First look at The Sydney Opera House
Today's post is all about the Sydney Opera House - it's pretty awesome! I went over to Australia last week, and was able to capture quite a few shots of this iconic structure. It was #1 on my list of what to shoot, and I shot it - LOTs. So take a look at these 5 photos and enjoy the visual tour!
Here's a few photos of that iconic Aussie building - the Sydney Opera House!
If you read my last post, then you know I spent last week Down Under in lovely Sydney, Australia. It was quite a trip (and quite a long trip - a 16 hour flight!) but it was great overall and I came home with a lot of photos (about 2000) that I believe I will be proud of. (I say believe because at this point I have only gone through about twenty of them. So, lots more coming from Sydney!)
Also, I just created a list of where to take photos in Sydney - so check that out and let me know what you think! There are 15 photos on that list, and I haven't shared them anywhere else yet!
Anyways, the Sydney Opera House is probably the best-known spot in Sydney (and probably Australia), and as such it was at the top of my list when I found out that I was headed over there. So as soon as I arrived and got settled, I headed out to go shoot this place.
It was a beautiful evening (as you can hopefully tell by the photos) and it was great to finally see this with my own eyes, after so many years of just seeing pictures. I walked all around Circular Quay (the main harbor front area) and shot a LOT of photos of the Opera House, so that's another way of saying you will see more at some point in the future. I just can't bring myself to put 10 or 20 pics of the same place in one post! (Well, maybe close to 10.)
And I call this "first look" because these are quite literally the first few shots I took of the Sydney Opera House as I made my way down to Sydney Harbor on my first night there. As you can see, they are all from very similar angles, each slightly different in some way. I also walked up REAL CLOSE and shot it a lot of unique ways, but alas, that will have to wait for another day!
So, without further delay, take a look at these shots and let me know what you think!
And while I was at it, I couldn't resist taking that first photo over to Topaz Impression and doing a little painting with it! This was done with the Van Gogh setting, with some minor adjustments.
And this version was also done in Topaz Impression, but with the Cracked Fresco setting.
iPhone fun in Sydney Australia
Well hi there! I made a reasonably quick trip over to Sydney, Australia last week, and came home with a LOT of photos. But, today's post is a bit of a teaser - just iPhone shots for ya. I haven't had time to get my Olympus shots processed. So come back, ok? There's a lot more coming! But for now, enjoy these photos and this quick tour of my little adventures Down Under! G'day mate!
I popped over to Sydney last week - fun!
Ok, that's a slight exaggeration - coming from Texas, you don't really "pop" over there like it's a 30 minute flight. It's actually the LONGEST FLIGHT IN THE WORLD. That's not a joke. The Qantas flight from Dallas to Sydney (using the new Airbus A380) is well over 16 hours, covering north of 8,500 miles/13,800 km. That's some serious butt time!
And I was in coach. My ass is getting numb just thinking about it again.
I am actually writing this while in Sydney, on my last night here (Saturday evening, Sydney time) and scheduling it to go live on Monday morning, Texas time. The beauty of the internet. I will spend all day Sunday on the return flight. By the time this post goes live, I will be home again and hopefully still sleeping soundly! So read on, while I snooze a bit.
Well enough about all that, how about some pics?
I took a LOT of photos while in Sydney, and obviously haven't had any time to process them (much less even get them off the memory cards!). So I thought I would do this iPhone post and hit a few of the highlights. It's a beautiful city, though I will say the big draws are the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge - which are both beautiful. Outside of that, I of course explored quite a bit, including hunting down some of the awesome graffiti that I Googled (found it!).
You'll be seeing quite a few Sydney shots here, as soon as I can get to them. Hope you enjoy this iPhone teaser, and thanks for stopping by today. G'day mate!
Some thoughts on the iPhone 6 camera...
And by the way, these were all shot with my new iPhone 6 and processed in Snapseed. I haven't shared much iPhone stuff here over the last year or so, but I still take a bunch of them. I was slowing down quite a bit, but now that I have this new iPhone 6, I am getting pretty fired up about mobile photography again!
I previously had the iPhone 4S, but it was well over 2 years old, and showing a lot of signs of age (and tons of usage). It wasn't always working great, and now compared to the new one it feels like it was made in 1975 or something. This shiny new toy is a total blessing. While the camera is great (especially considering this is a phone), I do love the bigger screen. It's just crisp and gorgeous.
And no, I did not get the iPhone 6 Plus. Perhaps if I was 6'5" tall and had banana hands, then I would consider it. But no, I'm not, and that thing is too unwieldy for me. The iPhone 6 took a little getting used to, because even the smaller new one is still considerably larger than my old iPhone 4S, but after a couple of weeks we are very happy together. :-) Ok, on to the pics!
I grabbed this one from the Harbor Bridge. A good walk up there, but worth the view!
On my 2nd night here, I was treated to an absolutely FABULOUS sunset. So awesome!!
Just some shopping arcade I ran across - thought it was pretty nice looking!
See what I'm saying?? AWESOME. GRAFFITI.
If you've been here before, you know I love train stations...so I had to visit their Central Station. Grungy goodness.
And one more of the opera House, during that killer sunset. Such a photogenic building!
St. Mary's Cathedral - very beautiful!
Here's an angle on the Opera House you may not have seen before...
Walking around Circular Quay, headed to the Harbor Bridge. This is before that crazy sunset happened!
Yep, it's the Opera House again - big surprise! But I did like the sunset light here...
And a word of caution - as a tourist, you may be tempted to try Vegemite, because you remember that Men At Work song from the 80's (and sorry, I know it's stuck in your head now) but DO NOT TRY IT. It's a prank that is foisted on unsuspecting tourists, especially Americans. I do not believe that it is actually even food. It tastes like what I imagine tar or axle grease to taste like, but with more salt. It's completely horrible (sorry, Aussie friends, but come on, you eat that?). I tried it one morning at breakfast, and seriously wanted to spit everywhere. You may vomit. I had to leave immediately so I could brush my teeth. STAY AWAY FROM IT. :-)