Two Recent Photographs That Got Some Attention
The Federal Member for Banks held a Photography competition for residents of the Banks Electorate. Over 300 different photographers entered one image each. There were several given Commendation certificates and another few were Finalists. My infrared photo of the Oatley train station was a Finalist.
Melbourne Arts Centre Spire and Theatres Celebrate 40 Years
Design Work on the Spire from 1973
My initial involvement with Sir Roy Grounds and the design of the Spire followed on from a meeting with senior engineers from John Connell and Associates (JCA) at a Conference about Tall Buildings at the University of Sydney in 1973. As a result I was engaged to carry out a complete design check on the four large spaceframe roof structures proposed for the Collins Place Project and another four roofs for the Canberra Hospital Services Complex.
The Arts Centre Spire and Meeting Sir Roy Grounds
At the end of being briefed on these two projects, we were in Andrew Goad’s office (JCA) and on the wall behind there was a drawing of a tall tapering lattice tower.
It turned out that this was the state of play for the design of the Spire for the Victorian Arts Centre - later renamed the Melbourne Arts Centre. I had last heard of the spire whilst in High School when pupils were encouraged to save their copper coins for the copper clad spire. Apparently this was more for fund raising rather than the coins being melted down for the copper cladding. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) had been completed.
John Peyton (JCA) asked, “do you want to have a go at that one?” I answered with a yes and so John contacted the architect Sir Roy Grounds, and he agreed to meet me the next day where he defined the basic criteria to be satisfied. By this time the concept for a copper clad spire "place marker" covering a relatively small theatre built below street level had been abandoned and a tall open tapering lattice spire was the direction to be followed. A separate complex - the Concert Hall - was to be closer to the Yarra River.
Read more: Melbourne Arts Centre Spire and Theatres Celebrate 40 Years

Live Edge Burl Coffee Tables for Sale
The following small to medium sized bespoke live edge coffee or side tables are available as at October 2024.
The legs are elegant modern black hairpins or square black metal types
Prices range from $650 to $1100 for the unique Coolibah burl.
Other burls are also available.

DT01 - Solid Red Gum Burl Dining Table
Measuring 1800mm x 1050mm across this magnificient bespoke solid piece of red gum would make a very distinctive dining table.

Framed Pictures of Southern Highlands
The following framed photos are available.
The glass in the frame measures 18x24 inches (460 x 610 mm) and the frames are 20mm wide - black with a silver trim.
Some were featured at Montoria (great clothes for ladies and girls, now closed 2023) in Bundanoon.

Rhododenrums - a Close up Look
One of the tricky problems with taking pictures of flowers is whether to use a dedicated "macro" lens such as the Nikon 105mmf2.8 macro.
I think this is a very good lens. But, if using a wide apperture - say f2.8 -5.6 - it may be difficult to achieve a desired depth of field.
There are techniques for overcoming this - namely taking of several pictures with a different focus distance and then focus stacking the set of images in Photoshop or other software.
Multiple images tends to force you into the use of a tripod. This may not be great as there is the setup time to get a good composition. Some cameras can take multiple pictures by varying the focus distance from the closest object to the furthermost that you require for a flower. There are other devices such as Arsenal that might control the camera to do this. My initial experience with Arsenal is that it wants to do multiple images way out to infinity.

Heavy Swell at Bombo - April 2022
April Fools Day 2022 saw the build up of a large swell over several days following some deep low pressure systems that also produced heavy rainfall all along the east coast of NSW. A high tide added to the drama.
All images shown here were hand-held and taken with a Nikon D500 with a 28-300mm Full Frame lens.

A Walk Around a Few Blocks in Melbourne CBD to See the W-Melbourne Building
A Walk Around a Few Blocks in Melbourne CBD to See the W-Melbourne Building
Firstly from Southbank then across the Evan Walker footbridge, underneath the train lines to the end of Elizabeth Street.
Turn east along Flinders Street taking in the grand Flinders Street Station, St Paul's Cathedral, up Swanston St then west along Collins Street. The new W-Melbourne building is on the corner of Collins and Market Street and is truly different and impressive with its two towers and an elevated cross over connection.
Reflections about the King Street Bridge
Read more: A Walk Around a Few Blocks in Melbourne CBD to See the W-Melbourne Building