Have I told you about the new phone lenses that I got from Struman Optics?
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I’ve spent the last two days with my Californian friends and it has been so much fun showing them around Melbourne. I am also really excited about our trip down to the Great Ocean Road over the next few days as well.
I’m not sure what I will do with the blog while I’m away, but I will try and get a couple of updates done.
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Last weekend was Labour Day for Victoria and on Monday in the early hours of the morning the luxury liner, the Queen Victoria arrived in Melbourne. I was lucky to be invited to go aboard with a small group of people and be given a guided tour of the public spaces. It was also great meeting some of the staff and being shown around by Ludwig and Ant.
I was there for a special presentation to the Commodore of the Cunard lines. I’ve been involved in a project that encourages kids with cameras for a few years now and am often asked to judge photos for it. They were doing the presentation and I was asked to come along and take photos of it, but I was also able to go on the tour and take photos.
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Last week Benro Australia had an event at the Queen Victoria Night Market. I was excited to go and being an ambassador for Benro Australia it was something that would be good to do. I find situations like these quite hard, but being one of the ambassadors meant I had to lead, I can do that.
Queen Victoria market is big in Melbourne, but usually during the day. During the week there are fruit and vegies, Saturday as well. On Sundays they sell the stuff that many places sell, all the cheap stuff. During summer they do a night market where there are food stalls everywhere. It is really interesting to go. There are so many options for food. Lots of street food, and very yummy.
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Last weekend I got to experiment with the fisheye at the State Library of Victoria. When I was first loaned the Samyang 12mm fisheye lens I knew that I wanted to try it out at the library. It is one of those places that has a massive space and trying to fit it into a photo is very hard. This wasn’t a problem with the fisheye.
The State Library is located at 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne.
The Domed Reading Room is one of those rooms that when you walk into it for the first time you say, oh wow. It is amazing.
Bit of History
The State Library of Victoria first opened in February, 1856, as the Melbourne Public Library. It was also the first exhibition centre, the National Gallery, and the Melbourne Museum. The others have since vacated and now the building is just for the library and it’s 2 million plus books.
The Domed Reading room is a 20th century addition and was built on the place that had the building for the exhibitions. That was demolished and this built instead. The reading room opened in 1913.
It is now called the La Trobe Reading Room, but before recent renovations it was the reference reading room and all those areas you can see above and where I’m standing were referred to as the stacks. The books were kept there. I worked there for a short time at the end of the 1980’s. Part of my job was to get books from the stacks for people who wanted them and then putting them back afterwards. It was one of the best jobs I ever had.
When they restored the building the reading room got the glass panels in the ceiling, which were in the original design, but have only been added recently. When I worked there there was no glass.
Photography in the Library
Photography is allowed. You can now go up to the stacks to take photos. Flash is not allowed, for obvious reasons. You must remember that it is a working library. You are not allowed to take photos of the people studying. It is hard not to get them, but they shouldn’t be the focus of your photos. I’ve heard small tripods are allowed, but perhaps it is best not to use them.
Opening hours
The Domed Galleries, or stacks are open everyday from 10am to 5pm.
The library is open everyday from 10am, closes at 9pm, except for Friday to Sunday when it closes at 6pm.
If you want more information then take a look at their website, click here.
My Visit
I wandered around the Domed Galleries taking photos with the Fisheye to see what I could capture. It was a lot of fun. I also tried some artwork as well.
The Fisheye
The lens will be going back soon, but it has been great trying it. I’ve wanted to play with a fisheye for a few years now. It’s been great to see what you can do with it. It has also been challenging and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy that. I really enjoy playing with new equipment.
Here is a gallery with more images from the library. Let me know if you like this sort of format for the Weekend Wandering posts. I thought I would try giving you more information on where I’ve been.
The other night I went into the city to take some photos of the Bolte Bridge. I had wanted to do the sunset there. I met my friend Chris and we made our way to the base of it. On the way I put the Samyang 12mm fisheye on and took lots of photos with it.
I have been writing a review on the lens and that has been a great excuse to get out and try it out. It is such an interesting way of seeing the world. I think you will again.
Here is a gallery of images. I hope your weekend is going well. Here it has been raining on and off all day, also been very cold. Apparently summer isn’t quite ready to arrive yet, I’m complaining mind you.
One of the big plans for the Royal Melbourne Show was to photograph the fireworks in the evening. We needed to go back on a night where rain wasn’t expected. Thursday was that night.
In the meantime I had a meeting with a rep from Benro Australia, they make tripods, among other things and I was loaned a carbon fibre tripod to use and try. I was also loaned the Samyang 12mm Fisheye lens and what better place to try it out than the show with all the side shows and rides, plus the fireworks.
I am going to do what I did yesterday. First I will put a gallery with all the photos taken with the fisheye. Look out for the Masterchef kitchen and the scones from the Country Women’s Association, incredible.
I should add that all the night photos were taken using the Benro Carbon Fibre tripod, it was such a joy to use, I think I am going to have to see about getting one. Great size and has so many options, it is brilliant. If you are in Melbourne Vanbar stock them.
When the sun started setting I put on my 24-70mm lens again. I wanted to try some things with that lens and I was finding that for some things I couldn’t get close enough. I do like the rides with the dark stormy clouds, though I probably should have used a filter with them to help get a longer exposure.
It was good fun going to the show, it is a shame the weather wasn’t a little better. We have been having a lot of rain and there has been flooding in many parts of the state.
It is the end of the show for me now. It was great going and taking photos, I hope you have enjoyed them.
There are six photos for you to look at this week that have been on Instagram. A bit of a mix, but I’m happy with them.
Just a reminder that the Road theme is this week and there haven’t been many entries for it so far. If you have a road for monochrome madness please remember to send it in.
It is my daughter’s 21st birthday today, so I am not going to go on too much, Here is the gallery for you.
In yesterday’s post I showed you some images taken with the Samyang 12mm fisheye lens. I have some more images for you today. These are more from outside in the streets. It is quite amazing what happens to buildings when you photograph them with this lens.
I tried some photos of the street art, the three statues that stand on the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets. I also tried getting some movement with the trams, then put them together in a small video for you.
[video width="2000" height="1334" mp4="https://leannecole.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bourke-street-trams.mp4" loop="true"][/video]The weather has been stunning, sadly it means winter is ending and summer is returning. I’m not looking forward to summer, but I am planning on doing something different this summer I think. You will have to wait to find out what.
Here is a gallery with a few more images. Take care and I hope you are enjoying your weekend where ever you are.
The other day I went into the city with Frank from Vanbars and he had a Samyang 12mm fisheye lens that I was able to try out. I’ve been hearing about Samyang Optics Australia quite a bit and it was great to be able to try out one of their lenses. Also, being a fisheye was even more interesting.
It does create a lot of distortion, but fisheyes are always going to do that. That is part of the attraction, and then trying to work out how to use them and for what.
I spent a few hours in the city experimenting with it. I have to admit I had a lot of fun using it and was reluctant to give it back. If you ever get a chance to play with one, do it. I might have to think about getting one of my own, though I would like to try a wider one, maybe an 8mm.
I have a gallery of images for you. They were taken around the city in some arcades and foyers. There are photos from the Emporium, Myer, Royal Arcade, Block Arcade and the foyer of 333 Collins Street. I have a lot more and will show them tomorrow.
How amazing are they? If you could try out a fisheye what would you photograph?
