Cruise, Tom

Just The Ticket For A View Of Melbourne

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

With the weather warming up, the cruise vessels down the Yarra River get proportionally busier. When we first came to live in Melbourne 20 years ago, there were four months of daylight saving every year, from the last weekend of October to the first weekend of March.


Things have changed now. It was decided a few years ago to extend daylight saving until the end of March. And this year, for the first time, daylight saving began on the first weekend of October so we now have long daylight hours for exactly half the year.

Back in 2000, when Sydney hosted the Olympics, we actually went into daylight saving at the start of September, specifically because of the Games. So there's an interesting piece of Olympic trivia that you might not have known.

Oh, and here's another Olympic story - when Melbourne hosted the 1956 Games, the equestrian events were actually held in Stockholm, Sweden, because of Australia's strict quarantine laws.


The move towards longer daylight hours is good news for tour operators and for the restaurants that make this city famous. It was a warm, sunny afternoon when I took these shots. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go and grab a ticket for myself …..


By the way, if you're wondering about the huge silver figures that grace the diagonal bridge in the background of this shot (above) let me tell you they are an integral part of this city's multicultural background. The figures pay homage to those who left their homelands to live here, in this sunburnt country.

The story of the huge figures that actually move up and down the length of the disused Sandridge Rail Bridge is detailed in a previous post I wrote, and can be found at Action Figures.

Visit the creative team behind That's MyWorld Tuesday.

Bridge The Gap

X Is For X-Factor

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

What I really like about the expression ``the X-Factor’’ is that it is completely undefinable. It is something that defies our attempts to categorise everything around us. Yet it is something we clarify as being the difference between something pedestrian and something memorable.

I’ve tried to devote this week’s theme to explaining this ephemeral concept. Last week, I was walking across the Sandridge Rail Bridge here in Melbourne, which dates back to the late 1800s. I was just standing there and running my hand across the rivets and wondering about the men who painstakingly put them in place while the bridge was being built.

I shot the first image to try and capture the fact that these rivets were put in place by hand, not by robots but by flesh-and-blood builders who laboured under Melbourne’s fickle weather.

I could see that while most of the rivets were in a precise military-like pattern, an occasional one was slightly out of alignment, as you'll see in the second shot (above).

I also liked the fact that the weak sunlight in this frame gave me a definable shadow - hey, when was the last time you got an artistic kick out of photographing rivets and their shadows?

I was also intrigued by the early-afternoon light patterns on the painted metal. Then I continued walking along the bridge and the light changed dramatically, with the sun coming out from behind cloud cover.

Immediately, the metal took on a new sheen, like polished chrome.

Just before I hit the shutter, a tourist with a camera walked into my line of vision. Instead of swinging my camera away from him, I moved it fractionally towards him, to include him in the frame. His appearance gives the shot a new perspective and his yellow jumper puts a splash of colour into my frame.

Along with the darker daubs of colour on the top right-hand corner, I also liked the fact that the rivets disappeared into the distance like an array of shimmering silver globules.

I guess each angle tells a different story, but I hope you were riveted. I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me which of the three shots, in your opinion, has the X-Factor.

For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

Action Figures

The Travellers Come From Many Lands

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

With the brilliant blue skies we had on Wednesday, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to give you a Sky Watch Friday post that takes you to the heart of Melbourne, both visually and culturally. As you can see by the photograph above, the quality of light was so strong that the shadows were almost summer-like in their clarity and definition.

These striking metal figures - called The Travellers and designed by Nadim Karam and Atelier Hapsitus - are several metres high and they are a terrific barometer of Melbourne's fickle weather. In cloudy or overcast conditions, the figures look gun-metal grey, but in sunny weather, they cast a unique silvery gleam. So on Wednesday, as the clouds began to clear at lunchtime, The Travellers were at their shiny metallic best.

They stand on the old Sandridge Bridge and they tell a tale of many lands, many races, many bold ventures by migrants who left their native shores and journeyed to this sunburnt country. As a migrant myself, I find they are a wonderful expression of pride, reflecting this city's multi-cultural heritage.

The Sandridge Bridge was built in 1888, the first metal bridge across the Yarra River. It was a rail bridge and it ran diagonally across the river, forming an important link between Port Melbourne and the new city that was part of John Batman’s great vision.

When the bridge was decommissioned in 1987, a year before I came to live in Melbourne, it fell into disrepair. Several points of view were aired on what should be done with the bridge and in 2006, just before the opening of the Commonwealth Games here in Melbourne, the refurbished bridge was unveiled.

The bridge is now a walkway and there are 128 glass panels on either side that commemorate each nation from which people migrated to Melbourne. The individual glass panels can be seen in the photo above and each has the name of a country emblazoned on it. But the piece de resistance, without doubt, is the nine giant steel sculptures named The Travellers. Three times each day, the huge figures slide soundlessly back and forward across the bridge.

Shortly after they were unveiled, I walked across the bridge to stand under their shadow while each traversed the huge span of the bridge. There is nothing more than a muted whirring as each figure slides seamlessly into place and the others follow in a parade of quiet majesty.

Each figure represents the different waves of settlers, from the early convicts to the Gold Rush-era prospectors, as well as the refugees and the modern professionals.

And what, you might well ask, of this land's most ancient inhabitants? There is a tenth figure (above) built on a giant plinth, that is stationary on the south bank of the river. It represents Victoria's Aboriginal communities, for whom this spot by the life-sustaining river was a traditional meeting place.

Migrants no longer cross this historic bridge. Migrants no longer make a many-layered journey across this historic stretch of water. But The Travellers, who traverse it instead, remind us all - every one of us - how boldly we strode from the lands of our birth to come here.

For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch Friday.

Grey Expectations

Looking Under A Bridge Is A Riveting View

Under the disused Sandridge rail bridge, Melbourne.

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Ol' Man River

Picasso Might Have Loved This Blue Period

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes the simplest photograph can bring you great pleasure. This is just a no-frills, straightforward shot taken from the footbridge leading to Flinders Street Station here in Melbourne. But the overwhelming blue tones throughout the scene really grabbed my attention.

I just framed it simply, so that the buildings on either side would dictate the perspective of the scene. We get amazing blue skies here, even in winter. But the thin wisps of cloud here added great value to a very tranquil scene. On the left is Southbank, the recently developed business and arts precinct. On the right is the central business district. And running diagonally across the Yarra River is the disused Sandridge Rail Bridge.

There have also been a few people asking me about the lens I used for the previous shot, titled Paper Moon, showing the sliver of the moon alongside the silhouette of a tree. It was a Sigma 125mm lens and the shot was taken without a tripod in rather mundane circumstances last night. I had actually gone to wheel the garbage bin onto the nature strip, then I saw the moon - and did what you would expect of me. I left the bin exactly where it was and rushed in to get the camera. I've certainly got my priorities right!