Sunday, October 19, 2014

Port Melbourne

It was another Friday evening and my friends were concerned about the weather to set on a photowalk. Eventhough the entire sky was covered with clouds by 5:30 pm, I trusted the Melbourne radar for a 75% clear sky within an hour. So left alone with my gears to a suburb that was long overdue on my list of places to be photographed.

Got into a tram of route number 109 straight to Port Melbourne - the last stop. My choice among Station pier and Princess pier was the later with exposed pylons. So headed there to shoot the sunset. On my way to the Princess pier took some quick shots of the Station pier and the light house from the Beacon Cove promenade. As predicted the sky was getting clearer with time.


Port Melbourne
Exposed pylons of the Pricess Pier

Those exposed pylons kept me busy clicking till the sunset. Though the sunset was visible cloud cover along the horizon prevented much of the reddish colourisation. And, strong wind gusts kept the water surface choppy turning the sunset shots less interesting to share here.

Spirit of Tasmania @ Port Melbourne
Spirit of Tasmania sets off

By 7:30 pm Spirit of Tasmania started yet another of her voyage from the Station pier. View of the red beauty over the pylons was good enough to add few more shutter counts.

Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne Lighthouse 1 of 2

Next I moved back to the promenade to shoot the lighthouse under the twilight. Once again felt the requirement for ND filters to smoothen the water surface.

Port Melbourne
Wished to see the light from the lighthouse

Waited for another 15 minutes to see any light from the lighthouse. The only light sources I could see and photograph were lights on the ships anchored at Williamstown.

Port Melbourne
View of the Princess Pier from the Station Pier


Brisked to the Station pier before winding off, and took few distant shots of the Princess pier. Wind gusts turned even stronger and started to challenge the sturdiness of my tripod. So gave up idea of getting into the eastern side of the Station pier to shoot St. Kilda pier. A class C tram, predominantly used on this route 109, was waiting for me to take home and I made use of it.

Monday, October 13, 2014

St. Kilda at Night

St. Kilda is one of my favourite locations in Melbourne, especially to play with my photographic gears. The beautiful sandy beach, walking trail, palm fringed road, pier with kiosk, boats and yachts, great view of Melbourne's skyline, and little penguins all give lots of opportunities to press the shutter release.

When we had to choose a location at the last minute for a Friday night photo-walk, we chose St. Kilda unanimously. Though just missed the sunset by the time we reached there, we were not disappointed. Here are the sample shots of the night:

St. Kilda
St. Kilda Pier and Pavilion

St Kilda
St. Kilda Pavilion

St Kilda
Another perspective of St. Kilda Pavilion

Melbourne Skyline
Melbourne skyline at night

St Kilda
St. Kilda Jetty and Melbourne skyline


St. Kilda pier
St. Kilda Pier and Pavilion