Sydney Harbour In Lights

I  travelled to the north side of Sydney recently, arriving by train at Milson’s Point railway station. I was greeted by a flourescent Harbour Bridge, with lights climbing over the arch. I had forgotten that there was a light show on around Sydney harbour.

Traffic travelling north roared off the Bridge right beside the railway station. Luckly I had forgotten the tripod.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge presides over the brightly lit city. I used the timer, but the camera was not quite stable balanced on a garbage bin lid, creating this interesting vertical blur.

Sydney Central Business District appears as a ghostly apparition.

An impressionist image of the north pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Hopefully I will never gain full control of the camera, so that I can keep allowing it to take interesting and surprising pictures.

I have not been using photography as much as I thought I would on my other blog, so when I took these, I thought of you here on ImageChest. I’ve missed you! I am still deciding how to organise my blogging and other projects, and am thinking maybe I do want to keep this outlet for photography.

Luna Park and Sydney Harbour Bridge

The northern side of Sydney Harbour touches down at Milson’s Point, with the dazzle of Luna Park tucked in under tall apartment blocks. On this weekday evening, Luna Park was closed, sending the message that there was fun to be had, but not now. Loved the contrasting red and green of these picnic tables in the function area.

Amusements were closed and wrapped for another day.

The roller coaster wasn’t going anywhere.

But the bright lights still beckoned.

Three Sydney icons in one image, Luna Park, the Sydney Opera House, and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Always smiling, the entrance to Luna Park has a creepy aspect at dusk. Perhaps its those never-blinking eyes, or those gravestone teeth.

The classic Sydney Harbour Bridge View. I set the camera on the night setting and rested it on a post. It did the rest.

A view of a brightly lit pylon from the north east aspect.

Its getting dark now and the Bridge is reflecting on the water. The Sydney CBD to the left.

I am glad we have finally arrived at my home town of Sydney. Travel photography is great, but its nice to be able to share something of my own area of the world.

Having given up the greeting card enterprise I am now finding that there is less need to have a separate photography blog, especially since I am not travelling. I have been trying to maintain three blogs, but finding it very time consuming and something always slips behind. So I am going to take a break from this ImageChest blog and explore combining writing and photography on the May and September Blog which has more of a focus on writing and reflection. The aim is to combine words and images on that blog to present the world as I see it, and hope you will join me over there.

Lovely Lavendar Bay

Recently I had the opportunity for an evening stroll around an area of Sydney called Lavender Bay. On my walk down from North Sydney I passed this Secret Garden, complete with lavender plants. Not sure about the signage.

Here I caught a glimpse of the boats moored in the Bay. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Luna Park formed a spectacular backdrop. Lavendar Bay is on the north side of the  harbour, to the west of the Bridge, and has a good view of the city.

Real estate on Lavender Bay is expensive due to waterfront location and stunning views. Yachts and cruisers nestle into their moorings, apparently unaware of their spectacular surroundings.

Notice anything alarming about the roof of this boat? A snake. Someone’s idea of a joke, or perhaps in lieu of a guard dog?

From this wharf we have a good view of the Harbour Bridge and the central business district on the south side of the harbour.

Here you can see the walkway which goes around past Luna Park and under the northern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Milsons Point is crammed with apartment blocks jockeying for a good view.

Looking back at Lavender Bay at dusk.

In the next post we will take a closer look at Luna Park and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can read more about my evening walk by the harbour and view the out-takes in a post called Finding Focus on my May and September Blog.

Goodbye Greeting Cards

Hi Everyone,

For those of you who are regular readers I just thought I would mention that I have decided to close down the greeting card operations. I have enjoyed turning my digital images into physical prints and producing cards of saleable quality. It was great to know that I could produce a product that could be sold in quality giftshops.

Having said that, it was proving to be a time-consuming and costly exercise. It was becoming evident that in order for the project to be a financial success I would need to pour an enormous amount of time and effort into online and face-to-face marketing. Although I enjoy photography and card-making, selling a physical product not really the direction that I want to take, so I am going to scale back operations to hobby status.

I think I will be happier using ImageChest Photography blog as a vehicle for visual storytelling, without the need to link posts back to a product promotion. Not everything in life is pretty, and I want to portray the variety of life as I see it.

Sometimes you have to wander down the wrong path to get clearer about the right one. For more reflections on the reasons for this change in direction you can check out The Sweet Taste of Disappointment on my May and September blog.

A Winter’s Day in Bulli Australia

While staying in Austinmer to the north I decided to take advantage of the local bus for a day trip to Bulli, the final stop off on our virtual holiday on the Illawarra Coast. My only memory of this area was hair-raising trips down the notorious Bulli Pass, the steep mountain pass which links the top of the Illawarra Escarpment to the coastal area below.

After alighting from the bus I proceeded to walk east to find the ocean. Little did I know the coastal strip is much wider here than at Austinmer, and it was quite a long way before I saw any water. I was relieved to come across an afternoon soccer game at Bulli Park, with the Pacific Ocean behind it.

As I approached the headland I could see parasurfers taking advantage of the waves off the point.

Looking to the north towards Sarandon Point, the sun was gleaming on the water of the bay.

A traditional Australian seawater pool looked lovely, but being mid-winter, no-one was having a splash.

Instead, families were making the most of the nearby playground.

To the south was a long sweep of beach towards Bellambi.

A nice day to be out with the metal detector looking for treasure.

This is how we do winter on the Australian east coast. I guess I am pretty lucky to live in such a temperate part of the world.

I found a bus stop and was happy to continue my day trip in the area in the comfortable, if infrequent, local buses.

Rock, Water, Seaweed

Looking to the south from the Austinmer headland we see Little Austi Beach. At the far end of the beach is another smaller headland which takes you around to the main beach featured in an earlier post.

Down on the beach the rock platform reveals its geometry.

The triangular rocks make for interesting rock pools.

Sea creatures trace patterns in the sand of the rock pool, revealing the multi-coloured rock underneath.

A sharks egg captured my attention. I had never seen one before. Apparently they are sometimes called a Mermaid’s Purse. I think this is the egg of the Port Jackson shark. What an great specimen.

Up close, the seaweed situation is looking out of hand. There has been a bad storm and a huge volume of kelp has been dumped at the south end of the beach.

Sky, sea and seaweed make a great combination for a photo. Not so inviting for a dip in the ocean.

Swamped by seaweed. Yes, we’ve all had days like this.

 

Austinmer Headland

Little Austi is the second beach at Austinmer, located to the north of the main beach. At its northern limit is a tall headland, surrounded by and extensive rock platform.

On top of this Headland is the Headlands Hotel, scene of the 2005/2006 Australian TV series called, strangely enough, headLand. This was taken in 2010, so it may have changed since then.

The headland rises towards the sea to form a high cliff face, with a steep drop to the rock platform below. Its a dangerous area as this sad memorial testifies.

At the base of the cliff is a flat, wide, rock platform, criss-crossed with lines in the rock. Here is a man collecting shellfish or bait.

This image shows the triangular pattern in the rock platform.

Water rushes in and out of this opening in the rocks. Its best to keep away from the edge of this type of rock platform as freak waves can catch you unawares.

Standing on the rock platform, the cliff face reveals the geology of this area, which includes and abundance of coal.

On a nearby rock platform, a keen rock fisherman prepares his kit.

Some images from the Austinmer holiday have been selected for greeting cards available in the ImageChest Etsy Store.

Dusky Austinmer Beach

The Beach at Austinmer New South Wales is popular with summer holiday makers but on dusky winters evenings, it can take on a less welcoming character.

The steps down to the saltwater pool look like steps to nowhere.

Some people are keen.

 

 

From the northern most end of the beach I can look back at the pool and change sheds, not tempted to get wet myself this evening.

 

 

The trees take on a spooky character in the dusk.

 

On the way home the fish and chip shop beckons, a splash of colour and warm light.

 

 

Some images from the Austinmer holiday have been selected for greeting cards available in the ImageChest Etsy Store.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture

This post is on the WordPress Daily Challenge theme for this week which is Culture. The instruction was to show an image that would generate curiosity about a culture and a desire to learn more.

I was taking photos at Niagara Falls, USA when a large group arrived, apparently on group outing. I was curious as to who they were but was too shy to ask.

The image was taken at the edge of the Horseshoe Falls from the USA side of Niagara Falls. The buildings in the background are in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Austimer Escape

In the winter of 2010 I spent a week in Austinmer on the Illawarra Coast. It was my first holiday in over a year. Since contracting pneumonia in early 2009 I had been struggling to recover my health from post-pneumonia fatigue. I faced the 1 hour train journey south from home in Sydney with trepidation. This small beachside town in the Illawarra Region, nestled between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, seemed a world away. I arrived by train at the bustling unmanned railway station.

I found safe haven at the cosy and comfortable Sur La Mer Bed and Breakfast. It had everything I needed and I could have quite comfortably lived there on a permanent basis.

To the north of the railway line, a winding road climbs up into the foothills of the mountains. I walked up here to a lovely art gallery and artists studio.

Its not a big place, but there are some lovely cafes and specialty shops to explore, such as Mala Beads.

I decided to extend my stay, but needed to change accommodation. The Austinmer Beach Cottages gave me an excellent view of the escarpment. Where Sur La Mer had been safe and cosy, this place was open and expansive. This transition seemed to reflect my growing confidence that I was well enough to be back in the world.

The escarpment looms high over the town so that when the sun moves westward in the middle of the afternoon, the whole town is in shadow. I looked longingly to where the sun was still shining on the other of the mountains.

Its Austinmer Beach that draws people to the town. The slow paced life on a thin strip of coast between two big cities, Sydney and Wollongong.

But its the rock platforms that have always drawn my attention.

Something happened in Austinmer. I made the switch from seeing myself as a convalescent, to believing I was well enough to get on with my life. I did a lot of walking, writing and photography. Within a few months I was exploring England.

I have selected some images from the Austinmer holiday to be the subject of greeting cards available in the ImageChest Etsy Store.