F Is For Federation Square

Does This Shot Remind You Of The Moon?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It might look like an invocation of Pink Floyd’s lyrics, but it ain’t really the dark side of the moon.

It’s a tight shot of the floodlit facade of Federation Square, here in the heart of Melbourne. There are different planes here, hence the gradation in light – but have a close look at the precision of those triangles.

Euclid himself would have been so proud of the precision shown by the architects and the builders!

The image above was shot on New Year's Eve 2008, just after the first of the evening's fireworks displays and literally a couple of hours before the clocks ticked over into 2009. As I located the image to upload for this post, I remembered shooting a similar frame a couple of years earlier.

In a neat display of synchronicity, the image below actually shows the same facade, from a slightly different viewpoint.

You can even see the silhouette of the single floodlamp that gives the building its beautiful glow. And even more synchronously, the second image was taken exactly two years earlier, on New Year's Eve 2006. Yup, just after the first fireworks display.


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Pink Flied

(No, That's Not Grammatical, But It’s Funny)

Pink Floyd star Roger Waters offered a five-thousand pound (about $10,000) reward after his giant inflatable pig disappeared over the horizon. The two-storey-high pig was released during the climax of Waters’ set at the Coachella Festival in California. Waters offered a cash reward, plus four lifetime tickets to the festival, for the safe return of the stage prop. The tattered remains of the pig were found on two neighbouring driveways and the reward is on its way.

FOOTNOTE: Pigs might fly.

Pink, Floyd

Winter Sunrise Is A Real Freeze Frame

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot was taken just before dawn about four months ago, during the Australian winter. I was walking across Princes Bridge here in Melbourne and the wind was icy but bracing. Halfway across the bridge I stopped and got my camera out because the colours in the sky were just amazing. I stood there for about three or four minutes and shot maybe a dozen frames. This was halfway through the sequence and I opted to go vertical because the reflected pink light was just shimmering all across the surface of the Yarra. With "pink" being the subject for this week's Photo Hunt, I knew this had to be my contribution.