Last weekend I spent the day with a student learning about photography. It was good wandering in and out of arcades taking photos. She was doing the second of her one on one photography sessions with me and it was time to build on what she had learned the first week.
Degraves Street
This is where we started. It is always a good place to start when you are going to be wandering around the city. From there you can work your way up through many arcades.
Centre Place
From Degraves it is time to move to Centre Place. Centre Place has a Harry Potter feel about it. There is something magical about it. It is narrow and a popular place for both tourists and locals. Many people like to eat there or just look.
A quick stop at St Collins Lane
We didn’t really stop here for too long. It was more just a look at the escalators. It is a fairly new building, or redevelopment. This used to be Australia on Collins, but is now St Collins Lane.
You should recognise the escalators.
The Block Arcade
What is a walk through the arcades if you don’t go to the Block. It is one of Melbourne’s oldest and is a feast for the eyes. One of the most famous windows in it has to be for the Hopetoun Tearooms. I have photographed it so many times.
Through the Royal Arcade
Also a beautiful old arcade, but perhaps doesn’t have the decoration or presence that the Block Arcade has. It is one of those that you need to remember to look up in or you will miss Gog and Magog.
Sneaking into Myer
The new Myer store has some great features to photograph and they don’t seem to mind people taking photos. You can go right up to the top floor and see out onto the city. There is the middles section too, if you are game, you can hang your camera over the side and photograph all the floors.
Finishing off
That was pretty much the end of the day. It was time for a coffee to go through a few things. We then headed back in a similar direction to which we had come.
It is great when people book more then one session to learn. It means we can really explore what they need to learn and work on those. Means you also have time to break everything up into easier to understand bits.
You can also do them just to spend time learning about Melbourne and great places to take photos. If you are interested in doing one or more with me, click on this link.
All the images were taken with the Nikon D850 and the Tamron 24-70mm G2 lens.
Here is a gallery of the above images, plus a few extras.
My sort of shoot! 😃
Mine too Julie. We had a great day doing similar.
We sure did! 😃
😀 😀
What an amazing place and such beautiful arcades and photographs.
Thank you RJ, we do have some stunners, I am so happy we do as well.
Is it too early for me to make a reservation at the Tearoom?? I can’t wait until we visit your hometown. These shots give me a great “feel” of the area. Have a great week, Leanne. 🙂
I don’t know Patti, when are you going to be here? I’m sure you are going to love Melbourne, it is a great city. Thank you and you have a fabulous week as well.
They say When in doubt, Ask a Woman. So here goes. When you go out to shoot. what do you take with you and what sort of carry bag.
Haha, do they now Geoff. It is a loaded question as it depends on where I am going and what I’m going to be shooting. I usually only like to take a few lenses, so one on the camera and a couple of spares, often just one spare. My 24-70mm is nearly always with me. I like to use a backpack, one that will take a tripod. I hope that answers your question Geoff.
All my favourite places!
Good to hear Carol, they some of mine too.
I absolutely love seeing what you’re up to and I especially like Centre Place. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Heather, that is so good to hear, I should start doing these again.
lovely arcades; such a lovely city to wander around
Thank you Janice, I have to say I love my city.
Excellent photos!
Thank you Shelley.
Wow, those are wonderful photos! It sounds like you had a lot of fun photographing the arcades. I’m curious whether you had to ask for permission or whether nobody minds that you go around with your camera? It’s one thing taking photos on a cellphone (I don’t think shopping centres etc. mind too much about taking a quick photo with a cellphone), but I find that having a DSLR with bigger lenses can quickly attract attention and cause an issue with security. How do you deal with that in Melbourne, Leanne?
Thank you Reggie, I did enjoy it. For these places you don’t need permission, they accept that people are going to take photos. I’ve never been asked to stop, though I usually do it quickly and I make sure that I don’t get in the way.
That was a nice tour of Melbourne!
Thank you Jerry, glad you enjoyed it.