St Kilda Pavilion...!!!

Something about the beautiful place:

The St Kilda Pavilion is a historic kiosk located at the end of St Kilda Pier, in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. In September 2003 the structure was destroyed in an arson attack. After massive public support to rebuild the kiosk and the support of premier Steve Bracks, it was reconstructed to the original 1903 plans, utilising some of the salvaged components, such as the cast iron roof, decorative cresting and weather vane. An additional structure, expanding the capacity was erected directly behind the kiosk and is obscured by the pavilion when viewed from the pier. The Pavilion is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The kiosk re-opened in March 2006. The site is now owned by Parks Victoria.

No better place around Melbourne for an evening stroll and snack, plenty of things around the place to see and shoot, the LUNA park is around the corner to create enough interest for the kids. When I used to live in the city most often we visit there just to shoot the beach and have a snack in the beach cafe. Of late the place behind the pavilion had been a huge interest for the public because of the arrival of a little penguin colony, same as the ones found in Philip Island. Started in countable numbers, they have increased these days considerably.

Now something about the shots:

These two shots of the historic pier are handheld shots done without a tripod. With a tripod it would have been even better for long exposures, but I was still very happy with the result I could achieve with this one. Would love to go again someday and do some long exposures with the help of the tripod. If you are around Melbourne and love beach photography this is the place to go.

Cheers,

Nirmal Kumar S.

Tesselaar Tulip Festival...!!!

Something about the place:

Tesselaar tulip festival is something which happens every year around September 10th to October 10th in Dandenong Ranges. This is one such amazing place to go during this time of the year as this leaves you in joy and with a handful of beautiful photos. The actual drive to the place itself is a scenic delight.

Location : 357-359 Monbulk Road, Silvan

It all began in 1939 with Dutch migrants; Cees and Johanna Tesselaar leaving Holland on their wedding day with a suitcase full of bulbs. Setting up shop in the picturesque Dandenong Ranges they began growing tulips, an exotic bloom for the time which caused a stir with people jumping the fence to get a closer look. Tesselaar officially opened the gates and celebrated their first Tulip Festival in 1954. From simple beginnings to what is now one of Victoria’s major tourist attractions, the success of The Tesselaar Tulip Festival rests entirely with the unique and timeless beauty of the tulip. There is nothing more captivating than a field of colorful tulips. I have been there twice myself and still couldn't get enough out of the scintillating beauty of the flowers.

Now something about the shot:

This particular shot is a backlit shot of the tulips, with the sun in the backdrop and the tulips & people providing colorful and interesting bokeh. The darkness around the bottom added to the drama of the shot

Cheers,
Nirmal Kumar S.

Ballarat Botanical Gardens...!!!

Statuary pavilion in Ballarat Botanical Gardens...

Something about the spot...

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens Reserve, located on the western shore of picturesque Lake Wendouree, in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, covers an area of 40 hectares which is divided into three distinct zones. The central Botanical Gardens reserve in the 'gardenesque' style of the Victorian pleasure garden. On either side there are open parkland buffers known as the North and South Gardens. The Gardens celebrated its sesquicentenary (150 years old) in 2007.

The gardens feature a large modern conservatory, returned Ex-POW war memorial, and the heritage statuary pavilion. The Stoddart Statue collection consists of 12 white marble figures from Italy donated by Thomas Stoddart in 1884. The 12 statues were figures from classical mythology: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Hercules, Pomona, Bacchante, Hebe, Flora Farnese, Leda, Mercury and Flora. They were badly damaged by vandals in 2002 and were placed in the statuary pavilion after repair. The statues were returned to their original 1884 pedestals in March 2010.

A collection of bronze busts of all Australian Prime Ministers named Prime Ministers Avenue is set within the magnificent Horse Chestnut Avenue. One of the founding fathers of Federation was Alfred Deakin who was the first Federal Member for Ballarat and the second Prime Minister. The first 12 busts were donated by Richard Crouch who also left a bequest to add further busts.

The South Gardens has Australia's Ex Prisoner of War Memorial, opened on 6 February 2004. Designed by Ballarat artist Peter Blizzard, the 130 metre long granite wall has the names of 35,000 Australian Prisoners of War etched into it.

Now something about the shot...

This is one of my first HDR attempts. This is a  shot HDR, then a selective deghosting is done to keep the clouds intact from the least exposure shot. The colors and the clouds are preserved and then tone mapping is done using Photomatix HDR. Though I was happy with my initial processing of the shot I reprocessed the same after 3 years with the better knowledge of HDR image processing.

Cheers,

Nirmal Kumar S.

Immigration Museum...!!!

Flowing traffic in Flinder's Street, Melbourne - In front of Immigration Museum...

First something about this lovely place...

The Immigration Museum explores the stories of real people from all over the world who have migrated to Victoria.

Located in the Old Customs House in the heart of the Melbourne city, the museum re-creates the real-life stories of coming to Australia with a rich mix of moving images, personal and community voices, memories and memorabilia.

From the reasons for making the journey, to the moment of arrival in a new country, and the impact on indigenous communities, these stories are sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but always engaging.

The result is a thought-provoking and moving experience.

Now the story of this shot...

Living in Melbourne for almost five years now, I never had a chance to get in and explore what is in this building. I always hear amazing stuff about this building from friends and whenever I hop into the city circle tram for a free ride.

Somehow more intriguing for me was the architecture of the building from outside than inside. I always wanted to do this shot. But never really had the time and patience to get in front there and do the thing. 

This particular day was a golden opportunity. There were photographers everywhere in Melbourne. It was the day when Trey Ratcliff came to Melbourne for a photo walk. It was a very long evening of walking. But in the end very happy with the result.

I would love to explain how it's inside this building as well, but that's after I get in there some day, sometime in the very near future.

Cheers,
Nirmal Kumar S.

Sunset over Southbank...!!!

Sun sets over the beautiful Southbank in Melbourne...

Sunsets...

A magical sunset can take your breath away. As the day draws to a close and the sun bends to the horizon, its light has to travel further though the atmosphere to reach us. We gradually see less blue in the sky as it lights up with firey colors, as the shorter wavelengths no longer reach us and particles in the atmosphere scatter the fleeting sunlight. Sunsets transform the sky into beautiful works of art, painted with amazing colors.

Story of the shot...

When we try to shoot a subject which has both the bright and dark areas in the same frame, and when the intention is to show everything in the bright dynamic colors, we go for a HDR image. I read this in the internet. The same evening I tried this shot.This one was taken from where I used to live in Village Street in Docklands, which had this spectacular view. I didn't take many shots but getting the intensity of light trials to be the same across different shots with different exposures was the challenge.Through with that, the HDR processing. I used this super software named Photomatix HDR which gives amazing results for HDR processing. Learning HDR photography is itself an amazing experience worth spending the time, and when we see outcomes like this shot it makes the experience even more rich and worthy.Still this is one of my best HDR shots, and considering this is my very first HDR shot, I can't be more happy.

Cheers,
Nirmal Kumar S.

Mentone Beach...!!!

Beautiful Mentone Beach Sunset...

This place is some 10 minutes from where I live in Mentone, Victoria, Australia. A month ago, I packed all my photography gear, took the heavy tripod, everything I need for a good long exposure shooting, and went there to capture the sunset. But the sunset was crap enough that I didn't even bothered to unpack my gear.

Recently I went, without any gear, just for an evening walk and the sunset was very beautiful. So I made the most out of what I had on my hands. I used my mobile phone to take this shot. Came reasonably good considering this is a mobile camera shot. This proves the saying "The best camera that you have is the one that you have with you!".

Now something about the beach...

Mentone Beach forms the northern boundary of the 20 km long stretch of beach that extends from Frankston to the bluffs at Mentone. The beach is backed by Beach Road and 20 m high bluffs. The once bare and eroding bluffs were the subject of some famous paintings by Charles Condor and Tom Roberts. Today the bluffs have been stabilized and vegetated, and a seawall runs along their base, topped by a promenade. In addition, the beach was nourished with sand in the 1970s and 80s, and several rock groynes were placed across the beach.

The beach in this section is 1.5 km long and curves around to face the south-west. The orientation, and Table Rock Point to the west, afford some protection from west and north-westerly wind and waves. As a result, the parallel, double bar system that has run all the way from Frankston transforms into a 200 m wide series of shallow, transverse bars. These cause large protrusions of the shoreline where they join the beach. At low tide, even low waves can be observed breaking on the many bars. In addition, the rock groynes cause changes in beach orientation, resulting in, at times, a very undulating shoreline. The Mentone Life Saving Club was formed in 1921. It is located in front of the bluffs, with a good view of the beach.

Cheers,

Nirmal Kumar S.

Great Otway National Park...!!!

The Great Otway National Park stretches from Torquay through to Princetown and up through the Otways hinterland towards Colac. The park features rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, rock platforms and windswept heathland. In the north, the park features tall forests, ferny gullies, magnificent waterfalls and tranquil lakes. Such a beautiful place.

Cheers,
Nirmal Kumar S.