Photographing Dimboola Street Art
About Dimboola Street Art (aka Mallee Emu-Wren)
Otherwise known as the Mallee Emu-wren Mural, this lovely painting is in an unnamed alley just off Lochiel St and running behind the Lloyd St Shops.
This painting runs the length of an alley, and is painted on the side of a building. I am not aware of a lens that would be wide enought to allow this to be photographed in one photo. I photo-stitched this.
The painting is by Smug (Sam Bates), who is one of our favorite silo artists. He painted this while he was staying in Dimboola painting the Arkona Silo.
Viewpoints
The only way I know to photograph this is to walk down the alley, taking photographs from the other side of the alley, and then stitching the result.
How I photographed the Dimboola Street Art / Mallee Emu-Wren
What I took - what was in my kit
I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DSR body, Canon 24-70mm, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I also took a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone. I shot wide (24mm), but still needed to stitch the final photo.
Techniques
Photo stitching.
As with many wide scenes (panoramas), you have a choice of a specialised panoramic camera like the Linhof, severely cropping a single image, or stitching several images together. I used multiple Canon 5SDR images stitched together.
Other things to look out for
If a photographer has travelled 3.5 hours from Melbourne to the 'Western District', then it would be a shame not to check out: the Pink Lake, Horsham, Arkona Silo Art, the Little Desert National Park, and Murtoa 'Stick Shed'.
Location
Dimboola Street Art, 6 Locheil St, Dimboola, Victoria G2WG+88 Dimboola, Victoria ///disregard.succeding.spin (-36.454204579206845, 142.02589912444057)
Techniques used
Kit used
How to get there
You can get to Dimboola, from Melbourne via car (about 300km, or 3.5 hours using the M8 Western Freeway). I do not believe that there is a train station, but there might be a bus from Hosham.
Best time to visit
Victoria is a fairly temperate climate, without severe winters. Dimboola is in a fairly dry area of the state, so just about any time of the year you will find the area dry and temperate. The alley faces north-eat, so it gets the mid-morning sun directly on it. However, depending on the time of year, it is partly in shadow from the fence / buildings to its north-east.
Accessability
As the alley is unnamed, and quite small, it is easy to miss. However, if you park in Lochiel St and simple walk around, you will soon find it. The roads are all paved, and their are footpaths to the alley.
Where to stay
We stayed at the Horsham Riverside Caravan Park, and we can certainly recommend that. The city of Hosham is also large enought to have a range of accomodation options to suit most travellers. The Visit Horsham Region website shows a number of options. Dimboola also has its own Caravan Park, but I know little of it. We have stayed in the Little Desert just south of Dimboola though, and this was fantastic. A simple web search shows hotel, bed & breakfast options available within Dimboola too.