Photography, in Summer, in Melbourne Australia.

Western Edge of Melbourne's CBD, on an overcast Saturday morning.
Truck Parking Bay on the western fringes of the CBD, 2021-01-30 @ 10:38:20 on an overcast Saturday morning.
Photography  often takes a back seat in January for me. Summer photography has been prolific this year for me though.
The weather continues to be overcast in the mornings. This is somewhat unusual here in Melbourne, in January. I decided to get out and exploit this on Saturday. I went looking for spots to make pictures in and around the infrastructure projects going on. Close to home.
 
This truck holding bay is a favourite of mine due to its location and topography. You can see the CBD easily and in the right conditions make some good pictures of Melbourne.
 
The blue screens on the Citylink off ramp are the only clue that construction is underway. All the action is behind me here.  I wandered west with my ‘Blad and made a few pictures of some of the works going on. As I have yet to process this film it remains to be seen if I was successful.
 
At least I have some record of the changes that are occurring. This forms a major motivation behind what I am focusing on these days.

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Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today is a series of pictures I blogged on both my old WordPress blog, and my old blogger blog.  I now also use tumblr as a separate standalone platform.

I continue this idea here on this blog, when it suits me.

This picture I made 10 years ago today on the 22-11-2020. It was part of a series I was exploring at the time, that looked at light and time. The project shifted focus when we renovated our home, and I picked it up from a different angle with a different set of parameters.

2010-11-22 19:52:52 from the facing north series
2010-11-22 19:52:52 from the facing north series

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Processed using Luminar 4.. If you use this link to purchase Luminar 4, I get some benefits.

Wordless Wednesday, the iPhone 12 Pro Edition

photograph of clouds, test shot using iPhone 12 Pro


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Processed using Luminar 4.. If you use this link to purchase Luminar 4, I get some benefits.

iPhone 12

On Friday I took delivery of my new iPhone 12. I have yet to put it through its paces. Having 3 lenses is a bit of game changer though. Not being able to move around very far, combined with the weather this weekend means limited picture making opportunities.

Test shot from an iPhone 12 Pro, 2020-10-24
A rainy Saturday Morning photographed using an iPhone 12 Pro
A test shot photographed on an iPhone 12 Pro 2020-10-23
A test shot photographed on an iPhone 12 Pro 2020-10-23, at the local shopping centre in Braybrook

Here are two examples made so far. The new wide angle lens is indeed wide. So much so I need to watch where my fingers are in the frame.

Processed using Luminar 4.. If you use this link to purchase Luminar 4, I get some benefits.

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World’s First Photography Exhibition In Space!

BJP's Exhibition in space
Screen grab of BJP’s Exhibition in space

The British Journal of Photography has launched an exhibition in space. It is a 45 minute screen based exhibition beamed from above the earth.

From their website, about the exhibition.

Drawn from Portrait of Humanity, a movement seeking to prove there is more that unites us than sets us apart, the exhibited images showcase the many faces of communities across the world, celebrating humanity in its countless variations.

While the global pandemic forces museums and galleries to remain closed, the film should remind us of our universal bonds, despite being forced apart, with vivid images slowly scrolling across a framed-screen, exhibited against the backdrop of our collective home below.

 

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Walking in odd places.

Sunshine North, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2020-09-29 15:24:54
Sunshine North, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2020-09-29 15:24:54

Walking during the pandemic allows me on occasion to capture rare moments in odd places. This is no exception. We have been confined to our homes and a 5 kilometre radius for what feels like an eternity now. Most of the time I have been busy working from home. The school term break was slightly different. I think these last two weeks I have walked more kilometres than in the last 2 years combined.

These freight trains a regular sight in Sunshine, however this is North Sunshine a section I rarely wander. As is often the case all I had with me was my Phone so I snapped off a handful of pictures, after processing them in Luminar 4, I chose this one.

I have Luminar “partner” account code. Clicking the above link helps me with some rewards. It’s a great replacement for Photoshop in my opinion.

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flickrriver?

Flickr river is a site that taps into the flickr api and offers some interesting feedback. It created  a randomly generated series of my “most interesting” pictures. Most interesting is generated by an algorithm. As an algorithm it has little to do with the visual quality of the images  and may draw on other aspects of my activity across the flickr website.

Flickr river has been around as long as flickr itself and over the years the developer has added interesting features.

s2art - View my most interesting photos on Flickriver

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Vernacular Housing?

 Vernacular Housing in Sunshine
Typical Vernacular Housing in Sunshine

A week or so ago, I made some pictures of the houses in Wright Street Sunshine that may disappear in the next few years. With one empty block and 2 for sale signs in a strip of a dozen or so house this makes for some big changes afoot. What I neglected to mention or perhaps didn’t recognise was that most of these buildings follow a similar style and appearance. I’m guessing that at some point a government agency was involved with these house’s construction.

Map of the inner west showing the site of the former RAAF base.
Former RAAF base in Tottenham marked in red, in relation to my house on the extreme left.

Thirty years ago there was an active RAAF base on a site that is now light industry and shopping centre a couple of Kilometres down the road. The site was sold to private developers in 1983(1)

There are some existing buildings of a similar style near the old site and they share similar characteristics to the ones I photographed in Wright Street. The common denominators that connect them are the materials. Fibre Cement is common. Small footprint and tiled roofs others.

The current formula that seems to be being applied to these old buildings, is the old houses are demolished. Then if the site permits several small units are built in their place. While these new units are dotted around the suburb, the danger of a homogeneous streetscape looms large.

Given that Wright Street is an arterial road then I doubt there may be that much new development going up. Keeping an eye on planning permits and council notifications will enable me to track these changes. Thereby producing a meaningful record of the suburb as it changes.

Footnotes

(1) Moca, P. 2015, Forty years ago May 28, 1975 Sunshine’s town clerk, Mr Bill Deutschmann,…[Derived Headline], Airport West, Vic.

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