Casino Back Door

Brisbane's Treasury Casino is located in the former Treasury Building. One entrance, off Elizabeth Street, used to be the access to the Registrar General's office. It now has some modern glass architectural features, similar to those that can be seen at 95 William St. I particularly like this shot because the early morning light seems to highlight the elegant features of the old, and places the casino entry into a shadowy part of the composition. (OM4, Tamron 135 f2.8, f2.8, FP4 @ 200)

Cathedral

The Cathedral of St Stephen is a favourite subject of mine, although it rarely features in my posts. It astounds me that this particular door on the west wall always seems to be open, no matter the time of day or night I find myself wandering past. This characteristic combined with somewhat over-engineered doors and solid sandstone walls seems to say to me that the cathedral is a tremendously safe place, but one that is always welcoming. (OM2n, Tamron 135mm f2.8, f4, HP5 @ 400)

The Club

The Queensland Club was another subject that my friend, John, suggested that I investigate as it has a rather grand main door. The Club, located on the corner of Alice and George Streets diagonally opposite Parliament House, is a three storey rendered brick building incorporating Italianate elements. Its main door is atop the stairs off Alice St, although the members seem to regularly use the alternative entrance off George St. (OM2n, Tamron 135mm f2.8, f8, HP5 @ 400)

Condemned

These are the main doors to what was once a quite grand building at the bottom end of Edward St. Unfortunately, the building now stands derelict, showing signs of severe vandalism and the effects of a fire on the upper floor. It's doors, however, remain bravely hanging where they belong and tell a story of the destruction and abuse that has gone on behind them. This is a somewhat sad scene of, I suspect, another of our buildings not long for our city. (OM2n, zuiko 50mm f1.8, f5.6, HP5 @ 400)

Mansions Door

The Mansions, an iconic terrace house at the top end of George Street, is a subject that I have not explored in the past. When I talked to a friend of mine about my current Doors Project, he suggested that it, and some other buildings that will feature in coming posts, might be worth a look—thanks John. The doors on the Mansions are not particularly spectacular in themselves, but the setting seems to suit their apparent solidity. I also particularly like the way that the detail of the columns provides a sense of elegance. It never ceases to amaze me what is out there when you roam about for a look, this building is only about 100m from where I go to work every day. (Shot with OM2n, Zuiko 50mm f1.8, f5.6, HP5 @ 400)

Side Door

Perfect Pancakes is a restaurant in a converted church at the top end of Charlotte St in the centre of the city. The old red brick building still stands proud, with most of its original external features remaining. This side door is now a rather shabby green, but it has a wonderful character. Athough it probably hasn't been open in a very long time, given that it now longer seems to lead anywhere, its hinges alone seem to tell a story about another age. (OM4, zuiko 135mm f3.5, f3.5, fp4 @ 125)

Yeoman of the Guard – Photographic Summary of Act 1 in 24 Images

From the Queensland Musical Theatre production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Yeoman of the Guard” which ran from mid May to early June 2007 at the Schonell Theatre, University of Queensland. A wonderful performance of one of the more serious Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and a great viewing experience too!

Whilst I had originally intended to post perhaps at most two or three photographs, the number and chronological sequence of these images lend themselves so well to a photographic narrative, that I just had to present them all. Well not quite, it took me some time to decide on a style that would enable me to present a large number of images in a fairly compact manner. I think this 4 by 6 layout with a single key image in each works well, although I did have to drop one image, originally having 25 in total. Ilford HP5 pushed 3 stops to an ISO of 3200 has done quite a reasonable job of capturing the contrasty scenes.

The other aspect of this process that I have become less sure of is whether posting these images represent "fair use" or a copyright infringement. Are these photographs a sufficiently small quantum of the whole performance? Certainly I have acknowledged the source, I don't believe this post detracts in anyway from the integrity of the producers or participants, and my only real motive in publishing them is community interest. Still..

Victoria Bridge

Victoria Bridge leads from the end of the Queen Street Mall and Brisbane Square across the river to Southbank. I have long been fascinated by the way the street lights almost bracket the traffic and the way lines define each space given over to either pedestrians, cars or buses. I was aiming to capture these various lines and accentuate the space with darkly silhouetted light posts by taking a shot late in the afternoon. I took several frames, but like the way that the cars are all waiting in line to rush off in their various directions home.

Abstract Study 2

I was trying to capture the wonderfully fluid distortion of lines in the early morning river reflections. I noticed that the low angle of the sun created areas of deep shadow and bright highlights where the reflections were generated from the rendered concrete of the waterfront buildings. I am not sure that this image qualifies for my series on lines, but I am reasonably happy with the almost psychedelic (in a monochromatic way) patterns created and the tonal range captured (OM4, zuiko 135/3.5, 1/125s, f8, fp4 @ 200).