What is not to love about White Night! The spotlight is on Melbourne's magnificent buildings and it is a fun colourful spotlight. The streets are closed to all traffic and open to pedestrians. Fortunately after the thunderstorms, the weather cleared and was a pleasant balmy 31 C. I was really glad to be one of the crowds to enjoy the beauty in a relaxed atmosphere.
I took the train to Flinders Street Station where the crowds streamed through the ticket barriers. (Though there were lots of people, it was easy to walk along the streets and I actually found the crowds a lot less packed than I had thought they might be.)
A short walk up Flinders Street found me amazed at the projections with the theme of Alice in Wonderland (to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the book). I once studied the book as an undergraduate and love its dreamy weirdness.
It didn't take long to see that the projections changed regularly. Which meant that the crowd stayed to watch and moved slowly rather than rushing by. I particularly loved the projections on the moorish style Forum Theatre, an amazing old building with griffins, keyhole windows, domes, and cupolas. The features were all built into the design.
I stayed about the Forum for a while, marvelling at the projections. It was fun to just watch the crowd's reactions to the lights, especially the anticipation when the lights dimmed before a new projection.
Spending time waiting for new projections, also gave me time to look at the details.
I could have stayed watching for hours but my time was limited so I also spent time walking along the other buildings in the row.
One of my favourite other projections was the black and white projection below. Walking up the steps to Federation Square gave a great view of the building and the crowd.
Federation Square was lit up with coloured lights and was heaving with crowds. I overheard someone remark at the crowds without any cost. Yet all the bars and cafes around the river and Federation Square were doing a roaring trade. There were also lots of food trucks about.
I didn't stay long enough to stop for food. My time was limited as I had a busy day on Sunday and couldn't stay out late. I walked along Swanston Street towards the
National Gallery Victoria on St Kilda Rd. It would have been great to go inside if I had the time but instead I watched the Key Frames light show on the moat.
Lots of structures made of industrial-style metal pieces were placed in the moat. Light projected on to them made the figures look like they were racing or running or moving about.
Finally they were all it up together into a crowd of figures. Then it was time to head back to the station for my train home. It was a great experience. Maybe next year I will have time to see more.
White Night Melbourne
21 February 2015
I would have loved to have gone but the heat and the crowds! Husband and son went and when I was thinking of catching the tram in with daughter, Husband advised it was way too insanely crowded (I don't like crowds neither does my daughter). They loved it though and now I'm regretting not going (again!)
ReplyDeleteThanks Veganopoulous - I wasn't sure about going partly because the crowds but my desire to see the light show won out - I would not have described it as insanely crowded - I got there at 9pm. It was crowded but in a comfortable way - I still had plenty of personal space about me. Hope you get there one year.
DeleteDoes look amazing, I am surprised you managed to get good pics of the projections, as often with crowds and the hustle and bustle it's quite hard. So these are wonderful and thanks for sharing, I've never seen anything like it in person.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaheen - so hard to take photos at night - I saw people bringing along tripods to get really sharp photos. I was really pleased that the crowds weren't that dense so I had enough space to take some decent photos - though I did have quite a few with heads in them that I had to edit out.
DeleteWow that's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Very clever!
ReplyDeleteThanks Katie - apparently there were similar events across the world including Sheffield but not sure if there are held there any more (wikipedia doesn't give enough info)
Deletewow, so beautiful! I went to the Melbourne one last year but the crowds were hell most of the time
ReplyDeleteThanks cate - I remember friends going a couple of years ago and wished I had gone so I finally got it in my calender this year - was surprised the crowds were busy but not uncomfortable (and I don't like dense crowds)
DeleteWhat a lovely night out! It reminds me of Sydney's Vivid that gets people out during winter.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lorraine - it was great to walk about in such mild weather but I rather like the idea of the festival in winter - we saw some illuminations last winter that were early enough to take Sylvia along but I wasn't sure if the time and the crowds would be too hard this year - was surprised to see lots of families out and about but we had a busy sunday and didn't want her out too late
DeleteI enjoy your dispatches from summer! So cold here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mae - the weather has been quite warm but is cooling down this week - though no doubt still very warm compared to your winter
DeleteI've never been, even though every year I intend to. I think the crowds put me off. So it is nice to see such great photos, I almost feel like I have been. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Quinces and Kale - this year was the first year I was organised enough to go - I almost got put off by the crowds but they weren't as bad as I expected
Deleteahhh, so lovely Melbourne, so lovely. So many pretty lights.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bridie - White Night made me love Melbourne all over again
DeleteWhat an amazing night. Those projections are stunning - the best I've seen I think. I love that they changed too. Thanks for sharing your images!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kari - the images were so good that I was a little disappointed when they changed because I just wanted to take it all in but I was also excited that they changed and there was more to see - and there were about 4 rotations so it was easy enough to stay and see all of them more than once if needed.
DeleteUnbelievable Johanna! It must have been so amazing to be in the midst of all these stunning light shows. I hadn't realized it was Alice's anniversary this year. Each and every shot you shared looks like much attention was paid to detail. I've never seen anything like it!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for wading through the crowds for us Johanna and sharing some really spectacular pictures!
Great photos! I avoid White Night because I can't stand the crowds.
ReplyDeleteMarvelous pictures, they remind me of Christmas…I would love to see the White Night! Glad the weather in Melbourne was lovely…ahhh 31 C. I want to go back soon! Thank you for sharing this moment and experience, I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool! I love anything like this. Light is such a fantastic art medium..... beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat's such a clever set up. I would love to see that in person, in the meantime, I can enjoy the pics!
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