Eora Nation | Fotoeins Fotografie

Warrang, Brook Andrew, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “Warrang” by Brook Andrew (Sydney MCA)

This post is the fifth and last of five Fotoeins Fridays in June, all from Australia’s most populous city, Sydney.

As a permanent commission of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Brook Andrew’s 2012 work “Warrang” is prominent near the museum’s entrance. Portraits by resident and visitor under the arrow might seem obvious or simple, but the artist is asking questions about the idea of shared (or dominated) history for both indigenous and colonizing populations at the arrow’s location.

EDIT: Brook Andrew is the first Australian indigenous artist to be appointed director of the upcoming Biennale Sydney in 2020 (ABC Arts).

I made the photo above on 5 May 2013 with the Canon 450D, 50-prime, and settings: 1/320-sec, f/8, ISO400, and 50mm focal length (80mm full-frame equivalent). I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land called Australia, and the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as traditional custodians of the place called Sydney. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins DOT com at https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bGo.

Opera House, Sydney Cove, Bennelong Point, Sydney, Australia, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Sydney Opera House at 41

Opened on 20 October 1973, the Sydney Opera House celebrates its 41st anniversary in 2014. First-time visitors to Sydney almost always seek out the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge nearby. When I’m in Sydney, I always go back to Sydney Harbour to remind myself the Opera House is “still there.” No, it’s not rational; yes, it’s entirely emotional.

For more about the Opera House project, please check out this post about the construction of this UNESCO World Heritage site, and how a “Sphere of Fruit” has all to do with the famous sail-like roof.

With the shadow of the Harbour Bridge against the Opera House, I made the photo on 12 May 2013 with the Canon EOS450D (XSi) camera and the EF 50/1.4 prime-lens with the following settings: 1/800s, f/8, ISO200, 50mm (80mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-57c.

Sydney: happy 49 to the Opera House (2022)

Above/featured: South view from Sydney Harbour towards the CBD – 12 Apr 2013 (450D).

Standing prominently above Sydney’s Bennelong Point, the white shelled structure serves as an icon for city and country.

The Sydney Opera House is made up of three groups of interlocking “vaulted shells” housing two primary concert auditorium spaces. The shell-like structures sit upon a large platform, encompassed on the outside by stepped terraces as staging or assembly areas for visitors.

On 20 October 1973, Queen Elizabeth II formally opened The Opera House. Forty years on, the building is an icon for both Sydney and Australia. The building endures as a “landmark” and “ambassador” for both city and country. Immediately telling are the roof’s white shells, looking like wind-blown sails at a distance in the harbour.

( Click here for images and more )

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Sydney: happy 90 to the Harbour Bridge (2022)

March 19 marks the anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the key landmarks in Sydney, Australia.

Known informally as “The Coathanger”, the steel through-type arch bridge opened on 19 March 1932, joining the harbour’s northern “Kiarabilli” (Milsons Point) with southern “Tarra” (Dawes Point) to vehicular traffic for the first time. The project took eight years to complete the 1.2-kilometre span over the Parramatta River as its waters empty into Sydney Harbour.

It’s easy to forget Sydney is a city of bridges, as Elizabeth Farrelly wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on 3 January 2013:

Sydney: five bells, one harbour, seven bridges. A bridge is the ultimate romantic symbol, crystallising in steel and concrete the yearning to connect disparate worlds – and Sydney, city of baroque waterways, is as fully (if not as glamorously) bridged as London, Stockholm or Prague.

It’s big, it’s functional, even as some call it “old and ugly.” Today, the bridge provides an important link between the city’s northern suburbs and the Central Business District.

The smooth shiny metallic curves of the Harbour Bridge and the sail-like spherical-shells on the roof of the nearby Opera House form a visually powerful combination which has not only helped to define Sydney but Australia as well on the world stage.

I cannot disentangle memories of Sydney or Australia without thinking about The Bridge. I know when I finally see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, I know I’ve arrived and I’m back in Sydney.

Sunrise from Mrs. Macquarie’s Point

Under the central arch

Northbound, through the south pylons

“THIS … is Sydney!”

Down to the right, up to the left

Swarming ships on a summer Saturday, at Circular Quay

Parramatta River Ferry (east to Circular Quay), Sydney, Australia

Parramatta River, towards Birchgrove

Parramatta River, Sydney Ferries, near Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia, fotoeins.com

Parramatta River, near Cockatoo Island

Moonset in front and sunrise behind, from Dover Heights

Morning light on the City skyline, from Dover Heights

West view from Gap Park, Watsons Bay

Setting sun, from Dover Heights

“Crowning the Coathanger,” 28 Apr 2013.

VIVID Sydney 2013

Full moon over Harbour Bridge, VIVID Sydney 2013, from Blues Point Reserve

I made all of the photos above between 2007 and 2013. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land called Australia, and the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as traditional custodians of the place called Sydney. References to Aboriginal placenames: ANU, Australian Museum, Creative Spirits, and Pocket Oz. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-38e.