Cockatoo Island (3)

Cockatoo Island (2)

Cockatoo Island

Back to the archives until I get out and get some new stuff.

Monochrome Weekend - Paddington Reservoir Gardens (6)

For more monochrome madness, visit Dragonstar's Weekend in Black and White.

Weekend Reflections - Paddington Reservoir Gardens (5)

A good place to chill out and catch some sun.

For more reflections visit James' Newtown Area Photo.

Sky Watch Friday

Sydney's pyramid - the tropical centre at the botanic gardens, under a grey sky.

For more Sky Watch from around the world, drop in to the home of Sky Watch Friday.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens (4)

Unfortunately, some of the really interesting areas were not accessible.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens (3)

The Gardens are also used as a venue for exhibitions. This one is part of the Head On Photo Festival.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens (2)

The Reservoir Gardens are a wonderful place for photographers, full of nooks, crannies, shadows, texture and interesting details.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens

Paddington Reservoir Gardens is bounded by Oxford Street opposite Underwood Street and Perry Lane, Paddington. The gardens incorporate the former Paddington Reservoir, which is on the NSW State Heritage Register. The reservoir was part of Sydney’s third water supply system, and was designed to contain water pumped from Lords Dam at Botany Bay which had been built in 1815. The Paddington Reservoir was the high level reservoir which worked in tandem with the low level reservoir in Crown Street, Surry Hills, both designed in 1857. Crown Street was finished in 1860 but work did not begin on the Paddington Reservoir until 1864 and it was completed in 1866. Ten years later the reservoir was enlarged at the eastern end creating a total capacity of 2 million gallons (9,092 megalitres) with a dimension of 33 metres long, 31 metres wide, and a water depth of 5 metres.

Paddington Reservoir operated between 1878 and 1899 when the Centennial Park Reservoir was commissioned. After it closed in 1899 Paddington Reservoir was used for storage by the Water Board, and from 1914 to 1934 it housed the Board’s garage and workshop. The Reservoir was sold to Paddington Municipal Council in 1934 which leased the western chamber for a service station while the eastern chamber was still occupied by the Water Board until the later 1950s. The service station continued to operate under various lessees until 1990 when the roof collapsed. Since then the reservoir has been closed off and unused, with a further roof collapse occurring in 1993.

Walter Read Reserve was established on the roof of the Paddington Reservoir in 1953. Walter Read was an alderman of Paddington Council 1937-1948 and Mayor in 1942, 1947 and 1948. The adjoining John Thompson Reserve, opened in 1976 on the former Grand View Hotel site, is named after one of the founders of the Paddington Society. Both reserves provide open space in the Paddington civic precinct which includes the Town Hall, Post Office and Juniper Hall (1824).

Paddington Reservoir Gardens, incorporating both the Walter Read Reserve and John Thompson Reserve, opened in 2009 following major restoration and landscaping. The gardens include a community facility within the renovated former reservoir.

Monochrome Weekend

For more monochrome madness, visit Aileni's Monochrome Weekend.

Weekend Reflections

For more reflections visit James' Newtown Area Photo.

Sky Watch Friday

For more Sky Watch from around the world, drop in to the home of Sky Watch Friday.

Old and New (4)

Old and New (3)

Old and New (2)

Old and New

Monochrome Weekend - Looking at Light (10)

For more monochrome madness, visit Aileni's Monochrome Weekend.

Weekend Reflections - Looking at Light (9)

In 1816 Governor Macquarie commissioned Australia’s first lighthouse at South Head to guide the ships to his fledgling colony and the emerging trading town of Sydney.

He was so impressed with the lighthouse design by convict architect Francis Greenway that he granted his freedom. Greenway went on to build many impressive Sydney buildings with the Governor and became Government Architect.

For more reflections visit James' Newtown Area Photo.

Looking at Light (8) - Vivid - Lighting the Sails

Handheld because I got fed up with mucking about with the tripod in the rain, not too bad but not as sharp as they should be.

Vivid Sydney once again features the spectacular illumination of the Sydney Opera House sails.

In 2009 over 200,000 Sydneysiders and visitors enjoyed Brian Eno’s ‘Lighting the Sails’, and images of Eno’s sails were seen by more than 60 million people worldwide. This year Vivid LIVE co-curator Laurie Anderson will put her own mark on Utzon’s iconic sails.

Looking at Light (8)

Hiding from the rain again.

Looking at Light (7)

Looking at Light (6)

It was so wet we took to looking at patterns and shadows under cover in between dashing out to photograph the city and Opera House whenever the rain eased sufficiently.

Looking at Light (5) - Vivid - Macquarie Arch

This was the only shot I managed to get in Macquarie Street before the rain came down again.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth were two of Australia’s most influential and visionary leaders, building vast public works including schools, roads, bridges, hospitals and orchestrating the colonisation of land across the country.

In 1816 Governor Macquarie commissioned Australia’s first lighthouse at South Head to guide the ships to his fledgling colony and the emerging trading town of Sydney. The strange blue plastic lighthouses scattered around commemorate this fact.

The arch symbolises perhaps the greatest of Macquarie’s achievements in visioning the future of Australia, representing Macquarie’s road over the Blue Mountains.

In a terrain that remains often inhospitable even today, Macquarie charged his engineer William Cox, with a team of convicts, to build a road in an unknown territory. They achieved this remarkable feat, of over 100 miles, in just six months and won their freedom under his emancipation program.

The road opened up the agricultural plains to Bathurst whereby settlement and trade developed for the colony. The development of towns and interior exploration were a hallmark of Macquarie’s vision.

Macquarie saw the road as one of his most important projects to improve the viability of Australia to develop commerce, trade and civilisation.

The multiple conduits in the Downer Macquarie Arch reference the major road projects Macquarie commissioned to link Sydney to the new settlements he developed in his blueprint for “improving a new country”.

Monochrome Weekend - Looking at Light (4)

For more monochrome madness, visit Aileni's Monochrome Weekend.

Weekend Reflections

For more reflections visit James' Newtown Area Photo.

Sky Watch Friday

An old one taken during summer, its been pouring with rain lately.
For more Sky Watch from around the world, drop in to the home of Sky Watch Friday.

Looking at Light (3)

Looking at Light (2)

Above: Candlelit from side, Below left: candlelit from front, Below right: Daylight from behind, side and above.

Theme Day - Funny Signs

Whatever turns you on. (I was there for the Travel Expo, did think about having a look at the tats but the queue was too long.)
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants