Breaking Into The Industry

Abandoned: Parkerville Amphitheatre

2015-04-24T21:21:00.001-07:00

It’s amazing what you find out and get surprised by. Did I know that there was a 70’s era hub of creativity and rock ‘n’ roll in my locality that I've lived in for 20 years? I did not, and when I found out it had been abandoned since the 1980’s, my interest certainly peaked again.

The Parkerville Amphitheatre was an amazing venue in the 1970’s based in the bush and built around a damned section of Jane Brook; showcasing plays, orchestra performances, the first wine festival in WA and of course plenty of rock ‘n’ roll, folk and blues shows. Plenty of known artists played there, including John Farnham (of Cold Chisel fame) and Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.

What followed eventually led to the end of the Parkerville Amphitheatre however, with accidents, local council problems and then money woes unfortunately signalling the end of this very unique venue in the Perth hills. It has been abandoned since the 1980’s (from what I can tell), and the bush has not been kind. There are quite large trees growing out of the amphitheatre now, and all the bridges, remaining buildings and walkways are now partially destroyed and unstable.

It’s all quite sad, but it’s been said that it has new owners who want to transform it into a new, smaller venue. The Parkerville Amphitheatre may live on soon, and as much as I love abandoned places, this is certainly a location that deserves to be revived.

There is also currently an independent documentary being produced based on the extensive history of this location called Parkerville Amphitheatre: Sets, Bugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll. They had a successful Kickstarter campaign, so hopefully it will be released soon. Here is there Facebook page.

The carpark entrance, which actually was built onto an existing heritage trail (that use to be a train track from the late 1800's until the 1960's). I made a post about the old Parkerville train station years ago, but the photos have since disappeared (Thanks Photobucket!). I should get down there with my camera again sometime soon.

Over a huge rock vaguely following where the path from the carpark use to be (now too overgrown to actually walk on).

Looking side-on at a smaller seating area. It's kind of hard to make out with all the brush and trees now sticking out of it, but I assure you its there.

Eek! Suffice to say, I did not go inside.

The front of the smaller amphitheatre.

The one remaining building.

Buddah is keeping everything safe; except for the bridge of course.

A bridge going over Jane Brook is still intact, but quite unstable looking.

Based on an antiqued real-estate listing I found, this was an art gallery.

The most intact part of the main amphitheatre, including what was once a stage/jetty over Jane Brook. The brook was quite dry except for a big puddle when I visited, but that's mainly because of the season.

There was a 'pool' like structure just in front of the main amphitheatre, which was an orchestra pit. It has some quite nice art lining it (full photo below).

Perhaps the remains of the bar?

Remains of the walkway heading back to the carpark.

Since I had so much fun doing it at the Ascot Water Park, I decided to take some before and after photos based on historical photos I found online.

Abandoned: The Ascot Water Playground

2014-06-11T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Ascot Water Playground was a water park that was built in the late 1970's and operated until about 2002. This place was special, and was a true icon of the Perth suburbs. Entry started out as free, but then changed to just a gold coin donation. There was nowhere else like this at the time, and you'd be hard pressed to find something similar in the present day.

It was in an ideal location right on the river, with the Perth CBD visible from the edge. Ultimately though, the river contributed to it's downfall as river run-off laws were introduced and new occupational health and safety laws also shuttered the park (lots of wet, slippery concrete you see.) As far as I can tell there was never any serious injuries at this park, but the world is now a different place. I guess the council didn't want to splash out the money on making it 'safe' or fixing the river run-off problem, and it was permanently closed.
What's left now is a swampy wasteland which reminded me a lot of a few locations from the video game, The Last of Us among a few multi-million dollar mansions as the location is now considered upper market. Luckily, there isn't much vandalism here, but nature has really taken it's toll on the place.
I should add I was quite excited to go here since this is the first abandoned location I've been to where I actually went to as a child when it was open. It was quite an experience to see it now, when I have seen it in its prime. Not through photographs, but my very own eyes.

The main pool is starting to collapse. It's surprising there is cavity under it.

In the background you can see the main attraction, which was a cave of sorts along with huge sprinkles on the top and a slide.

The smashed windows in the toilet block and the cafe were some of the few examples of vandalism.

There was also mini-golf here.

The little shed next to the mini-golf was full of pamphlets, but unfortunately I couldn't reach in far enough to grab one (the door was locked).

This photo was taken with a mobile phone from a previous trip without my camera, but I forgot to retake it. The mini-golf is basically falling into the ground, that trench of sorts is not present in any historical photos and runs all the way from where some water slides use to be, all the way to main pool near the river past the cafe following where a path use to be. I don't know if it was actually formed by nature over the years or deliberately dug, but I couldn't see a logical reason for wanting to dig it in the first place.

In the background you can see a house, which was probably inhabited by a caretaker or used as office space.

The walls had a stunning paint job.

There were mugs everywhere.

On top of the cave like thing.

In the cave type thing.

There were plenty of BBQ's around too.

It was here I tried to match up some photos of it in its prime to what it looks like today, but in this case it was quite hard. There was two pools connecting to this structure, one at the end of a slide (where that gap in the fence is) and another at its entrance. The slide pool has been completly overtaken, meaning I couldn't get in a position to take the photo with looking straight into a bush.

Here's what it use to look like from nearly the same angle.

Here's another comparison facing the structure, which was quite hard to take as well. Directly in front is part of the ditch I was talking about earlier.

These were a little easier to take.

Abandoned: Clackline Refractory (Part 2, 18-55mm lens)

2014-06-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

I know I said I would upload these a month ago, but life just kept on getting in the way. These are photos from my second trip to this refractory, while photos from the first can be found here.
Read that post for a more in-depth history about the place, but now I can add that it was open until at least 1992 judging by paperwork scattered around that I didn't get a chance to look at originally. I also went and visited an abandoned house on the property this time around (as it looked inhabited from a distance last time) as well as around the expansive clay pits.

Not much going on in here...

Or here...

Who let the dogs out? This (former) wall.

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I'm guessing it was some sort of sorting machine.

Looked inhabited from a distance, honest. This sits on top of a huge hill that overlooks the entire complex.

It's always hard to find places that scrappers haven't found first.

Surprisingly, most of the graffiti seemed isolated to this house. There wasn't much else at all around the actual factory and kilns.

These pits went on for a long time, which makes sense considering it was nearly open for a century.

These were everywhere, in huge piles.

Dated 7/7/1992

Abandoned: Clackline Refractory (Part 1, 50mm Prime Lens)

2014-05-12T02:31:00.001-07:00

This refractory (in Clackline, Australia) was opened in 1898 as WA Firebrick Co by John Ford and James Murray. It was only called this for two years however, operating under Bunnings’s until 1903. Following that it was operated by the Hunter family until the 1950’s where its history gets a little bit hazy.

There is hardly any information on the internet but what I do know is that it was registered as Clackline Refractories Limited from 22/01/1987 to 04/08/1988, then Clackline Limited until 22/01/1987, and then finally Herald Resources Limited until 04/08/1988. This is where I presume it was abandoned because the only further information I could find was that Herald Resources Limited was acquired by Calipso Investments Pte Limited in 2009.

1988 seems like the right year when you consider the condition of the place, but also because the earliest aerial photography I could find of the location only goes as far as 1995, where it doesn't seem very active.

The Clackline Refractory of course manufactured clay bricks, notably for nearby pumping stations for a pipeline that goes from Mundaring Weir to the town of Kalgoorlie, nearly 600km away. This is quite evident as there are still smashed clay pots around the kilns as well as wet, slippery clay all through the factory area (it had just been raining before I got there).

This is the first set of photos. Unfortunately while there I ran out of time, so I only got to take photos with my 50mm prime lens. I’m hoping to get back later this week (weather permitting) for further exploration with my normal 18-55mm lens.

Abandoned: Point Peron Battery

2014-03-03T23:39:00.003-08:00

Cape/Point Peron was an artillery battery constructed in 1942 to protect the west coast of Australia during WW2. It never fired in anger and was decommissioned only a few years later in 1944, when it came apparent that the war wasn't coming in its direction.

What survives is an observation post, a control room and two gun emplacements with ammunition bunkers. Supposedly there were also tunnels running all through the complex, but I couldn't see any sign of them on this trip. It's thought that the government dynamited them for public safety, though I for one, would of signed a waiver for some great photos.

The site was left mostly as is until the early 1990's, when concrete paths were paved joining all the sites up.

The observation post was built at the highest point of the cape, including telescopes and range finding equipment along with many other 1940's goodies of technological advancement. There is nothing much left inside these days, but there is antenna (?) on the roof that looks like it belongs in a H. G. Wells's epic.

This is the communications room, where the gun emplacements could co-ordinate with Garden Island (an army base near by) by telephone.

So much sand has moved into the entrance that the one remaining door is stuck open and half buried.

It's said that this bunker also housed accommodation for the personal, but I just couldn't imagine all that fitting in along with all the bulky 1940's communications equipment.
Maybe that's where the tunnels came into play, and they led to more rooms? Who knows.

This is one of the gun emplacements, which as you can see it about to slid down the hill due to heavy erosion. We probably shouldn't been climbing all over it to take photos, but I guess we're young and stupid.

For the record it's a lot more stable than it looks, but don't climb on it just because we did; entertain the idea at your own risk.

This was the ammunition bunker for this gun emplacement, that's filling up with sand just like the Communications Centre.

There isn't much to see inside to be honest, just a few rooms like this one. They were also completely pitch dark, and smelt like urine (hopefully not human).

This was the other emplacement that's in a lot better knick. That little green structure was for ammunition storage.

This was the other ammunition bunker that's more or less the same as the other, but more well lit.

A view of the entire complex from the second emplacement.

Check out Woodman Point Munitions Facility, which we also visited on the same day.

Abandoned: Woodman Point Munitions Facility

2014-02-23T02:29:00.002-08:00

Woodman Point Munitions Facility was a munition dump about 20km south of Perth, which (presumably) opened during World War Two and was decommissioned in the 1980’s. After being closed down, it was designated Australia’s smallest National Park because of Rottnest Pines growing in the area. [source]
I've never been to a National Park surrounded by a barbwire fence before, but there are few buildings left that look like they could be blown over by a stiff breeze; maybe the fence is there is save dimwits from themselves.

It’s quite a large facility, so large in fact that it necessitated its own railway. Besides from the few buildings left, the area is full of munition bunkers; some of which are nearly invisible in the thick scrub.

End of the line.

This helmet was padlocked to a pole, left as a memorial possibly. There was a laminated piece of paper attached to it also that simply said "Truly".

Looks like the stiff breeze already got to this building.

Devil's Wine

2014-01-15T01:37:00.001-08:00

Let's just ignore the fact that I haven't posted anything in three months and concentrate on the fact that this is the second 3D post in a row! Hooray!
What's even more exciting is that I'll be putting together a 3D portfolio soon to maybe submit to 3D houses in Perth. That's interesting to note because getting a job in 3D was the original idea behind this blog, way back when I was still in highschool. Getting a job even at a supermarket was hard at that point, so I turned this into a development blog instead.

This image was a great learning render, as I taught myself the fundamentals of the Vray camera DoF and volumetric lighting; both things you need to use to create realistic renders. It will be interesting to see what the new year brings!

Simons

2013-09-30T01:41:00.003-07:00

It's been way too long since I posted some 3D.
It's been an ocean of photography with some R/C posts sprinkled on top, which I guess is what I'm really into these days. I doubt 3D will ever be something I stop participating in though, as it's still on the frontier as a job. One day, at least.

The render is based off this photograph, and is probably the most time-intensive image I've created to date. Clocking in at just under 12 hours, it truly beats everything else by miles. As well as testing my lighting techniques, I got a kick up the bum as far as car modelling goes. The Ford there is really the first car I've ever modelled, and I feel I did all right.

Exposure Shot of Perth's Eastern Suburbs and the CBD

2013-09-12T02:22:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah! Did I mention that I bought a new camera? I probably should, it's fairly important to this blog, I guess.
I've just jumped from my oh-so-humble Canon EOS 1100D, to an EOS 7D. While this is more or less an upgrade for video purposes (refer to my YouTube for more of that) there are a lot of changes that help me immensely with photography. Improvements include a better processor (which helps with ISO), increased shutter speed, increased shots it can take per second, a hell of a lot more AF Points, integrated sensor cleaning, a digital leveller (which is great for exposures) and the jump from 12.0 MP to 18.0 MP will not hurt anybody.

Sadly, it uses a different port for the shutter release than my old camera, so I had to wait ages as I new one was shipped to me. As soon as I received it though, and there was a clear night (Winter has just finished here in Australia) I travelled to a nearby lookout that I had been planning to go to for a while. This is the result:

This shot is looking from the edge of the Perth hills, over the eastern suburbs. Those skyscrapers in the distance form the Perth CBD. It's a 60 second exposure, with an aperture of f/9.0 and ISO200.
Stay tuned as Australia rolls into the Spring and Summer months, which I lovingly refer to as 'exposure months', where I'll showcase more images like these.

Quadcopter Crash (On Film!)

2013-08-19T02:29:00.003-07:00

It's been a while since I posted about anything R/C related, so how about a video of me totalling a quadcopter? Yes? Okay!
Eventually I'll be going the Hobby King route and putting some serious money into a quadcopter so I can film in 1080p with my action-cam, but first I decided it would be wise to buy a smaller pre-made set-up to get me started. Just as well I did too, because believe it or not, this is the second time I've crashed and smashed this quad.

First time, I drove all the way to the other side of Perth to beg some hobby store owners to sell me a leg off an existing quad. For some reason they did, which was great for me, but not so great for them as now they have a quadcopter that only has three legs. I doubt they would do it again, and I'm not too keen to drive all the way out there to try. Luckily though, at the same time I bought the leg, I bought a camera especially made for the quad. My current action-cam is way too heavy for it unfortunately, but the current camera only cost $30 and I'm actually really impressed with the results it outputs. It's not HD or anything, but it's good enough.

Skip to 2:10 if you just want to see the crash, the rest of the video is mostly me preforming barrel-rolls and crashing it in other various ways (but not enough to break it). The actual crash its self was a doozy though, it must of been a good 50 or 60 meters in the air when I lost control.

First time it crashed I tried to glue the frame back together with Araldite. This actually kept it together enough to fly, but as soon as it landed, the (light) impact snapped it off again.
This time around, I'm giving silicone sealant a go. If it's good enough for roofing and concrete, hopefully it will be good enough for a $90 quadcopter reping a plastic frame. I guess we'll see how we go.

Melbourne on Film

2013-08-14T02:22:00.002-07:00

Not too long ago, I posted about being in Melbourne which included general good times with photography. Also in that post, I mentioned that I also shot a roll of film.
The other day I finally got around to getting it developed in a chemist that's quite close to me. It's great that I now know of a local photo-place, as before I was getting my shots developed in the city while I was at TAFE.

For these photos, I was using my Trip 35. Refer to an article I wrote on my other blog if you want to learn more about that amazing camera, otherwise, enjoy.

2013 Catch-Up: Abandoned Photography

2013-07-09T23:37:00.003-07:00

The last 2013 Catch-Up post... I promise. It's not all that terrible though, it's only July. If anything, I'm 5 months ahead of schedule! YEAAAAH-WOOOOO well done, me! *pats self on back*

Way back in February when I posted the second 2013 Catch-Up post (photography) I said (among other things) that there would be a post dedicated to abandoned photography. Unfortunately it isn't anywhere new; what you're about to see is the same farm house from last June, but instead this time I had my DSLR.

I shot these all the way back in November, so my metering could of been a bit better. But hey, what ya going to do? It was months ago and does not reflect my current skills. Either way, it's way better than a Pentax point and shoot.

Surprisingly, no one is yet to claim that fridge.

I still no idea as to what this means. Like I said in the original post; if you have any idea, please feel free to drop a line.

For more photos of a different abandoned farm house, take a look at these: Abandoned Farm

Street Photography: Melbourne

2013-06-27T04:09:00.002-07:00

Yay Melbourne! The cultural centre of the WHOLE UNIVERSE!

Being a small, lowly Perth kid in the big smoke for a week with a couple of cameras was a great experience. By night I stalked all the bars and pubs of Brunswick Street and the CBD, but by day I became an annoying tourist taking photos every couple of steps of every cool looking thing I could find. Great fun.
The following photos were taken with my DSLR, but I did take a roll of film with my Trip 35, so expect to see some pics from that when I get around to developing them. Come to think of it, I still have two rolls from Sandy Cape to develop too. Hmmmmmm.

Note the homeless person passed out in the background.

Thanks, buddy.

2013 Catch-Up: Street Photography, Singapore

2013-06-06T06:32:00.002-07:00

One of the last catch-up posts, I promise (maybe one more, come on?). Seriously, I'm happy to say that I'm running out of things to write about that I consider deserve this kind of post. My 6 month laziness stint which caused great self pity, has nearly come to an end.

I won't get to in-depth about Singapore; everyone knows everything about Singapore. It's safe (great for night photography), clean, has great (cheap) food and apparently lots of hookers.
Whatever your opinion though, Singapore is just plainly a fantastic looking country. So good looking in fact, I took a whole heap of photos of it. Enjoy.

PS: Check out my other post on this fine nation, Singapore on Film.

Abandoned Farm

2013-05-30T05:41:00.002-07:00

It's always a good day when I get to post abandoned photography. It seriously is my favourite past time that I hardly ever get to do.

Months and months ago I posted an abandoned farm house before my DSLR days (incidentally, I've been back there since with a DSLR but never posted the photos) and I mentioned that once I had my drivers licence, doing this sort of thing would be a lot easier.

Well, just this week I achieved that. On the same day I passed my test for my licence, I drove all the way out into the countryside (about an hour and a half from Perth) to photograph this abandoned farm. It was win-win. I got to drive a copious distance (which is the only thing I wanted to do right after passing my final test) and I got to practice my favourite every now and again hobby.

The house wasn't even locked. Pure country living.

Funky couches.

This place was classy; saloon doors and everything.

The light fittings were actually quite classy.

Photo of a toilet #1

The only sign that the house was ever locked.

Photo of a toilet #2

I have no idea why this was here, it's at least an hour and a half away from the nearest Toys R Us.

This place would be great for star-trails.

Surly there isn't anything creepy in this old school desk?

...

Video Controlled R/C Car Project

2013-05-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

I'll be showing you something a little bit different today.
Usually I post about my photography or 3D work, but since this is a development blog, I thought I would change the pace a bit. Today I'll show you something I've physically made; something I've been wanting to do since I was a kid. Basically, I've strapped a wireless camera to an R/C car, which can then be viewed from a television. I even made a video about it:

And here is an update on the project which I created a few days later:

2013 Catch-up: Street Photography in Vietnam

2013-04-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's time to start getting all these catch-up posts out of the way again. If I don't do them soon, they'll never get

done and I'll have to recreate that above image with a 4.

Late last year I went on a family trip to Vietnam and Singapore. It was my first trip where I bought my DSLR, and by extension the first time I've been out of the country while shooting manual. It seems that most tourists these days are toting around cameras more expensive than their air-fairs, but they seem to only use them for happy snaps.

Bringing along something that bulky and expensive on holiday seems a bit excessive when you're not going to use it to its full advantage, but I'm not going to start ranting about it. At the end of the day, people are free to buy and use whatever the hell they want no matter how silly it may seem. The only times I really got angry with them was when they were using the equipment out in the rain. Seriously, I don't know why they do it, but people willingly carrying around laptops, cameras and phones in the rain really confuse me. I would just think that would be common sense.

Either way, Vietnam is a fantastic country. From crowed cities to lush, green and humid rainforests, Vietnam is a really fun place to visit and photograph. Most of these photos were taken in Saigon, but a few were taken in day trips out to the countryside.

Death of the American Diner

2013-04-08T06:38:00.002-07:00

It's a very early mid 20th century morning at this New Jersey Diner. The night shift was fairly slow, but the staff are gearing up for the normal rush of morning traffic in an hour or so.
Things are going quite swell for this diner, and probably will for another 20 or 30 years. Sooner or later though, people are going to start going to big name chains instead, and the busy main road this diner is on will get cut-off when a huge highway it built nearby isolating it from most traffic.
This is when, sadly, it will close down and die like many other diners across the country just like it.

I mentioned this render a few posts ago when it was still in its infancy, but now I feel that it is completed. Sooner or later I will render a high-res version of this for portfolio purposes, but for now I have to get over a RAM problem (which is like a cold that won't clear up).
So what's next you probably weren't going to ask? Well, I was thinking of creating some architectural renderings. I'm also considering getting into Zbrush as I have an idea for a scene that was utilise it in the vast archives of my head.

Beach Bum Photography

2013-04-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I posted an entry about practising photography in the wild, surrounded by nature. I was lucky enough to be a mule to the elements last weekend again as I went camping up north to a place called Sandy Cape (which is about 20 minutes further North from the town of Jurien Bay). I travelled up there with some friends for the Easter Long Weekend.
Since the campsite was already totally full (even though we arrived Good Friday morning at about 9.30am) we were able to find a suitable place to camp up the beach which was only accessible by 4X4.
It was great camping right on the beach. You can literally wake up and transfer straight into the ocean, as it's hot enough in that part of Australia.

And drink lots of... ahem, lemonade.

First off I should mention that the area is called Sandy Cape for a reason; it really isn't the best place to bring a DSLR. Everyday I was cleaning sand off it, and I didn't dare swap the lenses. That would of caused misery for all involved.
Luckily I easily got by with my standard 15-35mm, and took some shots that I'm quite happy with. The fact that it wasn't really windy at night helped me greatly too, I was able to do some exposure shots straight on the beach (which is something I've always wanted to do).

20 minute exposure at about 10pm. I tried to take one at 9pm the night before, but it still picked up the sunset o.O

Sandy Cape the left, Green Head to the right.

My home for 3 nights; I was very reluctant to leave. That amount of time without my computer was actually quite refreshing.

30 second exposure with the ISO cranked up.

White, sandy uninterrupted beaches. Welcome to my awesome home country of Australia.

Trees are an old joke in this area of country.

Just a bit of fun.

2013 Catch-Up: Singapore on Film

2013-02-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hey hey, welcome to another instalment of the 2013 Catch-up series. In this post we look at another fine piece of vintage camera equipment; the Canon EOS Rebel II.

Since I shot a few rolls with my Olympus Trip 35, I really wanted to shoot film using an SLR. I found this particular camera in a small shop in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City that was no bigger than my bedroom. For some reason there are vintage cameras for sale everywhere over there, and I picked it up for a pittance (about $25 Australian).
It wasn't until I got back to my hotel room that I noticed only my telephoto lens fitted it, and I wasn't keen on shooting a whole roll of really zoomed in photos of stuff.
After Vietnam I went to Singapore, and it was there I bought the second hands lens you see in the photo above. I thought it was a pretty good bargain at the time for roughly $150AUS, but after some use I think the sweet old man in the camera shop may have ripped me off. No bother though, it's still usable, just a bit stiff.
It was great shooting film in the middle of Singapore; as soon as I ran out of film it wasn't hard to find a camera shop and buy some more. There are more camera shops than cafes there.

The following photos are shot in and around Orchard Road:

2013 Catch-Up: Photography

2013-02-19T20:44:00.002-08:00

Welcome to the second part of the 2013 Catch-up series, where I make a big event out of the fact that my blog is 6 months behind. See up there? I have a picture and everything.
In this post, we're going to look at photography. I do quite a bit of photography so I'm not going to put it all in the same post, instead certain aspects are going to have their own post. This one is going to be general photography; photos I've taken here and there that don't fit in anywhere else.
Besides from that there are going to be posts based around street/travel photography, photography using retro equipment (hint; I've bought a new camera besides from the Trip 35), and more abandoned photography.

Lets get this ball rolling...

A cruisy Saturday night at a local lake:

While camping you have to make your own fun... like poking fire with a stick while letting the camera expose an image over about 10 seconds:

Just like that time you ate dinner while on acid:

Geraldton sunset:

Mean streets and itchy foliage:

15 minute exposure of the Southern Cross:

ITT: Wally. I found him:

For about a month I really got into bike riding. This was hampered though when one of the pedals fell off my bike:

Either a 20 or 25 minutes exposure, I can't quite remember and I'm too lazy to check:

A fantastic sunset over Sorrento. Fun fact; there is a pirate pizza place across the road where they give you pirate hats while you eat excellent pizza. Idea of the century:

All the girls love this photo, they think its so cute. In reality this bastard has eaten all the fish out of my pond (which is below). Made it easy to get a snap though, he hanged around there for hours before he fished the pond out:

This photo doesn't really have a purpose... I made it for the best non-existent reason ever; for the hell of it:

2013 Catch-Up: 3D

2013-02-17T21:38:00.001-08:00

Roughly 6 months is a long time not to update a blog; in Australia you can get your licence in 6 months. Also in 6 months you could complete a whole certificate at TAFE, or work a minimum wage job long enough to buy a car for your new fangled licence. All in all, when it comes to something like a development blog and you're artistically active, that's a hell of a lot of work.
What I'm going to (starting with this post) is do a catch-up of sorts dividing each post into categories. This one is going to be dedicated to 3D; my original passion when this blog was started oh so long ago.
Back then this blog use to be about getting a job in 3D, but eventually I ran out of things to write about so I decided to turn it into a development blog, wanting to keep the URL. In those original posts I talked about finishing my diploma and then trying for the various 3D visualisation studios around Perth. Perth is lucky when it comes to those; we have a lot of talent and a huge mining industry. Those mixing together creates a moderate amount of jobs.

I'm happy to say that late last year, I completed my diploma for Games Development and I'm working on my portfolio right now. Game dev might seem a bit odd for a 3D job, but between all the different classes there were excellent 3D units where I learnt quite a bit.

First off for this catch-up, my very last Mental Ray project:

This was a quick project (about a fortnight in my spare time last August) where I created a render of a house, like what you might see at a real estate agency.
Because of mining (which already creates a lot of 3D jobs) lots of construction is going on. Perth is regularly referred to as the city of cranes, and all these new developments require a visualisation of some sort. This was my first try at that, and it wasn't so bad for a first attempt I guess. I created everything you see except for the car, which I downloaded off a disk that came with an issue of 3D World.

Future attempts at this sort of thing will be using Vray, which brings us to to my next project in this catch-up:

This is a 1940's living room, and it was started in September and finished around October. It was my first Vray project besides from dabbling in it a long time ago (which I'm not willing to link since I wrote a lot of crap when I was 17).
It was a lot of fun getting to know the new renderer, and I felt like I was making progress in a career sense since it's usually the industry standard.

Next up, keeping with the period pieces is this early 80's programmers den:

This originally started on a plane to Vietnam for a holiday. I was suppose to be doing TAFE work but instead I modelled that old IBM instead. I don't really know why, but sooner or later this scene evolved into what it is now.
Its really the first scene I have created where I have tried to trigger some sort of emotional response. Whether it actually has or not is still up for debate, but some people have said it has given them nostalgia, so there's that.
This was started in December, and completed in January of this year, which brings us into 2013! Hurray!

Now for what I'm currently working on:

Not another period piece!
Yes, well kinda. This is actually going to be a two-part render. Above is the WIP of the first part, where its in its heyday. The second part will be in more current times; it will be an abandoned sad relic of another era, where chain restaurants and huge interstate highways and free-ways rain supreme. Here is a little ditty I wrote up for it:

It's a very early mid 20th century morning at this New Jersey Diner. The night shift was fairly slow, but the staff are gearing up for the normal rush of morning traffic in an hour or so.
Things are going quite swell for this diner, and probably will for another 20 or 30 years. Sooner or later though, people are going to start going to big name chains instead, and the busy main road this diner is on will get cut-off when a huge highway it built nearby isolating it from most traffic.
This is when, sadly, it will close down and die like many other diners across the country just like it.

For minor updates check out my WIP thread on the CG Society, but I'll be sure to keep the major updates flowing on this blog too.
That's just about it for 3D for now, stay tuned as I (hopefully) post more 2013 catch-up posts to do with other categories in the next couple of weeks.

The Olympus Trip 35

2012-09-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

The Trip 35 is a 30 year old plus camera I happened to come across not too long ago, and so far I have taken a few rolls of film with it. I won't go into too much detail about here, because I wrote up a fairly detailed report about this awesome camera on my other retro oriented blog. At the time of writing that though, I wasn't even sure if it worked. But thankfully it does, and here are some of my favourite shots so far:

Photos! July 2012 Wrap-Up

2012-08-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

Got another months worth of miscellaneous photos for your faces, since that's all I really seem to post on this blog anymore.
I remember a few months ago I was cautious to try the manual settings, but now I wouldn't be seen alive using auto. I feel this is a good thing :D

Abandoned Mansion (Perth, Australia)

2012-07-30T01:14:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went on my first DSLR aided urban exploring adventure. It was good fun and I learnt a lot, but looking back on the photos there are some things I want to do better next time. For example I feel a lot of these photos are overexposed. It was an uphill struggle for a novice such as myself as bare concrete covered in paint, mostly surrounded by white sand in the middle of the day turned out to be quite a challenge. Also for some reason the picture style was set to faithful the whole time, making them even more washed out. Ah well, it was all a learning experience I guess.

A bit of back story so I stop ranting about my skills; about 10 years ago the person who owned this estate was done for tax evasion. It seemed easiest for whatever reason to just walk out and leave, and it's been empty ever since.
The place has been heavily scrapped. There are no windows, doors, light fittings or anything like that. One room I found had the remains of carpet, but the rest of the place was more or less an empty concrete shell covered in awesome graff and lots of shitty tags. Also on the property were several lakes and a shed.

This will all soon be a new housing development. While we were there the construction was literally across the road, if we left this a few more weeks we might of been too late. A shame really as Perth isn't exactly known for its abandoned properties.