This is where I talk about street photography, so if you aren't interested in the details, you can just scroll down to the photos.
I take a lot of photos and what I love the most is to go out shooting in the streets. I like to capture people, their interactions with each other and with their surroundings. I've done a fair bit of that in Melbourne - it's a great place for it with it's eclectic mix of characters. Whenever I travel with friends and family though, I rarely ever come back with any photos to add to my voyeuristic portfolio. Like most people, my travel companions are far more interested in getting photos of themselves in front of that clocktower, than photos of the lady with the red suitcase at the traffic light or of that asian guy on his bike. People already think that i'm weird enough as it is, I don't want to have to explain why I'd rather take pictures of strangers crossing the road than of the sun setting over the most amazing of landscapes.
So to have complete freedom over where I wanted to go and what I wanted to take photos of, I really had to be on my own. That's what I decided to do last week - I booked my flights to Sydney and made my very first solitary trip to a foreign city, with no other purpose than to go take some photos. Well, it was also partly a food/coffee excursion, but we'll get to that another time.
The lenses I shoot the most with are the 35mm f1.8 and the 50mm f1.8. They are cheap in terms of price but they really deliver decent quality shots in my opinion. I also think that these focal lengths are perfect for street shooting. The 50mm is quite appealing to the eye, but I have to admit having a slight preference for the 35mm. It's my lens of choice and I've used it so much that I now know roughly what will be in the frame, making it much easier for me to compose the shot. I also think that the wider angle suits my style of shooting. The fact that both these lenses have quite a wide aperture makes them very good in low light situations, perfect for night photography.
I quite like taking photos in touristy spots. There's usually so many people with cameras snapping away that no one really pays attention to who/what you're taking photos of. Naturally, one of the first places I visited was Darling Harbour. And while most people were taking photos of the view, here's a few of the ones i took:
I took this one in Hyde Park. I was sitting on a bench opposite them and really did not want to make it so obvious that I was taking a photo of them so I shot this one with the camera on my lap. Took a few tries to get the framing right, but i'm pretty happy with the result.
A couple of photos from a cafe (Wedge Espresso) just for good measure..
I managed to catch a few acts from the Sydney Jazz and Blues Festival while I was there. Two photos from The Crusty Suitcase.
And I also managed to get quite a few night shots, which i think is the best part about Sydney. Something that I haven't done a lot of in Melbourne because, well let's face it, there's nothing much happening outside afterdark here. The larger population density of Sydney also made it a completely different experience.
And that's about it. My only regret is not making the trip to Kingscross to get some night shots, i was a bit too scared for that. I can't imagine strip club clients, punters and the ladies of the night would be too happy to get their photos taken and published, even on some unknown person's blog.
I hope you've enjoyed this little deviation from the usual theme of my blog. There may be more posts like these in the future if i decide to take this blog towards a different direction..
