Historic Residence....1876

[Barry Johnston]

I first noticed this house yesterday just through the corner of my eye on a drive to Yarra Glen. It was well hidden, and if I had blinked, I would have no doubt missed it. I've been on the same road many times and never seen it before.
The house was first built around 1876 on a miner's right. Originally the home of the Hill family, it then became for nearly half a century the home of the Birch family. The property is now an historic residence protected under such laws.

I was also extremely fortuitous with the second photograph. After downloading the images into my computer, I spotted a big fat hairy caterpillar climbing up the stem of the grape vine. After closer inspection, there are in fact three. See if you can spot them...

EOS 1d MkII N + EF 16-35mm f/2.8 II (ISO 100)
+ Cokin graduated ND filter
High contrast due to fairly harsh midday sunlight.

Pic 1.

f/22 1/8 sec

Pic 2.

f22 1/6 sec

Pic 3.

f/20 1/20 sec

Pic 4.

f/22 1/13 sec

I hope you enjoy this series.
Regards,
Barry.

 

[Barry Johnston]

The Dunny ...

In Australian colloquialism, this is called the 'Dunny'; other countries it would probably be the 'Out-house' or similar. Never the less, I had to post it as part of the series above....

Pic 5.

f/13 1/20 sec

Used tripod for all of the above images.

Barry.

 

[Marcus Peddle]

My favourites are the picture of the fence and the dunny. I think they have the best composition. Question: Why does the fence have a wooden sign that days 'Deutschland' on it? Did it belong to Germans at some point?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Barry,

I do like the subject, the perspective, especially shots one and three. The tonality is fitting, almost as if the pictures were made in the 19th century!

How did you convert from a colored image?

I only found 2 caterpillars!

One was only suspicious!

Asher

 

[Barry Johnston]

The sign on the gate...

Hello Marcus.
Yes, I too was curious about that sign. I don't honestly know anything about it, other than what was mentioned on a sign that was nailed to the back wall of the house.

The sign (on the gate) does however look slightly more recent than the rest of the fence, and as far as I know, there is little German influence in Victoria, all-be-it a very cosmopolitan environment.

In these pictures I tried to create a sense of harshness and reality, exactly how it may have been a hundred or so years ago. Obviously things have deteriorated to an extent, and there was nothing 'pretty' about the place at all. I tried to reveal a little of the surroundings, but not too much. The 'dunny' was difficult because there was a more modern electricity pole positioned right next to it which I didn't want. There was also a water tank positoned next to the house which possibly would have revealed a bit more of the modern history of the property....

I too was aware of possibly a hundred pairs of eyes watching my every move and was slightly nervous taking these photos, (the place is riddled with very deadly Tiger snakes.....).

Many thanks for your comments Marcus, if I find out any more of the history, I will let you know.

Best Regards,
Barry

 

[Barry Johnston]

Hello Asher,

Yes, it took me a little while to work out the tonality of these and my consistency wasn't very good at all. First I made 3 duplicate copies of the original. I used a sepia filter but wasn't happy with the tonality of that, so I added a warming filter (85) into the same layer. I used the toggles to adjust till I was happy with the look. Using the blending options, I removed some of the sepia just to reveal the coloured layer below. At the same time I added a canvas look from the filter gallery, which gave it the antiquish appeal, blending so it wasn't too harsh. That was exactly my intention, to create an authentic looking photograph. I would have preferred a different border style, but I am working on that.

A suspicious caterpillar ? that's a first Asher.....funny. I will point them out to you when I can...

I am recovering from a computer virus of sorts and have a bit more work to do before I am back to normal. On Friday evening at 8:30pm, my computer was violated. Every folder in 'My Documents', including My Pictures disappeared... completely disappeared. I had not backed up my latest batch of photos and am hoping they will still be on my memory card in my camera. I have spent all weekend trying to retrieve them and get back to normal, but it will take some time. Fortunately I carry two hard drives in my pc, and the other was left ok.

Many Thanks Asher,

Best Regards,
Barry.