TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography

Latest Posts

Skydive Cairns

Published by travel67

Skydive Cairns – 2 seconds after the jump

On my final day in Australia I decided to go whitewater rafting. They were fully booked. I then tried to go horse riding. Fully booked. It turned out that one company did have space available, and would pick me up from the hotel right away. And so, on a whim, I ended up being strapped to Ben the friendly Australian and jumping out of a plane at about 14,000 feet.

Skydive Cairns – 12 seconds after the jump

It was a great experience, the 55 seconds of free fall were literally breath taking. Of course living on Okinawa, I can hardly brag about having done a skydive. Unless you’ve done a high altitude, low opening jump behind enemy lines no one’s going to be that impressed!

Skydive Cairns – 3 minutes after the jump

On a technical note, video and the stills taken above were all recorded on a GoPro Hero3 camera strapped to Ben’s hand. He said they’d had a a few technical issues with version 3 compared to version 2, but that it was amazing the quality you could get from such a compact and affordable system.

On location – Shannon

Published by travel67

On a free day in Cairns I met up with local model Shannon for a quick shoot by the ocean. With strong midday sun, it was key to find some nice open shade that would allow me to prevent harsh shadows on the face. Luckily, sun hats, shade and sunblock are keywords for a new generation of beachgoing Australians. A big thanks to Shannon for meeting up, and hope you love the pics.

Shannon – Palm Cove, Cairns

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Published by travel67

Kuranda Scenic Railway

The idyllic railway from Cairns to Kuranda winds it way up through the mountains, clinging precariously to cliff faces. An amazing feat of 19th Century engineering, but it was sobering that many of the men that worked on the project didn’t survive to see it open.

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Tjapukai – Cairns, Australia

Published by travel67

Tjabukai Warrior

The Tjapukai are Australian Aboriginal People of the North Queensland Wet Tropics.

Tjapukai Medicine Woman

Tjapukai Warrior

Marine Stingers

Published by travel67

Palm Cove – Paradise with a sting in the tail.

Crocodiles aren’t the only danger bathers in Cairns have to deal with. A far more common threat are poisonous jellyfish. There were warning signs up and down the beach. Swimming was restricted to a section that had lifeguards, and I presume the clear bottles beside their surfboards are filled with vinegar.

Marine Stingers – Palm Cove, Cairns

Palm Cove Lifeguard

Palm Cove Lifeguards

Palm Cove, Cairns, Australia

Published by travel67

Palm Cove, Cairns, Australia

The cheapest way for me to get to Papua New Guinea was to first fly Jetstar to Cairns. As we are in typhoon season and there was the possibility flights might be delayed I gave myself a buffer of a few days in Cairns before catching my next flight for PNG.

Palm Cove, Cairns, Australia

Palm Cove just north of Cairns city center is an idyllic stretch of beach. I arrived just before dawn, but decided it was probably best not to go for an early morning swim.

Palm Cove, Cairns, Australia

Chris is currently out of the office…..

Published by travel67

Batteries charged, lenses cleaned, memory cards formatted.

This is going to be interesting…

Toy Story 2

Published by travel67

Optimus Prime Transformer

A few shots from a series I’m doing on classic toys.

1964 GI Joe Action Figure

I actually had Optimus Prime, an “Action Man” and even a much later version of the Goldfinger DB5 when I was a kid. Unfortunately due to the nature of conflict (play) most sustained serious injuries. I’m pretty sure the enemy agent that ejects from Aston Martin was lost on Christmas Day. Action Man had a severe case of limb dislocation, and I believe the leader of the Autobots lost both his hands during an encounter with a hamster.

Corgi Toys (261) Die-cast Model of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger with ejector seat produced in 1965

Corgi Toys Die-cast Model of James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger with ejector seat

Lighting Test

Published by travel67

Bear standing in as a three year old girl as I set up the studio lights for Jenna’s Toy Story. Used a medium size rectangular softbox as the main light and positioned it just above the camera.

Bear is now a 6 year old girl. She was not allowed on set during the shoot just in case she decided to (playfully) tear off Elmo’s head.

Jenna’s Toy Story

Published by travel67

Jenna’s Toy Story

Fellow photographer Pete Leong popped around to the studio with his daughter Jenna. Took a few quick pics of her playing with Mario and Elmo before she began making decorative changes to the studio backdrop.

Jenna’s Toy Story

Jenna is super cute, and until a year ago looked like exactly like Boo from Monster’s Inc. She showed me how to draw a rainbow with a fistful of colored pencils.