The Boomer Legacy

A Glimpse of the World that was

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There are currently 23 photographs in this section.

Past escarpment

It was easy to forget how dramatic the terrain could be

The view south from Thelma Head, Royal National Park NSW [Jul-2019 401KB]

Unlimited potential

Entire hillsides were covered with these things, just standing there and not doing anything

The lower portion of the Wodi Wodi track, near Coalcliff NSW [Oct-2020 827KB]

Public Private Partnerships

Local governments were prepared to go to any length to protect the value and amenity of beach–side mansions (The Guardian, 2021)

Collaroy Beach anti-erosion seawall. Revisited the site in Mar 2024 and by then sand had been piled almost to the top of the wall [Apr-2022 484KB]

Across the rill and into the trees

The way out was much easier than Papa feared

Fern Dell, near Springwood NSW [Oct-2019 707KB]

The way out was not easy

The unprecedented was discreetly normalised

Florabella pass track, Blue Mountains National Park [Nov-2019 716KB]

Retro refurb

Tranquilly through adverse possession

Whitely Gardens on reclaimed NSW Railway land, Lavender bay in Sydney [Oct-2020 736KB]

Peak oil

Rapid obsolescence was just around the corner

Motorcycle parking at the top of Hill Street, North Sydney [Oct-2020 378KB]

Remarks

A disadvantage of panoramic cylindrical projection is that horizontal lines will always appear curved. You can partially compensate by using a Mercator projection, but you just have to live with it. If the budget allows, you could print the image and mount it inside a concave backing, and then stand inside the arc to see the horizontals straight again, a truly mind–bending experience. (Here the master image is 15340×7670 pixels, which if printed at 150 dpi would yield a print 2.6×1.3 metres)

Precipitous descent

Decades of wandering through a hostile terrain, only to flounder in the sea

Ocean cliffs south of Little Marley, Royal National Park NSW [Aug-2020 458KB]

Remarks

A panorama from a hand–held multi–image sequence, which had to be taken by carefully rotating the camera around the lens entrance–pupil. With a calibrated camera–mount it is easy, but had to eyeball it here as the mount was left at home to keep the hiking weight down

Rewilding the wilderness

Civilisation was only a few kilometres away, although you would never know it

Magdala creek, Blue Mountains National Park [Oct-2019 688KB]

Go tell the Spartans

Philip Oldfield, who reviewed Quay Quarter Tower for Architecture Australia, argued that the building is one of the most important of the 21st century, as a demonstration of how office towers of more than 100 metres could be adapted instead of demolished and replaced

Quay Quarter Tower courtyard, Circular Quay [Dec-2022 364KB]

Pac–Man rock

Eventually the environment will reward us for our diligence

Florabella pass track, Blue Mountains National Park [Aug-2021 727KB]

Tracks through the past

COVID lockdowns encouraged the rediscovery of our neighbourhoods

Tramway track at Darks Common, Lapstone [Aug-2021 794KB]

Home before the leaves fall

The mist was smoke and haze, the leaves fallen due to drought and fire

Woodford bushfire aftermath, Blue Mountains [Dec-2019 706KB]

Beneath the steps

The smallest details were often overlooked

Sassafras Gully Track, near Springwood [Aug-2021 625KB]

A crown of ashes

Every Christmas we would gaze up at the pyrocumulus sky, exchange Bushfire Survival Plans and kiss anxiously beneath the epicormic shoots

Woodford bushfire aftermath, Blue Mountains [Dec-2019 705KB]

Remarks

Panoramic sequences became commonplace when phones and cameras started to include built–in “panorama mode” options. Yet high–resolution panos still require lens entrance–pupil aligned mounts and supports. I used to do this stuff professionally 1996—2006, so it’s fun to occasionally get the gear out to shoot some scenes, here the aftermath of yet another Blue Mountains bushfire

Zigzag environments

Our infrastructure was forever being torched or overgrown

Zigzag Railway upper and lower viaducts, Clarence [Jul-2019 640KB]

Features of heritage redevelopment

Mate, if you want to make an omelette then you gotta break a few eggs

1920s heritage shops at Lawson in the Blue Mountains NSW, prior to demolition in Dec 2010.
 
This linear panorama — divided into three strips for easier viewing — was composited by hand from 62 source images. The master image is a continuous panorama 52000 × 3300 pixels [Oct-2006 304KB]

Abrupt about face

The first explorers got a nasty surprise when they tried to follow the rivers inland

Glenbrook Creek boulders, Lapstone [Aug-2021 520KB]

Temporary respite

Spend all morning crawling over room–sized boulders, before having a break and doing it all over again on the way back

Glenbrook Gorge, Lapstone [Aug-2021 611KB]

Remarks

A few days earlier I noticed a family with small children wandering around in Glenbrook Gorge. Thought if they could take their toddlers in there, then it shouldn’t be too hard for me. Yeah right. Clambering over boulders for almost an hour and then slipping into the river with $Ks of camera gear was not anyone’s idea of “easy”

Wolo world

Most of the snow melted in the middle of January. Luckily there was huge dump at the beginning of March

Zermatt township & Matterhorn CH [Feb-2024 484KB]

Cruise to live

We were truly global citizens who liked to travel whenever the fancy grabbed us

Majestic Princess cruise–ship at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal [Dec-2022 372KB]

Leave No Trace

There will come a time when it will be hard to believe we were ever here

Fern Dell, Springwood Blue Mountains National Park [Oct-2019 773KB]

Golden mean

The rise and fall of the west glowed with unfulfilled promise

Garawarra Ridge, Royal National Park NSW [Oct-2019 601KB]

Notes

These images are multi-shot panoramas, typically showing a view 120° wide and 38° vertical

They were assembled from 6−10 rectilinear images, shot in portrait-format and using an entrance-pupil aligned camera mount. The individual shots were then “stitched” to create partial-panoramas @ 110 MPixel in size

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