Adelaide: street photography

I’ve been doing some street photography in Adelaide these last few days whilst we are on our poodlewalks. The reason for the change is that the September theme for the 1picady2014 project is street photography. It’s not a style of photography that I usually do so I am being pushed into new territory.

Gouger St
Gouger St

I find it hard to do, especially when Ari is with me. It also takes a lot of time to find a suitable location and the right urban light. I’m not even sure what street photography means these days.

visiting Kangaroo Island

We have 6 days at American River on Kangaroo Island with friends. The time is spent relaxing, going for walks, reading, taking photos and enjoying the calm and overcast autumn conditions.

Kangaroo Island ferry
Kangaroo Island ferry

Ari and wander around the wetlands between the road and Pelican Lagoon. There is more water around the wetlands because of the very high tides.

at Petrel Cove

During the high temperatures this summer weekend we have been hanging out at Petrel Cove in the late afternoon. Its western end provides some shade from the heat of the sun, the cove has a sandy beach and it is possible to swim if you are careful of the rips.

Petrel Cove, Victor Harbor
Petrel Cove, Victor Harbor

It was very busy early this morning. There were families swimming, people fishing, people walking their dogs or walking and DSLR photographers in action taking advantage of the temperate conditions before the hot northerly wind sprang up mid-morning.

Gouger Street

I wandered around the Adelaide Central Market precinct on Friday morning trying to make sense of all the activity as a photographer. The neon lighting inside the market makes it very difficult to make photos of the fruit and vegetables in the stalls, so I tend to hang around just outside the market.

Zuma, Gouger St
Zuma, Gouger St

I mostly avoid pictures of people as I am not a street photographer. I search for the more off beat images or for subject matter that would be suitable for making abstractions:

at Redbank, American River

We returned to Redbanks, the cliffs on the Kangaroo Island side of Backstairs Passage, tonight for a 5×4 shoot along the cliffs. Though it was a 5×4 shoot we turned it into a bit of a picnic–wine and nibbles—whilst I waited for the light to soften.

Suzanne, Redbank, American River
Suzanne, Redbank, American River

It was very pleasant watching the dolphins cruise by, waiting for the light and soaking up the moment, knowing that the heat will return tomorrow.

a digital disruption

When I was walking around city west yesterday I couldn’t help but think about the digital disruption that is going to happen in the near future. This will be less from the proposed free wireless in the city and more from the National Broadband Network facilitating the digital economy.

photographer
photographer

What prompted these thoughts was the construction site of the University of South Australia’s new Learning Centre. I couldn’t help but think that many in the area have little idea of the forthcoming digital disruption.

isolation

My exploratory wanderings in the CBD of Adelaide with a small digital camera are currently on hold, due to both the hot summer weather and not having replaced my stolen digital camera. This makes me uneasey in the sense of being disquiet—I should be walking the streets exploring, not stuck in front of a computer screen.

The picture below was snapped on a daily walk without the poodles at the beginning of summer in 2011:

Hyde St, Adelaide

I’m struck by how isolating the new apartments are. Each is contained within itself, so any contact or connecting with others comes digitally: with the mobile phone or email using mobile broadband. In this world of networked mobility people now walk the city streets looking at the pulsating screens of their smart phone, and they are only vaguely aware of what is around them. It appears that the virtual world is more important than the real world.

stranded in Melbourne

Things were working out fine in Melbourne.

The Melbourne Silver Mine Inc’s Unsensored11 exhibition had been hung, opened on Friday night at the Collingwood Gallery and opening night was a success. I’d seen the work at the Centre of Contemporary Photography and I was settling into urban photo exploration.

Southern Cross Station

Then my digital camera, wallet, credit cards etc, passport etc were stolen from the back of the gallery on opening night. It was a professional job. I was lucky that I still had the daily tram/train ticket in my pocket–its normally in my bag. So I was able to get back to my sister’s at Safety Beach on the Mornington Peninsula that night.

studies for a 5×7 shoot

Sunday morning is allocated to large format photography. Today it was the urban variety. I waited for the rain to stop, then tried to get a 5×7 of Faraway House, around 8am but it was too late. To get the shot I had to stand in the middle of the road across from a major building site, but there was too much traffic. It could only be handheld work.

The light was all wrong anyway–the sun had shifted much further to the east than I had realized. So I tossed it in, and drove to the tramway overpass location on South Rd for the Adelaide-Glenelg tram. This would be a goer I thought in terms of the light and no traffic:

Tram Overpass, Glandore, Adelaide

This is an ideal location for a 5×7 shoot as everybody avoids the stairs and takes the lift to the platform to wait for the tram–they were all going to Glenelg this morning. As I walked around and found the ideal location the wind started, and it swirled around the platforms on the steps.

Dog + Duck

On Friday morning I raced home after the gym, had a quick shower and breakfast, caught a tram packed with commuters, and went on a photowalk along Hindley St St on Friday morning. I caught a tram packed with commuter.

I wanted to continue finding more locations for a 5×7 shoot, to explore new territory, take some snaps and search for a suitable location to take a photo at 11.11.11.11

Duck and Dog, Hindley St

I tossed the photowalk in after the 11:11 shot of the Hawke Building because the light was too strong, and there was too much glare.