Rialto 360 Observation Deck countdown

In approximately 20 minutes, the Rialto 360 will be closed to the public 14 years after being opened to the public on July 20, 1994. It will be converted to a restaurant. I guess for a view of Melbourne after that, you would have to order something for their menu!

A few of us from Fotoholics decided to have a look at the tower (one even for the first time) since its going to close. Oh.. by the way, you can see the place which I'm staying in from this view, but I wouldn't tell you which one ;)

The MCG stadium. There were heaps of people around visiting the place, including some folks I've met from the Melbourne Strobist Group.

We had to wait patiently for the sun to set.

And yes, I finally got the golden sunset picture that I wanted (to some extent) here.

It almost seems as if the beating heart of Melbourne was sadly waving goodbye to the existence of the Observation Deck as the cars passed by.

The moon was also shining brilliantly in the sky.

At 10pm, we were promptly whisked away by the Observation Tower attendants. It was a little unpleasant, but they had a job to do :s

And that's it folks. Your final chance to view the observation deck is today, 31st December 2009 at 6pm.

This is my final blog post for the year 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone !

Photowalk 29 Dec 09

Sometimes as a photographer, it's better to put down your camera instead of missing out on all the fun. I had that compulsion two days ago to drop by a friends place to play Wii for an hour and then leave for some evening shots. Instead I stayed on for the next 12 hours for poker, cooking instant noodles, youtube-ing and making a make shift bed using 3 chairs! Wow, that's a blast indeed.

Anyways, I headed down Dudley St from home yesterday towards Docklands for my first evening photo walk in 2 weeks.

The weather was beautiful - a little windy, yet not too hot.

A closer look at the railway yards.

The city bathed in beautiful golden sunlight.

Interesting building facade at Docklands.

Docklands is all geared up for the New Year's eve celebrations. The metal barricades are all up.

Lots of boats parking in Docklands nowadays.

The stumps represent some victims of ferry related incidents, or something like that.

Here are some other images from Swan St Bridge which I just got down to editing them today. I took them two weeks ago.

Thats's all folks! Cheers.

ps: whoops, I almost missed this out:

The internet is great for sharing photos. It's a revolution in itself. It's convenient, democratic, robust, vibrant. I'm not saying it isn't any of those things, so please hold the complaints! But the problem is that it's a Great Pacific Garbage Patch of pictures. That's its nature. There are billions of photographs on the web. One person cannot look at all the photographs on one big photo-sharing site—I mean cannot, it is not possible, even looking at three pictures per second all day long as a full-time job—and there are thousands of sites.


So what's missing? Editing. Winnowing. Sifting. Curating. The creativity of culling. The imposition of a viewpoint. Redaction. Call it what you will.


Now, let the culling begin!

2009 - a year in pictures

Perhaps you are very dissatisfied with yourself. You are not a genius, have no distinctive gifts, and are inconspicuous when it comes to having any special abilities. Mediocrity seems to be the measure of your existence. None of your days are noteworthy, except for their sameness and lack of zest. Yet in spite of this, you may live a great life.

And yes, that has how my life was: mediocre. But since I picked up my first SLR camera - an Olympus E-510 one and a half years ago, it has brought me a new zeal and artistic vision to capture that which matters, and till today, I am proud to say that it is what makes me what I am.

Here is a years' reflections of what I've been through so far in 2009.

January

Started the first week with a whole lot of barbecue invitations. Needless to say, I gained a few pounds within one week !

Faithfully attended the Suzuki Night market week after week, though admittedly I haven't tried much of the food at the market until now.

Celebrated Australia Day with the rest of Melbourne.

Whoops, almost forgot Chinese New Year. Much more happening that my quiet hometown in Malaysia.

February

Spent a lovely day by the river on Valentine's. I can still vividly remember the pink skies from the bush fire season.

The treasury gardens hosted the Osaka Twilight Festival. Had plenty of fun over there.

March

Alexandria Gardens and the Yarra played host to the Moomba fest from 7-9 March.

The water games were quite spectacular.

I enjoyed the Thai Culture and Food Festival at Federation Square, especially the gorgeous performers ;)

The F1 season was in Melbourne. It's a pity that the race didn't end as spectacularly as i expected.

April

Basketball Australia attempted to break a world record dribbling event at Fed Square.

Celebrated Easter without going to the Belgrave Heights Convention that I used to attend.

Went for a long vacation and had some lovely Kolo Mee!

Tried to socialise with my pet chicken, Fred to no avail. She poops, sleeps, eats, and lays an egg once in a while. Pretty exciting eh? :s

May

Covered a fashion event at our local shopping mall. Nothing much ever happens in Kuching, so we photographers have to find stuff to amuse ourselves.

Began documenting our local heritage along Gambier St, more specifically the Old Wet Market. Sad to say it's all disappeared now.

June

Revisited my roots in Sibu (a small town in Sarawak), specifically my great grandparents' house. Till today I still can't believe this feeble timber structure is still standing, although the current place that I'm renting in Melbourne is about a 100 years old :p

Documented the Miss World Harvest Festival at the Sarawak Cultural Village. Though some of the beauties are gorgeous, there's much to be improved on regarding the venue which is semi outdoor and doesn't have aircond !

Paid a courtesy call to the St Joseph's School band I once joined as they prepared for the Nationals. An enlightening experience to be there.

July

Visited an Olympus event in Plaza Mont Kiara to check out the launch of the new EP-1.

Went for my first ever PAM (Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia) Convention at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. Experienced my first inaugural mugging during the convention. Must be bad luck I reckon.

Visited Ipoh for the first time, and had a fantastic photography outing while at the same time tried various local delicacies.

August

Rejoined the Fotoholics club activities after being absent for quite some time.

Celebrated Merdeka with some close friends at my place after cooking up a storm. Ah.. the good ole' times.

September

Covered the Myers Spring Summer Fashion launch with supermodel Jennifer Hawkins in the spotlight.

Witnessed first hand a rifle volley and a canon firing during Melbourne Day.

Had a first glimpse of Australian Idol live at Federation Square.

Covered a Juwita Suwito Concert at the Arrow Heights basement with upcoming talent Alarice Thio.

October

Had a pleasant Korean dinner in conjunction with my birthday (and the mooncake festival) at Han Guuk Guan

Experienced the craziest show at the Melbourne Arts Festival brought by France's Transe Express

Went to the Indonesian Festival at Federation Square for an awesome cultural exchange.

November

Got tanned after continuously being in the sun for almost 7 hours at  the AAMI Victoria Derby Day.

Went for a day trip in Dandenong with some friends from pre-university days (some of whom I haven't seen for 4 years), and had a fantastic English meal at Miss Marples afterwards.

December

Gave my first Fotoholics mini lecture for their final meeting of the year. It was good fun though.

Had an awesome trip to Great Ocean Road with the guys.

Had my first foray into graduation photography on a more ''serious'' scale. It was intense, but fun~

To my dear friends who've helped to support me this year, a big THANK YOU goes out to you sincerely from my heart. I hope your New Years' eve celebrations will be a blast and may you have a great year ahead ! ~

cheers,

Brandon