Last week I missed doing my floral post, so I was determined I wouldn’t this week.
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Camera gear is important if you want to take photos, and over the years you change with what you are taking photos off, along with how. I thought it might be fun to take a look at what gear I think I need for what I do now. Let’s say all my gear was stolen and I had to start again, what would I get. I don’t think I would end up with as much.
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Last weekend I showed you some photos of the grounds at Alowyn Gardens and I said I would show you some of the flowers. I forgot until Julie mentioned it, so thought I should do some. I haven’t done many, if I’m honest a lot of the flowers were past it, and you could tell winter was starting to set in. I do love winter, but it isn’t a good time for flower macro photography.
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This afternoon a friend picked me up so we could go to Alowyn Gardens in Yarra Glen for some macro photography. I am still trying out the Samyang 100mm lens and thought it would be a great opportunity to use it.
There were a lot of flowers out, so it ended up being a quick trip, but that didn’t matter. I still got some lovely shots, have coffee and a catch up with Suzzanna.
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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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It is all happening around here at the moment, problems with taps breaking and such, but thought I would stop briefly to let you see the photos I’ve had published on Instagram this week, but first I’ve had an article published about the Samyang Fisheye.
The article is on Digital Photography School and if you click the title it will take you to it.
Overview of the Samyang 12mm F2.8 ED AS NCS Fisheye Lens
For those wishing to know more about the fisheye lens.
Here are the images I’ve had up on Instagram this week.
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.
It has been a great week on Instagram for me, now with over 10K followers I feel like I have reached my goal. That number of followers is meant to be special, I don’t know, but I suppose I will find out. I hope you enjoy the photos from this last week.
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.
