"5km from home": Lockdown life in Sydney

[grahamc]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello Everyone 

I recently completed a project about our COVID lockdown & uploaded the photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzBjLB (Currently 150 ish images as a first pass but I'll get it down to 50-60).

Some background:

At the time of this project (August - October 2021) I'd been photographing 'properly'.... i.e. knowing what 'aperture', shutter speed and ISO are (and do) for 2 years.  The first 18 months of that was with the Sony system and the associated auto-focus / auto 'everything'.   6 months before shooting this project I bought a Minolta CLE, and used Aperture priority mode as an entry-point to analogue photography.  This was enough to get me hooked on film and M Mount lenses. A couple of weeks before shooting the project, I was extremely fortunate to purchase both an M6 TTL and an M6J, which I used predominantly for this set of images.   

The Project:
From June to October 2021, Sydney residents were subject to 126 days of 'stay at home' orders due to COVID-19.  Much of this time, movement was restricted to no more than '5KM from Home'.  With local and international observers noting a 'tale of 2 cities' between the affluent beachside suburbs of the East and the inland suburbs of the West, I decided to document lockdown life in various Sydney suburbs. 

The set was shot on Tri-X 400, and mostly with M6 TTL & M6J cameras, as well as CLE

Lenses used:  35:1.4 v2  | 50:2 v3 | Minolta Rokkor 40:2 v2 | Minolta Rokkor 28:2.8

I hope anyone checking out the photos enjoys them.  I don't claim the exposures (or anything else) to be perfect, far from it in some cases I'm sure but I am pleased with the results.  I took inspiration from a great YouTube documentary on William Klein in which he claimed he didn't have clue what he was doing, either  

Most of all I thoroughly enjoyed shooting this on M cameras and it gave me a much-needed sense of purpose during lockdown. 

Best
Graham 

Edited February 6, 2022 by grahamc

[Dennis]

Thanks for sharing. Great idea-project and very nice photos. The film really make it unique. Especially, I really really liked this one. Very poetic

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

[grahamc]

4 hours ago, Dennis said:

Thanks for sharing. Great idea-project and very nice photos. The film really make it unique. Especially, I really really liked this one. Very poetic

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Thanks Dennis I think that’s probably my favourite also  

[Ray Vonn]

How far west did you manage to venture?

[grahamc]

56 minutes ago, Ray Vonn said:

How far west did you manage to venture?

The farthest I got was Strathfield .   It didn't feel particularly safe to be travelling around too much as there was heavier police presence in those areas than there was in the city and east.  You may know that farther west than that was a so called 'area of concern' which were subject to a different rules again ... such as evening curfews, and government approval being needed to enter (if not a resident) so I would very likely have been ID-checked there.  

When I do the final cull I'll try to get a good mix of both as a lot of these photos are beachside, which is where I live .  

Edited February 7, 2022 by grahamc

[david strachan]

Really nice selection of super B&W's Graham. Love the various compositions; a special series.

...

[grahamc]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

1 hour ago, david strachan said:

Really nice selection of super B&W's Graham. Love the various compositions; a special series.

...

That's very kind of you Dave, thanks a lot    It was really enjoyable which was the main thing , it got me through the last couple of months of the lockdown 

[RonSmith]

Great set Graham!  I hope things are easing up for you down there.

I visited Sydney for a couple weeks in March 2016 to celebrate Part II of my son and daughter-in-law's wedding.
She's from Sydney and her folks threw a big party for the rest of the family who weren't able to travel to Detroit for Part I.
They're going back for a 6-week visit next month.  Hope they'll be able to leave her parents' house.
My photos from Sydney are at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronssmith/albums/72157665010604270

 

[grahamc]

38 minutes ago, RonSmith said:

Great set Graham!  I hope things are easing up for you down there.

I visited Sydney for a couple weeks in March 2016 to celebrate Part II of my son and daughter-in-law's wedding.
She's from Sydney and her folks threw a big party for the rest of the family who weren't able to travel to Detroit for Part I.
They're going back for a 6-week visit next month.  Hope they'll be able to leave her parents' house.
My photos from Sydney are at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronssmith/albums/72157665010604270

 

Thanks Ron, lovely photos of Sydney thankyou for sharing - that was Sydney in happier times by the looks of things, really nice photos ! 

We have a beautiful city here and very photogenic.  I know some of those spots well and we live close to Bondi Beach 

If you family needs anything when they are in town be sure to let me know

[Ray Vonn]

7 hours ago, grahamc said:

The farthest I got was Strathfield .   It didn't feel particularly safe to be travelling around too much as there was heavier police presence in those areas than there was in the city and east.  You may know that farther west than that was a so called 'area of concern' which were subject to a different rules again ... such as evening curfews, and government approval being needed to enter (if not a resident) so I would very likely have been ID-checked there.  

When I do the final cull I'll try to get a good mix of both as a lot of these photos are beachside, which is where I live .  

Look forward to that, nice one.

[RonSmith]

8 hours ago, grahamc said:

Thanks Ron, lovely photos of Sydney thankyou for sharing - that was Sydney in happier times by the looks of things, really nice photos ! 

We have a beautiful city here and very photogenic.  I know some of those spots well and we live close to Bondi Beach 

If you family needs anything when they are in town be sure to let me know

Thanks Graham!  I hope someday I'll be able to make it back there and we can go out shooting together.