DSLR - Canon 450D

Just a quick post to let you all know that I now the proud owner of a Canon 450D digital SLR camera. Even though this is an entry level camera, I am still amazed in the quality difference to that of my original Canon point and click IXUS. I have a better lens on the way, but so far here are a few simple shots I took today (obviously scaled down a tad)... They are only going to get better with this new wicked lens.....

I have set up an account on Flickr to post my photos. If your interested you can view them by going here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashlourey/

Running with the Bulls.... Insanity!

What can I say... I think I just experienced the maddest time of my life. San Fermin in Pamplona...Running with the Bulls... Copious amounts of sangria, beers and champagne. All of the above equal the most intense experience ever! It started on Sunday with the opening ceremony. I have never seen a mob like this before in my life. Of all the concerts and mosh-pits I've been in, this is by far the most intense ever. You could NOT MOVE. Then came the fountain jumping... I need say no more. Jumping off a 4+ metre tower into a sea of people, completely mental.

Now if that wasn't enough, then came the moment when we ran with the bulls. This was by far the most terrifying experience of my life. Surrounded by a thousand of freaked out people waiting to be chased down alleys by 650-700kg bulls. Stupidity really!!! Once we got into the bull ring, all hell broke loose. Try runing away and dodging bulls when your surrounded by people. But after it all ended, and my adrenaline had subsided I felt really surreal, and quite proud of myself for actually running, when in all reality it was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. Anyways enough of my ranting... here are some of the photos. I will try and upload a video but it may not work, it is fairly large.

Hilltop Hoods Rockin' the Mic

What a night! Those you of you that know me well, will know how much of a fan of Hilltop Hoods I am. I was so stoked to see them playing in London, and there was no way I was going to miss seeing them live. They played at the Islington Academy, to a capacity crowd of around 800. The place was busting at the seems, it was so full. We managed to get there right at the start so we got a spot on the barricade right up the front; this was around 8pm. They didn't actually come on stage till just after 10pm, but it was worth the wait. They busted out for around an hour and a half with such intensity. The crowd went crazy! My night was made even better when both Suffa and Pressure pointed to me and said "he looks like he's got potential.... its YOUR ROUND!" as they started 'The Clown Prince'. Well.... that made my night!

So thats about it really, I could say more but the photos will explain it better. Next weekend is Spain so stay tuned... should be a blast!

David Guetta @ KOKO

I have finally lost my London clubbing virginity. Well, we all have after Saturuday night / Sunday morning. And what a night it was! The event... David Guetta, the venue... KOKO Camden! Most of you guys back home will be like, who the **** is David Guetta. Well most of you might remember an ad on tele while back with a Citroen transformer car ice skating and dancing away. Well the song in the background was perfomed by Guetta.

The night was awesome! We arrived around 10pm to a rowdy group of Pommie chicks, so we knew we were in the right place. I won't even try to explain they gig, as the photos below will tell a much better story. All I can say is WOW, what a night! We didn't get back home till 5:50am (ish). Would I do it again.... HELL YEAH!!! Oh thats right, its happening again this coming weekend. So here they are, enjoy... and I hope you are all jealous!!

A weekend in the country

Once again sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up, but I have had a few things I had to sort out this week with work and haven't had a chance.

Oxford

I managed to get out of London for 4 days, and it was really a spare of the moment decision... one I'm glad that I made. After a somewhat shakey start (didn't have my passport with me to rent the car) we left London around 1:30pm when we were suppose to leave around 10am. Better late than never! Tash and myself headed towards Oxford where we decided to stay the night so we could have a look around. It is an absolutely beautiful place. Sandstone buildings everywhere... seems like there is so much history there. The day we got there happened to be one of the college's graduation so the night before there were around 10000 people drinking and partying all over the place. We staying in a lovely B&B for the night, unfortunately we didn't have that much time to leave the next day to get to York. Would definately have liked to stay a few days there...

Stratford Upon Avon

On our way to York we came across Stratford Upon Avon. Was really by chance, as we never planned to go there. For those of you who don't know (me included until I got there), Startford is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The house that he was born in is still standing, and a very popular tourist attraction. We only spent around 2 hours here, and took the following photos.

York

Our next port of call was York. Was an awesome place. It still has the castle walls around the centre of town; as well as four castle gates that you actually drive through to get into the city centre. This place has soooooooo much history, dating way back to the Roman days. Then there is the 'Minister' Cathederal! It is HUGE! We got to go to the top of the tower, which was around 275 steps. Needless to say by the time we got to the top I was exhausted. The views were spectacular, and well worth the effort. Once again, you could stay there for a few days and try and take in everything, but we only had two days there.

And there we have it. Enjoy