Canberra Series - Part 1 - Parliament House (dial up warning

[daniel_r]

With the fantastic light that is available at this time of year and with the lack of heat haze or fog, I've been writing down "shooting ideas" for a few weeks now.

Initially I thought up some ideas for last month's ES-Structure, but decided to instead develop a multi-part series of Canberra images over a number of months. Some of the aspects will be familiar, but I hope to capture some less iconic, less cliched, less postcard-like angles as well. Sort of a personal challenge kind a thing

Part 1 - Parliament House (ok, so stay tuned for the less postcard views in Part 2)

Click for larger images

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8 (the postcard view )


The rest of Part 1 of the series can be seen here

Good, bad or indifferent critique and comment welcome.

[Alex]

Love No. 3, 4 and the last two. Very nice lighting and sharp.

Alex

[rokkstar]

Daniel,

These are without a doubt, the most interesting set of photos I've seen of PH. You've done a great job here - lovely and clean and great lines.

[marcotrov]

Daniels an excellent series and very different and striking compared to the normal PH fare. Love the colour, composition and exposure is spot on.
cheers
marco

[avkomp]

definitely some different angles of parliament house here.
nice lighting on em too.

Steve

[Glen]

very clean Daniel, sell them as postcards

[Alpha_7]

Great stuff Daniel, I have to agree these are some of the best shots of PH I've seen, the lighting and angles are great. I wondering if there is a big market for postcards in canberra, particularly Parliment House.

[stubbsy]

Daniel

All are good, but some faves:

#3 - because the sliver of moon adds a little extra interest

#4 - leading lines and that lovely golden glow against the blue of the sky. Excellent composition

#8 - it may be postcards, but it's beautifully composed and exposed

I look forward to the next installment.

[huynhie]

Very nice shot Daniel, if I had to pick one I'd say that the fist one would be my favourite. Number four is also a standout.

[radar]

Very nice set Daniel,

#3 and #8 are my favourites, even if that last one is a postcard view. Very nicely exposed with that nice crisp clear sky you start getting at this time of year in Canberra.

Looking forward to the set.

Cheers,

André

[the foto fanatic]

Nice examples of the difference between looking and seeing.

A photographer sees things that mere mortals don't, and that's what produces interesting images like these.

Well done, and thanks for sharing.

[Jonas]

A great set of pics Daniel. I thought #1 was the weakest of a very good series due to foreground of dull grass, but #3, #4 and #8 are awesome.

Any hassles with security?

Jonas

[daniel_r]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I'd thought about what I wanted to capture alot before visiting the hill. Took about 2hrs up there to get these results. I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out.

The APH is really an architectural gem, and more so when you consider the decade when it was designed and built - 1980s - and it hasn't aged a bit. It's still modern, clean, unique and impressive. Definitely a contrast to the other rubbish built here in the 1980s (most of Belconnen CBD, of which a lot is scheduled for a serious renovation or demolition - and sadly this is the view most people take from Canberra - crappy Belco and a lot of roundabouts, which by there's not that many just that they are on the major traffic routes!).

Thanks to those who mentioned that it's different from the normal view - that's exactly what I was intended to capture and it's nice to know that I've succeeded with this!

Postcards... that would be a great opportunity... but unfortunately these images cannot be commercially published - without APH approval as I didn't have a commerical permit. They're pretty good about setting out the conditions though - link here

Cricketfan - yeah, this is an issue I've been dealing with lately, mainly revisiting some of my skills picked up from my theatre lighting tech days. - look at the light, where are the shadows falling, what don't you see, where are your hot points.

Jonas - security were great. Protective Services (sort of like the AFP) manage security for APH, and they deserve a mention for their professionalism. They're a long way from you average security grunt.

I had a talk to a couple of guys on bike patrol, and those on entry patrol. Their major concern was that it was a commercial shoot without a permit, and that I didn't take the tripod on to the mosaic in the forecourt water feature due to public liability. In the pond reflection shot (not shown here, is in the gallery link) and as it was outside a restricted entry point, the only limitation was that I couldn't walk up to the glass and photograph the interior of the entry point.

With this kind of attitude, it's great to be Australian - there's few other high security buildings in the world that you can do this near. Lets hope that this kind of attitude toward general interest photographers continues

I'm working on the last images of Part 2 which captures a different element of Canberra - will post tonight.

Thanks again.