It was great to head out on a fine summer’s day with a good friend shooting around the Sydney CBD. It’s rare I have company, but provided they can stand by constant yapping, it’s always fun having a second pair of eyes as you’re wandering around.

I love this one. I’m actually accumulating a few images like this. It’s very illustrative, almost paper-like. Could be a series. ‘Urban garden’ or some-such.

I always find photographing the Sydney CBD especially hard, as I do most cities. As I’ve said before, there’s just a lot of visual clutter. It’s also hard finding new compositions in streets and places you’re so familiar with. This morning we chose to start in North Sydney for something different. We then made our way over the bridge and towards the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The beautiful part of a photo walk is the unknown. You don’t know what’s going to be happening in the city on that particular day, what the weather will do—It’s full of possibility. We had quite nice light in North Sydney thanks to a largely clear sky, though the heat picked up pretty fast. It gets hot in Sydney this time of year, usually 40degC plus.

I haven’t seen these bendy buses for a while here. Having a bit of fun here with perspective. The bus was actually parked on a hill.

To be completely fair, these photo walks usually turn into food walks for me. This was no different. And damn if I didn’t have an especially good chocolate croissant down in The Rocks. It’s also a good way to break things up a bit. Always good eating to be found around the CBD.

Again, I took both the Fujifilm XT5 and my film camera (Canon AV1), the latter of which was loading with redscale film, for something different. I had meant to try out the multiple-exposure function on the XT5, but completely forgot about it. It’s also been nice using a sling-style bag as opposed to my older backpack. Now, I simply reach down for my camera as opposed to having to pull off my backpack, unzip it, take out the camera, etc.

I can’t resist a good swoopy boi (magpie). Again, leaning into those deeper shadows now.

Loved the circular shape of this shadow under the Bridge in North Sydney. The back of the Merc adds a bit of mystery.

I’m hoping to get out on more photo walks this year around the city, which is always easier said at the start of the year. Even if you don’t take any photos, you have to consider the mental and physical benefits to getting outdoors and walking. I think we covered around 21,000 steps before we finished up at lunch, which is something. It sure beats sleeping in. More shots below.