A Tear in the Eye – Good on you Pericles!
July 24, 2009
When I was fifteen I sat in a darkened theatre at Melbourne University and waited with bated breath to see what impact, if any, I had made on the production. Weeks and weeks of toil in the woodwork shop (difficult when I was not taking a woodwork class) was about to appear as part of the stage props. The trouble was, the last time I had seen this particular prop the cardboard feathers of the regal eagle of the Duke’s crest were still wet and the three parts did not quite align as I had envisaged them (they never do, do they). Read more
Perfect Sydney Light
June 14, 2009
Another shot from our early morning excursion which turned into a half day affair. There were no others out when we started but the fishermen soon appeared on the wharves, a couple of flashes went off from between drawn curtains in the hotel windows behind and five pedestrians shuffled past pretending to be enthusiastic fitness enthusiasts. Ha, no bounce in their step at all. Circular Quay is not known for such a sedentary pace. But we sketchers and photographers sure do appreciate it. As for the chap who was supposed be writing, (the third part of this cultural triumvirate) well, he just stood around appreciating the view. It was all just too good for words. Lame excuse but I am sticking to it!
He is a bit sketchy early in the morning…
June 14, 2009
He sure was. Just a bit after six in the morning and while Chris got the cameras working Michael started on the sketching – while keeping the hand from shaking too much in the early morning chill. The rising sun was starting to catch the Opera House and the glass of the city. But it was still dark enough to make a black and white pencil sketch entirely appropriate!
While Sydney Lay Dreaming…
June 9, 2009
Each day this last week the fog has lifted off the harbour in early morning mists and the suburbs have been shrouded in rain. Seattle weather never sits well on a Sydneysider and even though we grumble at water restrictions when the dam levels drop, we do prefer our sunny days and sparkling harbour. But fog makes for great atmospherics under the bridge so we hauled out of bed at 5 o’clock and made for the harbour. Only to be greeted by a picture perfect winters day. It was so darn good our hour of photography turned into a whole morning and we found ourselves down at the entrance to the harbour seven hours later having breakfast and lunch all rolled into one. Unusual view of Sydney Opera House – not often it is backlit by the rising sun.
Sydney Toytown
April 3, 2009
A chap called Keith Loutit has been filming and photographing scenes in a rather unique way – combining time lapse photography and a technique that constrains the point of focus. The result is a captivating effect – a toytown effect. I have embedded one of Sydney on this page. Have a look over there on the right – the video is titled Bathtub IV. Very funky.
Lunch at Dee Why
March 31, 2009
(Napkin scribblings today while waiting for colleague)
Smell of salt heavy.
Pale green (jade) sea glimpsed
through foaming white.
Hissing sand the hearth to scissoring swells,
Paddling gulls anxious about the foam.
Writing on soft tissue napkin.
Gentle chatter of blue rinse set
under a grey sky
and wave chopped horison backdrop.
Norfolk pine fronds lift and
Fall in horizontal rhythm
cued by an onshore breeze
That brought a mornings fall
Of Seattle rain (but warm) that
Puddles the paths, glitters the grass,
Soddens the shoes and forces lunch inside.
A Drug Arm Storm
March 14, 2009
The rain shimmered off the road and leapt under the street lights but was completely outshone by the viscous lightening and cracking and thundering percussion which attended it, all right overhead. The end of a warm, humid day but it did make us wonder if we would find anyone out on the streets tonight. Read more
Sydney 2009 New Years Eve/Day
January 12, 2009
2009 starts as it does with any other year – with plenty of colour and noise, folk travelling from all over the world to start the year here. It helps that the weather is hot and humid at this time, though new year in a snow bound New York has a certain appeal I have to confess. Matt, who took this excellent photo (another work colleague talented with the camera), came all the way from the UK via all points of the compass to take this photo. OK, he has been living here a few years now. Pretty hard to dislodge him from this part of the world now I think.
Storm Flowers
November 30, 2008
The Jacaranda flower rains, especially in the rain. After a couple of weeks in the sun and gently falling in a slow shower in their own slow time the flowers get to a point where rain brings them down more easily. Or so it seems. I fancy they are our storm flowers, arriving at the time our warm and humid weather hits, Sydney days at this time of the year starting out clear, humid and warm and often ending in a rumbling and crackling storm. Or with the southerly buster which drops the temperature ten degrees in a heartbeat. Our first settlers welcomed the “buster” but I would prefer the warmth to roll on. Fortunately these colours hang around for a few weeks, making even the humdrum drive to work a real pleasure – the Australian suburban bush is leaking rivers of this purple right now.
Cemetary Alive!
November 17, 2008
A quick note – the pictures tell their own story. “Spring is sprung, the flowers are riz” and the wildflowers in the Gore Hill cemetery (Victorian death lost in the middle of Sydney) are abundant and vibrant and powerfully contrast the stones they envelop. It is a great place to wander during a work day, “looking for the living among the dead” imagining families long gone and being reminded how wise the advice “carpe diem.” (Photos by Chris Gersch)
