Rodney Campbell's Blog

I’d finally managed to take a half decent close portrait of one of my daughters which I thought I’d like to share.

I’ve taken literally hundreds of very nice portraits of other peoples children (school events and so forth and many unfortunately nicer than this) but getting something I “rated” at all of my own children was proving a challenge 🙂

My daughter plays Netball and this was taken late one afternoon with the sun nearly setting just before their game, with my favourite portrait lens (that I own) – the Sigma 50/1.4

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

The former Rozelle tram depot, located in Glebe, New South Wales, is the largest remaining tram depot in Sydney, and is one of five remaining tram depots in New South Wales. It was the second largest tram depot to service the Sydney network, running at peak capacity of approximately 200 trams from 1918, until its closure in 1958.

The majority of the interior of the building and the (six) historic trams (some of which date back to the 1930s), as well as an old bus have now been stripped, vandalised and painted with graffiti. In fact for the past 50 years the site appears to have only been visited by graffiti artists, party goers, photographers and the occasional film crew. There are essentially two huge main shed halls (one with all the trams and bus in it and the other essentially empty, except both are littered with spray paint cans and all manner of rubbish and debris. Also off to the side are some rooms which we unfortunately didn’t get a chance to explore. Every wall and surface has now essentially been graffiti’d and some of the artwork is a sight to behold.

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

A psychedelic rendition of the four trams in a row in the main hall. This is far more colourful and dynamic that what was actually there but this is an homage to what may soon be no more

Tramway

Until recently the site was under the ownership of the New South Wales Harness Racing Club (Harrold Park Paceway), however in late 2010 it was purchased by Mirvac to be redeveloped for medium density housing and possibly a shopping mall.

Getting in now can be quite difficult – the whole area is surrounded by double fences and locked gates and all the entrance doors have now been locked and barricaded. Out front there’s now a number of demountables (readying for construction) and security guards now patrol the site.

Once you manage to “bypass” the fence, there is however an extremely muddy and narrow “path” around the building to the back where you will find a small window you need to climb through with the help of some bins and milk crates. Photography is obviously far more motivating when a spot of trespassing is involved 🙂

My regular photography crew and I rocked up on a very sunny Sunday morning to attempt to take some images before all is lost and the building and it’s contents are resigned to history. We did manage to get in but our stay was unfortunately brief – we only had 30 minutes before security arrived and we were very politely asked to leave the premises. I must however say that the guard was very accommodating and allowed a few last shots before reluctantly leaving.

I bracketed all of my exposures at 0, -2 and +2EV primed for some HDR treatment.

The second hall now empty of trams

Forgotten Times

The bus awaits it’s passengers for one last ride

All Aboard

but perhaps not…

Hmm Where to Sit

Finally here is an HDR panorama I quickly took in the middle of the main hall just before we got ejected…

(use the arrow keys or mouse to pan left/right and/or up/down in the virtual view)

Glebe Tram Shed Panorama

Week 36

Three images for your edification this week…

Nightlight

NIKON D7000 + 8.0-16.0 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 8 mm, 30 sec at f/13, ISO 100

Spring Reflections

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 1/160 sec at f/5, ISO 320

Light and Shadows

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5, ISO 100

I was walking around the CBD at lunchtime taking a few images and came across one of those rare (well perhaps not so rare since I found two in a row :)) old cobblestoned alleyways from times long past.

These were really just long dark tunnels, with old cobblestone paving and old wooden rails along the walls – lets face it – it was basically pitch black inside and bright sun outside so I was never going to get an interesting single shot with any detail anywhere… so… Looking at the scenes I felt it cried out for some really grungy HDR treatments – you know the kind normally associated with over textured, over saturated, over glowing, over everything’d psychedelic HDR images. With many scenes – especially ones which include nature, the sky, clouds, plants and other things like that, this sort of over processed HDR look just looks too way out there and so wrong for me. However for some subjects – particularly plain architectural scenes and especially of old grimy, grungy and dirty things, I think that look can suit and enhance the subject.

So without further ado I let things fly and…

Sydney of Old

NIKON D7000 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 5 sec at f/11, ISO 100

I’m sure it won’t be to everyones (or even anyone’s :)) taste but I’d love to know what you think…

I took the girls on some short bushwalks over the weekend and we headed out to a couple locations around North Head on Sydney Harbour.

In the morning we headed out to the Fairfax Walking Track which is at the very tip of North Head near Manly.

It’s a relatively short walk around the walking track (30 mins or less to just walk the circuit) and there is a very level paved path so it’s an easy trip for anyone. The views out to sea and into the harbour towards both South Head and the city are spectacular. We had a very bright almost summer sunny day so the conditions were very contrasty photographically however we had some very interesting clouds in the sky and if you’re in a location like this you have to take some pictures surely 🙂

Note: These images (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

This first image is a wide panorama view towards South Head and the Sydney CBD

Blue Spring Day in Sydney

and this next is a telephoto view towards the city in the distance

Harbour Curve

My girls and I enjoying the view (the seaplane was a happy self timer coincidence :))

We had a pleasant lunch in Manly and then took a short drive to Balgowlah Heights and walked down to Castle Rock Beach.

The girls played along the beach while I took a few photos including one of them:

and then I had a play with the 10 stop ND filter to try for some moody daytime long exposures on the waters edge

Rising from the Sand

Within the Mist

when we’d climbed castle rock and had our beach explorations we followed the (30 minute) Grotto Point Walk from Castle Rock and headed out to the Grotto Point Lighthouse

Then we had the return walk and it was off to have ice cream 🙂