Enlightenment ideals lead to orthogonal cities. Blocks of houses with roads intersecting at right angles. Intentionally designed, orderly, and rationale. Fitzroy and surrounding suburbs echo this sentiment, though the houses and roads have had their aesthetic margins and padding removed. No empty space for the sake of it, instead neighbouring houses that share walls, and front doors that open directly onto the footpath. Faces of houses reflect the view that magpies see from the sky above.
Fitzroy has been a favourite early morning photo walk location of mine. I first visited a couple of years ago and ended up taking one of my favourite photographs of recent memory. I’ve returned several times, indeed to the same doorway, but have been unable to recreate the vibe of that photograph.
2023 MVP.
The shot of the building below is directly across the street. Comparing the two photographs, the only thing they have in common is the style of composition. The shot below has more depth, with the street being on the near-plane, then the footpath, and then the sign and door shelter. The shot from 2023 is simpler. At first glance it’s completely flat, and then the eye discovers the door shelter, and subtleties of the footpath and detail around the building. Lighting, contrast, and revealed detail in the picture (done by natural lighting, not post-processing) are miles apart. I felt the conditions weren’t bad on the 2025 day, but evidently not as good as 2023. I had a polariser on the lens, though still may have overexposed the walls meaning the layers of paint covering graffiti aren’t visible.
2023 was shot on a 50mm lens on Kodak Double X 35mm film. The composition is tighter, but reveals a lot more detail in the frame for the eye to explore. The lighting and shadows make it. 2025 was shot on a 40mm lens with Ilford Pan 100 35mm film. There’s more happening in the wider frame, but less to examine in detail. The wall seems too far away.
Across the street, in 2025.
The remaining photographs of the day.
