The Murtoa Stick Shed

[SteveH]

Ahh. I was struck by the very uniform diameter over the length of the poles suggesting that they must have been deep forest grown or plantation farmed and that would not be found in the Murtoa area.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

Nate, I suspect they pre-date a lot of plantations too, but no, definately not found in the Wimmera region.
I take it you're familiar with the area?

S

[SteveH]

Hot off the press, I thought I might add a few more of my faves.
The up-loads are a bit heavy but you get the idea.
cheers
Steve

[EdWorkman]

Very cool
When i read the title I first thought "wattle"?
Very glad to hear of its preservation.
All the shots are cool-I really like the second shot of the first three.
Got any shots that show a bigger part of the space with lots of poles?
A huge volume defined by the roof and walls and all the little spaces made by a gazillion poles-what it must be to experience that!
What focal lengths do you like best in there?

[Struan Gray]

What a brilliant structure, and kudos to those who ensured its preservation.

I like to zoom in on details myself, but like Ed, I'd want at least a few photos that give a sense of the whole.

[MMELVIS]

Steve great job on the second set of images. That building is really a treasure.

[SteveH]

Hi Guys, thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate it.

For those who wanted to see some broader shots, I've posted a few.
They still need work tonally, definately not finished shot but I suspect the uploads won't accurately reflect the tonality anyway.

For me, one of the pleasures of these shoots has been working with the piles of old building materials and rubbish and all of the crusty, cobweb covered nooks and alcoves.
The presence of cranes and scaffolds and machinery and building supplies has restricted the opportunities for broad scale shots somewhat, although the hardest thing is just trying to effectively capture the space.
A lot of the roof is currently missing which crreates some difficult lighting as well as some very crreative opportunities.

I'm looking forward to getting back in again though when the work is completed and really trying to explore the spaciousness of the place, but I think I'll miss the holes in the roof and the piles of 'natural' sculptures scattered about.

cheers
Steve

[EdWorkman]

Thanks Steve
I wanna go see it
regards
Ed

[MMELVIS]

Steve each set of photos is just a treasure. I am glad you had such a rare opportunity to have a private session shooting this building and to share the photos with us.

[SteveH]

Very cool
When i read the title I first thought "wattle"?
Very glad to hear of its preservation.
All the shots are cool-I really like the second shot of the first three.
Got any shots that show a bigger part of the space with lots of poles?
A huge volume defined by the roof and walls and all the little spaces made by a gazillion poles-what it must be to experience that!
What focal lengths do you like best in there?

Ed
there's only one 90mm shot in all of those posted. While it might seem like the native format for a big open space I found the level of distortion and the space generally was more receptive to a longer lens. Most were shot with a 150mm, 240mm or some with 360mm.
Having said that I'll attach the only other shot done with a 90mm.

cheers
Steve

[Richard M. Coda]

Very cool! Reminds me of when I worked with the (US) National Park Service and Montclair College on the Ellis Island: A Documentation/Interpretation project back in 1984. Got to go into Ellis Island before they restored it. Did NPS work for 3 weeks, then we were allowed 3 weeks for our own personal work. My mother recently found some of my NPS work (35mm BW) in an envelop and mailed it to me. My personal work was 4x5. On another note, seems the past few years everything I have photographed in Phoenix has either been knocked down, painted over, or changed into something else.