Mar 11 2010
Our Nation’s Capital
My apologies for the long break. I’ve been doing a bit of weekend travelling. One of my recent trips was to our nation’s capital, Canberra.
I hadn’t been to Canberra for a number of years, so it was fun re-exploring this city. I was hoping to get some mood shots with the waterfall that usually sprays out of Lake Burley Griffin, but it wasn’t spraying the weekend I was there…
When photographing any city, you can’t go past the obvious icons. In this case, Parliament House. It is actually a bit tricky to take photographs of this building. Almost as soon as my friend pulled over and I got out of the car, a security car pulled up alongside to ask her not to stop there, and another policeman on a bicycle started towards me to tell me the same thing. So, I got 2 very quick shots…
Now, even if you’re not a supporter of violence, no visit to Canberra would be complete without a look at the War Memorial. There are thousands of poppies that people put alongside the names of their ancestors, which are listed across to massive walls. None of my family fought as part of the Australian or New Zealand armies during the war, so I was not hunting for a name (or names), but it is still moving to see the tokens of remembrrance. There are so many ways to photograph this shrine, and here I went for the wide shot:
To end on a lighter note, this is a place I visited so many times as a kid, and I wanted to see it again. I have to admit that I think I’ve outgrown this sort of thing, but seeing the beautiful gardens was worth it. It’s the miniature world of Cockington Green:
This is a great place for the kids, and there is even a train that will transport you around the grounds - complete with conductor and tooting 
