On the surface of it, the CBD of Hobart can be a bit of an uninspiring zone, replete with drab, mediocre modern architecture and a few new hotel blocks overcrowding many of the more appealing sandstone buildings of an earlier era. Of course, many will gravitate towards the more photogenic districts of Salamanca Place, Battery Point, St David's Park and the like. But if you look a little closer and take a stroll through blocks north of the CBD, mostly light industrial, backs of warehouses, car yards, you can find some interesting little laneways, and a mix of both the old and the new of Hobart's architecture. It's maybe not beautiful, but it offers an interesting side to the inner city that I wanted to capture in a series of photographs.
It seems like every little laneway has become a canvas for either some genuine mural painting and a mix of random tags and more "artistic" grafitti. I guess it's very much a matter of taste if you think it adds to or enhances the derelict look of some of these buildings.
As we close in on winter, the light of the late afternoon is getting duller and often gives a blueish tinge. But you can also get some dramatic cloud formations, so with the extra wide lense you can capture the interaction between these buildings and laneways and the moody sky, and this was part of my thinking on my "photo walk" through the inner city.
To finish off my experiments with the wide lens, I went to one of my favourite buildings in Hobart - the historical Domain House with it's sort of neo-Gothic facade. It overlooks the city, and would have provided the occupant with views of the mountain and the river. For me, it's a building that was constructed to be a projection of power and status, in the same way Lords and Dukes built their castles on the highest hills in the region in Britain back in the old days. I've taken photos of this building before, but have never had quite a wide enough angle of view to do it justice. So I here are a few of my attempts.