Photowalk 11 Jan '10

Had an afternoon nap today, intending to go to Docklands for an evening shoot. Unfortunately, I woke up pretty late. By the time I reached Etihad Stadium (formerly Telstra Dome), the sun had already set below to horizon.

This is a view of the city at 9pm. There's still plenty of natural light left in the sky.

I then took the 50-200 SWD and zoomed right in to the front of the stadium. I was fortunate that the breeze is quite slight today, so even with a long focal length (240mm equivalent), the image was pretty sharp. Try doing that on a windy day and I'd guarantee you that you'd be cursing the weather elements ;)

After 20 minutes, the sky has a deep purple hue which accentuates the light from the buildings and streetlamps. Although most cameras have no autofocus issues, it is extremely imperative that you get focus extremely spot on. Of course some highlights will be blown out (unless you do HDR), so getting the right exposure is also essential.

As the prayer of proper pixel placement goes:

Darks on the left
Lights on the right
Greys in the middle
And Lord help us preserve the holy highlights
Amen

As a final treat, here's a panorama of the scene.

I hope these windless summer evenings continue for some time.

Cheers.

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!

[wet] photowalk 22 Nov 09

The rain came down in bucket loads today as predicted by the meteorologists. While it does come as a little relief to the regions' dwindling water supply, I honestly don't like rain.

The Thessaloniki festival was supposed to be held outdoors today in Fed Square, but because of the rain, everything was shifted inside, and the scale of the event is much smaller.

There was no slowdown in the amount of visitors to NGV Australia though.

I had to wait for quite a while for the dancers to come up and do their performance, but after one dance, I decided I had enough and packed up.

Being not accustomed to shooting in "less than ideal" conditions, I decided to challenge myself and see what I could come up with in this bad weather.

Timber, concrete and grass.

Once I got the hang of it, it wasn't that hard, really. Because most of the cafes closed early, there were less folks around to clutter the frame.

In Melbourne, the less fortunate are given an opportunity to fend for themselves by selling magazines. I can imagine its quite a tough life.

You know you're nearby a cafe area when you see lots of plastic crates and empty milk bottles being left around.

Only a very limited number of alleys have been successfully converted to cafe areas to draw in tourists. Otherwise the rest of their brethren are still pretty dark and dingy. The shoes signify that one could purchase illicit drugs here a while back, though it certainly isn't the case nowadays.

Yep, despite being right in the city, no one really does anything to get rid of these plastic crates. They're just being left at a corner, and before long, I reckon you can do an art installation with them.

Everything's all wet and slippery. Not many people will be seen sitting on these public benches in this kind of weather.

Its the same case for wet cafe tables

One may say that Christmas time *should be one of the most anticipated festivities in Melbourne (or Australia), but in actual fact, no one really gives a damn about it despite the odd Christmas events here and there. The Christmas star ornaments have been recycled for years, compared to the innovative lighting systems at Orchard Road, Singapore. Kinda puts Melbourne to shame, actually.

A serious looking mannequin

Big umbrellas, small umbrella

Big blue holden and small green box. Its amazing how some folks can still litter openly on Melbourne's streets.

The rubbish collectors are rushing against time to finish their job as soon as possible.

One of the advantages of live view - not having to stoop down low to get your shot. Of course, everyone else complains about the 230K screen which is not as impressive as other models, but isn't it how your image looks on print or your calibrated Lacie / Eizo monitor that's more important?

Fresh leaves for summer

If your old folks can still walk about without being confined to bed, appreciate it while it lasts.

Hope you folks out there don't mind this picture-intensive post. As fantastic as Melbourne is in summer, it unfortunately rains too, but the sucky weather shouldn't stop you from putting your thinking hat on and start snapping away.

Cheers.

Stop and look

Its a pretty warm Sunday evening, so I decided to take a stroll down the river again. Summer's here! Time to get out your sunnies and bathers and hang out at the wonderful beaches.

Like huge metal guardians, these statues watch quietly over the Yarra River.

Melburnians and tourists alike are strolling along the Yarra River bank, perhaps stopping by the restaurants for an elegant Italian meal or some gelatti for dessert. School kids are now on their holidays, hanging out with their friends without any worry in the world (unlike some unfortunate Malaysian school kids who have tuition during holiday times).

But that's all that is on the exterior, isn't it? All pretty, prim and joyful ? Allow me to give you a glimpse of whats happening below the surface based on what I've seen so far.

A saxaphonist nearby busks for his daily living, hoping for some pitance from passersby. They throw him a coin or two, listen for a short while, then continue on their way. He treasures every coin, cause thats whats going to earn him a little dinner for himself. He hasn't eaten the whole day, and continues to play on through the night as long as he can.

A drunkard hobbles slowly along the footpath, shouting randomly at anyone that gets his attention. He's unshaved and hasn't bathed for weeks. He holds his bottle like a vice, and drinks from it from time to time. He goes towards the saxaphonist and utters some more random words. He's a public nuisance and pisses on the streets. No, the rest of the folks aren't amused with what he's doing and they don't give a sh*t.

A group of homeless folk sit down on a bench, talk among themselves and share a cigarette. Though the city council does give them some cash to tide them over, they instead spend it on booze and drugs. Unless they get a real job, they'll most likely in that same situation for a very very long time. They've only got their fellow homeless friends to keep them company. Things get worse with old folk. They're usually on their own, and just make do with whatever there is, usually a park bench. I've seen a fair share of them all these years. Only God knows if they'll ever be remembered when they pass on.

A homeless mother and her child wait eagerly for the soup van to arrive for their daily dinner in one of the city's back alleys. Their meal is simple, just some soup and bread, served by willing volunteers. Otherwise they wouldn't have a chance of surviving. They're thankful for their meal everyday.

Every city has its ugly side. If you're looking at this article right now, chances are you have a comfy home to live in, a stable job, a nice family, accommodating friends, etc etc. You're so much luckier than they are. Its just a matter of whether you're willing to stop and look, or turn away and go your own way in life.

Cheers.