October 2022. I had recently arrived in Australia, and Sydney was one of my first big trips. The photographs move through three kinds of built and natural space: a modern university facade, the shells of the Opera House, and the low horizon of Kamay Botany Bay.
University of Sydney
My campus frame is not the sandstone quadrangle usually associated with the university. It looks up at a modern facade of glass, dark panels, and horizontal metal fins. Trees soften the edges, while the words “The University of Sydney” anchor the building at ground level.
Opera House beneath cloud
At the harbour, the Opera House is seen from close to its broad steps. White tiled shells rise into a heavy grey sky, their dark undersides turning the familiar silhouette into a sequence of sharp openings. People scattered across the steps provide the scale.
Kamay Botany Bay
At Kamay Botany Bay, the composition becomes lower and quieter. Wet green leaves fill the foreground, grey water takes most of the frame, and a low built structure sits on the left beneath a grassed roof. A dark headland closes the far side of the bay.
The three frames move from vertical facade, to sculptural landmark, to open water. Together they remain an early chapter in a country I am still learning to call home.