Those of you that know me and my photography know that I hate people in my photos. I tend to think that once people are there the image is often more about them than where they are. Obviously, that is not always the case, but most times it is.
Ever since I started taking photos in the city I have always wanted to get a shot of Flinders Street Station with no people in the image. If you know Melbourne, then you know that there are always people there. ALWAYS.
I even tried going in early on a Sunday morning thinking, yep there will hardly be anyone there, just to get there and discover that kids that had been out all night were hanging around the station and sitting on the steps. Sitting on the steps and waiting for people, or something is just something that everyone in Melbourne has done at some stage.
So imagine my surprise when I went in one morning a little early before a lesson and found no one on the steps and almost no one around. So I took lots and lots of photos, especially as people moved.
The final shot is actually about 7 images altogether. The original did have people in it, not many but a few. With all the images I took I would find images where the people had moved and then cut and paste those sections over the top to hide the people. Once I did that I just processed the image much the same way I always do.
So while it wasn’t a completely empty view, it was the closest I had ever come across. I am really happy with how it turned out.
It is one of my favourites because it is an image I never thought I would ever be able to get. I hope you like it too.
It certainly looks empty of people! It remind me of photos my husband took in central London during Covid lockdowns (he cycled there on a few Sunday mornings), almost spooky.
Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for, thank you Sarah. Lockdown was sort of good for that sort of thing, except here we were confined to a very small area, like a 5km radius, so couldn’t go to place like this, sadly.
We weren’t supposed to go out for more than an hour but I think he stretched that a bit!
It was such a different time back then, strange thinking back to it.
Great atmospheric shot.
Thank you Michael.
I know, I lived there for 9 months and never saw it without people.
It is hard to get, isn’t it. I suppose being the main station in Melbourne doesn’t help.
I do, but unlike you I like people in my pictures. They needn’t be centre stage, in fact it’s often better if they’re quite distant. But they give a sense of scale and – I dunno – purpose to the scene. But each to her own, eh?
I don’t mind if people are way off in the background, but if they are too prominent then people will look at them, and that isn’t what I want. But that is me and that is what I like, different folks and all that. There is nothing wrong if you want people in your photos Margaret, go for it.
I like it! I think it’s amazing how you work in post. I wish I had the patience to learn and do it.
Thank you Anne, I think sometimes I like the processing more than the photo taking. I like to take a raw image and see what I can do with it.
I agree . There’s so much to post picture editing and it’s a whole filed in it self!
That’s for sure, I’ve been learning it for around 20 years now.
Great photo. What a beautiful building!
Thank you Jean, it is a great one.
what a stately and classic station
It is Beth, thank you.
Love it
Thank you Sherry.
Fantastic image, Leanne! You finally succeeded!!
Thank you so much Sue.
Very nice. This image captures Flinders Street station well. Good job pasting the pieces together. What I like the most about this image? The overhead wires. They introduce a nice geometric composition and draw the eye to the front of the station.
Thank you Joanne. It was a bit of a task, but I got there. Yeah, the wires are important there, I’ve tried removing them on other images and it just doesn’t work.