Have Faith

Belief Will Open Every Door For You

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It was just one of those days when I had time on my hands, enough time to soak up the atmosphere, enough time to wander and enough time to look for some images that define steadfast faith.

Religious symbols always beckon when the human mind seeks symbols of constant reassurance, and I just happened to be passing St Paul’s Cathedral. So instead of going to the main entrance on Flinders Street, I walked around to the side.

Here, on the heavy wooden doors that embody the Victorian-era architecture, I found these heavy handles that fascinated me. Of course, a heavy door needs a sizeable handle, so it makes perfect sense that handles of this size would be required to haul open a substantially-sized door.

But I often wonder if the craftsmen who designed and produced these handles ever thought that they would still be in everyday use in the 21st century.

For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.

Making The Sign Of The Cross

Don’t Be Fooled By The Blue Sky – It’s Winter

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It’s funny how light renders familiar objects in different guises. I’ve walked (and driven) past St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral here in the city hundreds of times, and I’ve shot its façade and spires at night, at dusk, at dawn, in twilight and in bright sun. But sometimes even the most common sights are cloaked in something special – and you just have to stop and admire them.

I shot this on Wednesday, during my lunch break. Despite the fact that it is winter here in Australia, it was not one of those freezing cold days where the wind forces you to button your jacket and hunch your shoulders against the elements. No, nothing like that.

The clear sky meant it was not an unfriendly temperature. There was a fair bit of cloud cover, but the outdoor cafes were doing a roaring trade in the sunlight. There were even isolated patches of brilliant blue sky. As I walked towards Flinders Street, I looked up and noticed this wonderful contrast of colours.

This cross is atop the high steeple of the cathedral but luckily I had my long lens with me, so I was able to stand back on the footpath and compose a really tight shot.

One of the interesting things about the cathedral is that it was constructed from sandstone brought in from neighbouring New South Wales. The soft colours of the stone and the clarity of the brickwork gave me a beautiful contrast to capture against the striking blue.

Remember, this cross is at the very pinnacle of the spire, so I had to lean back a long, long way to get this angle. Which explains why I’ve been walking around like Quasimodo for the past few days. But I’ve got a hunch it won’t last long!

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Take It At Faith Value

A Judicious Mix Of Old And New

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

We’ve had some strange weather in the last week, highly unseasonal for the last week of the Australian autumn. We’ve had some heavy fogs and comparatively warm nights with no frost, but once the fog has burned away, we’ve had cloudless days with temperatures about five degrees above normal.

This shot was taken about 11.30 in the morning last Friday, as I walked across the pedestrian footbridge that connects Southbank to the central business district. The fog had pretty much gone, but there was a slight haze in the sky.

Naturally I had to stop and find a way to portray it. The beautiful steeple of St Paul’s Cathedral, a prominent landmark across the river on Flinders Street, was what I chose. By composing a tight frame, I was able to get the steeple as an interesting counterpoint to two office buildings just behind it.

You can have a great city, you can have reliable commerce, you can have wonderful landmarks, but if you don’t have faith, there is something crucial missing. Works in every aspect of life, don’t you think?

For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch HQ.

Silent Might, Holy Might

If It Please Your Worship

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This image was shot a few weeks before I started this weekly series devoted simply to doors from around the world. The metalwork on the wooden door caught my eye before Christmas and since all of you have probably guessed it is a church door, let me assure you that you’re correct in that assumption.

It is the side entrance to St Paul’s Cathedral here in central Melbourne and while the church has side entrances leading into the central courtyard, this is on Swanston Street, just past the Flinders Street intersection.

Given the fascinating history of this Anglican cathedral, the metal would date back to the nineteenth century. Today’s beautiful building, with its stunning spires, stands on the very spot where Dr Alexander Thomson conducted the new colony’s first open-air services in 1836. This area then became a market until the site was consecrated in 1852.

Its location is deliberate, placing the beautiful place of worship at one of the city’s foremost intersections, literally opposite the main entrance and hall of Flinders Street Station.

I’m guessing the metal design on this door probably dates back to the late 1880s. Just one (or maybe two) sets of hands created this piece of art, but thousands more have touched them in the generations since.


For earlier posts in this series, check out The Doors Archive.

Sunny Side Up

Simple Light And Shade Can Bring A Great View

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

At this time of year, I guess it would be completely appropriate to post a photograph of one of the religious symbols of central Melbourne - a slightly different view of St Paul's Cathedral. Both these shots were taken a few days ago, under a lunchtime sun.

More than simply sharing this post with you, I'd like to show you what a vast difference can be achieved by instinctive composition.

I was walking back to work when I idly looked up as I waited for the lights to change outside Flinders Street Station. My attention was arrested by the sight of the solitary white cloud in a huge expanse of brilliant blue sky.

I had my Sigma 18-125 mm lens on the camera, which was perfect for this shot, even though I was also carrying my 70-300 mm lens. I took this shot at the full extent of the 125 mm lens and chose to ignore the main spire. Instead, I used the exposed brickwork on the main spire as a simple, angular silhouette against the bright sky, and I chose to make the secondary spire the central point of attention.

Sometimes, asymmetrical composition can be more arresting than a standard, symmetrical aspect. Here, I was just lucky to have strong colours, arresting shapes and a great colour contrast. And maybe it's my early background in newspaper and magazine design that magnetises my attention to a close-in frame at an unusual angle.

By the way, in case you were wondering what the more formal view of the scene looked like, here it is below. It's the same scene, in the same light, taken from the same angle - and according to the electronic data on the images, the two shots are a mere nine seconds apart.

Yes, it's still a handy shot, but it is not endowed with that look-at-me immediacy of the first.


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Star Quality

Aussies Never Give You A Frosty Reception

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

There’s nothing quite like a blue sky to provide a great contrast for strong colours framed by your lens. This image shows you a major Melbourne landmark - the recently refurbished spire of St Paul's Cathedral. I chose this composition very deliberately, to use the yellow and green of Melbourne’s giant Christmas tree as a contrast to the sandstone of the steeple as well as the clear blue of the sky.

When I first shot the giant Christmas tree in our city square for the post Star Gazing, the sky was grey and moody. Then a few days ago, it was a beautiful blue Melbourne sky and I realised I should utilise my lunchtime to go back and shoot the tree again – to show you an incongruous meeting of worlds.


Why is it incongruous? Because the rest of the world celebrates Christmas in winter, while it’s summer here Down Under. So, something that is an everyday sight for me is something of a novelty for you. Hence the incongruity – a classic Yuletide symbol, the tree, photographed against the vivid blue of an Australian summer sky.

Christmas trees are supposed to be photographed under a sky laden with snow clouds. They are supposed to have a hoar frost upon their branches. When you choose your tree, you should be well clad and your feet should be suitably shod to negotiate frozen lakes and snowy hills.

Right? Not in Australia, mate. It's the height of summer here, as you can see from the clear blue sky in this series of shots.

And while I stood there in the city square, pondering the problem of how best to present the tree in a true Australian context, I had a classic D’oh moment.


There, to the left of the Christmas tree (see above) was one of the most natural symbols of this country with its topsy-turvy seasons – a slender gum tree. So there are two trees in this shot, a real gum tree beside the manmade metal Christmas tree covered with huge metal baubles and stars of many colours.

Because it was just after midday, the sun was practically right above me, which led to an interesting situation. As I squinted into the sun, I realised the nearby roof line could make a really arresting silhouette if I framed the shot correctly. And if I really contorted myself to work the angles, I could even get in the glare from the sun as well. Seriously, we’re talking real contortion here.


On the basis of my noble performance, I thought at any moment someone would tap me on my shoulder and offer me a job at Barnum & Bailey’s circus.

These shots were all taken in the space of about three or four minutes, but this frame shows a solitary cloud assuming something approximately like a stylised heart shape. To tell you the truth, I was concentrating so hard on the best possible composition that I didn’t notice the shape of the cloud. All I wanted to do was make sure the cloud was slap-bang in the centre of the frame. It was only much later, when I was reviewing the shots, that I paid attention to its shape.

I guess it’s very apt. Christmas is really a season of the heart.


For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch HQ.

H Is For Heaven

Park Under The Arch, Bishop

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Recently, I was taking some shots at St Paul’s Cathedral here in Melbourne. As always, I was looking for a "different" shot, something out of the ordinary. I took several shots inside the Gothic building and finally emerged just as the clouds started to clear. That's when I saw a vintage wedding car outside the cathedral and much to my delight, I "saw" my ideal shot in the polished, curved roof of the old sedan.

But I guess the shot (above) also inspired me to write this "H" post for today, along with the shots that I took inside the cathedral. So let me take you back a few years .....

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the city
Not a car park was vacant, for the writer of this ditty

Sometimes a bloke’s gotta do what a bloke’s gotta do. Right? Let me emphasise that I am a law-abiding citizen, but here’s a yarn my family will never let me live down.

About fifteen years ago, after a great Christmas Eve dinner with our closest friends, we decided that instead of going to Midnight Mass at our local church, we would drive into the city and attend Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

You don’t need to be a member of Mensa to work out that parking in the city is never a piece of cake. And on Christmas Eve? Well, you need a miracle on the scale of the Parting of the Red Sea.

I must also point out that while our motley assemblage of young parents and very little children had planned to be in the Cathedral by about 11.30 pm, things ran a little behind schedule. Okay, so things ran a long way behind schedule.


There were about four cars. And by the time we got to Flinders Street in the central business district, through heavy traffic, let’s just say it was a little too close to midnight for comfort.

Let me just say that I inherited compassion and many other lyrical traits from my very gifted, very blessed mother. But I also inherited the gift of lateral thinking from my very hard-working father.

So I didn’t waste time driving into any of the high-rise car parks in the vicinity of the cathedral. The odds of finding a spot there were, collectively, a far longer shot than the prospect of a three-legged rocking horse winning the Melbourne Cup. Instead, I noticed that the boom gate in the Cathedral car park was up.

What would you do in such a situation? You’d drive in, wouldn’t you?

"You can’t do that," said Mrs Authorblog, aghast.

"Why not?" I replied. I muttered something unintelligible about an open boom gate on Christmas Eve being a sign from the Heavens.

"You can’t say that," she said in horror, no doubt waiting for the bolt of lightning that would surely hit me in divine retribution.

That’s when we saw the entire religious procession, in their magnificent robes, leaving the vestry for the main body of the church. There were altar boys. There were choristers. There were priests. There were all manner of official-looking people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Everyone who was anyone in the Cathedral hierarchy was here.

Just then, I saw a vacant spot in the Cathedral car park. Only one solitary vacant spot. To me, it was like the guiding star in the East.

I swung the wheel towards the parking spot. But there was one problem. A very prominent sign said in bold letters: "Reserved for the Archbishop’s car".


This is where the Lateral Thinking Gene kicked in.

The Archbishop, surely, was in the procession that had just walked past us, towards the main door of the Cathedral. There is no way he, of all people, would be late for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

So I swung neatly into the parking spot. I thought the devout Mrs Authorblog was about to have a heart attack.

By the time all our friends finally caught up with us inside the Cathedral, they all wanted to know where on earth I had found a parking spot. And when I told them, they wouldn’t believe me. Until Mrs Authorblog, fortified by the promise of smelling salts, confirmed my claim.

That’s why I still get nervous in thunderstorms. I always wonder if there’s a bolt of lightning with my name on it.

For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

Is It "Palm" Sunday?

Cathedral Spire, Seen Through The Trees

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Follow The Star

Anyone Seen The Three Wise Men?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I shot this frame in late September last year. I had just got the Pentax, my first digital SLR, and I was walking around the city getting accustomed to it. I liked the camera immediately, because of its wonderful balance - and I've probably shot thousands of frames on it in three different countries since then.

This shot was taken looking across Federation Square. I have photographed the spires of St Paul's Cathedral several times, but this time the silhouette was a really arresting sight. It looks like dusk but have a look at the position of the sun and you'll see it was actually mid-afternoon. The angle of the sun allowed me a striking composition and the overhead wires with the subtle lighting of the Square gave me an unusual criss-cross pattern against a clear sky.

How many frames did I shoot of this scene? Just one. That wasn't arrogance, either. Just satisfaction. I knew I had the best shot of the day. And you know the really uncanny thing? When I shot this, I didn't realise how symbolic it was. I guess it could be a Christmas card.

Shhhhhh ..... if we're very quiet, we might be able to hear or see the shepherds as they watch their flocks.

Here's The Church And Here's The Steeple

Melbourne's Spring Holds Cheer For Many People

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON