. With Print on Demand, you have no cash outlay upfront, but you can make a higher profit if your book is popular. It was a very enlightening conversation.

I will spend tomorrow, my last day in Melbourne, wandering the city and taking in as much as I can. I dunno when or if I will return, so I need to absorb the Ozzie culture all in one day. That means I need to drink many kinds of Australian wines. I need to eat some kangaroo or emu. I need to see if the water really does flush down the opposite way in the toilets. Should be a busy day.

BTW, thanks to all of you that sent along Birthday wishes to me. It was a nice treat to spend my Birthday down under. Nice, sunny and hot. Just the way I like it.