divacultura: photo

Showing posts with label photo. Show all posts

Sunday, 24 August 2014

Sunday Slide Show

My vocal group rehearses in the hall attached to a Russian church.
While one of the other parts was rehearsing, I noticed the shadows thrown by the chandeliers.
© 2014 divacultura

Ghostly shadow.
© 2014 divacultura

From my "view from the office" series.
This is in the old part of the Royal Melbourne Hospital's Royal Park Campus.
© 2014 divacultura

Southgate sculpture.
I took this at about 6pm while I was waiting for my dinner date.
© 2014 divacultura

Taken the same night from Southgate looking across the Yarra River to Melbourne's CBD.
© 2014 divacultura

Early spring afternoon - Swanston Street, Melbourne
© 2014 divacultura

How was your week? Are you on Instagram? Why not pop over and say hello - I'd love to see your pictures.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

Sunday slide show

Some of my favourite shots I've taken lately. Lots of cityscapes as part of my "view from the office today" series on Instagram.

Looking east up Bourke Street, Melbourne, 20 floors up.
© 2014 divacultura

Looking west down Bourke Street, Melbourne, 10 floors up.
© 2014 divacultura

Stormy view of the Melbourne CBD from the backseat of a cab
on the Tullamarine Freeway
© 2014 divacultura

Same taxi ride a few moments later - the Melbourne wheel.
© 2014 divacultura

The clouds gathering above the Melbourne city - view from Southbank
© 2014 divacultura

Hope you like them! @divacultura is over on Instagram too.

What have you been photographing?

Friday, 8 August 2014

Life at 9 and gratitude

I've come across many people this week who are in some kind of pain. Often their pain has been caused by their efforts to control things that are not within their control.

I also watched the excellent show on the ABC, Life at Nine which is following children as they grow up. This week's episode was about creativity and not only was it interesting to watch the children, but I also learned a bit about myself.

These experiences influence what I'm grateful for everyday:

1. I am grateful for my creativity.

2. I am grateful for my imagination.

3. I am grateful for my resilience.

4. I am grateful for my own company.

5. I am grateful for my failures.

6. I am grateful that I have the capacity to write this post.

7. I am grateful that I have the freedom to publish this post.

8. I am grateful for the opportunities my parents gave me.

Here's two of my favourite photos from the week.

Shadow bike
© 2014 divacultura

Shot tower, Melbourne Central
© 2014 divacultura

What are you grateful for? Have you been watching the Life Series? Who's your favourite? (Mine's Wyatt, but don't tell anyone.)

Sunday, 15 June 2014

Sunday slide show

Now that I have a new phone, I've got space on my phone to take photos again. And I've been enjoying the new tools in Instagram. Hours of creative fun!

This photo was taken on the walkway between Melbourne Central and the new Emporium. I love the word "emporium"!

Walkway, Melbourne
© 2014 divacultura

The old Myer sign and clock are still attached to the new Emporium building. I enjoyed playing with contrast and shadows to create a silver gelatin look. I took this photo from the same walkway, looking west down Lonsdale Street.

Time passes.
© 2014 divacultura

Perfect afternoon light to take this photo of the arts centre spire. It was just after 3:30pm in Melbourne. By playing with contrast, shadows and saturation, the sky looks like a wall of water that is about to wash over the spire!

Tidal spire
© 2014 divacultura

Seconds later, a different angle and some different effects and the scene is different. I love the bright green saturation of the little patch of grass in the lower left hand corner. In the foreground is part of the scultpure by Inge King, "Forward Surge".

Surge
© 2014 divacultura

Lastly, I thought I'd show you this photo.

Eyes on the tracks
© 2014 divacultura

Here's the original shot that shows how the photo above started its life:

Self portrait
© 2014 divacultura

It was the reflection of the train tracks in my sunglasses that originally caught my attention and I decided to take a closer look. I love the finished product. I could imagine it as a movie poster, album cover or on the cover of a novel.

Without all the digital tools available today, this probably would have taken hours in a dark room. That's a satisfying process too, but much more expensive. I love just playing with various tools knowing that I can't destroy the original - it will always be there for me to play with until I reach a result that I'm happy with.

What are you photographing at the moment? Do you use Instagram? (I'm divacultura over there too. Come and say hello!)

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Overheard and my favourite photo

Overheard on the train platform this morning was a group of teenagers in school uniform:

"They should just stop stereotyping us!"

"Yes! I know! All adults do it though."

You can't write dialogue like that.

*****

I'm rather pleased with this photograph I took on Sunday morning at Brunetti's in Carlton. I braved the crowds to buy a cafe latte to take with me when I went to see "The Broken Circle Breakdown" at the Nova. The film is a curiosity (it's set in Belgium and the main characters are bluegrass musicians) and I really liked it. The coffee was good too.

Brunetti's, Carlton, Sunday morning
© 2014 divacultura

It is miraculous that I could get a clear shot. The place was packed!

Sunday, 17 March 2013

Sunday Slideshow

I'd almost forgotten that I was in Perth earlier this week. So much has happened in the days since then. Arriving at my hotel at about 4:30 in the afternoon gave me the opportunity to go for a walk and recover from the flight. I could also take advantage of the afternoon light.

I noticed that Perth city has some lovely old buildings and also facades that have been well-preserved. Here is the St George's portico. It's the original entry to a theatre which was on the site. Of the original building, only the portico remains - now attached to a shiny, modern building. At first I didn't notice the building behind; I thought there was just a portico sitting on the Hay Street footpath.

St George's Portico
© divacultura 2013

Shiny modern buildings, when bathed in the right light, often are spectacular with their taking of light and reflections. I just loved this building which looks quite blue and reflects both nature and the old architecture on the opposite side of the street.

Perth has a lot of public art. It's a great place to just wander around and soak up the atmosphere. I found this sculpture outside the courthouse to be very striking, especially in black and white.

Court house public art
© divacultura 2013

Back in Melbourne, I saw the Melbourne Theatre Company Production of "Constellations" on Saturday afternoon. With the Grand Prix also on, St Kilda Road was very busy despite the weather. (Our heatwave is over.) I had half an hour to spare before the show, so I wandered around the shop in the National Gallery of Victoria. I quite like this shot of the pool out the front - love how the water looks.

NGV, St Kilda Road
© divacultura 2013

The water wall at the front of the gallery is always wondrous to look at. On the other side of the wall, inside the gallery, a comic lounge has been set up. It's a designated space with black and white mats and cushions and pens and paper to draw a page for a comic book. I took the next two photos of it through the water wall. They remind me of Impressionist paintings.

Water wall impressions - NGV
© divacultura 2013

Water wall impressions II - NGV
© divacultura 2013

What do you like to take photos of?

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Sunday Slideshow

There's a bit of a mixed bag this week! Urban and nature.

Waterwall - Collins Street
© divacultura 2013

Political statements at the local station
© divacultura 2013

Yarraville rooftops - a different view of the Sun.
© divacultura 2013

Plant
© divacultura 2013

Abandoned.
© divacultura 2013

Trainspotting
© divacultura 2013

Yarraville rooftops - Westgate Bridge in the background.
© divacultura 2013

My favourite shot of the week...

GPO, Melbourne
© divacultura 2013

What's your favourite?

Sunday, 3 March 2013

Sunday slideshow

Another week of interesting photos. With the shift to autumn we've been having some spectacular weather accompanied by big, clear, blue skies. Queensland skies. I've noticed the light is particularly great for bringing out contrast in black and white shots.

Firstly is a shot of one of my favourite street corners in Melbourne - the corner of Elizabeth Street and Little Collins Street, looking towards Swanston Street. The black and white really shows off the ornate old building and then behind it is the modern skyscraper, almost luminous.

Way up the other end of town, on the corner of Collins Street and Spring Street I looked up. I'm very happy with the composition of this shot.

On the same corner looking left. I always find the palm trees to be out of place, but they add to all the vertical lines in this shot.

While waiting for a train at Flinders Street station during the week, I noticed the shadows on the platform and took this shot. Zombie apocalypse?

I spent some time in Yarraville's pop up park this afternoon, hanging out with a friend. It's such a lovely hub for the community in this beautiful weather. My friend and I were playing Scrabble. While I waited for her to lay her tiles, I took the opportunity to take some photos.

This is the other part of the Sun cinema's signage. It could almost be a newspaper masthead.

And here's the usual sign, taken from the platform at the Yarraville train station.

Here's the view from my deckchair.

Here's the Scrabble board from my perspective. I went on to win the game!

Another perspective on the park from behind the Scrabble board.

The happy stripes of the deck chairs in the pop up park.

Lastly, a self-portrait. It's been a while since I've done one. I quite like the mood of this one and the black and white filter makes it look like a news clipping.

There's my week in photos. Which one/s do you like?

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Sunday slideshow

My weekly post where I feature photos I've taken throughout the week. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen these.

I've also updated my "What I've made" page. I made a lot of things for Christmas gifts and they had to be a surprise so I couldn't post them until after Christmas. You might find some inspiration for next Christmas...it's never too early!

It was a warm summer night in Melbourne last night and Yarraville's pop up park was filled with people at 10pm. It felt like the happy heart of the community. I met a friend there before having dinner at my favourite pizza place, l'uccellino. There were lots of families eating take away pizza at that time.

I took this photo standing in the middle of Berry Street (facing east), Yarraville at about 8pm one night. The CBD is visible and the sky still has a pale pink tinge.

We had some gorgeous evening skies during the week. I took this from the pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River, looking towards the MCG and a tram on the left. I think this photo represents Melbourne well.

I've never been to the bar which is below the pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River, but it sounded like a fun place to be during the week. You can see it in the lower left corner. The buildings of the CBD are beautifully lit and I love the colours of their shadows on the river.

I bought these gold shoes a couple of years ago and they are holding up really well. With the filter I've used on this photo it almost looks like the shoes are glowing.

When I was in Bison during the week, I noticed this sign for the Capitol Theatre. The texture replicates the ceiling of the Walter Burley-Griffin designed building. It looks like the sign has been attacked by concrete cancer. I hope it doesn't crumble completely.

Saving the best until last...on my way to the theatre on Friday evening, I noticed these white spheres floating on the Yarra. I love the play of light on the water and the straight lines of the buildings juxtaposed against the balls.

What have you been photographing this week?

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