Milestones and Mindsets
In recent months I celebrated two important anniversaries; the day when, as a young child, my family arrived in Australia from Chile and the day when, as an adult, I left Australia, in early 1999, to start a new life in London. While the first of those dates has remained a constant for me, the [...]
Cut
It’s been a hell of a day. Actually, it’s been a hell of a week – and, it’s only Tuesday! As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had a cyst that has been causing me some discomfort. I first suffered with it in Hong Kong, some years back, but it responded to treatment and [...]
Singapore Six Months On
Today marks the six month anniversary of my move to Singapore. It’s been a bumpy transition. My mood, my health and my enthusiasm for this town has gone up and down during the weeks and months I’ve been here. Over the weekend I was chatting with a friend who also moved from Hong Kong to [...]
A Better Music Scene In Singapore?
Tomorrow I’ll be attending a music industry forum here in Singapore. It’s exactly the kind of thing I swore I wouldn’t be doing this year. I’m going out of respect for the organisers, the speakers and because I actually believe it could be the start of something good for the local music scene. But, with [...]
January Wallpaper
This month’s wallpaper is the last image I took in 2011. It was a seriously wet end to the year here in Singapore. Apparently, in three hours on the 23rd, we had more rain than the average monthly rainfall for a typical December. It was a very damp Christmas. But, the days around the New [...]
Merry Christmas
Christmas begins tonight in our household. We share a Christmas dinner, say some prayers, open presents, tell stories, and go to bed way too late. Tomorrow we’ll laze around playing with the new toys, take a swim, write thank you notes, go for a long walk and end the day watching a few Christmas films. [...]
12 For 2012
Around this time last year I wrote two lists; of things I wanted more and less of in my life. Last year’s lists were an exercise in setting goals, articulating hopes and ending frustrations. Yesterday I went through those lists and made some comments. Although it has felt like a frustrating year, it’s good to [...]
Looking Back On My “Goals” For 2011
This time last year I wrote some lists; the eleven things I want more of in 2011 and also eleven things I could do without. Now, as the year draws to a close, it makes sense to look back on that list and see how things panned out. Looking back, here’s the eleven things I [...]
Singapore And SoundCloud Searches
Earlier this year I played a small part in helping kick-off HKSocial, a monthly breakfast meeting, for creative types in Hong Kong who are interested in better understanding Social Media. Despite having moved to Singapore, it’s nice to see they haven’t forgotten me, yet, as I was reminded on Friday when my Twitter stream lit [...]
Here Comes The Rain – Again
“Here comes the rain again Falling on my head like a memory” Yesterday it rained in Singapore. Of course, that sentence could have been equally true almost everyday in the past few months; or so it seems. It’s raining often and hard here and, to be frank, the rain is getting me down. Today I [...]
Plans For The End Of The World
2010 was a great year for me, loaded with fulfilment, adventure and a surprising degree of success. By contrast, 2011 has been a grind. It hasn’t been a bad year; though at times life and work have been hard to manage. Of course, that’s partly self-inflicted; changing country while taking on a lot of work [...]
Home In Singapore
My recent adventure in Mexico was so full of highlights. I’ve stood, in scorching sunlight, on a mountain filled with 2,500 year old ruins and crouched by candlelight among locals keeping vigil for Dia de los Muertos. But, now I’m back in Singapore and there are definitely some things I’m looking forward to; like seeing [...]
Hong Kong Recapitulated
I’ve come to the end of a quick visit to Hong Kong. This was mostly work with a little bit of relaxation thrown in. Saw very few people but had the chance to walk a little in the paths I trod during my five years here. As always happens with these kinds of return trips, [...]
Can You Hustle?
Last week I was having one of those really cool meetings that make this whole “creative” work thing worthwhile. Great location, with a cool person I respect, talking about a project I’d love to be part of. Then I was hit with the kind of question that can be (well, for me at least) really [...]
Vanishing Point
As much I enjoy exploring the world, travelling and moving from country to country, there’s something I don’t enjoy – the process of packing, unpacking and setting up a new home. It’s not just the nuts and bolts of home-making, it’s the feeling of being unknown in a “foreign” land. Here in Singapore we’ve got [...]
Resist And Reboot
It’s now more than a month since I left Hong Kong and the process of adjusting to life in Singapore has begun. People in the local stores are starting to greet me with a smile of recognition and I’m getting to know the neighbours. It’s not hard to imagine this place soon feeling like home. [...]
Daily Routines, Small Rituals
Part of the challenge of moving to a new city is establishing daily routines and rituals. In Hong Kong my days had a pattern and rythmn that had evolved over five years. Sure, in the last few months I was spending a lot more time in cafes and less time at my desk. But, the [...]
Singapore, So Far
Earlier this week I flew back to Singapore to begin this new chapter. Naturally I’m being asked “how are you finding it” and, as you would expect, I’m in a bit of a funk. It always happens, the early enthusiasm about being in a new place gives way to the reality of building a life [...]
Opening The Ark
I’ve just finished a long week of unpacking in Singapore. This wasn’t just unpacking the stuff that filled our home in Hong Kong, it was also unpacking things that had been in long term storage since we left India in 2006! The guitar body above – a half finished restoration project – was just one [...]
Live In Singapore
Greetings from sunny Singapore. After an emotional goodbye to Hong Kong, we arrived on Sunday evening and moved straight into our new home. The last few days have been nothing but unpacking, cleaning and enjoying the local cuisine. Unfortunately, our packing company in Hong Kong (Asian Tigers) did a thoroughly deplorable job of boxing our [...]
Call It Whatever You Like Just Don’t Call It Regret
In two weeks, the removalists will come in to pack up my home and studio. A little over three weeks after that I’ll be boarding a plane with a one-way ticket to Singapore. My days in Hong Kong are fast drawing to a close. Of course, I’ve been in this situation before, leaving Sydney, leaving [...]
Live Concert Photography – Lessons Learnt
The recent MusicMatters Live showcase, part of the MusicMatters conference, was my first attempt at “proper” live music photography. Sure, I’ve tried to sneak the odd iPhone photo from my seat at some concerts. But, I’ve never taken a dSLR to a gig or, for that matter, taken photos of musicians during rehearsals (crazy, I [...]
MusicMatters 2011
The Conference Last week, for two days and three nights, the MusicMatters conference in Singapore brought together musicians, publishers, record labels, live promoters, music technologists and others with a stake in the Asian music. There were panels, interviews, live music showcases and loads of “networking.” My reasons for being there were simple – I’m moving [...]
MusicMatters Live
This year’s MusicMatters conference has been really rewarding thus far. A better experience than last year for a host of reasons that I’ll outline when I have time for a longer post. For now, here are some images from last night’s band showcases. Saida Baba Talibah from Canada Evaline from the USA Disconnected from Indonesia [...]
Fernando Gros is a musician, photographer & writer based in Singapore. Born in Santiago de Chile, Fernando grew up in Sydney and has also lived in London, Delhi and Hong Kong.