Manchester Press

Over the last weekend I finally got to meet up with Oy, the talented and creative photographer behind this blog. She turned out to be a Nikon shooter as well, and it was simply pleasant to chat with someone who enjoys the same things as I do. Oy loves to photograph still life, cafes, food as well as weddings. We had brekkie at this little gem, Manchester Press. They are famous for their latte art and their specialty in Bagels. The first photo is the photo of the street that I pass by everyday on the way to the station. It was such a beautiful winter morning that day.

Most of the cafe photos were actually taken by Oy, so credit goes to her. Also, I’m  in one of the photos above see if you can spot me. And after that, we decided to walk around the small lanes to capture some street photography. Here are some of my favorite shots of that day. Note that this is Degraves Street or Centre Place, undoubtedly the most famous lane in Melbourne. It is always crowded with people, be that tourists or locals roaming around for good cafes and food.

Moon Under Water – Builders Arms Hotel

It’s been a while since the last time I indulged myself with a fine dining experience. When I first read the article in Broadsheet about the newly opened Moon Under Water, especially when I was going through the photos of the restaurant I instantly knew that I had to visit this place immediately and so I did, along with my usual dining companions. This time we decided to do lunch, instead of dinner because I noticed from the photos that this place has such gorgeous lighting from the window. What I love about this place was the all-white decorations, in addition to their top-notch service and food of course.

Moon Under Water only serves 4-course set menu, no À la carte.  The interesting thing is, their menu changes frequently according to the market produce and the availability. I won’t bore you with more words, here’s the list of the menu during the week I visited this place.

1. Winter vegetable salad

2. Black rice, red mullet and cuttlefish

3. Aged pheasant, boudin noir, apple

4. Burnt butter hazelnut sponge & chocolate ice cream

I think this place could also be the perfect venue for a small wedding reception. Everyone should try to visit this restaurant, while it’s still fairly new and easy to book.

Market Lane Coffee

I’ve heard many people raving about Market Lane Coffee for its quality brew and excellent service. Right after finishing my quick lunch, I headed off to Prahran to check this place out. Market Lane Coffee is actually situated in Prahran Market, and sadly the market was not open.

I love the wooden furniture at this gem. The window lighting was so good and the staff were really helpful and friendly. I was mostly impressed with their coffee. I had firstly a latte of their single origin Paraiso from Brazil and then I couldn’t resist having a second cup of their pour over Nyakizu, which originates from Rwanda. It tasted really floral and complex with a candy sweetness and notes of pineapple butterscotch and apricot.

I think I have found my favorite cafe to hang out, especially on weekdays where there’s not a lot of people. I swear I could just stay there for hours, reading books and relaxing. One sad thing about this place is that they don’t seem to do breakfast or meals.

Oh, guess which of these photos was taken with my iphone? =)

Williamstown Beach – Outing with MPC

Last weekend, a bunch of us from the Monash Photography Club went to Williamstown Beach for a photowalk. I usually shoot with my Nikon DSLR, but I decided on that day that I would try using my old Yashica TLR which I have bought a while back but never had the chance to try it out. Because of its old age, the light meter has not been working and thankfully I have the Sekonic Light Meter L308S Flashmate to use with it.

I shot with Kodak Portra 160, overexposed at 100. I had the film developed and scanned by Vanbar, and I’m pleasantly surprised with how awesome the overall quality of the photos. For those who are unfamiliar, the size of these photos is 6×6 square.

Okay, I think I’ve found a camera which is going to help me drain my bank account. Stay tune, I might shoot more of this bad boy in the near future.

Day trip to Ballarat

About a month ago during the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, me and a couple of mates ventured to the west; Ballarat Wildlife Park for a bit of a day trip. It was about one and half hour drive from Melbourne. For those who have never been to this park, it’s basically a small zoo which holds mostly Australian animals such as the famous Kangaroos, Koalas, Wombats, as well as Tasmanian Devils. You can even pet some of these animals, especially the Kangaroos because they are all set free in this park (check out the mischievous joey in one of the photos below).

Anyway, here are some of the photos to show what our day was like.

And then on the way back, we stopped by a beautiful barn yard with sheep and a horse. It was a private property, but Dessy was bravely enough to knock on their door and requested for permission for us to take photos of their sheep and horse. The owner’s reaction was ‘You guys must be really bored to want to take photos of our sheep’. They have the cutest, most active pup I’ve ever seen. Wish I could have one of those too someday.

After leaving the farm, my GPS took a detour to a very obscure small country road on our way back to Melbourne. Interestingly, the road became really foggy and we pulled over and started taking more photos. It was probably the highlight of the day for me for that trip.