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Melbourne White Night 2016 – Time-lapse and Photos

Melbourne White Night 2016 - Time-lapse and Photos

White Night 2016

White Night 2016 has happened and it’s been huge. I’ve been to a number of them, but this was the second time that I headed along with the sole goal of documenting it via time-lapse. The only downside to all this is there are some parts that I just can’t get access to. Looking online, there’s some great shots of the Melbourne Baths and the La Trobe Reading Room at the State Library, but for what this is worth, I hope it gives some idea. So here we go, Melbourne on February 20, 2016, like you rarely see it.

Watch the Night in 2 minutes

I’m up on Facebook, too…

I’ve also got a video up on Facebook – check out the direct link to watch it on Facebook.

White Night 2015 – How do they compare

To see for yourself, check out Melbourne White Night 2015 time-lapse and photos. See if you can tell which one I preferred…

Kicking of my Daily Picture Project 2016 – Week 1

Kicking of my Daily Picture Project 2016 - Week 1

I’ve decided to ramp up my photography in 2016, so I’ve kicked off with a bold plan. I want to take a photo a day and share it that same day on facebook.com/regularsteven. Sounds pretty simple, if quality isn’t a goal, but I’m really hoping that I can snap and share something that I’m actually happy with. I’m a bit fussy with my shots; In the past you might see a picture that is cherry picked from 50 (sometimes more, sometimes less). So this project is hopefully going to push me to sharpen up what I shoot and put me under pressure to show what works, and perhaps what doesn’t.

This week has kicked off and I’ve hit every day with something I’m happy with. Some of the days I’ve captured a few shot that I’m pretty chuffed with, and one day (Jan 6 ) where I needed to give it a second crack.

I’m also hoping to get it up on Facebook pretty quickly. So while I might snap something in the morning, I’ll hopefully get it live that morning. Wont always be possible, but that’s the goal.

I hope you enjoy the effort that I’m putting in. It’s gonna have some misses – I know that. But fingers crossed it lets me find another gear and allows me to get some diversity in to my work.

So here we are; Week 1. Some of these were selected for my Facebook page, some have yet to be seen. Feel free to use for your own personal use in a digital sense, such as a wallpaper / screensaver. If you’d like to obtain higher resolution, please hit me up via facebook.com/regularsteven.

Hello Ween at The Catfish

Hello Ween at The Catfish

I’ll get this out of the way… I don’t really know Ween. I mean, I kinda know them, who doesn’t? But ‘know know’? Not me. I’ve got friends that love them – and they like good stuff, so, by extension, I guess I like them? Well,  it’s the same kinda thing with Hello Ween: Tribute to the Boognish. We’ve got quite a few mutual friends, but that’s always what makes for an awesome party. And Hello Ween delivered – they were a fricken party.

So, line up the shots, I’ve got some schnapps…

If you’d like to use them in anyway, I’d appreciate it if you can link back to me – that’s regularsteven.com on the web, facebook.com/regularsteven or instagram.com/regularsteven

Big League at the Catfish

Big League at the Catfish

You know when you see friends on stage, and you’re just so happy for them? I’m not trying to be sucky or anything like that, but it’s always great to see people you love just doing what they love, while entertaining a bunch of friends and strangers alike. When I turned up, I knew I was a little late, but I didn’t know if Big Leage had started yet. I was queuing up, I heard music, but I thought “all good, that’s just the CD…” but it was Big League. They were great.

Check em out on Facebook or Soundcloud

Sunrise at Jells Park

Sunrise at Jells Park

I’ve never been to Jells Lake at sunrise, let alone Jells Park at first light. I’ve had no real need, and to be honest, I didn’t really know much about it at all. But a local amateur photography competition(#SnapMonash) recently caught my interest, and the requirements are to capture a photograph in the City of Monash. So that led me to having a little explore. On to Google Maps I went, had a look in the region, and I thought ‘that might be nice’.

I used to live just around the corner, but I wasn’t really in to photography back then. And having never been, I had no idea what I’d find, but I’m really happy I got up at 5am on Wednesday morning to check it out . The fog on the water, all the wild life, beautiful colour in the sky – the morning was really rad.

As for the competition, it’s being run from the Monash Gallery of Art and The Glen Shopping Centre. There aren’t too many entries yet on Instagram (check out the #snapmonash hashtag), but this kind of stuff really needs grass-roots support. I’m not a professional photographer, but it really is a massive passion of mine. And the only way these competitions run and encourage people with their passions, is if they get the entries. For all the details, check out the #SnapMonash Competition page

Anyways, here are my photos – I hope you like what I’ve found, and equally, get down there yourself. I just hope I submitted the right one. They say you can enter multiple times, but I don’t wanna be ‘that guy’…

Wonderful Williamstown

Wonderful Williamstown

To be honest, I wanted to run with a title of ‘Beautiful Billville’, but that would just be confusing… I mean, William gets shortened to Bill in some instances, but not this one. In any case, I think Williamstown is alright. It’s so close to the city, but it’s just so calm and peaceful. There’s always little boats bobbing around, and when the weather is nice, it’s just a killer view Melbourne over Port Phillip Bay & Hobsons Bay.

These here were shot on Sunday October 18. Mix of short and long exposures; that misty look on the water is a result of a 30 second exposure, if you’re wondering.


The Pinnacles of Phillip Island – Seriously Epic

The Pinnacles of Phillip Island - Seriously Epic

The Pinnacles at Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island are pretty close to Melbourne. All up, the drive is about 2 hours from Melbourne, but living in Australia, that’s not massive. As you walk down to the beach, it’s a pretty typical Aussie surf beach. Big waves, lots of sand, mist in the air, windy, and cliffs on the horizon. The entrance to the walkway is about 1km east (left) from the beach car park, so it’s pretty cruisy walk to the walkway which is the beginning of Cape Woolamai. You start to climb and get a better picture, but it doesn’t really prepare you.

The walk from the car park is about 45/60 minutes (depending on how often you stop for a click), and it’s not a tough mission. Along the way, there’s plenty to see, but nothing really prepares you for the real highlight of The Pinnacles. When you get there, you’re looking down from an observation platform and things look amazing, but still a little small. When you head down, it really gets put in perspective, and you really appreciate how large those rocks actually are. Each on of those pebbles are big enough for two to stand on. And there are thousands of them!

Lucky for me, this weekend I decided to head down and see how I’d go. To be honest, I thought it was going to be a bad move. The weather was wild, and I thought this could be a real fizzer. So, have a look through the photos below. You can see the weather starting off pretty rough, and as time goes on, the clouds blew over and the colour in the sky comes on strong to put on a show. Loved it!

Icing on the cake

Just to put icing on the cake, at one point we saw a pod of dolphins about 20 strong! Talk about an awesome little mission. Too far out with my wide lenses on, but still, it’s about more than the photos.

And a little freebee

You can download pretty sweet resolutions here, but if you’d like a super high original resolution of “Saving the best moment for the end. Amazing.”, I’ve got a download link for my favourite Pinnacles Sunset Photo. Feel free to use for personal use however you’d like – just don’t sell it…

1963 Mini – A British Icon with Modern Melbourne

1963 Mini - A British Icon with Modern Melbourne

Mixing classic and contemporary isn’t usually as pronounced as this. But it just works…

Tim O’Grady, restored this little beauty as a pet project, and it took quite a while. When it finally hit the road, what better way to celebrate than taking it for a spin and shoot. I don’t know bugger all about cars, but here’s what Tim had to say.

So the car is a 1963 mini. I swapped it for a lawnmower that I had found in a hard rubbish collection. I’ve had it since I was 13. At the time it had been T-boned by an F250 truck and had been scrapped for parts. I took the shell and all the parts I could get my hands on. All the body and mechanical work was done by Dad, John (the original owner) and myself. I owe a huge thank you to Fiona and mum for work on the interior. It has been made to resemble the performance minis of the 60’s and I’ve tried to keep things original but with modern touches. The car looks exactly as I wanted it too and I’m really happy I stuck with it.

Mornington Peninsula – 90 Minutes from Melbourne

Mornington Peninsula - 90 Minutes from Melbourne

Stuck in a routine

It’s funny how when you’re a local, you tend to not really absorb the great things around you. Using myself in Melbourne, as an example, how much does it take to do something like visit the Aquarium? Or go for dinner on the Restaurant Tram? Or even head down to the Dandenong Rangers for a day out? What I’m getting at, is there is so much to do for locals, yet we often wait for friends of family to visit (from afar) as justification for doing something interesting.

Weekend road trip to the Mornington Peninsula

This last weekend, a group of friends headed down to the Mornington Peninsula, and considering it’s only 90 minutes out of Melbourne, it’s pretty remarkable how much of a change of sights we get (and the fresh, sea air!). I mean, you know it’s going to be different, but it’s easy to forget that beautiful nature isn’t really that far away when you get stuck in a routine of work-eat-sleep-chores-socialise, then repeat. And the photos below really only represent the beachy side of things; the winery and food missions we did were awesome! Only they were more about food and boozing (um, tasting) than photography.

So, needless to say, I tried to make the most of it, and for me, that means getting up at sunrise and trying to get that beautiful glow. Walking around with my camera really is how I find my own space, and I’m always wanting to capture something different (at least for me).

And on with the photography

I hope you enjoy the random splattering of shots from the weekend below. And feel free to download them as your wallpaper – they are pretty high resolution, so just right (or option on a Mac) click and chose to ‘save link as’  for the image. Let me know what you think, share it round/up-vote on social if you dig!

Cheers, Steve

P.S. For a bunch more Mornington Peninsula stuff, check out the Tourism Victoria Visit Melbourne site.

Lensbaby Edge 80 – Big Things Made Small

Lensbaby Edge 80 - Big Things Made Small

I’ve had my Lensbaby Edge 80 for around two years (at point of writing this), and I’ve never really put a group of photos together that demonstrate the kind of fun you can have with it. It’s not a lens that I’ll have with me all the time, but every now and then, it’s really cool to drag out and have a play.

In terms of how I use it, I really like to try capture a long or elevated shot, that gives the flexibility to make a tilt-shift type effect by bending the lens in its mounting (see this geeky YouTube to learn some more). It’s not something I need to do at any serious level, so the price point (compared to a tilt-shift) really makes sense, and I’m a big fan of it.

There’s something cool about doing this stuff in-camera, and the blur you get when bending it around, is very optically-real. What I mean by optically-real, is this is an effect that happens as a result of real optics changing, rather than trying to mimic the effect in Photoshop. Sure, Photoshop can do this kind of stuff, but at the same time, this lens will also work with 35mm film (I must try that!). But, who cares really, as long as you’re having some fun with it.

I hope these shots can give a little taste of what you can produce. Mostly Melbourne below, but I did recently take it with me to Vietnam for something a little different.

Southbank Stroll – Walking at Dusk

Southbank Stroll - Walking at Dusk

Walking around Southbank really is a treat. There’s so many photo opporunities, and it’s no surprise that there’s trigger happy snappers all over the joint. These shots here are from my walk home. Pretty easy to take your time when the sun is going down, and the city lights really come to life just after sunset.

White Night Melbourne 2015 – A Time lapse

White Night Melbourne 2015 - A Time lapse

What a massive night!

White Night Melbourne has just happened, and it was a big one. I headed along to try capture as much as I can with my camera (along with the rest of the world), and I’ve made a little time lapse clip from how I saw it. Massive cheers to Holy Moses Heartache for allowing me to use “Good Times” on the track. Check them out on Facebook, and buy their album Cheers on BandCamp.

White Night Melbourne 2015 in Time Lapse


All nighter required

And some photos

The photos below are all from the clip. Each video sequence requires about 250 raw images to be taken, and I’ve just grabbed a few out for some visual love below.

Melbourne Street Art – A Sunday Walk

Melbourne Street Art - A Sunday Walk

It was a pretty cruisy Sunday, and with a bunch of things on my mind, felt like it was the right time to get out for a walk. I decided to head back to two old favorites; Hosier Lane and Croft Alley.

Depending on your luck, you can get a real wet (paint) experience, or something a little more roughed up. You know your getting a good show when you can smell the paint. You get wild colours, awesome reflections and a generally un-touched experience. And don’t lean on the walls. This Sunday, though, was a little rougher. It’s not my first choice, but still, I dig it.

As for the photos below, if you know the artists, please let me know. I’m not totally across who does what, but happy to link back.

Croft Alley

Croft Alley doesn’t get as much action as Hosier, and as such, the pieces are older but they last a bit longer. There’s not as much tagging going on, so pieces are generally kept in better order. There’s also way less people, but it’s seriously worth the little walk. Equally cool is the Croft Institute at the end. It’s been a few years since I headed there, but if you’ve never been and in the area, give it a look.

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane (and Rutledge Lane, which is basically the same thing) are the showcase for Melbourne’s street art. The streets are constantly changing, and there’s only a few pieces that stand the test of time. That said, despite the apparent outrage a few years back when Rutledge went blue and that it was going to be changed forever, it’s back to normal. There’s always people, there’s often tags all over pieces, but it’s the centrepiece of Melbourne’s street art for good reason.

 

Docklands at Night

Victoria Harbour, Bolte Bridge and The Melbourne Star

Wanna free high-res, free for all use, version?

Print it, share it, send it, copy it, edit it… Do whatever you like. It’s free. Just please don’t sell it.

If you do something with the print, let me know in comments below. Love to hear if you get it printed, put it on a website, use it on a design, or whatever it might end up as.

Also, a big thanks to the team at Melbourne Official Tourism on Twitter, too! Follow them!

Download your 8000px Docklands at Night Photo now!

Cheers, Steve

Victoria Harbour, Bolte Bridge and The Melbourne Star
Relaxing by Victoria Harbour