Frank Turner playing live in Saigon Vietnam by music photographer Lee Starnes

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Frank Turner, 7uppercuts & Papa Lam

December 02, 2024 in music

Another chapter in the Chronicles and what a chapter it was. The fine folks at Loud Minority and Noise Saigon put together an absolute banger of a show. Frank Turner boarded a plane in London, got off of the plane, and played a show a few hours later… If you didn’t know this, you’d have been well impressed by his performance and the energy in the room. Knowing this, it’s ever more impressive… What an absolute professional road dog.

a silhouette of a worker inside a coffee factory in the southern highlands of vietnam shot by travel photographer Lee Starnes

Tips and Tricks: Technical Perfection is Overrated.

November 25, 2024

Coffee factories are full of steam, dust, and typically…. DARKNESS. When the light pours in from the windows, you get this incredible atmosphere, but then you’re stuck with such a huge variance in light values that if you expose for your highlights, everything else is nearly black, but if you expose for your shadows, say hello to a millIon blown highlights. Usually when I’m teaching photography, I often encourage students to pick one and shoot to that limitation. Don’t try and satisfy both gods, because you’ll end up pissing them both off and end up with something pleasing neither. So what do you do? I’m not really in the camp of appeasing any gods, so I guess it’s a bit of dancing with the devil and doing whatever gets a compelling image or story. This is often tricky when it comes to photographers as we’re so obsessed with everything being technically “perfect,” that we get lost in the forest for the trees. Moment is always better than technical perfection, so never mind the noise, crank that iso, blow a few highlights and forget about everything you’ve been taught thats supposed to make a good photo. If it works, its not wrong, right?

The Duomo of Milan shot in black in white by travel photographer Lee Starnes

Travel Diary: Milan

November 12, 2024

The last chapter in my trip to Europe, Milan, nearly got skipped in favour of heading up near Lake Como. With all the travel before getting to Milan, the need to slow my roll superseded another destination so I parked it in Milan for a few days and explored the city. Coming from Florence, Milan has a distinctly different feel. It feels lived in rather than the open air museum quality Florence had. While not as traditionally “picturesque” as Florence, Milan’s got its fair share of beautiful architecture and from what i experienced, it certainly is a bit rougher around the edges. For some reason, I always end up gravitating towards areas with a bit of grit as most of the good stuff is always found in the areas that are a bit unpolished. Diamonds are overrated, anyways.

Travel Diary : Florence and Tuscany and Over-tourism

November 01, 2024 in travel

From Lucerne, I made my way down through northern Italy and ended up in Florence for a few days with a couple little excursions out into the Tuscan countryside. Upon entering the city, it’s pretty clear why it such a popular destination- the city is a stunner. Renaissance art, incredible architecture, some of the best food on the planet and a damn good coffee game. What’s not to like?

Travel Diary: Lucerne, Switzerland

October 21, 2024 in travel

From Zurich, I met up with my parents and headed down to the picturesque little city of Lucerne. Sitting on a the eponymous lake, Lucerne exudes that Swiss quaintness we all hear of. Old world charm in a nutshell. Medieval roads, towering old churches, you know, the works. Coupled with a trip down to a couple of Alpine towns, needless to say, charm was oozing. Epic mountain landscapes mixed with picture perfect little towns…what’s not to like? Specifically, Grindelwald is crazy beautiful. I bet snowboarding there would be ridiculous. Break out the apple wine and schnitzel, I’m here for it.

Denpasar, Bali's Kenya plays in Saigon at a hardcore punk show.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Overpower

October 18, 2024 in music

Another chapter in the Chronicles. A blend of local staples and couple of bands from Indonesia, this show felt like a party. Something’s changed in the scene here over the last couple of years and it really does feel like a proper hardcore scene these days. Kids be wild and mosh like it was their job. As I’m in no position to be participating in that shenanigans, I chose to keep to snappin’ photos. The line up consisted of Saigon’s Under Pressure, Kinh, Elbowdrop, Empathize, Cut Lon, Denpasar’s Kenya and Fraud coming out of Surabaya. I didn’t catch everyone, you know school night and all.. but the bands I saw all brought the heat. Rather than going through every band, just click on their links and go give them a listen. Now for the visual proof.

Street scene shot in Basel Switzerland by Ho Chi Minh City travel photographer Lee Starnes

Travel Diary: Basel, Switzerland

September 24, 2024 in street, travel

Home of Art Basel, Basel sits around an hour by train from Zurich, so I figured it would be a nice little jaunt to head over before meeting family back in Zurich in a few days. Not knowing a whole lot about Basel except for the association with Art Basel, the only thing I really expected is maybe seeing some cool art, so off I went and wandered the city for a few days. Decidedly laid back and chill, the vibe of the city mimicked the flow of the Rhine river through the city. Complete with essentially a party every afternoon on the river with scenes reminiscent of beach hangout days I’ve seen in the tropics, folks were sipping drinks, having a swim, playing tunes…living the good life. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

From the Archives : Furnace Fest 2022

September 23, 2024 in music

As the final chapter in the current incarnation of Furnace Fest is just a couple of weeks away, I’ve gone back and looked at many of the photos I took in 2022 and reminisced about seeing old friends, making new ones and how the DIY punk scene has shaped every facet of my life since the day someone gave me that first Minor Threat record. While its super cliche to say we’re out of step, I truly believe that merry band of misfits and sense of friendship I found in the scene has made my life infinitely better.

So have a scroll through some of my favourite frames of the weekend and get ready for the final chapter. I’m super bummed I won’t be able to make the flight this year, but I’ll be there in spirit.