Category Archives: Melbourne

Weekend Wanderings – Flinders Street Station

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography, Weekend Wanderings

≈ 22 Comments

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During the week I had to take a trip into the city, so I thought, go in early and take some photos of Flinders Street Station.  I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile.  I wanted to find out if I would get asked for my permit to photograph Melbourne Train Stations, remember I told you about it a couple of weeks ago.  I will do more on the permit at the end of the post.

Leanne Cole - Flinders Street 1Of course taking photos of the façade outside isn’t a problem, outside the station is public property.

Leanne Cole - Flinders Street 2This photo was clearly taken in the station.  I fully expected someone to walk up to me and ask what I was doing, and that I wasn’t allowed to take photos.  It is fairly common knowledge that photographing the inside of Flinders Street Station is not allowed.  I am wondering if it is a old wives tale.

Leanne Cole - Flinders Street 3I was up on the concourse for this one, they really need to clean the windows.  I was obvious, I had my camera hanging around me, I walked from one end to the other, but still no one asked.  I have to admit, I was disappointed.  After being asked for the permit at Heidelberg Station, I thought for sure I would be asked here, so surprised nothing happened.

Experiment, big fail.

I have a lot more photos of the station for you, plus a couple of others I got when I walked over the river.  I will put them into a gallery for you.

Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 4
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 1
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 5
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 6
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 7
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 8
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 9
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 3
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 2
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 10
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 11
Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 12
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Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 14
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Leanne Cole – Flinders Street 16

It is probably a good idea though, if you want to go and take photos, to get a permit, so here is the link Filming and Photography at Metro Train Stations.  All the information is there.

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Reflections on a Building

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Art, Melbourne, Photography

≈ 66 Comments

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The other day when I was in the city we strolled past the Manchester Unity Building and it had the most amazing reflections on it.

LeanneColesccity-3hpm2120The building is already a orange sort of colour, terracotta, I think and with these reflections it looked like the building was gold.  I didn’t get very good images, but it would be good to go back to see if it happens everyday.  If it does, I would like to be more prepared and get better images of it.

LeanneCole_sccity-2124

This was taken from across the corner.  You can see the reflections a lot more, I wonder if it is the sun on Eureka Tower, that is what it looks like to me.  It probably changes throughout the year.

I am going to leave it there today, I have to head into the city, so time is limited.

Places Where Ghost Stories Start

22 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Deaf Children Australia, Melbourne, Photography

≈ 95 Comments

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Why is the basement always the scariest part of a building?

Okay, they are dark, they are dingy, but why would a ghost want to live in one?

Buildings, like the bluestone that belongs to Deaf Children Australia has an incredible basement, much like many of the old buildings have.  It is very large and I can see how it would be creepy, especially with the lights turned off.  Though it is not right into the ground and there are windows, so does that still qualify?

Down the Corridor in the Basement.On the DVD that Deaf Children Australia have produced they have ex students talking about their experiences there.  Many of the boys, well men now, talked about sitting up late at night and telling ghost stories.  They would then dare each other to go down to the basement.  They must have been terrified.  Though, scary noises wouldn’t have been a problem.

Playing Room WindowIt would have been good to be outside here, and made some commotion outside the windows, but not sounds, that wouldn’t have worked.  It is amazing the things they came up with to scare one another.

Window from the BathroomThis window is near the bath, there is one on the other side so when it is hot they can open both for a cool breeze, well they did when they used the bath.  I will put some other photos up at the end of some of these.  The basement is not really a maze, but there are lots of places for people to hide.

Meat LarderI have done quite a bit to this, but I really wanted to show it, the men on the DVD talk about how this room reminded them of a jail, and when they were children, they were scared of it.  It was the meat larder.  The door reminded them of bars.

I had a few people writing poems and stories in response to last weeks post on the dormitory and those photos.  So I am going to put the links to them here.

Lucy Williams Poetry

Bastet and Sekhmet

Svetlana Grobman: Writing With an Accent

A Poem and a Drawing a Day

I think that was all over them, so I hope you will go and see what they wrote in response to the images last week.

I also invite people to do the same with the basement images, what stories do the images conjure up for you.  Once again, link it back to me, so I can get the pingback or the reblogged notice and will include it in next weeks post.

Now here are some other images I have taken of the basement, not that many.

I look forward to hearing what you write about, some ghost stories might be fun.

Finding Solace in the Gutter

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Art, Melbourne, Photography, Portraits

≈ 233 Comments

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Last Friday, as we were doing our trip around the city with our cameras, we came upon an unusual site.  A woman was sitting in the gutter, visibly upset.  She was well dressed, had an ID tag, so we assumed she worked.  It was quite sad seeing her sitting there.

Of course, being photographers we took photos, from a distance, she had no idea we were doing it.  We were going to go and ask if she was okay when she very suddenly stood up and walked away.

Crying in the Rain

Crying in the Rain

It was raining, but the rain hasn’t come through very well, you can see it if you look really closely.  It is so dramatic.  I do feel guilty photographing someone who was obviously going through a bad time, but it has made a fantastic image.

I have been doing some workshops on the internet at Creative Live and I have been learning some amazing things on Photoshop, so I was really excited to work on this image.  There is a story here, and I am curious to know what it is.

I love that so many writers follow me, and I would like to do some collaborations with them.  I need to think about this, but maybe, before I put an image like this on my blog, I could post it on facebook, then the writers who it inspires can write something to go with it.  Then when I do a post on the image, we can include some stories or poems.  Now, I’m thinking of this off the top of my head, so we may need to revise it, but I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this.

I used to people all the time, but I was never happy with the look at the camera and smile sort of photos.  I am starting to see ways to do the photos I wanted to do, so now I am on a mission.  I think you are going to see a lot more people on the blog from now on.

Just an extra idea

I think for those that do write something in response to this, if you send me a link or send me your writing I will put them up on facebook.   So check out my facebook page is you want to see some, hopefully I will get sent some.

My facebook page.

Weekend Wanderings – The Details of Melbourne

19 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Food, Melbourne, Photography, Weekend Wanderings

≈ 136 Comments

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On Friday I spent a very intensive day teaching a client how to use her camera and how to take photos.  We had a great day, and at the end of it I came home with over 500 images.  It was fantastic.  The part that was really fantastic, though, was that my client was very interested in photographing food.  You wouldn’t believe how many places there are to take food photos.  Not that that was all we did.  Many of the photos are from similar places to the post I did last weekend on the arcades, but there are differences, mainly because there are a lot more detailed images.

Block ArcadeWe spent a lot of time in front of shop windows like the Hopetoun Tea Rooms in the Block Arcade photographing the window of cakes.  Then zooming in on individual cakes.  It was interesting for me to do, because it is not something I normally do, but no one seemed to mind.  It was great to actually take in the details.

Royal ArcadeI know if I had been by myself I would have probably just walked straight past this wonderful display of macaroons in the middle of the Royal Arcade.  They were so colourful and the display, well, it was stunning.

GPOThen there were the surprise finds, like this funny display in the GPO building.  We noticed after we had taken photos that there was a sign saying no photos, but it was too late, we already had them.  I explored the GPO building a lot more and saw some fantastic things.  It is an amazing place.

It is great to be able to just wander and take photos without having people telling you to stop.

Queen Victoria MarketWe ended up at the Queen Victoria Market, where we took more photos of, you guessed it, food.  Though I found the market a lot harder to photograph, I felt like I should have been buying stuff as well, which I couldn’t do because I couldn’t carry anything.  Perhaps next time I will go to shop as well.

As I said, we took so many photos, there are some fantastic places to take photo in Melbourne around the city.  I have prepared a heap more and shall put them into a gallery for you.

Hopetoun Tea Rooms
Lemon Tart
Raspberry Tart
Mosaic Floor
Because it Looked Good
Macaroon Tower
Macaroon Display
Special Macaroons
Roses with the Macaroons
Still Life Display
Up on the First Floor
More on the First Floor
Looking into the Whole Building
Looking Through some Detail
More in the Centre
From One End to the Other
The French Inspired Chair
The Covered Area Outside
Some of the Decoration
The Meat and Fish Hall
Where All the Cheeses Are
Some Interesting Displays
Swords Wines, look them up
Some baked Goods
Mmm, My Lunch

If you are in Melbourne for the day, there are many things to photograph and see.  I could spend days in there and still not see it all.  It was wonderful to see the city through someone else’s eyes.  I need to thank Karen for the recommendation, I really appreciate it.  Hopefully more people will like me to teach them photography.

I have so many more photos, but they are going to have to wait for another time.  We photographed some buskers, and we photographed the city, so may be next weekend. I had hoped I would do the lady singing, but I hope she doesn’t mind if I do her image another day when I can spend more time on it.  It is so exciting to be working on different sorts of images.

ReWorking Graffiti

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Art, Melbourne, Photography, Reworks, Victoria

≈ 95 Comments

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OriginalThis image was taken over twelve months ago.  I did it as a 3 image HDR in Photomatix.  It was in my early attempts of HDR and it is way to saturated.  The bins blend in too much with the background.  So as I have been going though old HDR’s I thought, I might try doing this one, and another one again.

ReworkI think this is better, but still not great.  I tried to darken the background a bit, and lighten the bins.  I don’t think it worked.  I do think the colours in this are much nicer and not so bright.  I know a lot of you are going to like the first image more, but think about how over saturated they are.  The colours are not natural, if you can say that about graffiti.

Original

I thought this one was also too saturated.

Rework

So with this one, the colours are not as saturated.  It is a darker image, but not in the mirror, and it is the mirror where you are meant to look.  I like what is happening in the mirror.  The mirror shows us that the graffiti just keeps going on and on.

ReworkI have called this a rework, but technically it isn’t, it is the first time you have seen it, and I only did it this morning.  Just shows a different view from the same mirror.  I did it because I thought this one was the same as the original.  Anyway, extra image.

I hope this post makes sense.  I have just got back from the city where I spent all day taking photos and teaching a new client how to use her camera and how to take photos.  It was exhausting, but so rewarding.  I had the best time.  I completely filled my memory card, and had to delete photos, so I could take more.  I hope she also had a great time.  I know she is feeling confused now, but with time she will start to understand what we were talking about.

Please excuse me today, I need a cup of tea and to put my feet up.

 

I Had a Dream Last Night

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography, something different, Victoria

≈ 105 Comments

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I don’t know if it was a dream or a nightmare, but I did mention that I’ve been learning some new things with Photoshop and my just swims at night.  Then early this morning I had a dream and I woke up so inspired to try something.  After I got up, I couldn’t get the image of what I was trying to do out of my head, so, while I couldn’t do what was in my head, it was a scene from Sydney, I decided to try something different.

Elizabeth StreetI took this image on the same day as the image on Tuesday.  It was taken very early in the morning.  It is a HDR image processed in Photomatix Pro and beyond that,  I haven’t done a lot to this, I just got rid of all the people, a couple of cars, you know that sort of thing.

I just loved those Victorian building all in a row.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this image, but then, you know, I had the dream, and well, things had to change.  Could I turn this image into a deserted city?

Elizabeth Street Long AfterSo I played around with 3 images.  I don’t think it is perfect, but I like it.  It is always great when an idea starts to come together.  The foreground came from an image I took up in the mallee, as did the sheep.  I had to make the sheep a lot smaller, and they probably should have been made even smaller.

I had to do a bit to the image to get it to look abandoned.  My skills are getting better, but I still need to do some more learning.  It would’ve been good to have made some windows broken, or things falling down.  Maybe some cracked paint.  This is definitely a direction I want to go in.  The image is probably too dark, but I like to think the world would be dark without us, maybe that is a dream too.

Elizabeth Street Long After with a textureThis is the same image, only I added some textures to it.  Well, one really, it was a granite, I think.  I am not sure about it, but thought I would give you the option.

It is an interesting thing to do.  The sheep are there because my husband thought they should be in the shot.  He thought it added to the effect, and of course he likes to take the credit.

My daughter got her drivers license the other day, so I may never see the car again, so I guess that means I can spend lots of time on the computer, because it doesn’t look like I will be going anywhere.  LOL  Not quite true, I have a one on one session tomorrow in the city, so that should be exciting.  I am really looking forward to spending a whole day taking photos in the city.  What could be better?

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