Textures of East Gippsland
This is a very fun and creative thing to do if you have interesting subject matter in your photos, but some parts are a little boring. Adding textures is a great way to add a different dimension to a photo while engaging your inner creativity. For these textures, I went for an old torn and damaged paper effect with a little tin rust added into the layers. It reminded me of what you might find in an old box at the back
The NGV in Melbourne
Whoever designed the National Gallery of Victorian (NGV) in Melbourne sure had a lot of fun. It has, what is quite possibly the most outstanding floor I’ve ever seen, a stain-glass ceiling in the Great Hall (which I didn’t get to see due to not being invited to the Christian Dior event that was on, how rude!) and a wall that contains a waterfall at the entrance. How crazy is that! I had such a blast photographing inside the building, it was so cool. The place was so busy that no-one minded that I sat on the floor and photographed people walking past. I still want to return to photograph the stain-glass ceiling, one day I will!
The Melbourne Skyline
The wonderful thing about Melbourne is how walkable the city is alongside the river. Much like Brisbane which has the Brisbane River running through it with South Bank looking across to the CBD, Melbourne has the Yarra River. If you’re into walking and cityscapes, then you can have a great time walking along the River Esplanade beside the Yarra River getting all sorts of photo opportunities of Melbourne’s skyline. One day I’ll return and photograph it at night, which will present a completely different set of challenges.
Velluto Coffee at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne
Thirsty and hungry, I wearily I trudged through Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, that marvel of modern transportation architecture, presented itself in a manner that was nothing short of exhilarating. I was hot and tired, yet bathed in the golden glow of late afternoon light, the station seemed less like a hub of trains and more like a grand cathedral of travel. There, nestled comfortably under the sprawling, undulating roof—a roof that appeared to have been designed by a collaboration of science-fiction enthusiasts and overly enthusiastic origami experts—was a modest coffee stand by the name of Velluto.
The kiosk, with its clean, curved lines and warmly lit sign, was a beacon for the weary traveller in need of caffeine sustenance. It had a kind of quiet charm, as though it were saying, “Yes, you’re in a rush, but there’s always time for a good coffee.” The wooden panels along its top gave it a slightly rustic appeal, which was wonderfully at odds with the sleek, modern design of the station around it. The glow from the overhead lights cast a soft, inviting sheen on the counter, where an amiable barista attended to a customer who appeared to be contemplating the menu with the seriousness one usually reserves for selecting a life partner.
Behind the counter, the machinery of coffee creation hummed and whirred, promising the robust aroma and the soothing warmth of a perfectly brewed cup in that fleeting moment, Velluto was more than just a coffee stand. It was a small sanctuary in the bustling, architecturally impressive style of Southern Cross Station, offering a brief respite from the relentless march of time and travel.
Eat Street Markets in Brisbane
When I was in Brisbane, one of the recommendations I was given was to check out the Eat Street Markets on Brisbane’s Northshore. Having been located on its present site since 2013, the owners took over an old abandoned docking site and transformed it into one of the hottest locations in Brisbane for food and entertainment every weekend. What makes it more intriguing is that the concept is really rather simple, with more than 50 shipping containers having been converted into food stalls. Located 10 minutes from the city, it’s one of Brisbane’s must do attractions to satisfy the taste buds!
Centre Place in Melbourne
The other day I mentioned that I didn’t take nearly as many vertical photos as horizontal ones. With that statement in mind, I went looking for some unpublished vertical images to prove to myself that I actually did take them. This is one I found taken on the streets in Melbourne, Centre Place laneway to be precise. I always thought it was called Degraves Lane, however it seems that Degraves Lane is just across the road and this one has a completely different name. Either way, both lanes are filled with amazing places to eat, featuring cuisine from all over the world.
Painted Vinyl on Swanson Street
I spent a pleasant afternoon in Melbourne, wandering its busy streets and narrow alleyways before and after lunch, admiring the Yarra River, its modern skyscrapers, historic architecture, bustling laneways and looking forward very much to seeing it in the evening. I like Melborune, partly because it is very walkable and easy to navigate thanks to all the bridges across the river, but mostly because of the trams.
Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
When you come from Dunedin, a temperature of around 35 celsius is pretty extreme. To the people of Brisbane, I’m sure such temperatures are nothing new. So it was that I found myself wandering around the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens in the sweltering heat, enjoying every second of it.
The Evan Walker Bridge in Melbourne
Walking across the Evan Walker Bridge in Melbourne felt like stepping into a postcard where an urban landscape blends with a sense of whimsical charm. The Yarra River ambling its way past the city’s modern heart. On one side, Southbank’s bustling promenade with cafés and street performers, their eclectic sounds mingling in the air. On the other, the historic Flinders Street Station stands as a monument to yesteryears, its yellow facade glowing in the afternoon sun. As I strolled, I could help but marvel at Melbourne’s effortless fusion of old and new.
The Brisbane River
I was never aware that the European settlement history of Queensland dates back to a penal settlement. However, I shouldn’t be surprised. I had always assumed once Britain stopped sending convicts to Australia, people started emigrating and one of the locations they chose is now the city of Brisbane. It turns out, this wasn’t the case. It seems that Queensland’s European history as a settlement started when the location of Brisbane was selected in 1825 as the location for a penal settlement for the more difficult convicts in New South Wales. Thus we have a situation where Britain was sending its undesirables to New South Wales in Australia, and they sent the convicts they didn’t want to Brisbane. Maybe that’s why the rest of Australia looks at Queenslanders being a little backwards.
The Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane
When a name was needed for Brisbane’s new $63 million bridge, a competition was held. Local residents could submit suggestions which they did in their thousands. Among the suggestions were Aboriginal words, maritime suggestions and names linking the bridge to its location between Tank Street and Kurilpa Park near the State Library. On 23 November 2008 it was announced that the winning entry was Kurilpa Bridge. The name Kurilpa reflects the Australian Aboriginal word for the South Brisbane area, and means “place for water rats”.
For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
By Laurence Binyon
The Wheel of Brisbane – Buy
My final stop of my night walk in Brisbane was ‘The Wheel of Brisbane’ located in Southbank Parklands. I had started out before dusk at the Brisbane Central Railway Station and spent the rest of the time simply wandering aimlessly from place to place, looking at nothing in particular. After a while, I made my way through King George Square, headed along Ann Street and crossed over the Brisbane River on the Kurilpa Bridge. From there, I made my way along the South Bank which was busy with cyclists who seemed to have no regard for anyone but themselves. So, I filled some time walking at annoying angles so they’d have to swerve to miss me. Eventually, with no more cyclists to irritate, I turned my attention back to my walk and the Wheel of Brisbane which was glowing in the distance.
For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
By Laurence Binyon
The Webb Bridge in Melbourne – Buy
The last time I was in Melbourne I went exploring along the Yarra River to look at all the different bridges, which are quite amazing. There are so many of them, I must have filled at least an entire morning simply walking across bridges taking photos as each one is uniquely different in its design and construction.
The first bridge I found was the Webb Bridge which allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross over the Yarra River in the area of the Docklands and Southbank. Its design was modelled on a traditional Aboriginal Koorie fishing trap that was used to catch eels. Like most bridges, it also lights up at night, which made me think that exploring bridges that cross the Yarra River at night would make a good photowalk.
Lindenow Windmill & Water Tank– Buy
When I was visiting family who live in Lindenow, Australia I went walking and found this awesome windmill and water tank. It even had that old creaking sound as it gentle turned every so often. I took heaps of photos at a range of angles looking for a way to give the feeling of an absent human presences.
#blackhead #surf
Osteria Epoca In Brisbane– Buy
Osteria Epoca can be found on Orontes Road, Yeronga in Brisbane. They are an amazing Cafe, Bar & Restaurant that does serious good Italian food. When I was there they let me set my camera up to take a few shots, the one I like best is this one of the front window. It’s definitely worth visit if your in Brisbane or the area . Oh, and the Porchetta, Crab linguni or Gamberi come highly recommended.
Flinders Street Station – Buy
Once upon a time these clocks at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne were manually operated and had to be changed on average 900 times over an eight hour period. The 13 clocks, which date back to the 1860s are now run automatically and show the different departures times to each suburban train line.
Brisbane City Hall – Buy
On one of my evenings strolls through Brisbane I came across the City Hall which can be found in King George Square. The building is as elegant as it is grand. Yet, not without controversy, and I do like a bit of controversy when it comes to local government buildings.
In the early 1900’s after it was decided that the current City Hall was inadequate, and after many years of debate over where the new site for the building should be, a possibility of two locations was decided upon. However, Mayor Charles Jenkinson then sold one of the two sites to the Cathlolic Church, who promptly started construction of a Cathedral, leaving the City Hall to be built on the site which it stands today.
Several years later the foundation stone for the City Hall was laid with a time capsule inside before construction started. However, the stone was discovered to be out of alignment, moved, then lost – along with the time capsule.
Later, following the death of a construction worker who drowned while the swamp where the building was going to stand was drained, the Council began occupancy of the building in 1927. Nearly 20 years after the plans had been confirmed and the site was first chosen.
Twilight At Lindenow
This image is reduce to three elements and that’s why I enjoy it is much. It really is uncomplicated with a sunset, a tree, a bush and a herd of cattle. By using the silhouettes, the objects become simple, basic and straightforward creating a romantic relationship of harmony.
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Print Price Guide 2021 – Download
NGV
Isn’t this floor just outstanding! I find it hard to believe there would be a better floor anywhere in Melbourne. This is in the Victorian National Gallery in Melbourne. I was originally aiming to photograph the stain-glass ceiling they have there , but an event was on (held by Christian Dior I think) so I searched out the best possible vantage point to capture the floor instead. I ended up on the second floor, because the view from the second floor gave me the interplay between the brick walls and the coloured floor that I wanted.
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Recently I came across something interesting in Queenstown which has occupied my thoughts off and on since. It was a faint rainbow stretching out across Lake Wakatipu.
It isn’t the location of the rainbow itself that is of interest to me, nor the question of how rainbows are created, what drew my attention was pondering the curve of a rainbow. Or to be more precise, do they always have the same angle? I keep imagining Kermit sitting on a schist stone dipping his toes in the water of Lake Wakatipu, bango in hand, singing rainbow connection. As a rule of thumb, I would like to suggest that if like me, Kermit the frog springs to mind when you think about the science behind rainbows, you’re probably not an expert on them.
In this moment the contemplating thoughts in my mind went in two directions. The first was what other naturally occurring scientific concepts do I not understand. The second direction was understanding the mathematics behind rainbows. I decided that trying to understand the concepts of nuclear fusion, string theory, starling murmurations and Auckland traffic was far beyond my mental capacity at this point, so I went with exploring the latter. Plus, since I now had Kermit loaded into my Spotify playlist I felt I was committed.
My curiosity aroused, I felt there was only one place that would provide me with the facts I needed, the one place that keeps me reliably informed and up to date with the latest world developments. Google.
I feel I should point out at this juncture that I’ve become suspicious about Google and our relationship. It has soured somewhat. The long held trust and mutual respect we once held I fear has been lost. What brought our relationship to this point? Well, I suspect that Google has been lying to me. I must confess that this realisation hurts. My suspicions were aroused when a recent trip to Ireland resulted in zero Leprechaun sightings.
As it turns out I’m not the first person to become fascinated by a rainbow outside the window, in fact I’m in very good company. Greek philosopher Aristotle devoted serious attention to the study of rainbows as did Roman theorist Lucius Annaeus Seneca (who probably peeked at Aristotle’s study notes). This cycle of building off others’ study notes before adding their own thoughts then continued for some time, right through to Rene Descartes who started playing with light passing through a sphere of water. Throughout this lineage of rainbows, one person who does seem to stand out in a very understated way is Roger Bacon.
Not only does Roger Bacon have a fabulous last name that makes me hungry, he can also tell you how to make gunpowder! It transpires that Roger Bacon was the first European to describe in detail the process of making gunpowder. He also proposed flying machines, motorized ships and carriages some time in the 1200’s. Now anyone who is suggesting motorized machines and can tell you how to make gunpowder in the 1200’s must have been fascinating after a few beers! Along with describing how to blow things up, he also first measured the angle through which light is bent to our eye by a rainbow as being 42 degrees.
Having discovered that the arc of a rainbow is 42 degrees, that the length of rainbow is dependent on where it is viewed from, that everyone sees a rainbow differently, that they form perfect circles (which is why you never reach the end or the bottom) and that there are 12 types of rainbow, I naively thought my pursuit of had come to an end. Until, Google threw me a curve ball. It brought me back to Leprechauns. Now, I must confess that my curious nature got the better of me and no matter how distrusting of Google I was, I went in search of pots of gold.
I had it in mind that there would be a fairly bright and easy yellow brick road that would lead me to the end of the rainbow, however unlike Dorthey I wasn’t lucky enough to have a glowing yellow road to follow. My own search was filled with many no exit streets, detours and wrong turns that seemed to add neither confusion or clarity to my quest until I came across the Vikings! If you want to make a story interesting, just throw in an ill tempered Viking or two to jazz up the plot. Fortunately for me, the pot of gold myth that I liked the best, had loads of Vikings in it.
It seems that back in the days of the Vikings – who weren’t really very nice people but had amazing beards – they spent much of their time raiding, plundering and looting Irish villages for money and gold before burying it all over the countryside. Upon leaving Ireland, the Vikings proved that despite having fabulous beards they were incredibly absentminded and forgot to take their treasure with them, which was promptly found by the underground dwelling and human mistrustings Leprechauns. Knowing the origins of this treasure and claiming it for themselves, they reburied the gold. Nowadays, whenever a rainbow appears it’ll end where the gold is buried. But then again, can you trust a Leprechaun or a Viking for that matter? No matter how fabulous his beard is!
Until a few days ago I thought that a rainbow was simply light reflecting and bending off water droplets in the atmosphere resulting in a colour appearing. But, it transpires that they are as complicated as they are beautiful.
From all this we can draw four important conclusions. Firstly, Aristotle was a science guy as well as being a philosopher dude. Secondly, Roger Bacon would have been a wonderful drinking companion. Thirdly, the Vikings had fabulous beards but were incredibly forgetful. Fourthly that a little green frog was the most insightful of all when he observed that ‘rainbows are visions and illusions and probably contain a little touch of magic.’It seems that pursuing rainbows isn’t a bad thing after all.
Rainbow over Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown.