Photographing AC/DC Lane

About AC/DC Lane

Hosier Lane

AC/DC Lane

About AC/DC Lane

The Lane was named after the band AC/DC, and it contains a well known mural. The lane continues around the corner to Duckboard Place, and the two streets have had street art in them for some time.

Viewpoints

The contents of Melbourne's Street Art lanes changes every few weeks. This means that the viewing points for the art also change weekly.

The lane has an ever changing collection of street art. Unfortuantely, some of this art gets 'tagged' after a while. AC/DC Lane also has quite a few windows in it, which break up the areas available to paint on. This means that the only option is to walk slowly along the lane and photograph the art that takes your fancy.

How I photographed AC/DC Lane

What I took - what was in my kit

I took my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DSR body, Canon 16-35 zoom, Canon 24 Tilt Shift, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. I tended to shoot 28-55mm. The wider photos were when I could not step back far enough, and the 50mm type area is where I wanted to avoid distortion of any form.

Techniques

Not much is required in the way of techniques to photograph the street art. Most of it fits nicely in the viewfinder of a camera with a typical 35mm or 50mm lens. Two problems exist: 1) the lighting in these alleys can be harsh, with areas in full sun and other areas in deep shadow; 2) the alleys are the life blood of Melbourne. They have lots of traffic and contain lots of coffee shops etc.

There is not a lot that can be done about shadows except to come back at a different time of day. E.g. when it is overcast, the clouds will reduce the amount of light, but also provide a more even lighting. Also around sunrise / sunset or the golden hour you are unlikely to have strong shadows.
To avoid crowds, you can simply wait for them to move on, get closer to the art and use a wide angle lens, or shoot multiple copies of the scene and remove ghosts.

Other things to look out for

The lane is one of the many art lanes in Melbourne, and if you are looking for art, then I suggest you look at:

  1. Drewery Alley, off Little Lonsdale @ Melbourne Central
  2. Mornane Place
  3. Hosier Lane
  4. Meyers Place
  5. AC/DC Lane
  6. Duckboard Place
  7. Upper West Side Street Art Precinct (639 Little Bourke St)
  8. Little Lonsdale Street / Melbourne Central
  9. Bullens Lane
  10. Blender Lane
  11. Presgrave Place (off Howey Place)
  12. Outdoor Living (Hanover House, South Bank)
  13. Flash Forward. (see Flash Forward Laneways
  14. Croft Alley
  15. Blender Lane

One block further east from AC/DC Lane (over Exhibition St) are the Fitzroy Gardens. One block (up Exhibition towards Collins St) is the Victorian Parliment, and another block further north is the St Patrick's Cathedral. Melbourne has many photograhic opportunities and hopefully this site gives you some of them.

Location

Location: AC/DC Lane Melbourne Vic 5XMC+Q9 ///track.rubble.exam (-37.815574, 144.970908)

Techniques used

Kit used

How to get there

There are many ways to get to Melbourne: Fly in, trains, drive, etc. Having gotten to Melbourne though, it is easier to just walk around. The alleys are not too far from each other (some literally around the corner). Melbourne is full of office workers and tourists walking. The trams can be used for trips of several blocks, and there is a free city tram that loops around the city. These arrive every couple of minutes, so don't bother trying to schedule one, just wait a minute and hop on the next one.

Best time to visit

In winter, Melbourne's temperature would generally be 60C to 160C. In summer, more like 150C to 280C. However, the weather is driven by a series of high pressure systems coming from the west, these high pressures slowly build up northely winds (hot), but then quickly change to southerly winds (cold). The saying in Australia is that Melbourne has 'four seasons in one day'. So in winter, you can have warm (25C days) and in summer and it can drop to below 20C. In both cases, you can get a shower of 1-10mm, but Melbourne has very little drizzle compared to overseas places. So while it may have the same rainfall as say London, it would get that rain in 30 mins as compared to several days in London.

Accessability

Melbourne caters for the elderly and people with disabilities. There are trains, buses, trams, hire cars and uber cars. There are also bikes and scooters to rent in most tourist or business areas. The city is essentially flat (there are a couple of 'hills', but these are slight and tiny by overseas standards). Australian law requires firms and shops to have wheelchair access, so where there is stairs, there is usually a ramp nearby.

Where to stay

Melbourne is a city of several million people - it has a large number of accomodation options from high end hotels, to general tourist hotels, bed & breakfast, hostels, and some caravan parks. I dont know of any camping options in the city, but they are definitely available an hour or so out by public transport.