Beholga Surry Hills

One way street to scaffoldings

I've gone from no job to two jobs in a short space of time - oops? Means I'm now suitably busy, which is good, and suitably financially viable, which is better, but I've lost my leisurely time for creativity. So I'm having to be creative in the gaps!

One of my new jobs is in Surry Hills, in the seedier part down near Central. I'm loving the area - houses from the 1890s and the 1970s rubbing shoulders, back alleys full of tailors and garbage, little fashion wholesalers rubbing shoulders with odd little private colleges (one of which I'm working at).

Matchbox taxi house, Foveaux St

I happened to have a 'new' Holga that I bought in a flea market in Tokyo, so to test it out, I took it on a wander through the neighbourhood one grey weekday lunchtime. And I really like the results.

This particular camera is even more dubious than most Holgas. It has a flash built in, but it came with batteries installed, and the gods only know how many years they'd been there. Certainly long enough to leak, and crystallise acids all over the inside (and parts of the outside) of the camera. Oops. So the flash doesn't work. And the exposures seem permanently set on 16 per roll, rather than my preferred 12, so no square Holga photos for me. Still, the shutter opens and closes, so I popped a roll of colour film in there, and these photos are what resulted.

Surry Hills and the dreamy lack-of-focus of the Holga are a good match, I think. I'm enjoying the distancing effect of the fuzzy focus, and the softness of the lens. It suits the transitional nature of the area. I'm finding myself looking forward to working more there, if only for my lunchtime finds.

Next step is to clear the last of the acid out of the camera, and see if I can get the flash working for the next lot of images.

Skyline & broken windows

There are a few more images in the gallery for the Surry Hills Beholga series - and I certainly plan on adding to it. I may even start Beholgas for other areas - what do you think?

Extra 3

Stairs to tunnel, Enmore.

This is the shot I was trying to get when my batteries died during Urban week. I went back afterwards tp try again, and here we are.

I hope everyone had, or is having, a lovely Christmas - and may no-one get a hangover any worse than mine currently is.

Night 4

Silos and trainlines, Newtown.

Yes, it's horribly out of focus. And a touch on the slanty side. But I adore this shot, so I'm sharing it anyway. My poor little EOS struggles to focus in low light, even with my beloved 17mm lens, so I usually let it do the best it can, then switch to manual. Unfortunately, with a tiny viewfinder, I struggle in low light too!

Still, the focus isn't really the point of this picture - it's the colours, and the drama of the clouds and the light. So perhaps I should pretend the blur was intentional, yes?

Urban 7

Sunday morning conversation, cafe, Newtown.

Urban 6

Art installation, trainlines, Newtown.

The things people can do with plastic cups, yes? I really like this!

Urban 5

Terrace houses, Newtown.

Today is the 30th of November. Why is that significant, you ask? Because that means I've made it through NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month - a bloggy version of NaNoWriMo.

To celebrate, the first person who comments can choose the shot of their choice from the blog so far, and I'll send them an 8 x 10 copy to do with as they will (although I'd prefer framing and admiring, rather than using as a dartboard, personally). Lj readers, please click through and comment on the blog rather than the feed; otherwise it gets confusing!

Yay!

Urban 4

Pedestrian tunnel at night, Enmore.

Note: This is another pic that Blogger has cropped. Please click through to see the full photo - I really like this one!

I'm discovering I really like night photography. Tonight I headed out at dusk, hopping down the road with the tripod hanging out of my bag and occasionally banging me on the arm (I've now gotten the knack of using the bang to push it back into place for a few more hops. I got down to the tunnel, set myself up at the top of the steps, took two pictures at the Newtown end of the tunnel before coming down here to do the stuff I wanted to do... and the camera battery died.

I sighed, packed myself up, hopped up the hill, charged the battery for half an hour, then repeated the whole process again. Success! I love night photography. I am, however, going to invest in a backup battery, and take the folding stool. Those 30 second exposures are ouch on my good foot.

The lovely Xole of Succulent Obsession has kindly offered to help me tweak blogger so it stops cropping my pictures for me, so hopefully your clicking reflexes won't get overused for too much longer!

Urban 3

St George Presbyterian Church, Sydney.

There are a lot of old, narrow churches in Sydney - usually sandwiched in tightly between other things, or huddling on their own brief stretch of land. This is one of my favourites. The building to the right, amusingly enough, is a Scientology center.

Urban 2

Monorail, Pitt St, Sydney

Just to prove that Springfield isn't the only town with a giant monorail white elephant. That being said, I do use it occasionally to get myself down to Darling Harbour, so I suppose I shouldn't make fun of it!

You used to be able to sneak on for free at several of the stations around the city; no more, though.

Urban 1

Impromptu drumming session, Newtown

I was wandering home on Sunday afternoon and I came across these guys sitting in the town square, outside the disused porn theater. They were happy to have their photos taken, on the condition I sent them copies as well; they wouldn't even take money. Fabulous drumming too - it was great to see them so into it! And they drowned out the classical guitar player who gets paid to sit and strum outside the cafe across the road, which is always a plus.

EDIT: This picture is actually heavily cropped by blogger's default page width; click through to see the full size.

The theme for the week starting Monday 26th November...

... is URBAN