Tags
beach, Brighton Beach, Brighton Beach Boxes, clouds, cloudy sky, composition, CS5, HDR, history, images, instagram, Melbourne, Nikon D300s, photography, Photomatix, Photos, Photoshop, postaday, real estate
When I woke up this morning, I had planned on going to Mostsalvat to take photos. Montsalvat is an artists colony in Eltham. They have some beautiful buildings and it is an amazing place. I wanted to go in the morning, but then I realised I had to be somewhere at 12, so there was no time to go. I had to think about where else to go and there was one place I’ve been meaning to get to for years and late afternoon was the perfect time of day for it.
On Brighton Beach are a number of these boxes. They are a famous landmark in Melbourne. It is amazing that I haven’t photographed them before. They appear in many publications about Melbourne and by the number of people there taking photos, I would say it is a very popular place to go and take photos.
I took all the images with 5 bracketed shots and they are all HDR’s with various degrees of post editing. Again, I’ve used Photomatix for the HDR’s and Photoshop CS5 for the post editing. I decided that HDR’s would be a good option due to the cloudy sky and the brightness of the boxes.
I really wanted to capture the boxes straight on with the clouds behind them. I like the contrast between the clouds and the colourful boxes.
The boxes have a very long history in Melbourne and there is a website that gives lots of information about them. If you are interested click here. They are all privately owned and when they come up for sale, they seem to sell for around $200,000. They are an expensive piece of real estate. They have no amenities, you can’t live in them. You have to pay rates, apparently they are around $500 a year. Not bad for a wooden box that just sits on the beach.
There are a lot of them, no idea how many exactly. They all have numbers and they are all painted in very different ways. They are certainly very colourful.
I took my daughters with me and I think I really need to start going on my own. One of them didn’t bring a jacket, even though I said she should, so she was cold and wanted to go. I should have know it would happen. I get worried about going places on my own, so I should start to get over that and just go.
I was hoping to show one of the photos I took with Instagram, I sent it to facebook, but it has disappeared into cyberspace somewhere. If I ever find what happened to it, I will post it. So enjoy the beach boxes.
Stephanie said:
Great pics you’ve captured!!!
Leanne Cole said:
Thank you Stephanie, it can hard to come up with something different when photographing something that many have done before. Don’t know if I achieved that, but I am happy with what I got.
☆ MagicAperture said:
We have lots of these beach huts in the UK too, I don’t fancy one but they’re striking to look at.
Leanne Cole said:
I’m with you, and with all this talk about the oceans rising, well, I don’t fancy using them underwater. There is only one other place here that seems to have them. I suppose that is why they have become a landmark. Apparently they were everywhere once.
gardenfreshtomatoes said:
Around here, they’re called Bath Houses…but the Old Crowd in Newport or on Cape Cod would have a collective stroke if anyone dared to paint them bright colors! Weathered grey shingles and white painted trim ONLY…traditional, I suppose, but boring…
Great shots today…
Leanne Cole said:
Apparently the owners are encouraged to paint them in bright colours. I don’t know what the reasoning is, but I think it is good. Really adds some colour to the place.
Traditional can be good, but colour can be great.
Thanks Marie.
fluffyphoton said:
The colours and clouds make such a lovely couple
Leanne Cole said:
Thank you, I was hoping for that.
Colline said:
I love these Leanne.
Maybe you should give your daughters a camera and in that way they will be too occupied to think of being cold/hungry/thirsty/bored
Leanne Cole said:
Thank you Colline. They are fun.
My daughters aren’t really interested in taking photos. If they want to come then they need to find ways to entertain themselves.
Tricia's Journals said:
Very cool beach buildings! I like the bright colors.
Leanne Cole said:
Thanks Tricia, they are pretty amazing. I couldn’t believe how many there were.
Dave said:
Love the contrast between the bright beach huts and the stormy backdrop of the sky. Fantastic.
Leanne Cole said:
Thanks Dave, that is one of the things that really attracted me to the first image. It has been really dull and I turned around and saw the light on the boxes and thought it would make a great shot.
C.D. said:
Love the colors and the darkness of the storm, beautiful shots! Thank you for your appreciation in my blog,
Artphalt (http://artphalt.wordpress.com)
Leanne Cole said:
I was disappointed at first, but I think the clouds really made the image in the end.
You are welcome, you have some fantastic work, might keep an eye on it.