Photowalking in Dullsville

Well, it turned out that there are so much more about "Dullsville" that I have never known. I've lived in this beautiful city for some 20 years now and I often discovered "new places" that fascinate me.

This is an interesting month for me "photographically" speaking. 2 photowalks in 2 weeks. This is definitely the first time where I have done photowalking on consecutive weeks.

On the 15th Feb this month, a bunch of us went to the "historical" suburb of Guildford. Guildford is the only town in the Perth metropolitan area classified by the National Trust of Australia. Close to the Swan River and just 25 minutes drive east of Perth, Guildford is the gateway to the Swan Valley's new food and wine trail.

Here is an interesting read about Guildford from http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WAGuildford.shtml:

"Given that it is now part of Greater Perth it is hard to imagine that its origins lie in Captain Stirling's determination to establish three settlements in the Swan River area - a port at Fremantle, an administrative centre at Perth, and a rural centre at Guildford. Thus the market town and inland port of Guildford is as old as Perth and Fremantle. There is even some evidence to support the idea that Guildford would have been Stirling's first choice for a settlement and certainly, when the Government established the first schools in the area in 1834 they appointed three teachers - one for Fremantle, one for Guildford and one for Perth."

No wonder so many historical buildings are being preserved in Guildford.

Here are some of the photos I took at the photowalking session:

Project Dullsville Update - East Perth Powerstation

I went to the old East Perth Power Station to take some photos with a group of photography friends from Flickr. The photowalking was great. The weather was a little warmer than I would have liked but nevertheless, the exploring and the adventure of getting into the power station compound made up for any discomfort. It was an interesting photowalk.

Here's a bit of the history of the power station:
"The East Perth Power Station consists of two buildings containing three power stations each of which retain their equipment and fittings. The buildings themselves are large, economical and stylistically of their time, the second building still embellished with its ‘art deco’ stylistic features. The three power stations, ‘A’ ‘B’ and then ‘C’ stations, were established over a 40 year period from World War One to the mid 1950s so they represent an extraordinarily complete sequence of technological development and provide the opportunity to tell the story of the provision of power to Perth through most of the 20th century. This remarkable heritage will be severely compromised unless arrangements are made for adaptive re-use of the complex that requires the retention and conservation of the machinery and associated fittings within the building. The power station complex represents the pioneering phase of the Western Australian electicity system, and dates from the era when the industry world-wide was in a formative stage. It has historic value for its role in the development of WA and the metropolitan area in particular, for its influence on the standard of living enjoyed by the community throughout the greater part of this centry as the only public power station supplying the metropolitan area from1916-1951, its role as part of the interconnected south-west electricity system. Vacant since 1981, current proposals would ‘gut’ the main power station building, removing plant and equipment, thereby reducing the heritage significance of the plant, and destroying the opportunity to interpret the whole site. Despite the expenditure of over $ 500,000, there has been an alarming lack of public consultation by the East Perth Redevelopment Authority and the site remains unoccupied, its fabric and contents deteriorating, and its future uncertain. The delay by the government in developing solutions for this significant place is inexcusable and has led to its continued decay through exposure to the elements and to vandalism."
Ref: heritage WA, East Perth Powerstation.

The fun of Photowalking

I believe the term "Photowalking" was first coined by Robert Scoble when he did a 4 episodes series called "Photowalking with Thomas Hawk", where he simply walked along with a well known professional photographer by the name of Thomas Hawk, and asked him questions as he took photos. And it was a superb conversation with a good photographer who tells a lot about his job and useful technical tips.

You can see Thomas Hawk's photowalking photos in Flickr here.
Note: Thomas Hawk is also the CEO of a similar photo community sharing website called Zooomr.

I have been interested in the concept of photowalking and have been doing similar things with a couple of workmates and friends. The idea is that we would find a place to go to, walk around the place and start shooting while discussing anything and everything about photography, camera functions, post processing techniques, and you name it. We have even created a Flickr group called "Photowalking" for posting and sharing photos taken during those walking sessions.

Here are some of the photos I took recently during a photowalking session:

Helen of Troy taking photograph

Caught a lady dressed as a greek or a roman lady for a costume party. She was taking a picture of a performer for that party. She was taking this performer:

Perth CBD. Taken in the late afternoon before sunset.

A wishing well bell.
You need to sound the bell apparently to "wake" the "gods" in
order for your wishes to be heard and granted.

The fun of photowalking is that not only we get to shoot with other photographers together on the same subject, we can compare our shots, learn about photography techniques from one another, chat about anything under the sun while we enjoy the moment of taking photos, and most importantly, being able to encourage, assist and help improve our photography skills collectively. I have done at least half a dozen or so photowalking with my friends and workmates. I look forward to many more of these sessions.