A quiet day on the bay

AK and I went for a walk around the bay (Port Phillip), one Saturday. We took a train to one station, then walked for hours and hours, to another station on another line. I think we stopped for coffee twice. At one point, the water was so, so calm, I just had to take some photos. I was particularly captivated by the yellow poles sitting out there on their own, amidst the  silver blue seas and sky. In some parts, you couldn't tell where the horizon line was, as the sky and seas melded into one. Here are some of the my photographs from that walk:

                                              ‘The Bay on a quiet day #57′

                                                       ‘Yellow Pole #63’

                                                  ‘Yellow Pole #71’

                                                ‘The Bay on a quiet day #77′

all photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2015.

Melbourne scenes, part 1.

Here are a few photos I have taken recently of Melbourne and it's surrounding areas.
For some reason, I was inspired to walk about and take photos of urban-scapes.

Permit zone, Fitzroy:

Lucy Liu, Melbourne:

 

The Vault/Yellow Peril, Southbank:

Under surveillance, Southbank: 

Cracked mirror, Melbourne:

all images copyright matthew schiavello 2015.

Horsham and the Wimmera Pt 2.

Here is the second part of my pictorial post of Horsham and the Wimmera.

Over the first part of this year, I did a few over night stays in Horsham and visited it's surrounding areas. I took my camera and here are a few shots from my trips. i really love the vastness of the Wimmera. I am in awe by the low horizon, which goes on forever with it's flat fields of grain. It is also a very lonely place, well as least I found it to be. Maybe it was because often there was nothing for as far as your eye could see?

                                                'Wimmera reflections #11'

                                                  'Wimmera sky #217'

                                              'Golden Hour in the Wimmera #59'

*For those that aren't familiar with 'golden hour', it is the time before sunset, where the sun gives everything a golden glow 

                                                       'Wimmera roads #235'

                                         'Silhouettes in the Wimmera at sunset   #541'


All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2012

Horsham and the Wimmera. Pt 1

Over the first part of this year, as part of  my then job,  I did a few overnight stays in Horsham and visited it's surrounding areas. I took my camera and here are a few shots from my trips. I really love the vastness of the Wimmera. I am in awe by the low horizon, which seems to go on forever with it's flat fields of grain. It also seemed a very lonely place, maybe because often there was nothing for as far as your eye could see?

                                                      'The Wimmera #105'

                                                    'Silos in the Wimmera #111'

                                           'Twilight in the Wimmera  #159'

'Dusk in the Wimmera  #201'

                                       "Sundown at Mount Arapiles #51"

                                  'Dimboola's pink salt lake at the close of day #206'

                                            'Dimboola's pink salt lake at the close of day #190'

                                  'Somewhere along the Wimmera Highway at dusk #147'

All photographs, copyright matthew schiavello 2014

and back to pick the car up.

A couple of weeks back, I blogged about how my car  'Stacey' had died so far from home. A week later it had been repaired and ready to be picked up. Unfortunately the mechanic was not open on weekends and was 120-130 kms away. I had no choice but to leave work at lunch time on a Friday, to catch a train into town and then a train out to the country. I ran to make all my connections and was a bit puffed... but I had thought ahead to bring along my camera along so that I could take some photos along the way... here they are:


Waiting for the train to leave the city:

Photos from a moving train:

 

The car had finally been collected. I headed home with no delay, but as it was still light, I couldn't help but pull over to take a few quick photos:

Stacey is now home, as am I.. but whether she will be allowed out to go on further country drives remains to be seen. Mind you, there is always the country train.

All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013.

The road trip that was going so well......

It was the start of the long weekend. Three friends and I decided to drive up to the country, through the gold fields region, take some back-roads and enjoy the gloriously beautiful sunny winter's day.
Triple D (Country D, City D and Italian D) and I, set off from Melbourne and guided by freeways, fast left the cityscape behind. Low lying clouds piqued our excitement as we marveled at the lush greenery that met the blue sky at the point where the rolling hills gently and constantly shifted the horizon.  Triple j's hottest 100 countdown of the past twenty years, played over the radio and we were shocked to realise that songs we loved and recalled like yesterday were 15 or more, years old.

We took an exit off the freeway and caught the end of the Wesley Hills/Red Hills monthly market. We browsed and supported the local economy. It was us four and my reliable car 'Stacey' ( Named by my sister Leanne, who since passed the car down to me!). We then headed through Castlemaine towards Muldon for a coffee. There is nothing as exhilarating as doing a 100KM along country roads that wind and turn, or is that just a boy thing? I wanted to stop a few times to photograph the landscapes that changed from lush farming, to green undulating hills and to bush scrub and then back again, but we had a mission and that was to go to Bendigo.

First though was Maldon and it was beautiful.

 The hard hitting headlines in the local paper:

Are you really asking $249 for this? I don't know why, but I was reminded of our recent hard rubbish collection.....

 Old gold rush buildings:

 Cute kittens in a  shop window:

Maldon had been full of beautiful buildings and a few cute kittens, but we left it all in good time and headed along country roads, snaking our way to Bendigo. A town that had many a beautiful building and was a bit like Melbourne. Country D explained that it's resemblance to Melbourne was because it was a 'university town'. I guess you do learn something new everyday!

We strolled through Bendigo's very English gardens, walked the streets, took photographs and found a Melbourne-Esq cafe to escape to... yes we wanted to get out of Melbourne for the day, but there is no place like home!


The gardens:

The afternoon sun dipping behind the main spire of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo:

Soon came the time to leave. We loaded Stacey back up and hit the road. Radio up, full of cheer, exhausted and reminiscing about our just had, very lovey day, when all of a sudden Stacey's electrics go haywire, we pull over and then the car won't start back up! Thank goodness we have phone reception, so I call the RACV and Brian arrives to save us... well, more so to tell us that the car is buggered! I won't bore you all with car talk, only because I don't understand a thing myself... and all I knew was that we were 120-130kms out of Melbourne and the car couldn't be driven home. Stacey was to be towed to the nearest town and we were getting a cab to Castlemaine train station to then catch a train back to Melbourne (if there was one).


We did have a crazy cab driver, whom one of my friends said 'smelt fresh'?  Mind you this was after he almost wiped us out going the wrong way on the freeway and fish tailing whilst saying 'you didn't see this'  umm yeah we did, infact, we experinaced it and SHAT ourselves!

Finally we arrived at Castlemaine station and hoped there was still a train to Melbourne. Panic overtook me as we realised that the train station was closed, however the platform was open! At this point it was freezing cold and the temperature was around 4 degrees. Luckily there was a train and we only had to wait 30 mins for it (it was the second last train of the night and it was only 7pm). Thank goodness we didn't stay in Bendigo for dinner as I had suggested, because we may not have been able to catch a train back till the next day.

Anyway, all the while I was a bit stressed and worrying about how a lovely day out have been spoilt for my friends and how I couldn't financially afford this problem.. but Triple D were supportive and positive about it all and kept me sane, even with it taking us four hours to get back home!... thank goodness for good friends.. and might I say that these three are the best!

Yep, we are almost stranded in Castlemaine and we can laugh about it.
Here is the station sign, missing the 'C' for Castlemaine, but you all know that we were there!:

All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013

Chill out.. well kind of.

This year like most years, we drove up to Daylesford for Chill Out's Carnival day.
The atmosphere was great... as it always is. We found the best place to camp under some trees (no pun intended!), which meant that we had shade all day!
Last year's pirate theme lead to a lot of really interesting people  to photograph, this year not so...
but that's ok, as I stumbled across some great new abstract images whilst waiting for a friend to use the loo (long story)..

Here are some photographs from the day:

What is probably expected to be seen on the day- Men in drag:

Something not so expected of the day-a scorer's box from a nearby playing field:

Something inspired by the scorers box, a series called 'keeping score'. These were taken on the day and as is what happens with my abstract work, sometimes people mistakenly think I have photographed a painting.. which is kind of flattering ;-)

                                                       'Keeping score #1-4'

                                                    

          

And, just becasue it is Chill Out, a faux double exposed digital image of some hot bod chilling under a tree (and the tree itself), surely is a must?:

All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013

South West Victoria.

A few weeks back I went down to South West Victoria with a friend. Of course I took my camera and snapped away. Actually, I snapped away quite a lot and spent more time with my camera than with my mate! Here are some of my snappy results:

 On the way there- Clouds in the side view mirror:

On the Farm:

 Fields of canola:

All photographs copyright Matthew Schiavello 2012