I’ve practically been in hibernation this past week. It has been quite cold and apart from going to and from the Op Shop or out for coffee with friends I’ve really not been anywhere or done anything worthy of note. In the evenings I’ve curled up with the laptop while most of my photo archive lives on a hard drive attached to the desktop computer which I haven’t switched on in about three days.
So if anyone was worried where I’d got to don’t. It’s just winter and a bit of a writing slump.
These first two photos were taken around Geeveston, at Heritage Park and at the Geeveston Primary School. They are not actually in a lawn but they are garden ornaments. The third one is a topiary bird at Oatlands and the last one is the floral clock at the Botanical Gardens.
As Cee has given us an open choice this week I went looking in my archives for something interesting and found some photographs that I took at Port Huon several years ago now. Port Huon used to be an extremely busy port as apples were sent from here to overseas ports. After Britain joined the European Common Market trade declined and so did the port. There is a little boat repair business at one of the nearby slipways but most other businesses that were there have long gone.
When I took these photos it was still possible to go on to the wharf to fish or take photos but it is used by a fish farming operation and I believe that they have now completely closed off the wharf to the public. I love old buildings like these and I thought that the old sheds would make good subjects in black and white.
Port Huon Wharf April 2014A barge that I think was being used to take food out to the salmon farms in the bay.
Since I started to play with Cee’s black and white challenge I’ve found it a lot of fun to experiment with editing my photos using different filters, desaturating or sepia for different effects. I also love to photograph the flowers in my garden so although I still like them better in colour it’s quite fun to see how they come out.
Even as a child I loved to look at houses. I remember walking around my neighbourhood and looking at the different types of houses and gardens and thinking about which one I’d like to have. The houses in South Australia were very different from the ones I knew in England. In the sixties it was mostly what mum called “bungalows” and every house was brick or the new fangled brick veneer that was becoming popular. In my suburb, which was fairly new there was not a lot of weatherboard or fibro. I recall how when we first went to Melbourne we were fascinated to see so many weatherboard houses. I liked them. I like all kinds of houses though, the Georgian houses in Oatlands and other older towns, Edwardian villas, California bungalows, art deco. Pretty much anything built before 1970 has some interest for me. The first picture in this collection is an old bank on Murray St, Hobart which is now a private residence. The red awnings caused a lot of controversies when the residents put them up as the council did not like them but in the end, they were allowed to stay. I’ve left them red to commemorate all the fuss.
I am not really comfortable photographing suburban houses though in case the owners don’t like it. Occasionally I do if they are in a historic area or I find them especially interesting. With so many lovely old homes being demolished to make way for ugly apartment blocks and Mc Mansions I feel I want to preserve some of the memories. We have some lovely art deco buildings around the Hobart CBD and nearby Sandy Bay, here is one of them. The other is another interesting old home on Sandy Bay Road.
Art Deco style apartments in Sandy Bay, near Hobart.House on Sandy Bay Road
Naomi’s home town of Oatlands has many interesting old buildings from the early to mid-1800s. Blossom’s Cottages are now tourist accommodation. The stork on its nest is a sculpture. In stark contrast some very ugly townhouses built on the banks of the Port River, Port Adelaide.
Blossom’s Cottages Oatlands
Blossom’s Cottages Oatlands
Townhouses, Port Adelaide
Townhouses Port Adelaide
Finally an apartment block in Little India, Singapore. There are many of these all over Singapore. I would hate to live in something like this.
I’m very fond of miniatures, dolls houses, model railways, anything like that. These first three photos were taken at the Dollhouse and Minature Fair in Hobart on a couple of different occasions. You can’t get much smaller than a model in a matchbox! The names of the clever model makers are included in the photos.
A mini room in a matchbox.
A mini scene in a doll-sized suitcase.
Model thatch cottage.
This little doll was part of a lot of dolls house stuff that Naomi gave me one year. It’s not really a toy but it is very interesting. We think it dates from around the 1930s and was made in Germany.
Old hard plastic doll inside a bunch of grapes. German, I think.
This last one was taken the day that Naomi brought all her dolls house furniture round to my house and we spent the afternoon identifying and photographing it. Actually, I was still photographing the individual pieces a few days later. It looks like a crazy furniture shop.
I have been a lazy blogger this week and haven’t been out to take more photos as I had planned to do so here are some from the archives.
Ovation of the Seas at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Sydney
Ducks having fun in the water.
Torquay Ferry Devonport
Fish in a pond.
This last one was originally taken in 1990 at Loch Ness, in Scotland, specifically near the ruins of Urqhurt Castle. We don’t know if there is really something in the water at Loch Ness. I kind of hope there is but I also kind of hope we don’t find it. We don’t have to know everything.
