Skywatch Friday: Happy Christmas

christmas_sky by tff

Happy Christmas to all at Skywatch Friday!

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Skywatch Friday: Millpond

millpond by tff

Brisbane River at 5:00 am this morning - or about 30 minutes before making this post.

For more fabulous skies, visit Skywatch Friday.

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Around town 11

giant hands by tff

These giant hands are outside a building on the eastern corner of Queen St and Eagle St. As a result of these unusual structures, the building quickly became known as the "Hopoate Building", named after a shameful rugby league player. If you don't understand the context, ask someone who follows rugby league, because I can't really explain it here. I don't think the building's owners or managers are too fond of the nickname, but it does show typical larrikin Aussie humour.

175 Eagle St

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Skywatch Friday: Faux storm clouds

faux storm by tff

Disappointed again! It has been as dry as a dead dingo's donger round here lately. This is the time of the year that afternoon storms often blow up, and last weekend, as these promising thunderclouds moved in, I thought that we might succeed in receiving some pluvius, but no! Anyway, I was left with a memento of the faux storm, so I thought that I should share.

Happily, the following evening we did receive some much needed rain. Unfortunately, it was in the form of a huge electrical storm that blacked out thousands of homes.

Check out some more outstanding sky pix at Skywatch Friday. 


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Around town 10

gold dalek by tff

This bronze sculpture by Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro used to stand at Expo, then it was part of the fountains of King George Square. Now it guards the bottom entrance to Jacob's Ladder in the CBD. It looks suspiciously like a gold Dalek to me!

348 Edward St

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Around town 9

shapes by tff

Outside the boutique stores of Queen's Plaza in Edward St. Even the rubbish bin seems to be part of this group.

Corner Edward and Queen.

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Skywatch Friday: Which way is up?

which way is up by tff

A touch of photo-trickery for today's skywatch post! The sky is at the bottom of the photo.

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Around town 8

discus thrower by tff

Outside the Sebel. I don't know what it is meant to portray, but to me it looks like a discuss thrower, coiled and ready to release.

95 Charlotte St

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Around town 7

spheres by tff

Metal spheres in the foreground of the former State Government Treasury Building, now converted to a casino - talk about the sublime to the ridiculous!

Blue sky on a recent beautiful Brisbane autumn morning. It is a shame for photographers when the sun moves further south in the sky and all that blue gets burned out for summer.

Just click on the photo for a larger image.

1-27 Queen St

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Around town 6

multi-coloured by tff

336 George St

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Around town 5

metal kangaroos by tff

Right outside the Merlo coffee shop.

239 George St

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Skywatch Friday: Pink fingers

pink fingers by tff

While waiting for my barbecue guests last Sunday night, I noticed this from my window - pink fingers of cloud reaching right across the sky. Click the pic for a larger view.

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Skywatch Friday: Fraser Island National Park

no more logging by tff

We used to chop these trees down, but fortunately reason prevailed...finally. This photo was taken at Central Station, where the main logging camp used to be. Some blue sky, fluffy white cloud and a burst of sun complete the picture.

Click on Skywatch Friday for the world's most beautiful skies.

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Skywatch Friday: Queensland

queensland by tff

Here's a photo from a while back of a late afternoon rainbow behind the apartment building across the road from where I live. The very unusual sky colour was a hail-storm warning! I hope you like it.

You can see sky photos from all around the world on Skywatch Friday.

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Skywatch Friday: Dawn's first light

dawn's first light by tff

Brisbane River, last week.

See wonderful sky pix from around the world on Skywatch Friday.

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Skywatch Friday: Blue skies, shining at me!

blue skies by tff

Hard to beat this blue winter sky from Queensland!

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Skywatch Friday: Noosa nightfall

noosa nightfall by tff

Overlooking a resort at Noosa, one of Australia's favourite winter destinations, just after sunset.

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Skywatch Friday: Fraser Island fishermen

fraser island fishermen by tff

Birthday celebrations this week took me to Queensland's beautiful Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. It is also a wonderful fishing ground.

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Skywatch Friday: Southport sea & sky

southport sea & sky by tff

We have some friends from Thailand who are holidaying on Queenlsand's Gold Coast. This is the view of the Pacific Ocean from their apartment last Tuesday. It was about 24 degrees C - not bad for mid-winter, hey?

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Skywatch Friday: Bridge and boats

gateway bridge by tff

Brisbane's Gateway Bridge is currently being cloned to relieve traffic congestion.
See more wonderful sky pix at Skywatch Friday.

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Skywatch Friday: Mt Tamborine sunset

tamborine sunset by tff

We're outside Brisbane today - in the Gold Coast hinterland, looking west towards the Great Dividing Range. Enjoy!

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Skywatch Friday: It's hard to tell...

hard to tell by tff

... whether it will rain or not!

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Skywatch Friday: CityCat

morning citycat by tff

Brisbane's river ferries are called CityCats, and here's one travelling upriver towards the CBD at sunrise (6:30am) on Wednesday, July 1st. A sensational ride for early commuters!

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Skywatch Friday: NZ's Lake Taupo

taupo by tff

Home skies have been grey and dreary this week, so here's a photo from my travels - New Zealand's beautiful Lake Taupo.
I like the layers - water, mountain, clouds, sky. Enjoy!

For other marvellous Skywatch Friday photos, click here.

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Skywatch Friday: Brisbane's changing sky

Sunrise - Monday 15 June at 6:30 am

Later - Monday 15 June at 8:20 am

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Skywatch Friday: Old church

cathedral of st stephen by tff

Australia is a very young country in terms of modern western population, although the land itself is ancient, and its indigenous inhabitants had a viable (if nomadic) lifestyle long before the white settlers arrived to start a penal colony for England.

In my city of Brisbane, this is one of the oldest buildings; the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Stephen. The original cathedral, the smaller building on the right, dates from the early Moreton Bay convict settlement days. It was constructed from 1848 to 1850.

The current cathedral, on the left, was built to replace it in 1863. The two buildings are in current use, even though they are now dwarfed by inner-city office towers and apartment buildings, and they are pictured here beneath the blue sky of a Brisbane winter morning.

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Around town 4

St John's Cathedral by tff

The interior of St John's Cathedral

373 Ann St

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Skywatch Friday - Flowers and sky

Brisbane has just had one-third of its annual rainfall in a couple of days! Now that the skies have returned to normal, I couldn't resist shooting these flowers (that I just bought for my wife) against a Brisbane autumn sky. Enjoy!

flowers and sky by tff

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Around town 3

Stained glass by tff

Stained glass - St John's Cathedral

373 Ann St

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Skywatch Friday - The storm rolls in

the storm rolls in by tff

Sometimes we get rain - even in "beautiful one day, perfect the next!" Queensland!

From my balcony - enjoy!

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Around town 2

Two-up school by tff

I thought I had stumbled on a two-up school, but it turned out to be a a few blokes having a yarn around a billy on an open fire - click for larger.

80 Ann St

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Translations for non-Australian speakers:
two-up - a gambling game where coins are tossed and bets are placed on the outcome
blokes - guys, men
yarn - chat or conversation
billy - a cooking implement used for making tea

Around town 1

The Strap-hanger by tff

The weary worker on his way home - click for larger

540 Queen St, Petrie Bight

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Skywatch Friday: Aerial Gymnastics

aerial gymnastics by tff

From my back deck - I love it when the balloons drift by in the mornings.

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Skywatch Friday: Deep blue

As winter approaches, and the sun moves further north instead of being directly overhead, we get the most marvellous blue skies - especially early in the morning. Here the sky is the deepest blue, with a few white fluffies for contrast. Enjoy!

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Skywatch Friday: Kingscliff

I spent the week after Easter at the beach on holiday. My wife and I were at Kingscliff on the east coast of Australia, and this is how it looked.


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Skywatch Friday: Rainbows

Brisbane Wednesday afternoon, 22 April 2009.

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Skywatch Friday: After the rain

After a very wet Easter period, today might be fine!

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Skywatch Friday: Uplight

Like an orange torch being shone into the sky.

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Skywatch Friday: Bridge to Nowhere

Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday: Desolation

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Skywatch Friday: Rowing training

Autumn on the Brisbane River.

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Skywatch Friday: Freddo

A hot-air balloon over a wool store in Teneriffe, Brisbane.

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Skywatch Friday: Bulimba sunrise

Dark clouds and the morning sun combine to form this rich red sunrise over the suburb of Bulimba, on the Brisbane River, at 5:30 this morning. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

Like skies? Visit Skywatch Friday for skies from around the world.

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Your Brisbane: Past & Present

Thanks to images sourced from the archives of the Queensland State Library and the John Oxley library, I have begun a photographic project that compares old photographs of Brisbane with current photographs taken at the same location.

Where possible, I am replicating the viewpoint of the original image, although sometimes this is impossible. Over time things tend to change, and buildings and trees mushroom where none stood before, or once quiet roads are now too busy with traffic.

As a preview, I can show you what I mean. Below is a photograph printed in the Brisbane's daily newspaper, The Courier-Mail, in 1913. It shows the Winchcombe Carson wool store that was completed in 1911, and gives an idea of the size of the building, which takes up a whole block. It was used, of course, to store bales of wool prior to them being loaded onto ships at the nearby Teneriffe Wharves.
(Photo: courtesy State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library)

The building still stands; now converted to much sought after (and expensive!) New York-style apartments.

(Photo: the foto fanatic)

It was not possible to provide exactly the same perspective. This photo had to be taken from the middle of a busy road using a wide angle lens. I suspect that the original was taken from a higher position, and probably using what we now call a view camera, where the lens can be moved independently of the camera body. This prevents the distortion that arises from having to angle the camera upwards to capture the entire building. My image has been adjusted in Photoshop to reduce this distortion as much as possible. If this isn't done, the buiding looks like it is falling over backwards.

TFF
See my new blog here: http://yourbrisbanepastandpresent.blogspot.com/