The Light Festival You've Been Missing Out On
Ever heard of Vivid? Me neither, until recently.
Vivid is the largest outdoor light festival in the world - little did I know - held annually, during the winter months of May and June, in the city of Sydney. The festival, which skilfully combines light, music, and ideas into one truly impressive extravaganza has only been going from strength to strength and growing larger and larger each year. This year, in its ninth year, Vivid ran for a total of 23 nights from the 26 May to 17 June and attracted over 2.3 million people from across the globe.
I travelled down to Sydney in late May on a Thursday and stayed for the weekend. I had visited Sydney several times before, however, was looking forward to seeing, and capturing the city lit up in all its glory. I was not disappointed. Sydney really knows how to put on a show, that's for sure. Vivid is truly a photographer's dream, and much more than just a few colourful lights. Although short, it proved to be the perfect little getaway, acting as a much-needed break from university, a great opportunity to catch-up with my brother (who now resides in Sydney) and of course an opportunity to see Sydney like never before.
But where to start? I had no idea. It was a bit overwhelming at first, thinking I only had three nights to capture the magic that is Vivid. The trick I found was simply selecting one or two areas within the city, which were closely clustered together each night and going from there, breaking it down into manageable chunks. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time of course; we've all heard the saying. It was all about prioritising the areas in which I wished to see and photograph the most; oh, and a lot of walking. Doing this meant I was able to quite comprehensively cover the primary areas of Vivid and photograph the major sights.
Night One.
Mrs Macquarie Chair
Gazing back at the city from the well-known spot Mrs Macquarie Chair, in Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens is arguably the best vantage point in all of Sydney for those wishing to capture both the Opera House and equally iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge in one stellar shot. Consequently, it was a no brainer where to head for night one of Vivid.
The shot above is one that was completely unplanned for. It was as a result of the fact that the pathway, which leads from Circular Quay around Farm Cove to the lookout at Mrs Macquarie Chair, which I followed that afternoon was now blocked off by a locked gate. This forced me to take the long (very long) way back to Circular Quay, to my disappointment, following the only seemingly endless road that flows in and out of the botanical gardens. However, taking this route meant I walked along Art Gallery Road, which passes over the always traffic-flowing M1, which leads into Sydney's CBD, therefore enabling me to capture the light trails of the thousands of cars which sped by. So luckily the pathway was closed!
Night Two.
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is undoubtedly the beating heart of Sydney, where all tourists immediately flock to, and can you blame them? I mean you only have to open your eyes as you wander around Circular Quay to see why Sydney is easily one of the greatest cities on Earth, that quite comfortably rivals London, Paris and New York - I mean that harbour. So, naturally, it was a hive of activity during Vivid and was where I prominently hung around on night two.
As well as briefly wandering around The Rocks area, where there were a number of interesting exhibitions, I also headed onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge and joined what seemed like every other photographer in the country to photograph the Opera House. From the bridge you really get an unrivaled perspective of the city and the beautiful harbour and therefore highly recommend making the effort up to the bridge to anyone visiting the city, during Vivid or not; undoubtedly some of my favourite photographs I managed to capture during Vivid were taken from this unique vantage point.
Night Three.
Kirribilii
For my final night in the city, I wanted to venture across the bridge to gain a different perspective, looking back across the harbour to Circular Quay. This is a must. This was an area where I could have spent several more hours photographing away, however it was late and frankly both my brother and I were exhausted. So next year...
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