The Machinery of Night

Posted 9:37 AM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Sydney Morning Harbour

Well, this is the first Foto Friday under the new Blogger. Let's see what they've managed to screw up.

Morning at Circular Quay, Sydney, Oct. 1999

Hmmm, suspiciously OK.

You know, you look at pre-photography paintings of everyday life, and think that no one would paint those scenes today. Imagine a painting with modern cars or highways or tractors. It would be silly. (Of course there are such paintings, and they often look silly.)

But this scene, this you could paint, and it would look fine.

This is at Circular Quay -- pronounced "key", not "kway" -- which is the main drag of Sydney Harbo[u]r. I don't know why it's called that -- it's actually sort of U-shaped. That is of course the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge; the Opera House is way off to the right, but there are several buildings in the way.

I'm sure there are better views, but this is where I had to wait for the ferry to the zoo. I took three shots of this, mainly because I was bored. I find I take my best pictures when I don't mean to. The lesson is to take pictures of everything, which I do, much to the disgruntlement of my companions. I also waste a lot of film.

I've caught something over on the left side of the picture, in the sky above the near bridge support. I don't think it's a flaw on the film or a scanner artifact. It could be a bird or plane or even frog, or one of the enormous fruit bats that infest the area. Looks like a B2 bomber, but I think I would've noticed that. They're rumored to be noisy.

UPDATE: I've changed the title on this post slightly since I first published it. In retrospect the new title was sort of obvious.

Labels: Australia, Foto Friday