Monthly Archive for July, 2008

Modern city

Published by imageservices on July 31, 2008 0 Comments

This image was taken in Martin Place in the centre of the Sydney CBD. It was shot at 1/125 of a second at f2.8 whilst using the 17-35mm zoom lens set at 17mm. This is the first of many images that we will post that have been shot for a variety of purposes to coincide with our upcoming exhibition Modern Times; the untold story of modernism in Australia. The Museum photographers have visited some iconic landmarks in Sydney and documented them in a modernist style whilst drawing on photography from that era. We are going to celebrate this by posting lots of images highlighting architectural details, cityscapes and a series of images relating to swimming pools of the era, but with a contemporary feel. Check our Flickr account as we will be loading them there too.

File #00z28756

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Hot air balloon

Published by imageservices on July 30, 2008 0 Comments

This image was taken in a field in rural Victoria while Jenny Houghton was flying this hot air balloon over the area.
According to Wikipedia hot air balloons are one of the oldest forms of transport that was successful at carrying people and the earliest flight took place in Paris in 1783.

The Library of Congress has a great historical image taken c.1910-1915 from its Bain collection titled ‘L. Stevens’ depicting a hot air balloon in flight that appears on the Commons project on Flickr.

Museum photographer Sue Stafford traveled to Victoria to take photographs for the exhibition and publication, Women with wings: images of Australian women pilots and photographed the hot air balloon during this trip. This publication celebrates 50 years of the Australian Women Pilots Association .

File# 00224660

Photography by Sue Stafford
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Yellow roof

Published by imageservices on July 29, 2008 0 Comments

This simple, graphic architectural detail of the arched roof at the Powerhouse Museum was taken when it was painted yellow shortly before the Museum opened in 1988. This section of the Museum known as the Wran building, after the former premier who had initiated the project, was photographed on medium format colour transparency. At this time the Museum, designed by architect Lionel Glendenning, had many architectural features painted bright colours including the colonnade along Harris Street. These colours don’t exist today and the Museum is a more minimalist white.

This image was taken for the publication Yesterday’s tomorrows: the Powerhouse Museum and its precursors 1880-2005.

File# 00221594

Photography by Jaime Plaza
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Pressing wool

Published by imageservices on July 28, 2008 2 Comments

This is a reproduction from a glass plate negative that is in our Tyrrell photographic collection. These two men are packing wool into a wool press, seen in the centre of the image. This was photographed c. 1884-1917, in this time an early wool press was patented in 1877; it featured a simple system of gears, which doubled the amount of wool compressed into each bale. The development of the wool press increased the amount of wool that could be exported. This is one of our images in the Commons project on Flickr

We also have an image depicting a hydraulic press for bailing or dumping wool that is a reproduction from a glass plate negative in the Clyde Engineering Company photograph collection. This was taken a few years later during the period between 1900-1945.

No known copyright restrictions

National Tree Day

Published by imageservices on July 27, 2008 0 Comments

This image is of a Lemon Myrtle tree seedling, also known as ‘Backhousia citriodora’ was photographed in the studio at the Museum. The Australian National Botanic gardens reports the Backhousia genus has seven species and this particular native tree is also referred to as Lemon Ironwood, Lemon-scented Myrtle and Sweet Verbena Tree.

This image is a composite shot with the background having been taken on the NSW South Coast; the two images have then been layered together in Photoshop. This has been photographed for National Tree Day which is held on the last Sunday each July. This is the biggest community, tree-planting effort by many Australians around the nation. It aims to educate people on the benefits of planting native trees to reduce serious environmental issues, such as salinity and erosion and promote the benefits this type of planting has for native fauna.

File #00×09597

Photography by Geoff Friend
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Moving lights

Published by imageservices on July 26, 2008 1 Comment

This image was taken in the Zero Gravity Space Lab that has recently been installed in our refurbished Space exhibition. The exposure was long to allow for the lights inside the lab to appear as lines. We thought this image might be an interesting one to remix, to be used to create a new work. This image is the first one that we have licensed using Creative Commons that allows you to make derivatives. We would love you to post back whether you use this and also to see what you have created.

File #00z26751

Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
License: Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic

Coogee Bay

Published by imageservices on July 25, 2008 0 Comments

This is a busy day down at Coogee beach back at the turn of the century. Perhaps these people along the esplanade are watching a swimming carnival or this may have been a typical summer’s day there. Some things I noticed whilst researching the image are the men carrying baskets of goods , the fenced off ‘Ladies only’ area close to the esplanade and the large amount of bicycles lined up against the rails near the change-rooms, down on the beach.

Randwick City Council has some great images and information on the way Coogee beach developed after this image was taken including the amazing Pier that was constructed and opened in 1928. It featured a theatre, ballroom, restaurant, nursery and shops only to be demolished in 1933.

This image of Coogee Bay was taken c.1884-1917 by Kerry and Co and comes from our Tyrrell photographic collection. Charles Kerry opened his own studio in 1884; this evolved into Kerry and Co c.1893-1901 and closed in 1917. This image was posted to the Commons project on Flickr yesterday.

No known copyright restrictions

Spring equinox

Published by imageservices on July 24, 2008 0 Comments

This image was taken in September 1994 from the Sydney Observatory looking west towards Balmain. It was shot on film prior to digital during the Spring equinox. The exposure has been set for the setting sun making the dark trees frame the sunset.

According to Wikipedia an equinox is when the centre of the Sun is seen to be directly above the Earth’s equator, this happens around March 20 and September 23. Check this artists drawing from Museum Victoria showing the Spring equinox with the Earth’s poles being the same distance from the Sun.

File# 00224590

Photography by Andrew Frolows
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Emu

Published by imageservices on July 23, 2008 0 Comments

This shot of an Emu was taken at Yeoval, NSW, a small town south of Dubbo near Molong and Orange. Yeoval being famous for the place that ‘Banjo’ Paterson spent his early childhood on a local property. At the time the Museum photographer was on location shooting for the exhibition and publication, Women with Wings: portraits of Australian women pilots. Obviously this image was not intended for this exhibition but rather an opportunity not to be missed by Sue.

The Emu, also known as Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest native bird to Australia and common over most of Australia. This flightless bird can reach heights of up to 2m. You can get some facts incuding the habitat, behaviour, breeding and distribution of the Emu from Australian Museum online.

File# 00224662

Photography by Sue Stafford
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

7 shot Panorama Great Wall of China

Published by imageservices on July 22, 2008 0 Comments

This panoramic image was stitched together from seven separate shots. They were taken using a medium format camera with a 22 megapixel back. The Museum photographer carried this heavy camera around China for a month whilst documenting the Great Wall and surrounding landscape. The results of this trip were showcased in a panoramic immersive during the exhibition The Great Wall of China: dynasties, dragons and warriors. This shot was taken at sunrise from a rocky outcrop next to the Eastern section of the Great Wall at Jinshanling looking towards Xiao Jinshan tower.

File #00×04971

About Photo of the Day

The Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the Day blog features a new image each day, chosen from the Powerhouse Photo Library.

The majority of these images have been taken by Museum photographers for a variety of purposes such as use in exhibitions and publicity, and to record the many aspects and activities of the Museum - from public events, programs and exhibitions to behind-the-scenes and location shots. We also highlight certain photographic objects from our collection.

The licensing of each image varies however we are trying to release as many as possible under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 license.