The Museum - Vatican City

The Stairs - Vatican Museum

The queues to get into the Vatican Museum are horrendously long. Fortunately we had booked our tickets with a tour operator and were able to walk right in without having to queue up. The Museum was packed when we got in but the crowds were moving and we were able to spend a fair bit of time inside.

More images from our visit inside.

A Statue at the Museum - Vatican Museum

The origin of the Museum can be traced back to a single marble sculpture purchased over 500 years ago by Pope Julius II. The Pope placed the sculpture on display to the public and this was the start of what is now the Vatican Museum. The Museum celebrated its 500th anniversary in October 2006.

The Gardens at the Museum - Vatican City

The Sistine Chapel was the most crowded section of the Museum and people are asked to stay quiet while inside and photography is prohibited. Tour guides use images of the Chapel's ceiling, set up on a board in the garden pictured above, to point out the features of the paintings. The most annoying part of visiting the Sistine Chapel is seeing people take photographs of the ceiling despite the notices informing you that photography is prohibited. It's a massive problem in the museums in Europe as people don't seem to take any notice of the signs. I though it was bad in Sigiriya in Sri Lanka but this was a lot worse. 

A Ceiling at the Museum - Vatican City

The Interior of the Museum itself is a work of art. The details in the paintings on the ceilings and walls is exquisite. In some sections of the Museum the paintings have been created to look like sculptures and it s quite hard to identify the paintings from the sculptures. We spent hours at the museum but were able to see only a fraction of the art works that were on display at the Museum.

Another Ceiling - Vatican Museum

Musée Rodin - Paris, France

Musée Rodin From the garden - Paris, France

Musée Rodin was one of the museums we visited during our stay in Paris. The museum displays the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin and is home to a number of the Artist most famous pieces. These include the Thinker, the Kisser and the Gates of hell. The gardens surrounding the museum are also full of Rodin's sculptors and a restaurant.

More images and info after the jump.

The entrance to Musée Rodin - Paris, France

There were a number of people in the museum when we got there so it wasn't possible to get a photograph of the building without people getting in the frame. I was actually surprised by the fact that the museums in France allowed visitors to take pictures at all. I had the polariser on while I was photographing the exteriors of the museum but because it was around mid day it wasn't too effective.

The Thinker, Musée Roddin - Paris, France

The sculpture title "The Thinker" is probably one of Rodin's most famous pieces. It is placed in the garden just inside the entrance to the museum. I was able to get a clear shot of the statue as it sits on top of a 8 foot concrete stand.

The Musée Rodin - Paris, France

The museum was opened in 1919 in Hotel Biron which Rodin used as his workshop since 1908.  He donated his entire collection of sculptures and paintings from Vincent van Gough and Pierre-Suguste Renoir, to the French government on the condition that they convert the building into a museum dedicated to his works.

The Gates of Hell, Musée Rodin - Paris, France

The gates of Hell, is one of Rodin's sculptural group work depicting "The Inferno" in Danté's Device Comedy. It contains 180 figures ranging from 15cm in height to over a meter. The project was meant to be delivered in 1885 (5 years after it was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts) but Rodin worked on this project periodically for 37 years until his death in 1917.

All images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a 254-105mm lens. A circular polariser was also used.

Melbourne

Flinders Street station - Melbourne, Australia

It has taken me five years to make it down to Melbourne since relocating to Sydney in early 2005. We spent last weekend in and around the Melbourne CBD catching up with a few friends and family.  I had Friday and Monday off as well and spent the extra days wondering around the city with the camera. The image above is of Flinders Street station, one of the bigger stations in the CBD.  More images and info after the jump.

St Pauls Cathedral - Melbourne, Australia 

St Pauls Cathedral, shown in the image above, is on the opposite side of the road from Flinders Street station. This was the first time I had actually been inside the cathedral itself and unfortunately I didn't have the tripod with me. There wasn't a lot of light inside and I had to shoot at 1/10th of a second at f4. Fortunately I found a railing right in the middle of the isle which I was able to use for support. 

Horse rides in the city - Melbourne, Australia

Horse carriages are a common sight along Swanston street in the heart of Melbourne. Usually you'll see around five or six carriages taking tourists for a ride (literally and metaphorically) from the city to the Shrine of Remembrance and back, along St Kilda Road. 

Art and Craft Markets - Melbourne, Australia

We also spent some time at the art and craft markets, which are on every sunday. The stalls were quite interesting and some of them had some really good black and white images for sale. The stall selling frames made out of reclaimed wood (fence posts etc) is also worth a visit. I could have easily spent a couple of hours more browsing through the stalls.

Sculpture of a Hammer thrower at Queen Victoria Gardens - Melbourne Australia

John Robinson's bronze sculpture of a hammer thrower was unveiled in 1974 by Lord Mayor Cr Whalley can be found in Queen Victoria gardens. The title of the sculpture is "The Pathfinder" and it is part of Melbourne's collection of sculptures of sporting heroes. Stealing the hammer from the statue has become a common prank amongst Melbournians and as a result, the hammer is removed from the sculpture every evening and replaced the following morning.  The statue had been removed when I captured the image above.

The Sherlock Holmes - Melbourne, Australia

The lanes and alleys of Melbourne are full of small pubs and bars which are packed on Friday and Saturday nights. The wooden sign board of the Sherlock Holmes, on Collins Street, caught my eye when I was walking past heading towards docklands. I think the flowering pot plants also added to the image.

All the images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and a Canon 24-105mm lens.  More images from melbourne will be covered in future posts.