Street Photography in Australia
Twice now, I have had the incredible opportunity to visit down under. The first time I was in Australia for work and traveled to Canberra, Sydney, and Alice Springs. I loved it so much, I made a point to travel back on vacation with my family.
Anytime I travel, I try to steal away for at least a few hours to wander the streets alone and do my best to capture the essence of its time and place. To me, this is what street photography is really about. It can be hard to resist the urge while in a new location to default to a “Travel Photography” mode. As best as I can describe it, this would be photographing landmarks and exciting points of interest that are new to someone in a foreign land.
When I am out and about with the specific intent to capture street photography, I want to capture what it feels like to be on those streets. Photographs that would scream Sydney or Melbourne to those who live there, but might be unidentifiable to us common tourists.
The trick to this is incorporating a little of the city’s landmarks without taking the shot that has been done a thousand times before.
Sydney and Melbourne
On my most recent trip, I travelled to both Sydney and Melbourne, and I loved both cities. They have so much to offer in terms of light, action and setting for incredible photos.
As I said above, when I am taking street photos I strive to create an image that captures a specific time and place. In my mind this is an image that would be either extremely difficult or impossible to recreate. That means no sunsets of the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge (although I did take those to share with family, it is not the style of photo I am talking about here).
Both cities had different things to offer the adventurous photographer. Sydney’s central business district was abuzz with business men and women traversing a well-lit cityscape with beautiful patterns of light reflecting around the streets. And Melbourne’s street art scene and arcades are just fabulous. (Arcades, for my fellow Americans, are covered shopping areas.)
Light in the City
My regular location for photography over the past four years has been Tokyo. Although I am still enamored with the city, it leaves something to be desired in terms of light. There is a reason that so much of the Tokyo photography scene is in a grainy black and white format. The buildings are just so tall and it is difficult for light to get in during the mid-day hours. This is compounded by early sunsets due to a looming mountain range and very early sunrises - golden hour is just hard to get.
The light in Australia on the other hand, is absolutely gorgeous. Everywhere I looked there were expressive patterns of light. We visited during the winter months, so sunrise was not too early and sunset not too late. That translates to less daylight hours, but when traveling with a small child, I don’t find myself out for early mornings or late nights anyway.
Australia vs Japan
It can be hard to photograph the same streets over and over for a period of years. While I know some excellent street photographers have made their name on this practice, it is difficult for someone with a small attention span such as myself.
Getting out to Australia was a breath of fresh air to me. For one thing, more than half of my four years in Tokyo have been marred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on the Japanese population masked up and it appears the masks may never go away. Having the chance to photograph people on the street with their full face visible may seem like a small pleasure, but it is reinvigorating to my photographic soul. That coupled with the light and new scenery made this a trip worth remembering.
Get Down Under If You Can!
I know Australia seems like an unattainable travel location for much of the world. Even traveling from Japan it was more than an eight-hour flight.
But if you have the means to make the trip and it is on your bucket list of travel destinations, I can’t recommend it enough. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
