Tag Archives: images

ReWorking the Etched Glass in Reception

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Photography, Melbourne, Reworks, Architecture

≈ 102 Comments

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Back in January, on my birthday I believe, I posted two images, one of them was from the reception area of the 11th floor of the Manchester Unity Building.  I thought I was finished with the images from the building, but I am starting to think I never will be.

Etched GlassAs I was putting all the images together to give to the Manchester Unity, I saw this one and a cringe crept up my back.  I knew that it had to be one of the ones that I should rework.  I know we discussed how dark my work can be yesterday, but I suspect this is a little too dark.  So I redid it today.

Etched Glass - ReworkedSo what have I done differently?  The blur isn’t as strong.  I’ve been toning down how strong I apply the blur.  This image is so much lighter, and you can see the chair more.  I think in the original the chair just looked in the way and not part of the image.  I think it works better in this one.  I found in the original there was too much blue behind the etched glass so I have changed it to be greener, I think the green tones add more warmth to the image.  Overall I think this image is far more warmer and welcoming.  What do you think?

I thought I would do another gallery for you so you can see all the images put together, there are a lot of them, so I hope you don’t mind.  It is nice to see them altogether.  I am not going to put titles on them all, but you know what they all are.

I may do one more of those images again, but basically they will stay as they are.  It is interesting to see how the work and what I do evolves as my skill levels increase.

Donating

I just wanted to mention again how you can donate money towards this blog.

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btn_donateCC_LGIt isn’t compulsory, but it helps me to keep going.  You can decide what amount you think it is worth.  Thank you.

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Corridor End ReWorked

05 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Photography, Melbourne, Reworks, Architecture

≈ 28 Comments

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The first time I went into the Manchester Unity Building to photograph the mezzanine floor I had to use my older wide angle lens, 18-105mm, and when I took the photo of the end of the corridor with the fountain and the grandfather clock, I felt it was all squashed up.

Grand Father Clocks and FountainsThe clock almost doesn’t fit into the image.  I didn’t mind the actual composition, I just wanted more space around everything.

Once I got the new lens, the 14-24mm I knew that I wanted to shoot this scene again, and a week or so later I was given that opportunity.

Grand Father Clocks and Fountains - ReworkedThis has so much more space and gives a better sense of where they are, don’t you think?  It is amazing how just changing a little thing like zooming out, or stepping back can make a massive difference.  It is something I try to teach people in my classes, sometimes you need to just take a step in a direction, any direction and it can change the whole composition.  Well, for this one, it was a wider lens and it really helped the composition.

Again, it may be too dark, but I quite like that, and I like where the focus is in the image.  I hope you agree.

I should be on my way to Harrietville when this is published.  Apparently lots of stops on the way and ample opportunities for taking photos.  I wonder how many I have already, anyone want to guess?

From One End to the Other and Some in Between

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography

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Today’s post was going to be the end to my working on the images for the Manchester Unity Building, but there is still one more I want to do and I ran out of time.  I might use it in Friday’s post as my reworked image, as it is the same as another image, but rephotographed and reworked, so it fits that idea.

Leaving ReceptionThe other day I showed you images of reception, this is also the reception, but looking out.  You see this when you are leaving.  Some of this must be familiar to those that have been following my journey with this wonderful building.

Somewhere in BetweenAs you are exiting the building you walk down this corridor to the exit.  You will see the water feature behind the glass and the Grandfather clock will come into focus.

Taking a Look BackWhen you get to the end you will have to take a look back behind you.  Take a last look down the corridor of Dental Suites, suites that were once shops, then who knows what before being restored back to the way they once were.

At the Lift Taking One Last AroundWaiting at the lift, how could you not take one more look at the feature at the end of the corridor before the lift arrives to take you down and out of the building.

I am feeling very melancholy, I will admit.  I have loved working on this project so much, that I am kind of sad that it is coming to an end.  I think my mood may be reflected in the images as well.  They are darker, I think, than others I have done.  I have been acutely aware of it all coming to an end and whilst I’ve been working very hard on the images, it isn’t a project that I have looked forward to ending.

Who could not want to work on images from this building.  I feel so fortunate to have been invited and it has really helped me work out what I want to do.  I want to do more like this, so if anyone else out there has a building like this and they want me to photograph it and make some fine art images of their building, then I am available for hire.

First Impressions

28 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography

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Have I mentioned that the floors of the Manchester Unity Building that I have been photographing are also the business floors for Smile Solutions?  Which is part of the reason why people can’t just go and wander around the spaces.  However, if you are a patient there you get to see some of the amazing rooms and features that I have been photographing.  One of the first places you get to see is the reception room.

Can I Help You?The wonderful staff sit behind this glorious art deco counter ready to help people and to let the dentists and orthodontists know that their clients are there to see them.  The room sits in the corner of the building of the mezzanine floor, and if you go back to the image I did from the outside, across the corner, then this floor is the one all lit up, or the first floor.

Take a Seat While You Wait.You can sit on the leather couches while you wait.  Take in the view or just look at the room.  If you love art deco then you won’t be bored.

All of the images have been taken with the new Nikon 14-24 2.8 lens.  You can get some really good wide angles with it.  I haven’t been disappointed with it at all.  Perhaps the two and half thousand price tag really was worth it. These images are more than just architectural shots, I would call them Architectural Fine Art Images.  I try to convey a mood, or I focus in on something.  The first image was more about the counters, whereas the one above was about the lovely pink flowers.  They were such a contrast to anything else in the room and were really lovely.

Take in Your SurroundingsThis is my favourite image, by far, out of the three.  I love those flowers, and the table the vase is sitting on stands out so much more.  From this angle you can see some of St Paul’s Cathedral out the window as well.   This image really gives you everything you need to know about the room.  Do you get what I mean about the pink flowers.

All three images have been processed in the same way.  The flowers have been the focus for all three, though in the first image at the top, it really didn’t work.  I don’t like the large gap in the middle.  The other two images work so much better.

Not very many more images to go now.  I have done most of them now.  I have a few more to do, so you will get to see a few more.  I hope you aren’t getting too bored?

I have one more image for you today, the fish tank which is also on the mezzanine floor.

Through the Glass to ReceptionI have been working on this as well.  I was asked to do something sort of abstract.  Does this meet the criteria?  If you look closely at the image and look through the fish tank you can see the outside of the reception area.

I thought the fish tank would be hard to do, but once I got up close to it, there were so many things inside it to explore.  This side looks fantastic.

Easter is here now.  I have a few trips planned, and hopefully a meeting with a woman I have met through our blogs who happens to be in Australia right now.  I also a loan of a Canon 60D to try out and review, so I am hoping to get out over this next weekend to try it out.  Some new photos, just what I need.

From the Outside and Across the Corner

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography

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Over the last year I have taken so many images of the Manchester Unity Building and when I got the new lens I had to try it out on it as well.  I can fit so much more into the image than I could with my previous wide angle.  The image quality is just amazing.

From the CornerCan you believe those clouds are the ones that were there, I haven’t done anything to them really.  I did add some gradient to the sky.  I wanted to darken it a little.  I did try doing something else to the sky, but it just didn’t work, so I went back to the original and started again.  I think I started this image about three times all together.  I love the colours of the building and how they came out.  This was taken just as the sun was going down, but we didn’t get a real sunset.

Trying to work out what to leave in the image was hard. There are so many wonderful details.  I ended up leaving in heaps of them.  I am hoping that your eye starts with the lights around the first floor and then it shoots straight up to the tower.

In ContextThis was taken about an hour and half later.  It was dark and the lights of the city were on.  I liked how you can see the statue of Burke and Wills and the tower of the Town Hall.  The lights at that top of MU building look fantastic and I tried to get some shots of just it, but I was getting too many light spots, reflected light and it made the image look so messy.  You can see some in this one as well.

The clouds in this were pretty amazing, and I think it was the wind that caused that, it getting pretty windy by the time I did this image.

I don’t do this enough, go in at night and take photos.  Partly because I don’t like doing it on my own, and also because I am usually too tired, but I think I will try to do more.  You get to see a whole heap of different things and that is always good.

Asylums for the Mental

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography

≈ 65 Comments

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They are such terrible terms, but when you look up at the place I am showing you today on Google Maps it names it as Larundel Mental Asylum.  I kid you not.  For a  place that only closed in 1999, it is a scary thought that it was called that.

AsylumThe buildings have been left empty and the usual people who love going into these places to just destroy them have been there.  Most of the buildings look like they have had fires in them.  They seem old buildings, but I am sure they aren’t as old as I think.

I will admit that I don’t know much about the history of the place.  It isn’t far from where I live and I had an opportunity to go last weekend with a friend, so I went.  It is a bit freaky, another one of those if the walls could talk.

Larundel was one of only a few “mental asylums” in Melbourne.  They are all closed now.  If you had serious psychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia, then it was very likely that you would’ve ended up spending time at Larundel.  A very close friend ended up there with schizophrenia, unfortunately they couldn’t really help her and she took her own life.  Such a shame for a person who shone, well until the medication took over.

Photographing it was easy in some ways, because you wanted all the crap that is around it.  As you can see I got a lovely cloudy sky, so I didn’t have to put one in it.  I have played with the lighting and done some of my usual blurring.

A word of warning though,  while we were there there was another woman wondering around taking photos as well, that isn’t a problem, but she was there alone, that is a problem.  You just don’t know who is going to be there, and you shouldn’t go alone to places like this.  I have a reasonably heavy tripod that I carry around and can use as a weapon if I have to, she had nothing.

Don’t be silly when you go to places to take photos.  Make sure your safety comes first.  If you are going to places like that, make sure your gear is insured, and if you have to, hand it over.  It isn’t worth getting hurt for an image.

Going Up

21 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in Architecture, Melbourne, Photography

≈ 34 Comments

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Another photo from the Manchester Unity Building, I hope you don’t mind, but with so many images to work on, well I figure you may as well see them as well.  As I said, I have so many images to work on for the building and there isn’t enough time right now to do too many other images.  I do apologise.  I have been taking other images, so you will get to see some new stuff soon.

Elevators on the Ground Floor

These are the elevators or lifts on the ground floor of the  Manchester Unity Building.  Anyone can see these, and they are pretty much the first thing you see when you enter from Collins Street.

I can remember the first time I saw them, I was totally amazed at how wonderful they were.  The doors look like pressed copper, and probably are.  I don’t think I would like the job of keeping them looking so shiny.  There is a working class look to them that I find really intriguing.  I don’t know much about the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, and after doing this image I think I would like to know more.  I might have to go and do some more research on them.

I took this image very early on Tuesday morning, and even at 6.45am I had trouble with people coming and going.  The above image is a HDR, and the first time I did it I used 5 images, but someone walked into the last image and waited for the lift, so when I processed the HDR you could see a ghostly shadow of something.  I tried working with it, but it bugged me too much so I did the HDR again but only used 4 images.

It was hard to work out how to do this image.  There were so many things in it that I wanted to highlight, but that would have made it too busy, so in the end I decided on the middle lift doors.  You get an idea of the rest, and you can still read the inscription on the wall.  Great piece of history, it is wonderful to see some history for everyone to read.  I also love the writing, and you know it was all done by hand by a signwriter many years ago.

I love this image, and I got excited everytime I worked on it.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

Awards

It is time to acknowledge all the people who have nominated me for awards again.

The  following blogs have nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blog Award

Still Walks

the lightwheel

Shaking the tree

tiny lessons blog

junesteward’s Blog

Petit Praguian

The  following blog has nominated me for the The Versatile Blogger Award

penfrea

The  following blogs have nominated me for the The Liebster Award

Adina’s Musings

Queenie

The  following blog has nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award

jaybluepoems

The  following blogs have nominated me for the Best Moment Award

JUBILEE JOURNEY

Typewriters and Wine

The  following blog has nominated me for the The Creative Blog Award

infinityx17

I would like to thank each and every one for this wonderful honour.  I am so thankful for the support of everyone.  I hope everyone will go and look at their blogs as well.

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