Category: urban

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returning to Wirranendi Park

Ari and I returned to a familiar haunt on yesterday’s afternoon walk—the West Terrace Cemetery and the Wirranendi Park section of the of Adelaide’s parklands. The rain had eased, it was overcast, and the sunlight was soft.

We had initially gone to the western parklands to see if a transitory aboriginal camp was still standing. I’d taken some photos before going on the Tasmanian trip but, as the early morning light was now quite different, I wanted to see what had happened whilst we’d been away. I was thinking of re-shooting the camp with more of the scrub.

transitory camp, western parklands Adelaide
transitory aboriginal camp, western Adelaide Parklands

The camp had gone–been dismantled by the Adelaide City Council no doubt. None last long. So we walked through the West Terrace Cemetery looking for picture possibilities then through the Wirranendi section of the parklands.

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a foggy morning

It was a foggy morning in Queenstown yesterday, so I wandered the town taking photos whilst Suzanne took the standard poodles for an early morning walk around the Queen River where it flowed beside near the Queenstown golf course. This was a space away from other dogs and they could be off the lead. So they could roam freely.

The early morning light in the town was soft, due to the fog:

Empire Hotel, Queenstown

I was looking/scoping for possible subjects for using the 5×4 Linhof in foggy conditions. What would the buildings or street views look like? How would they photograph? Would the fog transform the mundane into something interesting? Would the something interesting be meaningfully significant?

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give way

Urban renewal in Adelaide grounded to a halt with the global financial crisis in 2008. The money from the banks dried up and the commercial and apartment building boom just collapsed. In the language of the real estate industry the property market–residential and commercial– was subdued. This stasis lasted several years–apart from new car parks being built everywhere.

give way

The urban renewal situation has slowly improved. Most of the buildings currently being built in the CBD are primarily high rise apartments. This building is an exception –it is a specially designed building for the Australian Tax Office.

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urban texture + pathos

Just before the Xmas break I wandered the streets of the CBD with a medium format camera–the Rolleiflex 6006 and a wide angle lens. It was a dull and grey Sunday morning and I was looking for urban architectural texture with a slightly grungy feel.

French St, Adelaide CBD

I was searching for urban subject matter that would be suitable for a 5×7 shoot; one that referred back to the pictures of shop fronts in Rundle Street in Adelaide that were taken by the nineteenth century urban photographers. These early pictures (1860s-1870s) were known as carte de visite views due to their small size and they functioned like today’s business cards.

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high rise living

Whilst taking photos of the city from the rootops of car park roofs or through hotel windows I’ve stumbled on high rise flats as well as offices.

The former often convey oppressive urban density with the washing drying on the balcony or glimpses of people moving around in their living room. Once–in the 1960s– tower blocks were the answer to a housing crisis but many people came to hate them. The blocks were poorly designed, had drug dealers and lifts dripping with urine, unsupervised kids, and kids running wild.

High Rise, Adelaide

The postwar modernist concrete cladding tower blocks were seen to be ghettos but they are now making a comeback.They have great views of the city and work for the young. The new towers benefit from the introduction of colour and texture.

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an early morning urban shoot

I was out photographing the Adelaide skyline between 6 -7am this morning. This is normally the time I am working out at the gym, but I allow myself to take a break from the gym on Wednesdays so that I can do the early morning shoots. In summer this must be done before 7am.

The picture below was taken around 7pm with a handheld digital camera from the top floor of a 24 hour car park on the corner of Rundle and Pultney Streets. I was on a scoping excursion. This time I wanted to I see what the skyline looked like in the early morning light. Would it look as dramatic?

looking west from Pultney/Rundle

I was also checking out to see whether I could use a tripod in the carpark and still be able to get the camera lens through the grill on the side of the building. It was possible to do this with a medium format camera. Would it be possible with a large format camera? Maybe. Next time I go back with the 5×7 Cambo monorail.

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without a digital camera

I’m lost without the use of my digital camera. I had initially bought the pro-sumer Sony DSC R1 to enter the world of digital imaging, to see how the digital work flow operated, and to judge the quality and look of the digital image.

Over the next couple of years using the Sony had become habitual, with it primarily being used to study a particular object or scene to see how it looked as a photograph. I’d post some of these images on the web–on Facebook, Flickr or on my blogs—and if the picture looked okay I’d go back to reshootthe object with a medium or large format camera.

Kouko's

The digital camera was my scoping instrument and sketch pad–a pocket sketch pad as it were.

When it was stolen in Melbourne I found myself back to using film and not knowing how things would look as a photograph. I didn’t like the process of taking pictures blind, especially when it came to using the 5×4 Technika in Ballarat before I caught the overnight bus back to Adelaide. I stayed close to what I could remember from my previous trip and which I had filed away as suitable subjects.

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along the Moonee Ponds Creek

I went photographing yesterday afternoon with Stuart Murdoch. The rain and heavy cloud cover cleared whilst I was travelling on the Frankston train into the CBD, and the bright sunshine put paid to the 5×4 car park rooftops scenario I had planned.

So we decided to explore around North Melbourne and Sunshine. We initially explored the areas along Railway Canal or the Moonee Ponds Creek in North Melbourne that I’d started to explore on an earlier trip.

overpass, Bolte Bridge, Melbourne

Luckily for me Stuart knew the area quite well as he had photographed in and around there about a decade ago. There is a bike path under the City Link overpass that provides walking access to the area under the Bolt Bridge over pass. The area has everything—nature, concrete architecture, industry, rubbish–and it is fertile ground for an Australian topographics style of photography.

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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.

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