I went to Fair Day, my first time, which is a community event held at a park with about 70,000 people in attendance which launches the Mardi Gras official season which lasts 2 weeks this year. What surprised me was the number of straight families there bringing along their children..i even saw a middle-aged chinese man bringing along 2 elderly chinese women into the fair!
How mainstream gay events have become in sydney..a sign of the changing times...
I also went to the Mardi Gras Parade and also was an official Mardi Gras volunteer for one of the events, the one which i most wanted to participate in given the rarity of the opportunity: Spencer Tunick's Mardi Gras commissioned 'The Base' art installation. (google him if u don't know what kind of art he does!)
Photos from the Mardi Gras Parade:
Above：Gay and Lesbians from the Armed Forces incl. airforce, army, and navy parading..it was eye opening to see gay soldiers..i even saw a gay couple holding hands..wow..it completely turns around the stereotype of gay ppl in the fashion, designing industry when u see regular-looking blokes whom are gay serving in the armed forces!
Photos Below from Before the Parade..most ppl arrived for front row seats 4-5 hours before the parade begins at 7 45pm at night.:-)
Photos from Fair Day:
Above: Fair Day...
Above: So cool...for a coin donation, you get to hit once on the metal plate and if you hit spot on, the guy sitting there falls into the bucket of water... the view from the park of the Sydney CBD skyline was breathtakingly beautiful..i was amazed at the fantastic view and took plenty of pics.
Above: When i saw this 'bear flag', i knew i had to snap a photo of it..it's so cute isn't it?
Above and Below: Some safe-sex pamphlets and volunteers with '69' on their singlets..hehe..
Above: Fair Day...with rainbow flyers..
Above: Probably THE highlight of my Fair Day experience, buff men in tight spandex on the pole! I've prob never seen pole dancing in my entire life (except in movies, always female too) and to see men with spandex on poles..hehe..
Above n Below: Since it was still CNY on Fair Day, had yum cha @Marigold Restaurant with a gay friend of mine before heading to Fair Day in the afternoon...there were quite alot of gay men at yum cha (prob went/going to fair day too) on the day..haha..my friend met a gay acquaintance at yum cha too...later on we saw them at the fair day again...
Above n Below: CW bank motorbikes advertising CNY promotions....Mardi Gras Big Screen @ World Square..
Photos from my volunteer work at Spencer Tunick's 'The Base' installation @ Sydney Opera House: Spencer Tunick's Sydney installation was commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and had the theme of tolerance/acceptance and all being equal amongst ppl regardless of sexual orientation. When i first heard of it, i knew i just HAD to attend, where else could i see thousands of ppl in their most frank form gathered at a famous public structure such as the Opera House in Sydney?! But i knew if i didn't participate, it'd be hard to go close up n take pics..then i realised they needed volunteers for Mardi Gras events..i volunteered for a couple of events but only got accepted (maybe i entered too late...) to this one which was the one which i wanted to do the most! Yesss!!! It turned out they needed the volunteers the most for this and in the end very little vol turned up as it was held at 3 30am on a weekday morning..since it was part of a gay festival, i expected some gay ppl to turn up, but omg, there were so many gay ppl there!ahahaha..like i'd say 1/3 (its called gaydar)..and they had to pose with the straight men and gay men and women,etc..i think the most awkward pose was when Tunick asked them to embrace the person standing next to them...omg, sooo awkward..and pretend to kiss!!! There was a 'threesome' straight consisting of 2 men and one woman pretending to kiss and in an embrace and standing RIGHT next to them was a 'threesome' gay male one of three gay men embracing and also pretending to kiss, what a sight, the threesome straight and gay right besides each other...Also saw an obviously straight pair of male teenage boys whom had come along together doing this 'manly arm wrestle pose' when doing this,(instead of the embrace) hahaha...so weird for them i'm sure...i noticed this two teenage boys bcos one of them had been swinging for like 5 secs his assets at the 2-3 helicopters flying overhead before, almost unbelievable for me to see this, almost like the gay/male version of 'girls gone wild'! haha! (cos the media were cordoned off to an area quite far off the actual site of photo shooting, many of the tv stations had helis flying overhead to get better footage!)
Above: Fair Day...
Above: So cool...for a coin donation, you get to hit once on the metal plate and if you hit spot on, the guy sitting there falls into the bucket of water... the view from the park of the Sydney CBD skyline was breathtakingly beautiful..i was amazed at the fantastic view and took plenty of pics.
Above: When i saw this 'bear flag', i knew i had to snap a photo of it..it's so cute isn't it?
Above and Below: Some safe-sex pamphlets and volunteers with '69' on their singlets..hehe..
Above: Fair Day...with rainbow flyers..Above: Probably THE highlight of my Fair Day experience, buff men in tight spandex on the pole! I've prob never seen pole dancing in my entire life (except in movies, always female too) and to see men with spandex on poles..hehe..
Above n Below: Since it was still CNY on Fair Day, had yum cha @Marigold Restaurant with a gay friend of mine before heading to Fair Day in the afternoon...there were quite alot of gay men at yum cha (prob went/going to fair day too) on the day..haha..my friend met a gay acquaintance at yum cha too...later on we saw them at the fair day again...
Above n Below: CW bank motorbikes advertising CNY promotions....Mardi Gras Big Screen @ World Square..
Photos from my volunteer work at Spencer Tunick's 'The Base' installation @ Sydney Opera House: Spencer Tunick's Sydney installation was commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and had the theme of tolerance/acceptance and all being equal amongst ppl regardless of sexual orientation. When i first heard of it, i knew i just HAD to attend, where else could i see thousands of ppl in their most frank form gathered at a famous public structure such as the Opera House in Sydney?! But i knew if i didn't participate, it'd be hard to go close up n take pics..then i realised they needed volunteers for Mardi Gras events..i volunteered for a couple of events but only got accepted (maybe i entered too late...) to this one which was the one which i wanted to do the most! Yesss!!! It turned out they needed the volunteers the most for this and in the end very little vol turned up as it was held at 3 30am on a weekday morning..since it was part of a gay festival, i expected some gay ppl to turn up, but omg, there were so many gay ppl there!ahahaha..like i'd say 1/3 (its called gaydar)..and they had to pose with the straight men and gay men and women,etc..i think the most awkward pose was when Tunick asked them to embrace the person standing next to them...omg, sooo awkward..and pretend to kiss!!! There was a 'threesome' straight consisting of 2 men and one woman pretending to kiss and in an embrace and standing RIGHT next to them was a 'threesome' gay male one of three gay men embracing and also pretending to kiss, what a sight, the threesome straight and gay right besides each other...Also saw an obviously straight pair of male teenage boys whom had come along together doing this 'manly arm wrestle pose' when doing this,(instead of the embrace) hahaha...so weird for them i'm sure...i noticed this two teenage boys bcos one of them had been swinging for like 5 secs his assets at the 2-3 helicopters flying overhead before, almost unbelievable for me to see this, almost like the gay/male version of 'girls gone wild'! haha! (cos the media were cordoned off to an area quite far off the actual site of photo shooting, many of the tv stations had helis flying overhead to get better footage!) It was definitely a sight seeing many of the couples straight and gay, in their most 'ala natural' state, in embraces and kissing side by side!
I had expected it to be kinda erotic looking at it, but i realised when I was volunteering with the cold weather, it was just an amazing sight, nothing sexual at all, though i did see a couple of cute guys..hehe..incl an australian-chinese guy (u can tell by his physique and accent) but i was surprised i didn't let the shallow side of me take over and zoom in on certain ppl in their most frank form..but one thing, tan lines were very visible amongst australians! (something u could only ever know in events like this or maybe in the gym!) and westerners definitely had ahem, more 'well defined' assets...of cos, my attention were mainly with the men..hahaha...there were not only old ppl and liberal looking people, but i was surprised the no of ppl who looked totally normal rocking up..many good looking young men and women too, straight n gay...
and there were alot of asians willing to do this, i was surprised! i thought only caucasians would do something like this...it surprised me the no of ppl there willing to do something like this early in the morning! And despite it being autumn, the temperature was chilly, so u can imagine how cold it must be for the participants given the state they were in!
I had a great time there(even chatted with the female security guard, whom was from Canberra) and even got to see the installation inside of the theatres of the sydney opera house (there were altogether 4, 1 main group one forecourt of opera house, 1 smaller group inside, and 1male/female each only groups at the Royal Botanic Gardens..Definitely a Once in a Lifetime Experience:-)
Above: Waiting @ Royal Botanic Gardens for the sun to come up for the shoot, March 1st 2010 sometime early morning..prob 5-6am...
Above: Media ppl interviewing after the installation...
Above: Shot of the art installation on the steps of Sydney Opera House from Royal Botanic Gardens, all the plastic bags are for the participants' belongings...
Above: Ending the day with breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup n cinnamon butter at Museum of Sydney Cafe, Circular Quay...;-)
PS: 我一知道有一个几千个人的大型的裸体人体艺术会在雪梨举办就很想去看看因为知道这一生人没有机会再看到几千个男女裸体集体在户外，更何况是在一个世界闻名的建筑前，雪梨歌剧院。。Spencer Tunick 是一个很有名的裸体人体艺术大师，拍过了无数的集体裸体户外照在世界各地。但是我知道我很难近距离看如果不参加的话，当我正烦恼如何进入观看而不显得突出（因为拍摄是在凌晨夕阳时，基本上是不会有人的，除非是参加者，我看到网路上登这活动是由雪梨同性恋节举办的，而活动招志愿者！基本上，我马上报名，因为只有当志愿者才能不但不起眼的近距离观看集体裸体还能有机会偷拍几张近距离照片！当天已经规定了所有参加者不能拍照，媒体也被割在远处观拍，但还是有参者偷拍，我当天的工作位址也都太天时地利人和，能够让我偷拍几张，哈哈。。我之所以用中文写这一段是因为，我把裸体照放在我的网上照片附，不想让太多人发现有志愿者当天拍下的照片（好像我是唯一一个拍了这么多张！）所以请到我的相谱连接吧！我当天看到好多同性恋和异性恋坦诚相见的站在一起还有同志情侣和异性情侣肩靠肩相拥真的是太难相信的景观了！还看到满多华人参加，真的是惊讶！还有几位满帅的哟，但是没看到他们的‘最真实的一面’因为太多人了，几千个，还有我也没特别眼部跟着他们。。当天还有两位男同志，一洋一中，在歌剧院景前，赤膊库子拉下至膝盖，拍个留念照，天啊，我就刚好看到，哈哈，真的是脑子灵活，这生人不会再有机会光天化日在剧院前拍如此裸照了！放在网上男同性恋交友网站肯定令人瞩目还会问怎么这么大胆而没被警察抓呢？！真的是个毕生难忘的经验。。Below: Rainbow Flag hoisted on Town Hall for the 1st time in history; marking Sydney LGBT Mardi Gras 2010 Season....Happy Mardi Gras! Looking towards Mardi Gras 2011!:-)
Above: Waiting @ Royal Botanic Gardens for the sun to come up for the shoot, March 1st 2010 sometime early morning..prob 5-6am...
Above: Media ppl interviewing after the installation...
Above: Shot of the art installation on the steps of Sydney Opera House from Royal Botanic Gardens, all the plastic bags are for the participants' belongings...Above: Ending the day with breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup n cinnamon butter at Museum of Sydney Cafe, Circular Quay...;-)PS: 我一知道有一个几千个人的大型的裸体人体艺术会在雪梨举办就很想去看看因为知道这一生人没有机会再看到几千个男女裸体集体在户外，更何况是在一个世界闻名的建筑前，雪梨歌剧院。。Spencer Tunick 是一个很有名的裸体人体艺术大师，拍过了无数的集体裸体户外照在世界各地。但是我知道我很难近距离看如果不参加的话，当我正烦恼如何进入观看而不显得突出（因为拍摄是在凌晨夕阳时，基本上是不会有人的，除非是参加者，我看到网路上登这活动是由雪梨同性恋节举办的，而活动招志愿者！基本上，我马上报名，因为只有当志愿者才能不但不起眼的近距离观看集体裸体还能有机会偷拍几张近距离照片！当天已经规定了所有参加者不能拍照，媒体也被割在远处观拍，但还是有参者偷拍，我当天的工作位址也都太天时地利人和，能够让我偷拍几张，哈哈。。我之所以用中文写这一段是因为，我把裸体照放在我的网上照片附，不想让太多人发现有志愿者当天拍下的照片（好像我是唯一一个拍了这么多张！）所以请到我的相谱连接吧！我当天看到好多同性恋和异性恋坦诚相见的站在一起还有同志情侣和异性情侣肩靠肩相拥真的是太难相信的景观了！还看到满多华人参加，真的是惊讶！还有几位满帅的哟，但是没看到他们的‘最真实的一面’因为太多人了，几千个，还有我也没特别眼部跟着他们。。当天还有两位男同志，一洋一中，在歌剧院景前，赤膊库子拉下至膝盖，拍个留念照，天啊，我就刚好看到，哈哈，真的是脑子灵活，这生人不会再有机会光天化日在剧院前拍如此裸照了！放在网上男同性恋交友网站肯定令人瞩目还会问怎么这么大胆而没被警察抓呢？！真的是个毕生难忘的经验。。Below: Rainbow Flag hoisted on Town Hall for the 1st time in history; marking Sydney LGBT Mardi Gras 2010 Season....Happy Mardi Gras! Looking towards Mardi Gras 2011!:-)
6 comments:
Did good ol Fred Nile make his usual appearance at the beginning? Always good to be reminded that everyone is going to burn in hell for all eternity.
aimlesswanderer: I dun know what u r talking about, no one made any unwanted appearance...i doubt anyone would anyways given how long mardi gras has been going on for, they'd given up long ago, further, security is tight so no one can enter..
Well, it isn't something that I really follow, but he used to turn up without fail.
Do you have any idea how many deeply conservative Christian politicians are out there, especially in the Liberal party? Ever hear about the regular, extremely bitter factional struggles between the quack and the ultra quack factions of the Liberals?
There are all too many religious quacks in important positions, with what I would describe as more influence than their numbers warrant.
Not to mention that the federal parliament has voted to ban gay marriage, despite the allegedly left leaning government.
aimlesswanderer: I dun know how many conservative ppl are in the lib party but one thing is for sure, Australian society is changing fast in terms of gay issues in the past decade. Thus, no politician can openly be against gay rights anymore in the yr 2010. Recent changes have meant that gay couples get equal legal rights as straight de facto couples..came in mid last yr.
I dun think they banned gay marriage. They simply didn't approve a bill allowing gay marriage. There's a difference.
Society as a whole is changing, but there are definitely recalcitrants, and they have undue influence (especially in certain political parties) if you ask me. They may not be as vocal (or be as prone to saying stupid things in public as they used to) but they are definitely out there loitering in dark corners.
True, they didn't ban it, but they didn't legalise to allow it either, mostly due to much frothing from the mouth and "religious convictions" (and possibly prejudice, but that sounds bad, so "religious convictions" it is). I think that it became clear during that debate who the quacks were - they came out of the woodwork from everywhere! Yes, it seems like mostly they now have the same rights and such, but I see absolutely no sensible reason why there are any differences between gay and hetero couples rights.
Oh well, maybe when Julia rolls Kev in a few elections time. She's from the Left faction, perhaps she will be more open to the possibilities... but more likely it will depend on the mood of the electorate and the politics of the day.
aimlesswanderer: Yeah, time is on the liberal's side.:-)
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