From the Archives: Melbourne CBD on film

Back in 2021 I received a generous gift of a ever-so-slightly used Nikon F100 in box, with manuals. It was my first film camera in many decades, and I had been itching to get into film photography and expand past my trusty and reliable Nikon D500, and the F100 fit the bill for me perfectly as it seems to be a perfect blend of advanced late 90s-early 00s film photography technology and early Nikon DSLR ergonomics and features.

I love my F100 to death, but this post is about the photos not the camera, so let's move on. In mid 2022 I decided to pop in a roll of Ilford XP2 Super 400 and take my F100 (along with my Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8) with me to work so I can take some photos during my lunch break. Photography for me is a great way to destress from my $dayjob at being a web developer, so unwinding during my lunch breaks with my F100 was heaven to me. I was working in the CBD at the time, so that's basically the theme here with this roll of XP2. It was my first time using black-and-white film ever, and when I got the scans back from Hillvale I was absolutely delighted with the results!

I had started by just walking around the alleyways around my workplace. I was working at Guildford Lane, which had a green revitalisation program applied a few years prior, which really transformed the area. Of course all that greenery doesn't come through on black-and-white film, so I decided to explore some of the more gritty alleyways ajoining Guildford Lane. Here you can see someone had fashioned some plastic bread loaf carriers into a chair or throne. I also took a photo of this corner of Guildford Lane with the brick wall and guttering plastered with pasties and stickers, along with the No Standing sign for the laneway. I was delighted with the way the texture of the brickwork came through in this photo. I quickly gained an appreciation and love for the Ilford film stock.

This photo has a bit of a more interesting back-story. I was walking back to work with some lunch to eat in the office, when I spied this BMW motorbike parked around the corner from Guildford Lane. I quickly got back to the office, grabbed my F100, and ran over to get the shot of the bike. I wasn't paying attention to my shutter speed though, and took this with a bit of a long shutter speed, when I realised my mistake and was composing in the viewfinder again, the owner of the bike had come out and started putting on his helmet. The owner had full face tattooes and looked tough and mean, so I skedaddled back to the office, hoping that he didn't see me. As you can tell I am an excellent street photographer /s

The photo turned out pretty well, if I remember correctly the shutter speed was something crazy long for street photography, something like 1/30th of a second. The shot still came out pretty good with minimal blur.

A day or two later I took my lunch break down Swanston Street towards Flinders Street. For those familiar with Melbourne, this is basically the busiest intersection in the CBD – there's trams, pedestrians, cars and bicycles – and everyone's rushing about, trying to catch their train at Flinders Street Station. Beacuse everyone was rushing about, no one really took notice of me with my beefy F100, it's like I was invisible. The best kind of street photography!

Then, I took one of my most favourite photos I've ever taken.

I remember taking my time to compose this shot. I tried very hard to not get any branches to touch the Flinders Street Station spire, or to touch the Eureka Tower that sits in the background here, but I could only do so much, and I'm not 15 metres tall and able to move a branch out of the way. But I did take my time, slowed my breathing, leaned against a tree trunk and just waited until the perfect time to hit the shutter button.

I'm delighted with how this photo turned out. This is a quintessential Melbourne photo.

I then headed up to the other side of the CBD, to the RMIT Design Hub building. This building, which completed constructed in 2012, is the main area of RMIT University's design faculty (hence the name). The facade is fascinating, being covered in glass discs that actually passively collect solar energy during the day. It reminds me of sequins or the old gold glomesh purses that women used to carry in the 1980s.

Taking this photo, I was squatted down and leaning against the brick fencing of the City Baths. I lined up the south-east edge of the Design Hub building to be as close as possible to the vertical centre in my viewfinder, and waited until a tram trundled into the shot.

Getting this photo in my zip file of scanned negatives from Hillvale, I was taken away. This is the money shot for me. I had nearly gotten the building corner right in the middle of the shot, the postion of the tram was just perfect, the symmetry was fantastic for something shot on film, and I hadn't realised until seeing the scan that even the street lights are mirrored horizontally. Chef's kiss, 100/100, no notes.

And no notes indeed – these last two shots are so good in my books, that I had them printed and they hang proudly on my wall in my home. I walk past these gems every day and they make me feel very happy.

Which makes sense, because that's what photography is supposed to be for me. I don't shoot to make someone else's day, or shoot to make money off my photos, or shoot for clout on social media, or shoot to even get constructive criticism. I shoot because it is therapy for me, and every time I get results like these, it makes me smile.