I admit, this is not an original image. I had seen this viewpoint in numerous postcards sold all around Perth. Determined to also shoot from this location, I bought two of these postcards at London Court and started asking the location from where the image shot was shot. All of them told me that this was shot from South Perth. The Australians were very helpful, some even started to draw the maps to show me how I could get to South Perth. The only problem is that South Perth is as big as PJ.. and no one could pinpoint me the exact location of this shot. I always knew that this was shot from South Perth, but where exactly in South Perth?
I then remembered that there was a park called Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth that is overlooking the Swan River. Taking along the postcards that I bought, I started scouting Sir James Mitchell Park for this location. It was only after walking for two hours in the freezing temperatures of Perth's winter that I managed to discover the location of the shot. Yes, it was taken from Sir James Mitchell Park, but from the other end of the park, a location that I had missed during my three previous visits to Perth.
There was a 500 meters walk from the car park. I also noticed that there were lots of ducks and geese swimming in the lake. I realised that this would pose a problem as ducks swimming across the lake during the exposure will be recorded as blurry streaks. Ducks not moving would be recorded as dust spots on the sensor. The ducks would also "break" the reflections on the lake thus preventing me from getting a smooth reflection of the Perth skyline. I then tried to chase the ducks away, but the more I chased, more ducks had dived into the pond, swimming across my frame during the exposure. Out of the almost 20 shots I took from this location, this shot had the least "duck streaks" in them. I was not able to eliminate the "duck streaks" completely. You can still see the ducks swimming across the frame at the bottom right corner of the frame.
As my family was waiting for me back at the apartment for dinner, I had to wrap-up the shoot at 6.30 pm. At that time, it was also getting dark and extremely cold. There was still another 500 meters walk back to the car-park. Due to the falling light levels (it gets dark around 6.30 pm during the winter), I had completely forgotten where I had parked the car. It was only way after 7.30 pm that I made it back for dinner.
I then remembered that there was a park called Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth that is overlooking the Swan River. Taking along the postcards that I bought, I started scouting Sir James Mitchell Park for this location. It was only after walking for two hours in the freezing temperatures of Perth's winter that I managed to discover the location of the shot. Yes, it was taken from Sir James Mitchell Park, but from the other end of the park, a location that I had missed during my three previous visits to Perth.
There was a 500 meters walk from the car park. I also noticed that there were lots of ducks and geese swimming in the lake. I realised that this would pose a problem as ducks swimming across the lake during the exposure will be recorded as blurry streaks. Ducks not moving would be recorded as dust spots on the sensor. The ducks would also "break" the reflections on the lake thus preventing me from getting a smooth reflection of the Perth skyline. I then tried to chase the ducks away, but the more I chased, more ducks had dived into the pond, swimming across my frame during the exposure. Out of the almost 20 shots I took from this location, this shot had the least "duck streaks" in them. I was not able to eliminate the "duck streaks" completely. You can still see the ducks swimming across the frame at the bottom right corner of the frame.
As my family was waiting for me back at the apartment for dinner, I had to wrap-up the shoot at 6.30 pm. At that time, it was also getting dark and extremely cold. There was still another 500 meters walk back to the car-park. Due to the falling light levels (it gets dark around 6.30 pm during the winter), I had completely forgotten where I had parked the car. It was only way after 7.30 pm that I made it back for dinner.
EOS 5D Mk II / Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
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