June 3, 2014

Recently




Hello! I'm sorry for the recent quietness, it feels like I've been buried under a pile of homework for a long, long time. I've still got exams, so bear with me over the next couple of weeks while I attempt to get those done.

I haven't been photographing people recently, which is strange and refreshing for me. I've been watching a lot of awesome documentaries that are inspiring me in all of the right ways and I'm learning so much. The photos that I'm sharing with you today are some images I've taken over the past couple of weeks.

One amazing documentary I've been watching is this one in which photographer, Sam Abell, talks about his experience with photography for National Geographic Live. One of my favourite things about this talk is the advice he gives that was shared to him by his father. When he goes to take photographs he only composes the shot and waits for life or something to come into the frame. I thought this concept was very interesting so I tried taking a few photographs using that method while I was in Melbourne one day.

The photograph above was taken while I was having coffee with my friend, Cait, at Melbourne University. People are always riding past on bikes. I was actually trying to capture people walking up and down the stairs in the background but as I was taking a shot, this woman zoomed past.

The photograph below was taken at the Emporium. It felt very upperclass and luxurious being in there. I wanted to visit the restrooms and I spied this man looking pensively out the window at the new city views.



Another image I took at the Emporium. This one I inverted because I loved the highlighted geometric shapes on the bottom of the walkways. Architecture wise, Emporium is a dream when it comes to lines. So many beautiful diagonal walkways and patterns.



An image of my morning coffee with lipstick stains while I waited for a shop to open. I like to arrive at places I need to be at quite early or else I get anxious about being late. Luckily, there's always a coffee shop nearby. I love seeing the different personalities of cafés, even the dodgy ones. I really enjoyed the vibe of this cafe. There were custard yellow tiles accented by a pale royal blue. There were wooden tables and chairs, haphazardly placed magazines, pot plants and miscellaneous decorations. It felt like this little coffee shop could be a small café in a lane way in New York, or maybe that was just my imagination running away with me. Sometimes I like to pretend I'm in New York even though I've never been there.



Over the weekend Paul and I went to Wangaratta as my uncle passed away. Although we arrived on a sad occasion I was so grateful to see my family again. I was also incredibly happy to experience some more of the amazing colours the region has to offer at this time of year. I truly miss the weather and colours that you only find in the country. We went for an adventure on the Sunday with Cait's younger sister, Bethany. We drove to Myrtleford where Paul had the most delicious pork belly dish. We then went for a small adventure up Mount Buffalo to Lake Catani. I spent an amazing three days here at the end of year nine on our adventure camp. There's a campsite to the left of this image and all of our tents were pitched around the lake. I can remember the day we all went canoeing and ended up in the water, splashing each other as though we were on summer vacation.



The colours are truly amazing. I haven't visited the mountain since I was in year nine and it was overwhelming seeing the ski fields that would soon be white with knee deep snow. I want to go back soon and take a portrait shoot there.



I spied this beautiful water tank covered with autumn leaves and vines on our way to Bright. I thought it was so beautiful I needed to take a photograph. The drive to Bright kind of feels like you're in England or America. There are pine forests along the road and you seem so far away from the Australian Bush. You can spy the pine plantations in the background of this image.



The colours of the trees were overwhelmingly beautiful. If I stopped to take photographs of every tree, shrub, landscape I loved, we would have never made it home. I experimented with moving colours while I was sitting in the car and compensated my need to taking photos of literally everything. With this image I experimented with an impressionist style.



This image is actually of light shining through some trees but it looks more like waves or light shining on water.



These glorious golden trees lined the street where Cait lives. They were like balls of orange fairy floss. As we drove into her street, the smell of burning off was in the air and you could see the haze from the smoke nearby. It just felt like autumn. It was incredibly comforting and cozy.

I took a few photographs of the trees and the leaves because I'm mesmerised by the colours. I collected a few leaves to later press in my journal with some more leaves I've collected over the season.

8 comments:

  1. These photographs are so beautiful! I love being in the mountains and in autumn, the colors are even more fantastic. I've been watching a lot of documentaries lately as well. Have you seen the documentary on Bill Cunningham? (you can find it free on hulu) He's a NY Times fashion photographer and he has such a unique attitude towards life and his work. I think you would really like it!

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    1. I'll have to google it as we don't have access to Hulu in Australia, as far as I'm aware!! But I have seen some of Cunningham's work so I'm excited to see it!

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  2. You have an absolute talent. I have never seen anyone take photographs the way you have in this post and it's beyond beautiful.

    Nice to see another Melbournian blogger! Always lovely to find. :) Keep up the good work.

    Naturally Jes

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    1. Thank you so much Jes! We should definitely get together one time soon and take some photos!

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  3. Wow, these are super incredible! Definitely have to come down to Melbourne to shoot with you

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  4. I love your photos! Especially the ones which experiment with movement, they look like paintings x

    http://perpetual-perplexities.blogspot.co.nz/

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    1. Thank you so much Chloe! They are my favourite photos too! :)

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