The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour
This was literally the high point of my day yesterday – from one of the highest points in Sydney. Cahill walk on the Sydney Harbour Bridge gives one some of the most spectacular views of Sydney Harbour. The challenge can be keeping still (the bridge vibrates as vehicles pass by behind you), but with a [...]
The Windows by the Staircase
I’m in Sydney over Easter. While many may well believe that Sydney is the most beautiful city in the world to live in, I am still going with Melbourne when it comes to quality of life. Nonetheless, Sydney has its fair share of attractions, and not the least of which is a building in the [...]
Rockin’ in the free world!
My tutorial on “Shooting from the Pit” is one that is widely referenced across the Internet by individuals who would like to come back with some good memories from a concert that they are very passionate about. I found myself following my own tutorial (and that is probably a good sign) after going to a [...]
Sunrise at the Jaws of Death
The last few days have been a bit gloomy here in Victoria. We’ve had an awful lot of rain, and I just felt that there is a good case to post something cheerful – like the perfect sunrise on a Christmas morning photographed at the Balconies at Grampians National Park in December 2010. Sometimes, life [...]
The Great Hall
Built in an era when Melbourne became somewhat of a major boomtown thanks to a gold rush, the Royal Exhibition Building is a world heritage site, and is an example of some fine architecture here in Melbourne from the late 1800s. It was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition, and later hosted the opening [...]
Kerford Road Pier
Not too far from my hood, and literally down the road road from where I live, on Beaconsfield Parade is Kerford Road Pier; one of a series of piers that are on the edge of Port Philip Bay and are part of my favourite parts of Melbourne. I’m pretty lucky to be able to get [...]
Sunrise at Prince’s Pier
Following up to yesterday’s post on Prince’s Pier, with the containerisation boom, the pier became unused, being closed to public access in the early 1990s due to the poor timber condition, and squatters caused a fire in the late 1990s that destroyed the store structures. In the three years to 2004, 14 fires occurred. The [...]
Welcome to Prince’s Pier
I have lived in Melbourne for a little over 4 years now. When I first moved here, Prince’s Pier nothing more than a construction site. It has now taken on a new image. This 580 metre long historic pier was known as the New Railway Pier until renamed Prince’s Pier after the Prince of Wales. The [...]
Spirit leaving
After a bit of cabin feer this weekend, I wandered down to the beach – my usual sanctuary on days when I feel I need to leave life behind. As my timing would have it, I arrived just as the Spirit of Tasmania was leaving the Port on an evening when the wind had picked [...]
Abandoned Pier
Sometimes, the simplest of compositions work the best. This is one of the many piers along Beaconsfield Parade. This one is set apart from the many others – it has been condemned and is no longer in use. (I am told that it used to be a boat ramp, but in more recent times, vehicle [...]
Spiegel season is here
An annual occurrence every summer in Melbourne, the Spiegeltent is back for one more year, outside the Arts Centre. I’ve never attended any of the performances, but I am told that it is something that is very, very symbolic of the spirit of Melbourne. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook + this on Google+ [...]
Mail drop
I stopped by the post office today on my way back from an appointment. Truth be told, I was trying to keep cool on a very warm day and was routing my way through the city’s air-conditioned arcades. This is what greeted me at the GPO… I think its safe to call it “Mail Drop”! [...]
Cosmic Dish
A medieval cosmic dish; this is not going to receive any TV channels, but back in its heydey, astronomers used it to help them calculate eclipses, and predict major cosmic events. (Note the marker at the intersection of the wires at the center). Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook + this on [...]
Jaipur’s City Palace – Ridhi Sidhi Pol – the Peacock Gate
The last in this series of the four gates from Ridhi Sidhi Pol at Pitam Niwas Chowk in Jaipur’s City Palace – this is the Peacock Gate situated in the Northeastern corner of the courtyard. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and associated with autumn. Each of these gates has a spiritual connection that is [...]
Jaipur’s City Palace – Ridhi Sidhi Pol – the Lotus Door
The third in the series from Ridhi Siddhi Pol and Pitam Niwas Chowk at Jaipur’s City Palace, the Lotus Door is reminiscent of the summer. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati Devi, and lies in the Southwest Corner of Pitam Niwas Chowk. These doorways are a true reflection of the colours [...]
Jaipur’s City Palace – Ridhi Sidhi Pol – the Rose Gate
The second of the four gates of Jaipur’s Pitam Niwas Chowk; Ridhi Sidhi Pol’s Southeast Gate known as the Rose Gate is dedicated to the Goddess Devi and is representative of the Winter Season. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook + this on Google+ share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it [...]
Jaipur’s City Palace – Pitam Niwas Chowk – Leheriya
Jaipur’s City Palace is home to its Royal Family (now, a very ceremonial title, but back in the days of their reign. they were true royalty). Their palace is open to tourists on a regular basis, where one can view the various nooks and corners of the palace, and their intricate designs that are part [...]
Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar
There are a couple of these around India, and they are the oldest observatories in the world. Life in India has a lot to do with what is written in the stars. The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments. It was built by Maharaja [...]
The Bagaan
The Agra Fort is a UNESCO world heritage site (one of three in Agra) and is a site with a lot of Indian history about it. While it has been around since the first Mughal Emperor, Babar, it took its real shape in its current form during the reign on of Shah Jahan. It is [...]
Dakshineshwar
The waters of the Ganges are considered sacred among Hindus, and over the centuries, several very noteworthy temples have been erected by both kings and common men and women. The Dakshineshwar Kali Temple lies towards the end of the Gangetic plain, just outside Calcutta, or Kolkata as it is now known, on the banks of the [...]
Welcome to Sikandra
Having posted several images of his father’s tomb, and an image of the interior, it was merely a matter of time before I got around to posting a picture of the exterior. This is Sikandra, tomb of the third Mughal Emperor, Akbar. Sikandra is one of the three major attractions of Agra (the other two [...]
Great Alpine Highway
The lovely thing about driving around in New Zealand is that you can cover a lot of the country in fairly good time. This shot was taken towards the end of my trip there in 2009. I had spent the previous couple of days on the West Coast in the little township outside the Franz-Joseph [...]
The tomb of the second Mughal Emperor
Today’s post is yet another rendition of Humayun’s tomb… I’ve presented it in the past both from the inside, and from the outside, from the top, and from the ground level. This perspective is a little away to the right from the main entrance, in an area that was under restoration in January 2011. There [...]
Audience for the Royals
A few days ago, I had published a photograph of the Diwan-e-Am (the Hall of Public Audience) at New Delhi’s Red Fort. This image above is from the Diwan-e-Khas – the Hall of Private Audience. Cloistered within the interior walls of the fort, these chambers were reserved for the Emperor to grant audience to his [...]
