or close enough. One of the fun times I had in Melbourne was with the 12-24mm on my new baby (The 5d was only 2 days old when I took it to Melbourne) lapping up the full frame goodness of been able to get shots like this of a cyclist in Fitzroy.
Or this one of St Paul’s
Some others, click for bigger photos as always
I love this lens way more than I loved it on the 350d and the 5D, I love it so so so much; noise at high iso is extremely limited, it has a much wider dynamic range than the 350d, which I love as it means that I rarely have blown out skies as you can see from the photos above. I just love it.
St Kilda is a suburb of Melbourne that most people know about, it has just been one of those places that has featured heavily in the Australian Pop Culture of the last X years. I hadn’t planned on going there on my trip to Melbourne but I was in Prahran and decided it was just down the road so I may as well and what a fun time I had.
From walking past Luna Park, having these two old men show me the penguins roosting in the St Kilda Pier breakwater, watching the Palais theatre get set up for the John Butler Trio show that night or walking past the Espy Hotel
Well I have now done two (2) full days work and I am learning a fair bit though in this beginning stage I spend a fair bit of time straightening my phone/keyboard/in tray/etc. Getting to know the people and more importantly the various voices of those who ring the office. I did a stationary order this morning 🙂
I need to do some clothes shopping as my wardrobe isn’t exactly directed towards smart office casual but more of the jeans and threadless tee variety. I picked a shirt and two skirts in Melbourne but need to get some more shirts.
Here a few more Melbourne photos as well. I am slowly, slowly, slowly getting through them but it is taking longer now as I am not exactly home during the day am I?
I had a great time yesterday, it has been interesting to watch the Melburnians rushing to work with their winter coats on. The drivers beep their horn a lot more as well. Really nice city though.
Wandered round Prahran, St Kilda, Southbank and the CBD. I went to the Prahran markets first in the morning and my eyes were wide open with my jaw dropped to the floor the whole time. I had never seen anything like it before. If I had a job down in Melbourne, I could have moved here tomorrow. The flowers were sooo sooo cheap. Compared to Brisbane some of the fruit and veggies were really cheap (Asian Greens) but others were not such as Queensland Strawbs :). There were all these wonderful delis at the market as well which had a fantastic assortment of fresh breads. I would have liked to get a loaf but none of the small buns really appealed to me. I picked up an orange and poppyseed muffin that was huuuuuge for only $2.50 and it was really really nice as it had a different orange taste to normal.
Wandered round the CBD a fair bit in the afternoon/evening. I went out at night with my tripod to take some night shots, though I just missed that magic blue time.
So far my 12-24mm lens has barely left my camera at all and I have barely even moved from 12mm as well. I love this lens on a full frame camera.
Today I am going to do the galleries and some more shopping. I am still hunting for a nice pair of black pants for work. I am yet to find a pair that have the cut that I am after or one size is too small but the next size up is way too big. Ahh the funs of shopping.
BRISBANE TO MELBOURNE
Flight No DJ344
DEPARTING
Brisbane Domestic Terminal
2130hr (9:30pm), Wed 22 Aug 2007
ARRIVING
Melbourne Virgin Blue T3 Terminal
2355hr (11:55pm), Wed 22 Aug 2007
MELBOURNE TO BRISBANE
Flight No DJ321
DEPARTING
Melbourne Virgin Blue T3 Terminal
1315hr (1:15pm), Sun 26 Aug 2007
ARRIVING
Brisbane Domestic Terminal
1520hr (3:20pm), Sun 26 Aug 2007
Yes and that would be me who is going. I am going for a number of reasons, firstly to see the Guggenheim and Pixar exhibitions, secondly to go to Pete aka Owls of the Swamp album launch on the 24th and to see Tom Woodward play on the 25th. I also hope to meet up with some other friends in Melbourne as well as going to the Queen Victoria Markets, the shops to get some work clothes and gosh who knows what else. I won’t be going to see the Essendon Bombers play though because they are playing their round 21 match on Sunday evening when I will be back in Brisbane :(. Then Monday morning I start my first day as a full time employee in the 9-5ish grind and I can’t wait.
When I left the Troubadour early last Monday morning, we had made plans to catch Parents on Tuesday night and maybe go to the beach on Tuesday. Monday Arvo, I was awakened by a phone call from Svavar, asking me if I wanted to go to Noosa with them for the night. As I had just bought my BIFF tickets for that night minutes before I said no. Then a phone call to Mum to hash it over I decided to skip BIFF for the night and to hit the road to Noosa. I rang Svavar back and then an hour so later I was at Thor’s house ready to pile into Ronnie’s land cruiser for an escape from Brisbane.
Once we were up the highway we made a toilet stop and supplies stop. For most journeys that is nothing out of the ordinary. Ronnie’s car often takes a little bit of fiddling to get going again. This of course proved a perfect time for some photos.
We made it Noosa and found the YHA, after a walk round town we headed back to the hostel for dinner as well everything else was just slightly out of our price range. Had a very nice veggie lasagne from the hostel kitchen. Then it was time to socialise, play with cameras and watch the International Ping Pong tournament between Pete and Svavar, I believe Pete may have won this round.
From a photography perspective, I love this shot as I took it just as the flash went off on Svavar’s camera.
After some shenanigans, it was down to the beach for some ‘walking after midnight (though it wasn’t midnight yet), chasing the waves, doing cartwheels/handstands and having fun with some shadow plays.
The next morning we woke up and made pancakes for breakfast, Ronnie headed off to do a mornings work with some guys who came to the hostel the night before.
We headed off into the wilderness, well Noosa National Park. Where 3/4 of our party went swimming twice. Do the maths and look at the photos, I was not a crazy nutter. I didn’t go swimming.
Svavar, he relished the chance to swim in the Pacific Ocean and he ended up swimming at all three beaches we stopped at during the day. Pete was also in the water, but he is a Melbourne boy. Thor well she is 50% Icelandic compared to my 25%. I well I am a Brisbane girl, we don’t go swimming at the beach in Winter, the water is just too cold!
After a while it was wisely decided to head round to a more sheltered beach where the distance from trees to water was less. We walked up to Hells Gate which provided a great chance to whip out the 12-24mm and take some portraits.
Shooting straight into the Sun gave me some sweet as sugar flare with this photo.
We then started walking again to the next beach where, Pete, Svavar and Thor frolicked in the ocean like Puff the Magic Dragon.
Before it was time to retreat to the towels for some relaxing and some music.
As well as checking out the local wildlife.
Once we had all baked like chickens in an oven we headed back to the entry of the National Park where we were met by Ronnie and we cooked up a pretty wicked BBQ lunch made all the more special by Svavar’s made on the spot Guacamole. Then we headed off to Noosa’s main beach where we spread out under some Pandanus , chatted and enjoyed some more music with Pete and Svavar providing a perfect soundtrack for an arvo at the beach.
All good things to come to an end and before too long we were back in Ronnie’s land cruiser heading home to catch Parents with Thor’s parents, my dad and Tom the other member of this travelling trio of Troubadours.
A totally random trip and quite possibly the most spur of the moment thing I have done with people that I didn’t really know and it turned out to be the most fantastic experience.
