Dear friends, like to share my experience with travel landmark photography. I just returned a couple of days back from Perth, on a photo assignment. Having some free time during the trip, I had an enjoyable time shooting the charming Blue Boat House in Perth or otherwise known as Crawley Edge Boatshed on Swan River.
A brief introduction to the Blue Boat House
The Nattrass family owns The Blue Boat House which was built in the 1930s). The boatshed was put up for sale in 2001 and purchased by Peter Nattrass, and Lord Mayor of Perth. The boatshed had become very run down by that time. Faced with government threats to demolish and remove it, the family began to rebuild it. The local federal member of parliament Julie Bishop repainted the boatshed in bold blue colour at the suggestion of a friend. The boatshed was re-launched by Perth yachtsman Jon Sanders and sailor David Dicks in February 2004 after the make-over. A facelift in 2015, which included the exterior being repainted and the wooden jetty replaced with a new one with steel pylons was carried out. (Wikipedia)
Shooting the Blue Boat House
Due to the layout of the venue, this landmark has only a single entrance from Mounts Bay. As such, photographing the Blue Boat House can be very “time-sensitive” as a constant stream of tourists starts queuing at the entrance to the pier. There is no admission fee for accessing the Blue Boat House.
I like shooting long exposures (using ND filters) of the landmark but observing the stream of visitors behind me, I had to think fast, act fast and “release” the shooting spot pronto. So my next option would be to position myself at other ideal angles and use the visitors as part of my composition.
Gears used
Camera – Canon EOS 5DmkIV. Lenses – Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L MkII. Filters- NISI ND filter (10 stops), GND 2 stops, and polariser. Camera mounted on Sirui carbon fiber tripod with Manfrotto XPro magnesium ball head.
Footnote – many thanks for checking in on this article. For overseas travel inspiration, you might like to check out my curated travelogues here. This article’s pictures are copyrighted to Jensen Chua Photography. The opinion expressed is factual, objective, and that of the author.