Ah Fremantle, what a place you are! The following images are an eclectic assortment including fireworks, beach, doorways, plants, a square-rigged ship, an abandoned power-generation station, and graffiti.

Hope you enjoy a non-encompassing glimpse of “Freo.”

 

Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour – the fishing boat fleet are out of frame to the left.

 

The ferris wheel in Fremantle’s Esplanade Park (also in the photo above).

 

Bathers Beach, proximal to Esplanade Park and the  Fishing Boat Harbour.

 

A beach immediately south of Fremantle – the Indian Ocean was very tranquil that day.

This fine ship is the STS Leeuwin II (sail training ship) whose home-berth is Fremantle.

I had the great privilege and pleasure to sail onboard her as an officer in my early 20’s – I was thrilled she was at dock for a portion of my recent visit to Freo. She is a a three-masted barquentine of 55 meters (~ 180 feet) displacing 344 tonnes with a mast height of 33 meters (~ 108 feet). Having been atop the mast underway I can assure you it is quite spectacular and ‘whippy’ up there!

 

Transportation of a different variety – a Morris Minor as I recall – which is not indicative of the majority of automobiles in the area 😉
We call this one “Not CUBA” because that is precisely how it “felt” when we saw this scene.

 

Whilst wandering around the amazing residential side-streets I came upon this doorway which had a particularly Indian (sub-continent) look to it – or at least that is how it struck me. I think this might well be my next book-mark for my paper books.

 

More doorways…

 

 

Still on the side-streets…

For this image I wanted to convey a soft and ethereal feel using the asparagus fern so I chose a wide-open aperture, elevated the camera and shot downwards so that only the top (nearest) frond would be in focus – I think it worked, but do you too?

 

These next four images, three of which are plant-centric, were captured as part of a self-assignment to capture patterns and texture.

I chose a large aperture (small opening) to ensure maximum depth-of-field as I needed the three-dimensional aspect to really capture what I saw. This image suggests Asia for me (the terraced gardens). How about you?

 

Morning light caresses a succulent from the garden of the home we were staying in.

A driveway gate post.

Street Kiss # 1

This street art/graffiti is by “REBOOT” – think about it…

Street Kiss # 2

 

A mate of mine, Paul Waite (http://www.paulwaitephotography.com/#) – a phenomenal photographer based in Fremantle – took me to the abandoned (and VERY eerie) Fremantle Power Station for a light-painting shoot. Unfortunately access is prohibited so we couldn’t get inside and shoot the amazing ruined interior and all its rust, glass, and graffiti. However, it became an exercise in capturing the forbidden access to this huge old building and surrounds.

For this light-painting the building was already illuminated by some street lights over a rise to the right of frame, hence the two-toned building (I thought it was not only fortuitous how it matched the building’s horizontal lines, but also added an extra dimension to the “wierdness” that eminated from this place). I used a LED light to bring attention to the fence (the blue or ‘cool temperature’ of the LED lights adds to the cold metallic physical structure of the fence and razor-wire and the mental picture of its purpose)!

 

To close this particular photo-blog I have included three fireworks images from the Blessing of the Fleet ceremony conducted in The Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. Two of these images are 1 second exposures, the other is a 4 second exposure – based on effect I was seeking plus the bahavior/pattern of each particular firework.

 

 

 

Bye for now.