Is It Up, Or Is It Down?

Do Not Adjust Your Screen

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This week’s theme really got me thinking, because there aren’t really a lot of shots I’ve taken that would meet the criterion. I was starting to wonder how best to depict this – and then I remembered a couple of shots I took about eight weeks ago.

I just happened to be coming down the stairs from Southbank to the Langham Hotel here in Melbourne, when I noticed a Mercedes-Benz parked in just the right spot. Not only was it in great light and in a position where I could shoot it from above, but its hood also had a clearly discernible reflection of one of Melbourne’s most recent and most recognisable landmarks – the mammoth Eureka Building, which opened in 2006.

I took the first shot exactly where I stood and then I realised that if I moved slightly to my left, I would be able to shoot a segmented image. By this I mean the reflection of Eureka would occupy the left-hand side of the car’s hood, while the right-hand side would be absolutely clear of anything at all.

Now I can also explain why I was so lucky that the car was a Merc. The distinctive three-pointed star is a perfect point of reference. Not only does it divide the image into two clear segments, but it is one of the easiest corporate symbols to identify.


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Contrasts In Style And Grace

Two Faces Of Melbourne’s Architectural History

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

These shots were taken while I was walking towards Flinders Street Station recently, on an afternoon when the wind was biting but the sky turned brilliant blue for a short while.

As I walked, just soaking up the atmosphere of this beautiful city, I suddenly realised that if I found the precise angle, I could capture an interesting shot of the city.

So amid the crowds, I waited until I could find just the right spot in front of the city’s main station. I used my long lens for this sequence, because I wanted a really tight frame that encompassed two different styles and two very different eras in the city’s rich history.

In the foreground is the graceful Victorian-style façade of Flinders Street Station, just to the right of the central dome above the main entrance. In the background is Eureka Tower, the highest residential structure in the southern hemisphere.

The station is redolent of nineteenth century grace, while the super-skyscraper that redefines Melbourne’s skyline has only been officially open since October 2006.

So there you have it. A single frame that presents both ends of the spectrum of Melbourne’s most recognisable buildings.


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A Is For Angel

This Melbourne Landmark Is Larger Than Life

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

So, did you spot the angel in the photograph above? No, don't look in the sky. The large sculpture by the riverside is called "The Angel". One of Deborah Halpern's signature pieces of art, it was commissioned 22 years ago, in 1987, for Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations the following year.

This sequence of images was shot exactly two years ago, on an icy cold Melbourne winter day. And just in case you're looking at the image above and thinking the trees don't look like our normal Aussie gum trees, you're dead right. They're actually English elms, planted all along the Yarra River by the early settlers.


I was standing at the area of parkland known as Birrarung Marr, photographing Deborah Halpern's masterpiece when I realised that if I stood under the 30-foot tall (almost 10 metres) work of art , I could actually use its shape as a triangular frame for the cityscape.

Angel's first home was actually the south moat of the nearby National Gallery Victoria, or NGV, but it was moved in 2006 to its present spot at Birrarung Marr.

This shot (above) was taken under the work of art, looking directly across the river. A few second after I took that frame, I wondered if I would somehow be able to find an angle where I could actually photograph Princes Bridge.

The short answer was yes. As you can see from the image below, I was able to compose an asymmetrical shot to include not only all three spans of the prominent bridge, but even the surface of the Yarra, as well as the towering Rialto. It used to be Melbourne's tallest building until Eureka Tower (visible in the second frame) took that distinction when it opened in 2006.


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First Light

Treat Each Dawn As A Gift

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I have parked literally hundreds of times in this Southbank high-rise car park. On most of those occasions, I have parked before dawn’s first light and always walked down the concrete walkway out onto the street.

But on this occasion, luck was on my side. The parking slots on the first level were all full, so I parked higher up and got into the lift/elevator, where another person had already pressed the button for the ground floor.

Because I didn’t walk down as usual, I found myself taking a different exit onto a side street. Looking up, I saw that the first light of the morning cast the shadow of Eureka Tower (the world’s highest residential building) onto the nearby Exxon Mobil office building across the street.

Rather than shoot a skyscape reflection, I chose to position myself under a nearby palm tree, so as to include the fronds in the frame.

Routine is a wonderful thing, but because my pattern of repetition had been broken, these shots were a gift, a simple way to start another wonderfully productive day.


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Grin Reaper

Scooby-Doo Gets A New Leash Of Life

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

So there I was, spending my lunch hour wandering around the 2009 Moomba fairground on the banks of the Yarra. Sunny afternoon. Huge crowd. Water-skiers on the Yarra. Music on the PA system. It seems as if the Alexandra Gardens are the focal point of Melbourne.

That's when I spot a familiar goofy smile. High above one of the stalls that is a haven for a game of skill is one of the ultimate prizes - a lifesize Scooby-Doo. I get a couple of tight shots of Scooby and a couple of his clones.

I am about to walk away when I realise that with a little manoeuvring and some tight composition, I can get a shot of Scooby wearing his purple hoodie - with one of Melbourne's most famous modern landmarks in the background.

The skyscraper is Eureka Tower, the highest residential apartment building in the southern hemisphere. The only reason I was able to compose such a tight frame was that I had opted to use my 70-300mm lens that afternoon.

It's hard to tell who was more animated - Scooby-Doo or the photographer.


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Tall Story

Eureka, I Think I've Got It

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

As a proud photographer, a proud Melburnian and a proud Australian, it is my very great pleasure to be able to share a unique subject with you today, in response to the Photo Hunt theme of "High". Our very own Eureka Tower here at Southbank, beside the Yarra River in Melbourne, is the tallest apartment building in the world. How tall? Make that 300 meters tall, comprising 92 storeys, with the amazing Skydeck established as a major tourist attraction.

This first shot (above) was taken with a little Pentax Optio 33LF, back in June 2005. I was walking down Flinders Street, early on a Saturday morning. I started shooting a city-based sequence long before dawn and by the time I got to this spot, the sun was just starting to cast a glow through heavy cloud in the east. To the west, the cloud was fragmented and the sky was a delicate range of colours.

I shot this from the northern pavement of Flinders Street. As you can see, construction of Eureka Tower was still in progress. To the right is the silhouette of the famous dome of Flinders Street Station and to the left is the perimeter wall of Federation Square, built to commemorate the centenary of Federation, which took place in 1901. The perimeter wall, interestingly enough, brings a touch of parallax to the scene. And yes, that's a bird in flight above the brown building to the right of Eureka.

This shot (above) was taken when heavy fog blanketed Melbourne in July 2007 - which is slap-bang in the middle of our winter. I shot two frames that morning, one horizontal and one vertical. The horizontal shot is a striking image, but I felt then (as I still do) that this vertical frame is more compelling.

To the left is the IBM building, to the right is the Langham Hotel, formerly the Sheraton. And disappearing into the thick fog is Eureka, the tallest symbol of the city I live in. There is something that is "just right" about this image, for which I was bent like a wannabe contortionist. This, and all the other photographs in this sequence, were taken with my Pentax K100D.

I shot this image (above) last October, just after five o'clock in the morning, on Sturt Street in south Melbourne. The colours of the sky were just right for this sort of skyline shot. And then I had a stroke of luck. The floodlights on the angular sculpture in the foreground are normally a range of pink and orange. But they suddenly turned yellow, probably in a final sequence before shutdown as dawn approached. I published a vertical frame from this series of shots the day I took them, but this horizontal frame captures more nuances of all-round colour and perspective. Yes, the colours are natural - and no, none of these images have been edited, cropped or digitally enhanced. That ain't my style.

This shot (above) was taken in mid-2007. I was walking towards Southbank and shot this on a whim, without even breaking stride. Why? Because it just seemed a fitting way to capture the solitary splendour of the towering landmark.

This shot was taken (and published on this blog) in September 2006, from the footbridge conecting Southbank to the northern side of the city. I was actually shooting Princes Bridge across the water when I noticed a billiant patch of blue sky above Eureka Tower. I shot this frame exactly where I stood, using the metal arch of the footbridge as a natural prop.

Remember the famous motorcycle sequence in the Nicolas Cage movie "Ghost Rider"? That scene was shot on the same arch in this photograph. I shot this using a versatile 18-125mm Sigma lens. The focal length of this shot was a mid-range 58mm.

This final shot (above) in the sequence was taken about a month ago, the first day I was experimenting with my new 70-300mm Sigma lens. It was lunchtime on a warm Melbourne afternoon and this was one of the first frames I shot using the full focal length of 300mm. The top of the gigantic apartment building seemed so close that I felt I could almost touch it.

And if you're wondering, yes, Eureka Tower will turn off all lights for Earth Hour later today. That's not a tall story.