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Ross BiltonThe Weekend Australian Magazine

Ross Bilton has been a journalist for 30 years. He is a subeditor and writer on The Australian Weekend Magazine, where he has worked since 2006; previously he was at the Daily Mail in London.

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MAGAZINEThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 15 MARCH 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. LARQ Bottle PureVis 2 with Essential Bottle Filter. Water bottle. Photo: Supplied

When did a water bottle become a ‘personal hydration companion’?

A Californian start-up is trying to flog us a $185 steel container to carry around water in. It’s expensive and pointless … and bound to be successful.

Ross Bilton

ROAD TESTThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 08 MARCH 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. Coffee alternative called The Booster, by a company called The Help. Photo: Supplied

It looks like pond water but could it cure your coffee addiction?

It’s touted as a “plant-based energy boost” that increases brain power, improves metabolism and helps with mood swings.

Ross Bilton

HEART OF THE NATIONThe Weekend Australian Magazine

$EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 08 MARCH 2025. FEES APPLY. ONE TIME USE ONLY. Left: Carly (Carly Scoufos) is my wife! Shes a sculptor and is always letting me take her photograph. I was interested in how instant coffee (Nescafe Blend 43) would look as a liquid medium. It has more of a reddish hue in my opinion. Right: . I've been experimenting with using various liquids as a means of creating spontaneous gestures within my work. This purposeful, distorted self-portrait is a challenge to myself on what a photograph can be. The refracted and reflected light playing off the peaks and troughs of the moving liquid project a familiar image of reflection. Yet during this suspension of movement, the liquid reveals a distorted & often grotesque image of self. The way in which the image appears is also reminiscent of agitating a developer tray and revealing a black & white darkroom print. Photos: Sam Scoufos$

Love, serendipity and a bucket of Nescafe Blend 43

Sam Scoufos captures photographic portraits of people as they appear reflected in various liquids – water, coffee, diesel, wine – ruffled by the wind. He calls the results ‘beautiful accidents’.

Ross Bilton

HEART OF THE NATIONThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 01 MARCH 2025. FEES APPLY. ONE TIME USE ONLY. Lilac, 2024, from the Flower Duet series by Tamara Dean.

Through the looking glass

Photographic artist Tamara Dean loves the ‘otherworldly’ effect of shooting underwater – and she has cleverly designed her underwater studio so she doesn’t even get wet …

Ross Bilton

ROAD TESTThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 01 MARCH 2025. FEE MAY APPLY.

It’s your very own robo butler

Billed as the world’s first multi-tasking household robot, the SwitchBot K20+ Pro will clean up, and carry things, and bring you a cold beer … hands up who wants one already.

Ross Bilton

HEART OF THE NATIONThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 22 FEBRUARY 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. ONE TIME USE. Bather II 2024. Photo: Gerwyn Davies

‘I go to Spotlight and battle 10-year-old girls for the chintziest fabric’

Gerwyn Davies has a unique schtick as an artist: he wrangles gaudy materials into fantastic sculptural costumes then photographs himself in situ. What do bystanders make of it?

Ross Bilton

The Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 22 FEBRUARY 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. The Goofy Barrel, the worlds first whisky crafted from leftover sourdough bread. Photo: Supplied

That’s the spirit

It’s billed as the world’s first whisky crafted from leftover sourdough bread … so what does it taste like?

Ross Bilton

MAGAZINEThe Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 22 FEBRUARY 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. 20 years of Australian Geographic Nature Photography of the Year. Piercing headache, Eastern Kuku Yalanji Country, Cedar Bay National Park, QLD. Several male orange-eyed tree frogs were pronouncing their prowess around an old water-filled car tyre, attempting to attract females. Some of these frogs enticed the wrong kind, attracting bloodthirsty female mosquitoes in search of a meal crucial for futureegg development. Photo: atthew McIntosh / Supplied

Capturing Australia’s animal magic

Two decades of amazing wildlife photography are showcased in the 20 Years of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition | PICTURE ESSAY

Ross Bilton

HEART OF THE NATIONThe Weekend Australian Magazine

Rare Trades - Blacksmith Brendan Thompson 54. Brendan runs his 4 Elements Blacksmithing workshop out of a shed in tiny town of Cheshunt in the King Valley. Picture: David Caird

‘You’re only limited by your own imagination’

Blacksmith Brendan Thompson sources metal from old wagons and farm machinery that’s lain in paddocks for over a century – and turns it into beautiful objects.

Ross Bilton

The Weekend Australian Magazine

EMBARGO FOR TWAM, 15 FEBRUARY 2025. FEE MAY APPLY. TCL 115 X955 MAX Premium QD-Mini LED TV. Photo: Supplied

Go big or go home

It’s the largest TV you can buy in Australia, with a screen almost three metres wide. Price: a cool 30 grand.

Ross Bilton

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/ross-bilton/page/5