he City of Launceston in
Tasmania was hosting a
three-day conference;
an event I felt not to
be missed both on a
professional level and the
considerable potential
for photographic opportunities. Coming from
Auckland in New Zealand, it was the chance to
visit Tasmania for the first time and, curiously,
travel south to Australia!
Firstly, I should explain what I do for a job.
I’m a heritage architect which will explain the
content of this ‘Photogenic Places’ feature about
older character buildings; their ornate details,
landscape settings and, in the case of some,
neglected state.
Setting the scene – Launceston is located in
central northern Tasmania and was first settled
in 1806. It is Tasmania’s second-largest city,
Australia’s third-oldest city and the twelfth-largest
non-capital city. It sits where the North Esk and
South Esk Rivers meet to become the Tamar
River. Launceston is compact and its centre
largely extends up the sides of a gradual bowl to
the west, south and east. The current population
is around 86,000.
I visited in October when there was extended
daylight from before 6.00am all the way through
to 9.00pm. Temperatures ranged from a brisk
seven degrees Celsius to a comfortable 18
degrees. I was fortunate to have very clear
days that I took full advantage of before and
after the conference events. The majority of
my photographs I took after sunrise, steering
clear of the mid-day sun and its flattening effect
on built forms which renders them either too
bright or in full shade.
Equipment-wise this trip was another first
for me as I decided to leave my heavy D-SLR
kit at home, choosing instead to use a Fujifilm
X-Pro1 mirrorless camera supplemented by the
excellent Sony Cyber-shot RX10 ‘bridge’ camera.
I am, like a growing number of photographers,
sold on the excellent image quality and features
of these lightweight and physically smaller
mirrorless camera systems – perfect for the
travelling photographer.
The majority of the photographs featured in
this article are of subjects all located within a 30
minutes stroll of one another. As in virtually any
city, the concentration of civic and commercial
buildings is representative of the architectural
styles and trends of the times – in the case of
Launceston, the mid-to-late 1800s period.Heading nortH
While there were key attractions and landmarks
that I had earmarked to visit, my modus operandi
prevailed and I found myself just wandering the
streets in search of photo-worthy subjects.
I was looking for those shadows, patterns and
textures created by the light from a waking day.
Like landscapes, building offer form, texture and48
PHOTOGENIC PLACES
T
- Cataract Gorge
- Gorge Cottage
3. Newstead Villa
4. Northbank Gorge All photographs by Lloyd Macomtber, copyright 2017.
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