looking back at sydney

If I get a new roll (or rolls) back that I want to post about, I usually choose the most interesting images, then basically forget about all the others until I have to go back through the library for some reason. This weekend was one of those occasions, and I've been revisiting my photographic memories of Sydney.

I've been to Sydney a few times now, and each time I find new things to photograph. And each time I also photograph the House and the Bridge extensively (an obsession I have documented in the past). These images aren't the best, but they still hold some interest. The first of these three shows a group of school kids, most likely on an excursion, who had stopped exploring for a lunch break. I don't love the middle image but the third one is kind of fascinating in its ambiguity; it's actually an extreme close-up of the Opera House facade (the wonderfully arranged tiles) exposed over a long shot of the House.

Still in the Harbour, but focussing on less famous views, these two make the most of the unusual slide film colourings. The sun looks fabulous in the first one, while I love the second one just because I love the architecture of Circular Quay Railway Station - and the great typeface.

And now to the Gardens. The middle image, showing bats in a palm tree, is a bit bland and indistinct for my liking, and the bottom image is, for lack of a better word, ugly. The top image, though, really appeals to me. I think it's partly because it seems different from a lot of my other photos; it's not the kind of photo I often take. It was just a pretty amazing scene: these two girls sitting on a ledge and seeming to have the whole of Sydney at their feet. It's a simple photo but that's one of the reasons I adore it.

So there are hits and misses here. Some perhaps better left in the archives, no doubt. But with the benefit of distance and hindsight, there are also some lovely images, and memories, that don't deserve to be forgotten.