Cityscape IV: Memories of Mawson

If you don't know who Douglas Mawson was, look him up right now. 

How he survived his Australasian Antarctic Expedition is a story worth hearing.

It's nice to see public memorials to him in Hobart, although I still feel that he should be better known that he is.

Even if he is remembered in more than one way:

Moonscape II: Scooby-Doo Nights

Nothing says 'Scooby-Doo' quite as effectively as dark clouds partially obscuring a full moon. 

"Beware! There be mysterious comings and goings down by the docks after midnight!"

Cue the theremin music. 

...

"I'd've gotten away with it if it weren't for you rotten kids!"

Moonscape I: Indigo Sky, Black Water

Waterscape I: Lights on the Water at Dusk

My first walk around the harbour. 

It looked as though Hobart was throwing on all its glittering jewellery for the evening...

Landscape I: Welcome to Tasmania

This was taken on my first-ever trip to Tasmania in May 2014. 

It was for work, so it was a short trip. But thanks to the all-in-one portability of the smartphone, I got to make the most of the slivers of sightseeing I did. 

Bleached fields that are dried blond, the horizon made lumpy by hills, and definitely an indescribably Australian landscape. 

You can absolutely tell that Tassie used to be connected to mainland Australia a long time ago. 

These are similar to the sights that greet you at the airport itself, when you hop off the plane onto the tarmac. (These were taken on the airport route).

Modernscape I: Right Angles and Straight Lines

I can imagine that the words "crisp, clear lines" were quite integral to this concept and design. 

With the major exception of the curved roof above the glass frontage, everything else in this photo has right angles and/or straight lines (even the sunlight). 

Urbanscape II: Railing for the Machine

It somehow seems appropriate to photograph railway tracks and associated steel-and-wire accoutrements with carefully-unkempt land, in order to properly give that impression of urban neglect and/or industrial coldness.

Shadowscape

May Theme: 'Scapes

So a wee bit late with introducing my theme for May, but better late than never etc etc. 

Part of the reason for the delay (besides the usual life-getting-in-the-way one) is that I couldn't quite decide what the theme should be. It needs a balance between being not-too-difficult to produce (real life having a tendency to gobble up much of my time) and yet still being interesting for me (what can I say, I'm difficult). 

In the end, this month's theme decided itself for me. It wedged itself into my brain before I even knew I'd committed myself to it. 

And the theme is: 'scapes!

As in: land~scapes, sea~scapes, mountain~scapes, urban~scapes... And so on. 

(Probably be looking to escape the word by month' end too! Ha!)

The word actually comes from academia, and Professor Arjun Appadurai, who, back in the 1990s, came up with a very creative way of describing different aspects of globalisation: ethnoscapes, financescapes, ideascapes, mediascapes, and technoscapes ... They refer of course to the global circulation respectively of people, capital, ideas, media, technology ... (Look him up: Appadurai, 1992). 

I'm taking a sensible academic idea and running it in silly directions, with apologies to academics and wordsmiths, alike. 

Enjoy.