Mornington Peninsula Project Part1
Small motel on Point Nepean Road.
Like many people it’s easy to fall into a creative rut. I was getting frustrated looking at Facebook groups and Youtube videos with all the wonderful and different images and starting to think there’s not much around here that looks exciting. However, I decided to stop pre-judging myself and went for a couple of drives along our coastal road to a town called Sorrento which is on the Mornington Peninsula in Australia not far from where I live. Well it taught me a big lesson. The pictures won’t happen by themselves, you need to put some effort into the process if you want to get some sort of decent result. I have opened my eyes to opportunities that I was just taking for granted since we have lived here for at least 30 years.
Since I have the Hasselblad H3D back now and it is best suited to a more methodical approach to making images I thought it would be fun to create a documentary series showcasing the huge variation in design and age of holiday homes, beach shacks and current new buildings before all the fun little old shacks are knocked over and replaced with modern boxy things. Along the road trip, my wife Jen was looking at some of the buildings and remembering what they used to be from her child hood holidays to Rosebud with her Mum and Dad. The old dairy, a bakery, funny little shops where you could buy just about anything you might need whilst on a beach holiday. Perhaps I can convince her to share some of these gems to add some context to the photos as we go.
Watts’ Cottage Sorrento Erected 1869/70
So I loaded up the digital Blad, tripod and a few other gadgets including my circular polariser and set off. Wouldn’t you know it the first house I planned to shoot was having its tin roof and chimney repaired. I cannot even remember ever seeing people at this property! Its a funny little house sitting right in the middle of a massive lawn area that looks like the equivalent of 3 separate blocks of land and it is pretty old. So I’ll have to get that one next time. I shot quite a few, something like 10 frontages. I also realised how much I need to slow down and enjoy the process. Years of corporate work experience pushing for fast results has to be undone. You cannot decide on a new project and then expect to just run down the road and shoot it perfectly first go and finish in one afternoon. These images aren’t my idea of prize winners, that is not the intention of the project which I guess is more of a documentary exercise than one aimed at producing art. Having said that my photography “spidey senses” are coming back steadily the more I pick up the camera. So the images that went in the bin were dumped because I ignored sun flare from the side/top, sloppy focus, picking the wrong time of day with big front on shadows falling across buildings and hand holding a couple of quickies at slow shutter speeds that turned out too soft to use.
The lessons continued. As I approached the property pictured below, the owner who was landscaping an area in the driveway out of frame spotted the camera and came out to see what the “action” was. We had a great chat and that was fun. It turns out the old accomodation property is just starting renovation and they are still deciding what to do with it longer term. I’ll try and drop a print in for him next time I go past. The property itself dates back most likely to the 1950’s and we had a laugh at the likely age of the sign out front which promotes “Colour TV’s” in the rooms.
My last image was from the Rye Hotel. The main body of the pub had a big shadow running across the centre of it from a tree that I was standing next to. So it’s on the hit list for next time as well. It has some “Art Deco” influences across the top of the building which look great if I can get the light correct. All up the H3D is performing well again after its surgery. I used the 35 mm lens with a circular polariser on it for all of these images. It certainly adds some depth into the sky. I’m still deciding whether I like the look or not. Might try a gradient ND filter for fun next time if I can get another sunny day soon.
Rye Hotel annex separated from the main building.