Author: Robert Young

Seagulls

I live beside a lake and very near a wetlands sanctuary of world importance (listed under the international convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat).

On an evening walk I regularly see ducks Australian black swans, pelicans, fairy terns, cormorants and herons.

And seagulls. Lots and lots of seagulls. They can be annoying, irritating, noisy, pushy and messy. But they can also be beautiful and a joy to photograph.

photocrati gallery

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Under the West Gate Bridge

The West Gate bridge connects the centre of Melbourne with the western suburbs and the highway to my home town of Geelong.

The West Gate, or lack of it has been a main feature of my life. Before it was open, the only way to get into Melbourne city, or through it to the suburbs in the east, was a long, slow trip through the western suburbs and inner city suburbs. After it was built in the 1970s, I spent quite a lot of my time driving over it; and sitting in stationary traffic on it.

In October 1970, during the construction phase, one of the spans fell, killing 35 workers. There is a memorial park under the western end of the bridge to commemorate this tragic loss of life.

Recently a lot of maintenance work has been undertaken on the bridge to repair cracks and put up higher safety railings.

The West Gate can be a beautiful sight; it has the form of a long, sinuous curve and presents different aspects in different weather conditions.

photocrati gallery

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Suburbia

I live in one of the fastest growing areas in Victoria, in fact all of Australia. Although the area is fairly well-heeled and there are some people with serious money, the suburbs around me aren’t exactly full of cutting edge architecture.

In fact I regularly have to endure conversations that include the terms; cheap, thrown together, cookie-cutter, ugly, cut-price, design free, boxes made of ticky-tacky, little boxes all the same. Not many of the boxes are little though.

There is a lot of truth in these comments, this period in this area won’t be remembered as a classic example of modern architecture or building techniques.

However, I do enjoy photographing as I walk around the streets. Given the right time of day and the right light, there might not be great architecture, but there is design, and sometimes even art.

photocrati gallery

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Photographing Freeplay

I recently had some fun photographing the events at the Freeplay independent games festival held in Melbourne, Australia.

The events I photographed took place in an auditorium at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), a theatre at the State Library of Victoria, an exhibition space in the State Library and a dimly lit bar where the awards presentation was held.

The lighting conditions varied from marginal, lit by spotlights of various strengths and colours to almost pitch black lit by dull red spots (the bar).

The white balance was non-existent, depending on where the speakers were standing, what was being displayed on the screen behind them and whether or not they were using a tablet for reading notes.

Mare Sheppard of Metanet Software Inc.

This was an excellent chance to try out the low level response and focusing of the new 5D Mark 3 which had arrived a week or so earlier.

The first surprise was the focusing, much, much faster than the original 5D I had been using prior to this. It was grabbing focus as fast as I could press the shutter button, even in the dimly lit bar there was no lag or focus hunting.

Morgan Jaffit of Defiant Development.

The low level performance was brilliant, it can practically see in the dark and this came in very handy in the bar for the awards night. Sure the files have some noise, but this cleaned up to an acceptable level for the conditions. I’ve never shot an image at ISO 25600 before. This gave me 1/80 at f4.5 and combined with a monopod I was able to document the evening and capture not only the presenters and award recipients, but also the visuals on the screen behind them. See more of the images at the Freeplay galleries.

Paul Callaghan, director of Freeplay

 

 

Sheep Roundup

In September 2011, we were travelling in the north of Iceland and had the privilege of watching a sheep round up. This was great community event with many families gathered around to take part and watch the sheep being brought in from the surrounding hills and sorted out ready to be brought in for the winter.

It was clear, cool day with lots of BBQs, drinks, fun for the children, who often took part in locating and retrieving the family’s sheep.

This year was just a little different, as this article from an Iceland newspaper shows.

 

 

 

Golden Girls – The Dungeon Crawl Years

It’s been ages since I posted about my visits to Dungeon Crawl at the Bella Union. (OK, so just pretend it’s been ages.) In the August edition four intrepid but retired women were forced out of retirement to save their house and battle once again with an evil enemy they thought they had defeated years ago. But he was still alive and still evil and out for revenge.

Vic Healy, Louise Joy McCrae, Michelle Nussey and Brenna Courtney Glazebrook starred as the Golden Girls. As usual Richard McKenzie provided all the evil and nasty creatures trying to kill the adventurers.

The Golden Girls Return

 

 

 

Road Trip

Just got back from a road trip to the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound, Arkaroola and Marree in the north of South Australia.

I hadn’t been up that way before and I was very pleasantly surprised by the variation in the landscape, the vegetation, the colours and the light, much much more interesting than I was expecting. I might not have to go to Iceland for the wilderness experience after all.

Stayed at Rawnsley Park Station, Blinman, Arkaroola, Marree and the Wilpena Pound centre, even had lunch at the William Creek pub.

Arkaroola was a highlight, the landscape, colours and history makes this a great place to visit. And a return visit is definitely going to happen.

But, after spending 13 days in the outback, I still don’t get this 4WD thing. The beasts were everywhere, but I don’t understand why. You can go anywhere you want in a normal car. And a Cessna.

The Outback Runabout at William Creek

International Fame at Last!

A little while ago I produced my first book and ebook via MagCloud. The topic was the wonderful churches I saw and photographed while in Iceland. These buildings are simple, beautiful and usually in the most amazing places.

I was very pleased to receive a marvelous review of my work from the excellent (and funny) French photographer and fellow Iceland tragic, Anthony Le Bourlier. Read it here: When Australians Goes to Stykkisholmur.

You can follow Anthony on Twitter: @LeBourlier.

And my book and or PDF download is available here: