Friday 13 February 2015

Then & Now - West Circular Quay


This B&W image was made by Harold Cazneaux during 1931, as the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was in its final stages. The first of my colour images was made from the Cahill Walk, with the second being made from the railway station concourse (which is the level beloow the Cahill Walk).


In my book on the photography of Cazneaux (1878-1953), the historian, Philip Geeves, contends that the Cazneaux view of West Circular Quay appears to be "strangely uncluttered". In my colour images, the cluttering is mainly done by the bloody cruise ship. Ban the, Ban them all, I say.

Opening up the length of the quay to pedestrians declutters, I feel. That street running along the quay towards the bridge, which is an extension of Pitt Street, has been closed off allowing pedestrian access down to the balaustrade of the Quay itself.

I promised more details on Brickfields Hill. They are coming, hopefully next week. There is so much reading to do, to verify facts, and then I realise I do not have just the right image to illustrate the point. Perhaps, I should instead cover flowers, and cafe chairs ...

5 comments:

William Kendall said...

The cruise ship is huge... and way too overwhelming.

Denton said...

the old harbor looks larger but in reality it is the ships which have grown larger.

Cloudia said...

The 30's was an amazing time of challenge and triumph



ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3

Joe said...

Ilove to see your before and after images Julie and to read your accompanying research. It is fascinating to understand and see how a city develops. I also like to see the cafe chairs and flowers and the techniques used to photograph them.

Joan Elizabeth said...

In the context of this shot that cruiser is indeed huge. The ship reminds me of the people in posh suburbs complaining about free campers in camper vans cluttering their streets and enjoying the views they paid a squill ion to have to themselves.

And yes please I like flowers and cafe chairs :-)