L-MOUNT Forum

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

Downtown Sydney

Pete_W

LMF-Patron
Following on from @Travis Butler 's recent thread A Walk Down Main Street:

Now that that's done... I'd love to see what everyone here can do with their downtown areas. Hoping to spark some good photo walks! What kind of cool buildings and areas do you have in your city?

...here are some photos I took on my walk around downtown Sydney yesterday.

Corner of Pitt & Hay Streets looking north. I processed this one using DxO FilmPack's digital N-Dream film to give the image a nostalgic look.
S5II + LUMIX S 24-105/F4 41mm ƒ/10 1/160s ISO100
Pitt Street looking north at Hay Street by Peter Watters, on Flickr

St Andrews Cathedral. This is actually the back of the church on George Street so not the best angle. And I was quite close so I used a wide-angle lens and straightened it up with DxO. I discovered with this shot and a few others that the 14-28mm is quite prone to purple fringing (and of course green flare).
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6 14mm ƒ/5.6 1/100s ISO100
St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney by Peter Watters, on Flickr

The Queen Victoria Building (a.k.a. The QVB), a Romanesque building opened in 1898. It was originally designed as a marketplace although had a number of other uses over the decades. It was restored to its original retail purpose in the 1980s and now houses boutique shops and cafes. Photo taken on the corner of York & Market Streets.
S5II + LUMIX S 24-105/F4 25mm ƒ/5.6 1/125s ISO100
QVB from the corner of York & Market Streets by Peter Watters, on Flickr

Queen Victoria herself, sitting outside the QVB. She's been there for years.
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6 28mm ƒ/5.6 1/160s ISO100
Queen Victoria outside the QVB by Peter Watters, on Flickr

QVB Level 3. You can see all four levels in this shot.
SSII + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6 14mm ƒ/5.6 1/60s ISO1600
QVB Level 3 by Peter Watters, on Flickr

QVB stained glass window facing George Street. The building has many nice architectural features.
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6 20mm ƒ/5.6 1/60s ISO320
QVB (George St side) by Peter Watters, on Flickr

George Street in Sydney was a major north-south thoroughfare and always jammed full of cars. It was closed to traffic a few years ago and now only sees trams and pedestrians.
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6 28mm ƒ/5.6 1/320s ISO100
George Street outside the QVB by Peter Watters, on Flickr

I have some more photos to add later, including my favourite photographic subject, trains! Z04 Breakdance.gif
 
Following on from @Travis Butler 's recent thread A Walk Down Main Street:
Yay! This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to spur on. :cool:
...here are some photos I took on my walk around downtown Sydney yesterday.

Corner of Pitt & Hay Streets looking north. I processed this one using DxO FilmPack's digital N-Dream film to give the image a nostalgic look.
Love this one, even if it's hard to see all at once on the laptop screen. :)
The Queen Victoria Building (a.k.a. The QVB), a Romanesque building opened in 1898. It was originally designed as a marketplace although had a number of other uses over the decades. It was restored to its original retail purpose in the 1980s and now houses boutique shops and cafes. Photo taken on the corner of York & Market Streets.
Beautiful building. I like the contrast between it and the modern skyscrapers in the background, but I'd also love to see a version that gives us a closer look at the building itself. You could almost make an XPan, if the street's wide enough for you to move down and still get the whole building in the frame. :)

Queen Victoria herself, sitting outside the QVB. She's been there for years.
Very dignified, mistress of all she surveys. Loved the closer view of the building in the background. I do wonder - was the plaza laid out so you could have moved to the left and gotten more of it in the frame?
QVB Level 3. You can see all four levels in this shot.
Love it! Great perspective view.
QVB stained glass window facing George Street. The building has many nice architectural features.
Beautiful stained glass.
George Street in Sydney was a major north-south thoroughfare and always jammed full of cars. It was closed to traffic a few years ago and now only sees trams and pedestrians.
The streetcar looks familiar. :) I'd have to check the manufacturer, but it definitely resembles the one in the Kansas City system.
I have some more photos to add later, including my favourite photographic subject, trains! Z04 Breakdance.gif
Oh dear. INCOMING! <ducks> ^_-
 
Pete, some nice heritage buildings there and even the mall is beautiful. In Belfast they destroyed most if the heritage buildings and the developers paid to get some of them burnt down so they can build their modern new tacky student accommodation buildings and charge rich foreign students a fortune for living and studying here.

This language of redevelopment and modernisation has good and bad points. For example, listed buildings like North Street mall which was beautiful had a mysterious fire and now being redeveloped (not restored).

I remember a lecturer who was an Architect I had for my 'Restoration of existing buildings' (something like this anyway) back in 1994 predicting the end of the troubles (war) here and all of this happening and he was right.

What ISIS were doing in Syria was the extreme of this but essentially it's the same thing at a slower pace. :mad:

My city was a better place to live in the 1990s... Nostalgia aside but it has got hideously expensive and a tourist hole.
 
Yay! This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to spur on. :cool:
It was a fun thing to do!

Love this one, even if it's hard to see all at once on the laptop screen. :)
Thanks. It would have been better if the shot was taken from the middle of the road, but the traffic was too constant for that to happen!

Beautiful building. I like the contrast between it and the modern skyscrapers in the background, but I'd also love to see a version that gives us a closer look at the building itself. You could almost make an XPan, if the street's wide enough for you to move down and still get the whole building in the frame. :)
The other side of the street might work although I think traffic lights and trees might be in the way. I will have to scope that out.

Very dignified, mistress of all she surveys. Loved the closer view of the building in the background. I do wonder - was the plaza laid out so you could have moved to the left and gotten more of it in the frame?
Yes, I definitely could have done that as there was space behind me. There were a lot of people bustling around so I need to be a bit more patient and wait for the right moment.

Love it! Great perspective view.

Beautiful stained glass.
I should go back and get some more inside photos as there are really nice features in the building.

The streetcar looks familiar. :) I'd have to check the manufacturer, but it definitely resembles the one in the Kansas City system.
I had to look this up as I am not very knowledgeable about trams, which they call "light rail" here. This one is an Alstom Citadis 305.

Oh dear. INCOMING! <ducks> ^_-
Z04 Discosmilie Daumenhoch Smilie
 
Pete, some nice heritage buildings there and even the mall is beautiful. In Belfast they destroyed most if the heritage buildings and the developers paid to get some of them burnt down so they can build their modern new tacky student accommodation buildings and charge rich foreign students a fortune for living and studying here.
The same thing was happening here in Sydney in the 1960s and 1970s, and many buildings were demolished to allow developers to build new towers, but thankfully quite a bit of it was stopped by the main builders union through what they called "green bans" to preserve heritage, led by a man named Jack Mundey. At the time the newspapers were tearing him to shreds over the strikes he was organising to stop over-development but he was later awarded a number of honours for his actions.

This language of redevelopment and modernisation has good and bad points. For example, listed buildings like North Street mall which was beautiful had a mysterious fire and now being redeveloped (not restored).

I remember a lecturer who was an Architect I had for my 'Restoration of existing buildings' (something like this anyway) back in 1994 predicting the end of the troubles (war) here and all of this happening and he was right.

What ISIS were doing in Syria was the extreme of this but essentially it's the same thing at a slower pace. :mad:

My city was a better place to live in the 1990s... Nostalgia aside but it has got hideously expensive and a tourist hole.
Yes, it's sad to see nice places lose their character. Unfortunately money always talks the loudest. Where I grew up on the seaside just a few kilometres from where I live now, there is so much new development going on and it's all tall buildings that cast long shadows and create wind tunnels.
 
Nice photos Pete!
Oh are you based in Sydney? I thought you live in another city for some reasons.
I haven't been to Sydney for quite a few years! Last time was probably for the G9 launch! (and I went to Sydney three times that year).
I always love the QVB building, it's so beautiful outside and inside! Is the train model shop still there? My kids love the display train models! Actually I love that shop a lot too
 
Nice photos Pete!
Oh are you based in Sydney? I thought you live in another city for some reasons.
I haven't been to Sydney for quite a few years! Last time was probably for the G9 launch! (and I went to Sydney three times that year).
I always love the QVB building, it's so beautiful outside and inside! Is the train model shop still there? My kids love the display train models! Actually I love that shop a lot too

Thanks Richard! Yes, born in Sydney and lived most of my life in the southern suburbs.

Yes, the Hobbyco shop is still there in the QVB. They have been operating since 1935. They used to be located in George Street and when I worked in the city many years ago I would often go there at lunchtime to browse. I saw the train display running in the window.

And there is a Leica shop on the same level. But I didn't go in there!!
 
PART 2... this is an eclectic batch of photos:

OLD CHURCH FENCE (c 1835) I liked the ornate fence and afternoon light reflecting on it. I shot this at f/4 and probably needed a bit more DOF.
S5II + LUMIX 24-105/F4
Old Chalmers Presbyterian Church by Peter Watters, on Flickr

OLD CITY MOTEL The grungy appearance appealed to me for some reason.
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6
Old City Motel by Peter Watters, on Flickr

MILSONS POINT RAILWAY STATION This station is on the northern approach of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, opened in 1932.
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6
Milsons Point Railway Station by Peter Watters, on Flickr

CITY VIEW FROM THE NORTH SIDE Sydney viewed from the north side under the bridge.
S5II + LUMIX 24-105/F4
Sydney Harbour Bridge at Milsons Point by Peter Watters, on Flickr

FRESHWATER FERRY The MV Freshwater is the lead ship of the four Freshwater-class ferries, named after Freshwater Beach on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Launched on 27 March 1982.
S5II + LUMIX S 70-300/F4.5-5.6
Freshwater ferry heading for Circular Quay by Peter Watters, on Flickr

TRAIN !!! Endeavour railcar at Sydney Central station, about to depart for Goulburn.
S5II + LUMIX 24-105/F4
SN59 Goulburn train at Central by Peter Watters, on Flickr
 
@ Pete_W: Your Sydney photos are really great. We spent a wonderful (but too short) 2 weeks in Australia in 2013. We found Sydney to be a very pleasant place to walk around. We chose not to rent a car, and instead walked for miles all over the city (well, not all over; it's a big place!) While there I was fortunate to have breakfast with my filmmaking hero John Brawley, whom I'd gotten to know via the Blackmagic company user forum; that was awesome.

And, as seen in the "Fool for Thirds" video I recently posted, we also took a day trip by bus to the Blue Mountains, and flew up to Cairns for a few days so my wife could snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef (I don't swim, so instead I sweltered on the deck of the excursion boat), and the Kuranda rain forest, train & aerial tram.

My wife & I share an odd "vacation" preference: Where ever we go, if possible we like to do what we call "infrastructure tourism". So, for example, walking across the length of the main level (sidewalk) on the Harbour Bridge to see it up close was on our to-do list. We also ask locals (or tour guides) questions while on-the-spot; it's fun hearing people's different takes about places & things.

Museums are cool, too, but, for example, give us an opportunity to see the inner workings of an aerial tram or cable car mechanical room & we're so there! :)

Of course I haven't yet finished editing all the photos & video I shot while in Australia (and the week before in New Zealand), but I enjoy browsing through the RAW files from time to time. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, but it would fantastic if we're ever able to return to see more of both countries. Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Thanks Peter!

I really enjoyed your video of your trip. You really covered some territory while you were here! Very cool that you got to meet John Brawley! That's awesome.

I lived in the Blue Mountains for a few years a long time ago so that place is close to my heart and I enjoyed the footage you took there. The Skyway that you filmed at Katoomba has been there for decades and I remember going on it when I was a kid, although the carriage was a much earlier version that seemed a lot less secure that the current version! The scenic railway there is also cool if a bit frightening.
 
I had to look this up as I am not very knowledgeable about trams, which they call "light rail" here. This one is an Alstom Citadis 305.
Yeah, 'light rail' is another term that gets used a lot for this kind of system. I think they deliberately used 'streetcar' to evoke nostalgia for the old streetcar systems, like the one from the Smithsonian pics I posted a week or two ago.
 
PART 2... this is an eclectic batch of photos:

OLD CHURCH FENCE (c 1835) I liked the ornate fence and afternoon light reflecting on it. I shot this at f/4 and probably needed a bit more DOF.
Nah, I think it's fine; almost one of those classic demonstrations of DoF.
MILSONS POINT RAILWAY STATION This station is on the northern approach of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, opened in 1932.
Another nice one. The awning over the entrance, and the lettering, remind me of a theater.
CITY VIEW FROM THE NORTH SIDE Sydney viewed from the north side under the bridge.
I like this one, but it's another that's hard to see on a laptop screen. :(

One thing I've been doing lately with Flickr embeds - if it's vertically oriented, I use 1024 as the largest side instead of 1600.
TRAIN !!! Endeavour railcar at Sydney Central station, about to depart for Goulburn.
Of course there is train. :rolleyes:Z04 Flucht
 
Nah, I think it's fine; almost one of those classic demonstrations of DoF.
I was surprised I was able to get such thin DOF at f/4!

Another nice one. The awning over the entrance, and the lettering, remind me of a theater.
I hadn't thought of that but I agree. This entrance is part of the approach structure and the bridge was completed in 1932 so I guess they were using an art deco style that was prevalent at the time, and often used on theatres.

I like this one, but it's another that's hard to see on a laptop screen. :(

One thing I've been doing lately with Flickr embeds - if it's vertically oriented, I use 1024 as the largest side instead of 1600.
I have tried the 1600 size for Flickr embeds but I get that problem where the image won't display, whereas the pasting in the BBCode for 'original size' is working reliably at the moment, albeit vertical shots end up being too big! Not sure what I am doing wrong here.

Of course there is train. :rolleyes:Z04 Flucht
;) Oh there's more! But I am trying to be good. Z04 Kaputtlachen
 
This is the final batch of photos from my day out in Sydney.

Luna Park is a small amusement park located at Milsons Point on the north side of the harbour tucked beside the harbour bridge. It opened in 1935 and still has a small number of heritage listed buildings and rides. It's had a checkered history but remains in operation and is popular. It's currently up for sale.

I must return here at night for some photos as it looks great after dark with all the coloured lights.

53860489786_140dfcd46f_c.jpg
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6

53860922920_42c97e8869_c.jpg
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6

53860487966_fcaccc2d32_c.jpg
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6

53860488241_ef809c2f06_c.jpg
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6

53860738268_de9e8f8d77_c.jpg
S5II + LUMIX S 14-28/F4-5.6
 
Back
Top