Surfers Paradise

tony
December 24, 2017
Australia / Street / travel

From the Airport Shuttle heading to Surfers Paradise

I have been lucky to visit Australia 3 times this year. Twice for work and once for a brief holiday while Edin was presenting her research at a conference. The first visit was in late May for a 4 day Skin Cancer Congress in Surfers Paradise. As usual we lost 3 hours during the flight so by the time we had settled into the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort after getting the shuttle from Gold Coast Airport it was late afternoon.

Stormy clouds heralding a front that gave us a cool wet spell — Stormy clouds heralding a front bringing a cool wet spell. Taken from the balcony of our room.

Walking into town for dinner gave an opportunity to explore some classic blue and yellow compositions with artificial light on the beach and the cool blue of a cloudy evening sky

Golden sand and blue sky from artificial light on the beach at dusk

A lone beach walker framed by Sheoak (Casuarina)

The sad part about these trips is that of the 4 days, 3½ were spent indoors in artificial light gazing longingly out through air-conditioned windows during morning and afternoon tea-breaks looking for birds. By the end of the day the light was gone so no opportunity to photograph birds. I had known that this would be the case and had seriously considered only travelling with my little Fuji X100s. Even if I only had one chance on a bird I knew that I would feel incredibly frustrated without a bird camera. Adding the Nikon D500 and Nikon 300mm f4PF with a 1.4x teleconverter to my bag covered this option.

Natural and manmade patterns. Fuji X100s 2 shot pano stitch

Lights and patterns in a Surfers Paradise shopping arcade

Gold Coast Bottle Shop and Convenience Store — Surfers Paradise Bottle Shop and Convenience Store

Fortunately on this trip Ang had accompanied me and spent the days exploring and found a lovely nearby park. We visited it on my final free afternoon and I had great fun watching and photographing flying things. I will share those images in another post but today’s are an eclectic mix of Fuji X100s urban photos bookended by images shot on the shuttle to and from the airport. I am no fan of cities but, if I have to be in them, I enjoy street photography. I don’t spend much time on it since Edin moved out of central Auckland. I enjoy looking for shapes, juxtapositions and reflections to distract my mind from the chaos and superficiality of the madness promoting pointless consumption.

Up before the sun to catch the airport shuttle

Heading back to the airport on the early morning shuttle. I like the Australian White Ibis looking toward the head on the right with the sticker looking like an empty speech bubble while the reflected central figure is so absorbed that he is unaware of either.

All photos with the Fuji X100s. If this was the only camera I could have I would be happy, albeit a little frustrated when birds presented themselves. It has its quirks and minor frustrations but never stops making me smile with the images it can catch.