Up, up and away /  by Mario Mirabile

On March 1, 1914, Lieutenant Eric Harrison took to the air in a Bristol Boxkite at Point Cook, south west of Melbourne. It was the first military flight in Australia, and to celebrate the centenary the Royal Australian Air Force staged an air show at Point Cook. There were static displays covering both historical and current military equipment and operations, and you could even apply to be the temporary guardian of a Belgian Shepherd puppy who might one day grow up to be a guard dog. But what everyone really came to see were the aerial displays.

Some fine examples of military flying machines spanning the whole hundred years put on a spectacular display throughout the day. Never having shot an airshow before, I found the learning curve to be quite steep. I got a bit over-confident early, but that was with pre-WWII planes. As the planes got faster, it progressively got harder to capture a good shot.  As a general rule, I found it was much easier to shoot hovering helicopters than F-18 Hornets on afterburner. Heat haze also became a factor as the day got warmer, but I found the effect can be quite interesting.

All in all the RAAF put on a good day and even managed to schedule near perfect weather. Happy birthday to the RAAF.

Not for the faint hearted.... /  by Mario Mirabile

The Block Arcade is a heritage listed shopping arcade connecting Collins and Elizabeth Streets in central Melbourne. L-shaped with a domed central atrium, it is lined with beautifully restored retail spaces, and at the Collins Street end you'll find one of the best places to get a sugar fix - the Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

Opened in 1891 for the Victorian Ladies Work Association and named for the founder Lady Hopetoun, it has become a Melbourne institution. It's not unusual to see a queue of eager customers lined up along the arcade waiting patiently for their chance to take a seat and sample the fare in an atmosphere of refined elegance. Although you can get a proper meal there, it has become justly famous for its high tea and remarkable selection of cakes and pastries. The window display, seen here early in the morning before hungry customers take their toll, is breathtaking in its decadence and an attraction in itself. 

It's certainly not something you'd attempt every day, but as a special treat, tackling the window display would be a noble effort. Just make sure you're not on a diet.

People of the night /  by Mario Mirabile

White Night Melbourne is a dusk-to-dawn cultural festival that, in its second year, attracted half a million people to the city centre for a feast of light shows, performances and artistic displays. It's been hailed as a great success - but call me a philistine if you like - I didn't particularly enjoy it once it got into full swing. It was virtually impossible to move around anything but the periphery or to see and enjoy anything other than the light shows projected onto buildings. Mind you, I've never been a fan of huge crowds at anything other than football matches, where at least the vast majority are seated with a common focus most of the time.

What I did enjoy was getting into the city early, having a bite to eat with friends and doing a bit of people watching.

Two hours before the scheduled start at 7:00 PM, the crowds were starting to build in Swanston street, but the elderly street portraitist didn't allow it to distract him as he studied his subject. Ernie was happy to have a chat as he sold his trinkets at the corner of Flinders Lane. The guitarist busking on the bridge gave a virtuoso performance with what looked to be not much more than a toy instrument. And the charming Leonie found time to smile for me as she sat across the communal table we shared at dinner.

Much better than seething crowds - for me at least.

Working class education /  by Mario Mirabile

RMIT University opened its doors in 1887 as the Working Men's College of Melbourne. Funded by pastoralist, politician and philanthropist Francis Ormond, it offered technical education to 320 men to support the industrialization of Melbourne in the late 19th century. From this modest beginning it has grown into the largest tertiary institution in Australia with more than 80,000 vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in a wide variety of business, technology and design disciplines.

The foundation campus - now one of many - is located in central Melbourne and has grown dramatically in recent years in an effort to keep up with the increasing demand for tertiary education places. The original site in La Trobe Street with its many heritage buildings is surrounded by newer constructions in a bewildering array of architectural styles. As they compete for the limited space available, they begin blending into one another in ways that are sometimes harmonious and sometimes jarring. It has appropriated parts of the Old Melbourne Gaol and Magistrate's Court as the justice system abandoned them in search of more modern accommodation and even taken over the derelict Capitol Theatre building to make room for its ongoing expansion. When you add suburban, country and even international campuses, the expansion shows no sign of slowing down.

Not too bad for a humble working man's college.

Not guilty, Your Honour /  by Mario Mirabile

The somewhat dilapidated sandstone building at the corner of LaTrobe and Russell Streets served as Melbourne's Magistrate' Court from 1914 to 1995, when it moved to more spacious and salubrious quarters in William Street. Before that it housed the Victorian Supreme Court where Sir Redmond Barry sentenced Ned Kelly to hang. Dear Ned, of course, went on to become a folk hero, lauded in song, film and literature. For his trouble, Sir Redmond was commemorated with a grand statue in front of the State Library and a rather dull building at the University of Melbourne.

Conveniently located next to the Old Melbourne Gaol (where Ned was dispatched) and across the road from the old Russel Street police complex, the court hosted an endless steam of Melbourne's law breakers, from the notorious Squizzy Taylor to those who had neglected to pay their parking fines. The decoratively arched main entrance was a regular feature of the evening news, instantly recognizable unlike its successor which could pass for any city office building were it not for the nervous looking accused and occasional bewigged barrister gathered around the entrance. Even the holding cells with their ornately barred ground level windows speak of an era when the majesty of the law was put on show for all to see.

Today, it's seriously in need of  restoration. The sandstone is weathered, and having been built to withstand the fumes of the horse and buggy era, is badly stained by  more than 100 years of exhaust fumes. It serves as a tourist attraction and an administrative facility for RMIT University, so there's hope that someone will find the money to restore it to its former glory.

Into the blue /  by Mario Mirabile

Blue is a colour associated with prestige, harmony, clarity and curiously, both happiness and sadness. Surveys tell us it's the most popular colour in western culture, but in other cultures it can indicate mourning or villainy. It's currently considered the colour which typifies boys but in earlier time was considered more appropriate for girls. It's the traditional colour of jeans, the most universally recognizable item of clothing. It's used by some animals to attract mates and by others to ward off predators. And it's the colour of the sky.

On a clear day it's everywhere we look. So rich and untouchable, its hues are unmatched by anything in our terrestrial experience. The shade of blue may vary according to the season and time of day, but as a sign of fair weather and fair winds, a blue sky is unambiguous in any culture and era.

The cool factor /  by Mario Mirabile

I like crested terns. With their swept back hairstyles and raffish good looks, they're the Fonzies of Ricketts Point. A leather jacket would complete the picture, but they'e really got enough cool factor without it. They sit around shooting the breeze, dispensing advice to anyone who cares to ask for it - not unlike the Fonz in that respect. Their friends the pelicans have heard it all before, so they take off to find a quiet corner. With the morning's searing heat dissipated by a stiff cool breeze off the bay, people come out to pick their way among the rock pools - and perhaps seek advice from the terns - as the Spirit of Tasmania steams up to its Melbourne home at Station Pier.

Looking for some good advice? /  by Mario Mirabile

I seem to have become the go-to guy for photographic advice among my local group at work - probably because I spend far too much time reading photography related sites and blogs. While I’d be happy to sit around and dispense my wisdom all day, this is not as simple a proposition as it sounds. Everyone’s goals, budget, current equipment base, level of expertise and actual needs vary so widely that the simple answer sought is rarely forthcoming. If someone says they want to take photos of their kids with blurry backgrounds, the simple answer - that they buy a large aperture lens for their camera and shoot it wide open - is merely the start of the conversation. From there the discussion moves into the realms of aperture, focal length, subject distance, the relative merits of the 50mm f/1.8 vs the 50mm f/1.4 and so on.

I figured that what these guys needed more than advice was a dose of practical education, so I offered (perhaps foolishly) to lead them on lunchtime photo walks. Hopefully in the process they’re learning something about what all those arcane settings on their cameras mean and how to use them to improve their photos.

Given the constraints imposed by time and being on foot, the range of subjects and areas we can tackle will be limited. I’m not sure how long I’m going to be able to keep the walks interesting, both for myself and the participants. The basic aim to visit somewhere of photographic interest or explore some aspect of photographic technique each week. This time the goal was to examine some old pilings in the Yarra which have been converted into a sculpture. We didn't get that far as we stopped and spent a fair bit of time exploring various aspects and angles of this sculpture instead. We'll get to the pilings another day. 

Paris on Collins /  by Mario Mirabile

Collins Street has long been regarded as the premier street in central Melbourne. Before being extended into the new Docklands precinct, it stretched exactly one mile along the east-west axis of the central Melbourne grid laid out by Robert Hoddle in the 1830's. Following the gold rushes of the 1850's and the subsequent land booms, Melbourne grew into one of the richest cities in the world.

This was reflected in the Paris end of Collins Street - the two blocks perched on the hill at the eastern end. It was site of some of the finest residences in the city, the most prestigious gentleman's clubs (in the traditional sense, please) and the swankiest retailers. While many classic buildings fell to the wreckers’ ball during the re-development craze of the 60's and 70's, many fine architectural examples managed to survive. 

Take the short stroll from Spring to Russell Street and you'll find plenty of reminders of the wealth that was channeled through Melbourne. The north side has many fine examples of Victorian architecture, however few, if any, still serve their original purpose. Portland House - a wedding present from a doting father to his daughter - has gone from townhouse to the office of a financial services company. Others residences have become retail outlets, cafes or boutique hotels. Georges department store - where the staff was not above hinting that perhaps you should be shopping elsewhere if you didn't look cashed up - went broke years ago and has been carved up into smaller retail spaces. The south side of the street has a stronger art-deco flavour, with many of the buildings housing flagship stores for prestigious retail brands.

It can be easy to miss some of these gems amid the modern retail signage and clutter of modern buildings. It's well worth the effort to take a slow walk from Spring Street to Russell Street and back just to observe the beautifully preserved detail of a bygone era.

 

Back to school /  by Mario Mirabile

I don’t know what this plant is called. It might be barley grass, but I’m not sure. In any case, it's a common grass and can be found everywhere at this time of year as kids return to school. It may be only a weed, but every time I see it I'm reminded of my school days.

Boys of my generation found an odd use for it which I'm sure has died out as kids now have phones to play with. This only worked if you were wearing your uniform pullover, which were always woolen and made with a fairly tight knit. The trick was to hold your forearm horizontal in front of you and place a plucked seed head on it with the point facing away from you. Pinching a bit of pullover sleeve between thumb and index finger, you pulled the sleeve back like a bow string and let go, propelling the seed head forward like an arrow. I don't recall how far they used to fly, but I'm sure the distances were prodigious.

Needless to say the practice was strictly banned at school for the danger it posed to life and limb. However, we persisted in fighting running battles with our dangerous weapons, and I'm certain no-one was pierced through the heart by an errant projectile or lost an eye in the process. And I don't think I ever had to recharge the battery in my school pullover.

Taking it to the streets /  by Mario Mirabile

Melbourne's street art scene has taken off. Not so long ago (when it was graffiti, not art) it was done in the dead of night lest the perpetrator be hauled off by the police. Dawn in the city would reveal a new crop of murals in Melbourne's many laneways and alleys. The practice is now not only tolerated, but actively encouraged. It has grown into a tourist drawcard and organised tours will save you the trouble of finding the best galleries.

This is so much more than crude tagging. Watching a good artist at work reveals imagination, a high level of skill, a fine eye for detail and the co-ordination required to work on canvasses measured in metres. The maestros are not restricted to those who can handle a paintcan. Working in chalk, the pavement artists faithfully recreate old masters that anyone can marvel at, or even walk all over if they wish. They all have one thing in common though - their transient nature. A mural is only a only a few cans of paint away from being yesterday's masterpiece. A shower of rain or a thousand footsteps will turn a footpath old master into nothing but a memory. Some have more staying power than others, such as those attributed to the famous Banksy, but each masterpiece is regularly replaced by another. 

If you live in Melbourne, it's easy to become somewhat immune to the charms of this riot of color. An entire laneway can be transformed and and for me the only giveaway is the freshness of the paint. Personally, I find the people around the artworks far more interesting. The artists, the chef stealing a quiet moment and of course the galley patrons

A splash of color /  by Mario Mirabile

A scene will draw your attention for any number of reasons. Action or movement of some sort, an interesting or pretty face, a dramatic shape, something that doesn't belong. However, the thing that's sure to catch your eye will be an out of place patch of color.

The bright hues of a row stools in a drab lane or a riot of orange in a busy city street draw the eye like magnets.  It's not enough just to capture the color though. A puzzled expression begs the question of what is puzzling the subject. Perhaps he's just been told he has to bring in all the oranges at the end of the day. A faded reminder of years past makes you wonder what the penalty was for parking beyond the line. A blank doorway adds mystery and balance to a composition. Look for the color, but try to weave  bit of a story around it as well. 

You can cheat a little and use the old trick of desaturating all except the object of interest, but it's an effect that is often used without much thought and can lose its impact if you do it too often. I believe an image will have more impact an object can stand out in its environment without resorting too much manipulation.