2023 Boxing Day test at the MCG

Since moving to Australia in 2006, this is only the second time that Pakistan has played Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Nadia and I attended day three of the last test match, back in 2016.

Photo of the grounds at a massive cricket stadium, taken from an under-cover seat some distance away from the field.

This year I attended day one of the match with a bunch of family friends.

Selfie of four people seated in a row at a cricket match, three of whom are wearing Pakistan cricket team gear.

Here are some of the photos I took while I was there.

Lots of ways to get to Melbourne Cricket Ground

Photo of a sign post at the Melbourne Cricket ground showing the walking time and distance (in kilometres) from this post to Jolimont Railway Station, tram routes 48 and 75 along Wellington Parade, Flinders Street Railway Station, tram route 70 along Swan Street, and Richmond Railway Station.

Train tracks between the MCG and Melbourne & Olympic Parks

Photo taken through a wire mesh fence of half a dozen train tracks running between where the photographer is standing and several buildings and sports centres on the other side. A blue-and-yellow Metro train is running along one of these tracks. A covered, elevated walkway runs above the tracks.

Welcome to the Boxing Day test

Photo of an entry gate at Melbourne Cricket Ground, which about two dozen people waiting in short queues to get through security and ticketing. A large digital sign above the gate reads, in all capital letters, “Welcome to the boxing day test”.

Qantas Choir getting ready to sing the Australian national anthem

Photo of three rows of young women, all wearing an identical uniform of black shoes, black pants, and cream coloured tops, standing in choir formation inside a massive cricket stadium.

Qantas Choir singing the Australian national anthem

Photo of three rows of young women, all wearing an identical uniform of black shoes, black pants, and cream coloured tops, standing in choir formation inside a massive cricket stadium. On the other side of the large ground are the cricket players standing next to their respective country flags.

Cricketer Shaheen Afridi warming up before his bowling spell

Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, jumping in the air as part of his warm-up routine.

Cricketer David Warner batting

Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, standing at the crease and ready to face ball that is being bowled to him.

Young Pakistani supporter

Photo of a young boy in a while t-shirt and a green coloured Pakistan team hat watching a cricket match.

Cricketer Shaheen Afridi bowling

Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, about to release the ball he is bowling.

Melbourne Cricket Club Members Reserve stand

Photo of four tiers of cricket stands, each with a café, bar, or corporate suites behind them. A large sign on one of these seating tiers reads, ‘Melbourne Cricket Club’.

DJ Ash bringing the music to the MCG outfield

Photo of a male music DJ standing at his console while he chats to a man dressed in a bright, multi-coloured ‘Squad Pakistan’ shirt with a large dhol slung across his back.

Karachi Street Food stall outside the MCG

Photo of an outdoor food stall set up in a large garden. A sign above the stall reads, in all capital letters, ‘Karachi street food’. There are several people milling around the food stand, and a line to the food stand extends off-camera.

Long lunch-time line for the Karachi Street Food stall outside the MCG

Photo of an outdoor food stall set up in a large garden with picnic tables placed around it. A sign above the stall reads, in all capital letters, ‘Karachi street food’. A stall in the background has a sign that reads, ‘Sugarcane Juice’. There are several people standing in the garden, and a long line of people queuing at the food stand extends off-camera.

Light towers at Melbourne Cricket Ground

The light towers at Melbourne Cricket Ground are as iconic as the stadium itself, and this month marks 39 years since they were first installed and switched on.

Light tower 1

Photo looking up at the top of a large, stadium light tower on a partly cloudy day. The trapezium-shaped array of powerful lights has been placed on a thick, white coloured tower that has the number 1 written on it.

Light tower 5, next to the Ponsford Stand

Photo looking up, along the side of a massive sports stadium, at a light tower on a partly cloudy day. The tower has the number 5 written on it.

Seats, lights, and flags

Photo looking almost straight up along the side of a sports stadium. In the left of the photo is the underside of a seating stand (the Ponsford Stand), in the centre is a tall light tower, on the right (at the very top of the stadium wall) is a set of five flagpoles with various flags on them.

Looking up along light tower 5

Photo looking straight up along the side of a large, white, stadium light tower on a partly cloudy day.

Light tower 2

Photo of a stadium light tower taken from inside a sports stadium. A large number 2 is written at the top of the light tower. In front of this tower is the top of the stadium, on which there are flags flying on five flagpoles.

Maggie, around the house

Maggie is enjoying the return of summer. She has arthritis so she needs to be warm, and she she’s always loved soaking up the sun. I think her bones also appreciate the memory-foam dog bed we have for her our living room.

Scratching her back after napping in the sun

Photo, taken through a window pane, of a red/brown dog in a residential garden. The dog is twisting around in the garden, all four legs up in the air, while she scratches her back on the dirt and grass.

Fast asleep after her morning walk

Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog's face is smushed into a blanket lying on one side of the dog bed.

Blearily noticing that I just took her photo

Photo of a red/brown dog in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog is looking blearily into the camera because she has just been woken by her photo being taken.

When she is tired but still follows you from room to room, so you pee with the door open

Photo of a red/brown dog lying on her side, with her head right in front of an open bathroom door. The photo is taken from inside the bathroom.

When we got Maggie all those years ago, we’d take her for hour-long walks every day and she’d still have an endless supply of energy afterwards.

As she got older, she’d start to get tired after forty-five minutes of walking, so we dropped her walk time down to thirty-ish minutes.

These days she still has the mental enthusiasm for half-hour walks, but if we walk for too long in one go, her body pays for it the next day. So we’re now down to fifteen-ish minute walks every morning; with maybe a five or ten minute walk in the evening if she’s up for it.

Not that she minds. She still loves walking through our neighbourhood and foraging for whatever she can eat. But she’s become a lot more chill as she’s gotten older, with fewer fucks to give about the world. And, as long as she knows where we are, she’s no longer in a mad rush to follow us from room-to-room as we move around the house. Unless it’s nearing her walk time or dinner time, of course, in which case she’ll make her presence know no matter where we are and what we’re up to! But otherwise she’s content with her slower pace of life.

Saturday brunch with Nadia

In all of 2023 I think Nadia and I went out to brunch maybe just three or four times. The last time we went, I took a couple of photos :)

Saturday brunch selfie

Selfie of a man and a woman standing by the side of the road. Both are wearing wide-brimmed hats and both are smiling at the camera. The woman is wearing sunglasses and a blue dress. The man is wearing a black t-shirt with blue lettering on it.

Reading the menu

Photo of a woman seated at a café, looking down at a menu that is lying on the table in front of her. The woman is wearing a blue dress and has her sunglasses pushed back onto the top of her head.

Noticing that I just took her photo

Photo of a woman seated at a café, with a menu lying on the table in front of her. The woman is wearing a blue dress and has her sunglasses pushed back onto the top of her head. She is looking up at the photographer because she has just noticed that he had his phone up to take her photo.

Here’s to more bunches in 2024!

[Photo walk] Lonsdale Street (40mm only)

This week I concluded my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise with a repeat of shooting at only 40mm (which is 26mm on my mirrorless, APS-C camera).

I can now confirm that the first pancake prime lens I will get for myself will indeed be a 40mm one. When I’ll actually go out and get this, I don’t know. But at least I know where I’m going to start :)

Here are the photos I took during my last photo walk of 2023.

Three flights down to Village Street, Docklands

Black-and-white photo of a set of stairs leading down to a street that is three storeys below where the photographer is standing. This staircase is built into the side of the building, with the lowest flight of steps inside the rectangular columns of the building. A woman carrying one large bag and several smaller ones is walking on the pavement that runs along this street.

The curves of the Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne building

Photo looking up from the ground of a very tall, blue-glass covered building. The building has rounded edges and two large curves along its length on either side, making it look somewhat like a fancy water bottle.

Mural at one corner of 246 Spencer Street, Melbourne

Photo of a large, four-storey high, spray-paint mural in several shades of blue. The anime-ish style mural shows an image of a woman with long hair, large eyes, and full lips manipulating energy fields. She has formed a swirl of light in her left hand and there are bits of rock and swirls of more solid looking energy rotating around her face.

Mural at the Lonsdale St corner of 246 Spencer Street, Melbourne

Photo of a large, four-storey high, spray-paint mural in several shades of yellow and pink. The hyper-realistic mural shows an older man and woman, both with white hair and wrinkled, slightly droopy faces. The man has is arm around the woman's shoulder. Both figures are looking straight across the street and, in this case, directly at where the photographer is standing.

Not where I expected to see this argument take place!

Photo of a boarded-up window with the top of a mostly torn off music posted still stuck to it. Several different people have scribbled things on the wooden board in red and black marker. These include text in all-capital letters that reads “anarchy rules”. Below this is a Christian cross with the words ‘remorse’ and ‘pain’ written on it, with text close to this that reads “one rule is pain, the other rule is remorse”. Next to that is a crown with a number ‘666’ written below it and text that reads “eighth and last link to walk this earth”. Two pieces of text in black marker have been crossed off. The first, written below the cross, reads, “The fucking cross you fucking Christians were suppose(d) to bear!!”. The second reads, “We are the Anti Christ and we don’t fuck your children. So can anyone explain Christianity to us? So fuck them, just not with my dick!!”. Written below these crossed-off bits of text is the phrase “Jesus loves you” and a heart symbol. This is repeated on the other side as well. Also written there is “Choose love”, with a heart symbol instead of the word ‘love’. The final bit of text along the top, seemingly in response to this back-and-forth, reads “Have a nice day and do it your way”.

EzyMart is not going to run out of candy anytime soon

Photo looking through the open doorway of a glass-fronted convenience store. Arranged on one entire wall along the side of the store are hundreds of candy packets and bars.

And just how is that working out for y'all, hmmm?

A simple, text-only advertisement painted along the windowless side of an eight storey building. The large, all-white lettering reads, “Create your life’s work”. Below this is the WeWork logo and the text “established 2010”.

This was the first time I’d walked down Lonsdale Street in the CBD to take photos. By restricting myself to shoot at only 40mm I was immediately frustrated by not being able to take good architecture photos, and I take a lot of those types of photos. I guess what I’m saying is that the second prime lens I’ll get will likely be the 27mm pancake prime :) Hopefully I’ll be able to get both in 2024. I guess we’ll see!

Random photos from around the city

I wasn’t able to go on a photo walk this week, so here are some photos I took on my way to various places in the city.

Taking a nap at Federation Square

Photo of a middle age man asleep on a deck chair in a large, outdoor, brick-and-marble, public square. There are people sitting in other deck chairs placed around the square as well.

Looking down into City Hatters, below Flinders Street Station

Black-and-white photo looking down a steep, slightly curved flight of steps that lead to a shop front. Through the open doorway of this glass-fronted hat shop you can see a salesperson adjusting a hat while standing at the payment counter.

Reading a informational brochure on a bus

Black-and-white photo of a man sitting on a bus a few seats in front of the photographer. The man is reading a large, two-page informational brochure which, on the left hand page, has the title “Key benefits of the design”.

City Circle tram in Docklands

Photo of a classic Melbourne tram, with its distinct green-and-yellow livery, waiting at a stop light. A sign painted on the front reads, “City Circle Tram, Melbourne” and shows the number 35 as the tram’s route number. The tram is on a pair of tracks that run parallel to a curving roadway.

I also didn’t get the chance to shoot at a focal length of only 40mm this week. I’ll try to do that next week.

[Photo walk] Southbank, Melbourne (85mm only)

This is my second week of shooting at only 85mm (which is 55mm on my mirrorless, APS-C camera). It was super hot (approaching 32 degrees) when I went out to take these photos, which is why I took a handful.

Cool AF backpacker chilling in the sun

Photo of a middle-aged, dark-skinned man with silver-grey hair styled into a short, soft mohawk with buzz-cut sides. The man is sitting on a long bench next to a tall hedge in an urban park. He is leaning forward, elbows rested on thighs, as he reads a newspaper that he is holding in his hands. On the ground next to him is a large, professional hiking backpack that is full with his gear.

Sir Charles Hotham Hotel building

Photo of the round, domed tower at the corner of a dilapidated, four storey, 111 year old building. The pale yellow paint on this building is cracked and peeling. Long-since faded paint on the side the building reads, “Sir Charles Hotham Hotel”.

Sweep rowing training on the Yarra River

Photo of four sweep rowers (in which each person holds only one oar with both hands) and their coxswain rowing along an urban river. Riding on a motorboat alongside them with a megaphone in their hand is (presumably) their trainer.

Crown Towers Melbourne, as seen through The Guardians artwork

Photo of the top of the Crown Towers building seen through a large ceramic ring that is part of some artwork on the ground floor outside. The artwork in question is ‘The Guardians’ (2000) by local artist Simon Rigg.

Office corners on a Friday afternoon

Close-up photo of the corner of an office building, with two of the floors in frame. On one floor there are tables and chairs set along the windows. On the other floor is an empty, darkened corner office with a large Dyson air purifier visible through the window.

This was the last formal step in my two-and-a-half-month long ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise. Woohoo!

Next week I’ll repeat shooting at only 40mm. If I’m still happy with that focal length, then the first pancake prime lens I get will be a 40mm one. This’ll be great for street, travel, and everyday photography. Especially since it’ll make my camera kit small enough to carry around with me pretty much everywhere I go.

And then I sit and wait till I get a get a good deal on a new (or used) Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8 R WR lens. Or I just get the TTArtisan AF 27mm F2.8 third-party lens for my Fujifilm camera. I guess we’ll see how things go.

Why the excitement?

You’re probably amused by how excited I am about finally being able to use Chaparral on this website (the typeface, not the California shrubland ecoregion the typeface is named after).

I get it. Most people aren’t typeface nerds.

So I thought I’d explain how, ever since I stopped using ‘web safe’ typefaces when I moved to the Squarespace platform in 2013, I’ve been wanting to use Chaparral for this website’s body text.

But then I realised that, instead of telling you, I could show you.

Here are all the site-header images I’ve created for insanityworks.org since I migrated it to Squarespace. Even the first header image I created was an attempt to use the closest alternative to Chaparral available at the time.

Graphic titled ‘Journey to using Chaparral on my website’. The graphic shows five site-header images that have the phrase “Insanity Works” in white text overlaid on a photo. Each of these images uses a different typeface, and most of the images have a call-out pointing to them. The first image (from 2013) uses the Coustard typeface and its call-out reads, “1. Coustard was one of the early alternatives to Chaparral that I tried (note the similarities)”. The second image (from 2014) uses Oswald and its call-out reads, “2. Switched to using Oswald (the headings typeface) instead”. The third image (from 2019) uses Merriweather Sans, but has no call-out and the typeface name as the word ‘Test’ written next to it. The fourth image (from 2019) is in Merriweather and its call-out reads, “3. Tested the sans option, but then settled on the original (serif) Merriweather”. The fifth and final image (from 2023) is in Chaparral and its call-out reads, “4. Finally able to use Chaparral!”.

Basically, this whole decade has been a journey to Chaparral. And after ten years of wanting to do something, I am finally able to do it. That is why I am so excited to be where we are now :)

Happy days!

The last twenty-four hours have been very exciting for me. At least in terms of typography.

That’s because, years and years after falling in love with the Chaparral typeface, I finally get to use it on my website! That and Myriad, which is the typeface I’m now using for the headings and navigation.

Wait. Something changed?

Before today I was using the excellent Merriweather for this website’s body text and Oswald for the headings and navigation.

Both those typefaces are free and open-source, and both are available through Google Fonts – which is the font collection you could pick from when building a site on Squarespace (the platform this website is running on).

Graphic showing two blocks of text side-by-side. The block on the left has the heading ‘Old’ and uses the Merriweather (body text) and Oswald (heading) typefaces. The block on the right has the heading ‘New’ and uses the Chaparral (body text) and Myriad Condensed (heading) typefaces.

I’d always thought about updating the typefaces on this site, but (a) I love Merriweather and (b) I didn’t want to go through the hassle of trying to see if there was anything better than Merriweather on Google Fonts.

Then last night I discovered that Squarespace now offers the full suite of Adobe Fonts to choose a typeface from, and so here we are :)

The decision about which typeface to use for headings and navigation was pretty easy too. I had a bunch of good options to choose from, like Proxima Nova, League Gothic, Brandon Grotesque, and Alternative Gothic (which both Oswald and League Gothic are reworkings of, by the way).

I ended up going with Myriad because (a) it’s a gorgeous typeface (basically a copy of Frutiger) and (b) both Myriad and Chaparral were created by Carol Twombly (in 1992 and 2000, respectively) when she was a type designer at Adobe. As you can see from the graphic above and, indeed from this website, the two pair really well.

Why is this a big deal to me?

This change in typeface is noteworthy because the only reason I started using Merriweather in the first place was because it is the closest free, high-quality alternative to Chaparral that was available on Google Fonts all those years ago. But now I get to use the typeface I wanted to use all along!

I am particularly pleased that, with just this small change, the vibe of this site has gone from “modern and sturdy, but also warm and readable” to “subtly classy, but also friendly, lively, and readable”.

Yay!  

Happy 10th birthday to Maggie!

When we adopted Maggie in 2016 we were told she was probably two-and-a-half to three years old. And since we needed to nominate a date of birth for her registration, we ended up picking 5 December 2013.

So, at least according to that guesstimate, our now-not-so-little Maggie is ten years old today. Happy birthday!

Here she is making the most of her middle-agedness:

Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep on her side in a round, fuzzy, orange dog bed. One back paw and one front paw is sticking out over the edge, and the dog’s head is also resting on the edge. The bed is lying in the corner of a carpeted room.

Red heelers like Maggie tend to have a 12-15 year lifespan, though healthy, well cared for, non-working heelers can easily live for 18-20 years. So we have many, many years with her yet.

That said, here’s a side-by-side comparison of how much greyer her muzzle has gotten over the years. ❤️

Nadia and I have gotten greyer over the last decade too, of course, so we’re all a happily middle aged family now :)

[Photo walk] Collins Street, Melbourne #3 (85mm only)

We’re on the final stage of my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise. That means this fortnight I am shooting only at 85mm (which is 55mm on my mirrorless, APS-C camera).

I like shooting at 85mm because part of what I enjoy doing is capturing specific aspects of the world around me, and this focal length lets me zoom in to isolate the thing I want to highlight.

In this particular photo walk I focused on both people and a building details. The advantage of this focal length, of course, is that you can take photos of people from further away without ‘bruising the scene’ (ie without them noticing you and stopping doing whatever interesting thing they were doing that made you want to take their photo in the first place). Is taking photos like this somewhat voyeuristic? Yes, it is. But as long as you’re not being a creep or an asshole about it, I think it’s okay. I, for example, only take photos of people doing things that I wouldn’t mind being photographed doing myself. Most of the time this is just standing around in a public place.

Here are the photos I took.

Early dinner while stuck in traffic on Collins Street, Docklands

Photo of a man wearing a yellow high visibility vest and an orange turban sitting the the drivers seat of a large, white panel (delivery) van. The van is stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and so the man is using a fork to eat something out of a glass storage bowl on his lap.

Grey building reflecting a grey sky

Photo looking up to the top of a very tall, blue-glass covered building. Because the sky is grey and overcast, however, the windows are looking blue-grey instead. The building has rounded edges and two large curves along its length, making it look like a fancy water bottle.

Taking the time to smoke before heading into Southern Cross Railway Station

Photo of a man with pale blonde hair and a long, white beard sitting on a concrete bench outside on the footpath outside a large building. The man, who is wearing dark clothes and shoes, is holding a cigarette up in his right hand. In the background a woman is walking down the footpath.

Tram line inspectors heading to a job along Collins Street

Photo of two people in safety work wear (blue pants with reflective stripes, orange high visibility top with reflective stripes, white hard hats, and safety glasses) standing on top of a retracted scissor lift that’s been built on to the back a large truck. The truck is white and is covered in a Yarra Trams decal. The truck has just crossed an intersection and is proceeding along a tram track running down the centre of a road.

Triple denim, waiting on a bench

Photo of a young woman wearing blue denim jeans, a grey denim jacket, and a grey denim cap sitting on a long wooden bench outside a large building. She has a metal water bottle lying next to her. She is wearing wireless earbuds and is looking down at her phone.

It’s been a long week

Photo of a man wearing blue pants, yellow hoodie, and grey cloth cap who is sitting on a long wooden bench outside a large building. The man has a duffel back by his side and is leaning forward, head down and elbows on his thighs, looking very tired.

Heading out for Friday evening social event

Photo of four people waiting at the pedestrian crossing at an urban intersection. The two men are dressed in dark pants and untucked casual, button-up shirts. One woman is in a long, checkered dress in shades of brown. The other woman stands out because she is in a shorter, frilly, flower-patterned, blue dress.

Waiting for someone while while wearing the Melbourne uniform

Photo of a woman wearing the Melbourne uniform: black boots, black pants, black shirt, and black puffer jacket. The woman is looking down at her phone while waiting outside the steps leading up to an office building.

Keeping physiotherapists employed

Photo of a young man wearing sneakers, blue jeans, and a cream coloured t-shirt sitting on a large, black-painted concrete block outside a building complex. The man is hunched over as he looks at the smartphone he is holding in his hand.

Happy couple heading out for an evening in Melbourne

A woman and a man are walking down a footpath in a city centre with their arms on each others’ backs. They are wearing matching rings on their right ring fingers. In the background of the photo is a flower shop on the wide sidewalk.

Tourists checking out Melbourne's office-building architecture

Photo of a couple standing on the other side of the road from the photographer. They have their arms around each other and are looking up at the top of a building across the street from them. A green-and-white tram is about to cross in front of them.

Stained glass window of the 'Gothic Bank' in Melbourne

Photo of a round stained glass window with an interior seven-petal shape carved out of brownstone. The front façade and spire of this ornate, gothic-revival style, brownstone building is being seen through a gap in the trees across the street.

Front façade of the 'Gothic Bank' in Melbourne

Photo of the front façade and spire of an ornate, gothic-revival style, brownstone building that is being seen through a gap in the trees across the street. The year 1890 is carved into a shield at the top of the central spire.

Taking a selfie in front of Flinders Street Station in Melbourne

Photo of a man and a woman standing in the crowd in front of the steps of a train station. The man has is hand raised as if he has just taken a selfie of the two of them.

Next week I’ll continue shooting at 85mm, and after that I’ll probably repeat a couple of earlier focal lengths.

Since I’m doing all this to potentially buy myself a compact prime lens in this year’s Boxing Day sales, I think I’ll spend the last two weeks before Christmas back at 27mm and 40mm. Those are the two focal lengths at which Fujifilm sells compact primes.

Happily, I really enjoyed shooting at those focal lengths. So if I am going to buy one of those lenses this year – assuming the sale price is good enough or I can get them second-hand – then I should repeat those two to see which one I should go for first.

My favourite typeface pairings

Having talked about my favourite typefaces, I figured I’d also talk about how I pair those typefaces when using them in various projects.

Here I’m talking mostly about pairing body text and heading typefaces for reading (like on websites or in PDFs) and for writing (like when writing blog posts like these in Microsoft Word).

How do you pair typefaces?

Select your body text typeface and then for the heading typeface choose between harmony and contrast…

Harmony

  • Use the same typeface and maybe pick one with a different weight (eg Regular for the body text and Extra Bold for the headings).

  • Pick a typeface from the same superfamily (eg body text in Source Sans and headings in Source Serif), though this isn’t guaranteed to be the best option in every scenario.

  • Stick to the same broad design classification, ie organic (friendly, warm, human) or mechanical (geometric, stiff, regular). Contemporary typefaces sometimes mix features so this works best with older typefaces.

  • Pick a typeface from the same type designer or type foundry. This doesn’t always work with large foundries like Linotype and Monotype, but works with smaller ones like Hoefler&Co.

  • Pick a typeface with the same mood, vibe, or feel.

Contrast

  • Pick a typeface from a different category, ie serifs with sans serif (or semi-serif).

  • Pick a neutral typeface that doesn’t change the vibe of the body text but still provides a visual difference.

  • Pick a typeface that maintains or enhances the vibe of the body text. If your body text is sharp and angular pick something equally (or even more) sharp and angular. This works best if your body text typeface has a distinct or strong character.

  • Pick a typeface that creates its own vibe if the body text you’re using is somewhat neutral, meaning it doesn’t have a distinct or strong character.

  • Pick a typeface that creates design tension. Don’t change the vibe (unless you really know what you’re doing), but you can change the feel. To use an analogy: don’t change cuisines in the middle of your meal, but you can pair something soft with something crunchy.

Whatever you do, do not pick typefaces that are only slightly different from each other. This ends up looking wrong.

(FYI, the Font Matrix is an incredibly useful concept when it comes to pairing typefaces.)

Acquiring these typefaces

I’ve included links to all the typefaces mentioned below in case you want to purchase them or download the free ones:

  • Paid typefaces are in orange with a dollar sign next to them.

  • Default or free typefaces are in blue with a Windows, Mac, or download icon next to them.

And, in case you’re wondering, the text I’m showing in the graphics below is from an anecdote I shared about a work trip to the Gold Coast ten years ago.

Serifs

TT Jenevers

TT Jenevers is one of my favourite typefaces. It works great in text but also works as a display typeface, so I usually pair it with its own Extra Bold weight. If I want an interesting contrast, I’ll pair it with Fact (a modern remake of Frutiger). But if I want something neutral, I’ll pair it with Helvetica.

Graphic showing the typeface TT Jenevers (paid) paired with TT Jenevers Extra Bold (paid), Fact (paid), and Helvetica (default on Windows and Mac).

Mercury

Mercury is designed by Hoefler&Co and I pair it with another one of their typefaces, usually in this order: Whitney (vibe = elegant, modern), Ideal Sans (vibe = warm, human), or Verlag (vibe = classic, art deco).

Graphic showing the typeface Mercury (paid) paired with Whitney (paid), Ideal Sans (paid), and Verlag (paid).

Stempel Garamond

Stempel Garamond is one of my favourite Garamonds and I usually pair it with Fact (a modern remake of Frutiger). If I want something more friendly, I’ll pair it with Gill Sans Nova (a modern remake of Gill Sans). But if I want something fancy, I’ll pair it with Jost* (a modern remake of Futura).

Graphic showing the typeface Stempel Garamond (paid) paired with Fact (paid), Gill Sans Nova (paid, but versions also available on Windows and Mac), and Jost* / Futura (free to download and default on Mac).

Charter

For Charter (which also has an ITC version) I tend to stay neutral and solid, and so I usually pair it with the Extra Bold weight of Public Sans (or Libre Franklin). If I want to be even more neutral, I go with Neue Haas Unica. Or sometimes I go with Inter (which is a remake of Roboto that’s optimised for user interfaces).

Graphic showing the typeface Charter (free to download) paired with Public Sans Extra Bold (free to download), Neue Haas Unica (paid), and Inter (free to download).

Vollkorn

Vollkorn is a down-to-earth typeface, so I don’t pair anything fancy with it – that’s why I usually go with Inter (a modern remake of Roboto) or sometimes Roboto itself. Though if I want a more lively vibe, I go for Neue Haas Unica (a friendlier version of Helvetica).

Graphic showing the typeface Vollkorn (free to download) paired with Inter (free to download), Roboto (free to download), and Neue Haas Unica (paid).

Crimson Pro

Crimson Pro is a contemporary, Garamond-inspired typeface and so I tend to match it with Fact, a contemporary Frutiger-inspired typeface. If I want something more neutral and geometric, I go with Inter (a remake of Roboto). If I want something lively, I go with Neue Haas Unica (a friendlier version of Helvetica).

Graphic showing the typeface Crimson Pro (free to download) paired with Fact (paid), Inter (free to download), and Neue Haas Unica (paid).

Source Serif

Source Serif is inspired by typefaces like Fournier and I almost never pair it with anything other than Source Sans, which is its equivalent in the Source superfamily. If I had to pair it with something else, I’d go with something neutral like Helvetica or Roboto.

Graphic showing the typeface Source Serif (free to download) paired with Source Sans (free to download), Helvetica (default on Windows and Mac), and Roboto (free to download).

Sans serifs

Ideal Sans

Ideal Sans is one of my all-time favourite typefaces. It’s from Hoefler&Co and I pair it with another one of their typefaces, usually in this order: Sentinel (vibe = classic + contemporary), Whitney (vibe = elegant, modern), or Verlag (vibe = classic, art deco).

Graphic showing the typeface Ideal Sans (paid) paired with Sentinel (paid), Whitney (paid), and Verlag (paid).

Whitney

Whitney is also one of my all-time favourite typefaces. It too is from Hoefler&Co and so I pair it with another one of their typefaces, usually in this order: Mercury (vibe = friendly, compact), Verlag (vibe = classic, art deco), or Whitney Narrow (vibe = elegant, modern).

Graphic showing the typeface Whitney (paid) paired with Mercury (paid), Verlag (paid), and Whitney Narrow (paid).

Fact

Fact is a contemporary Frutiger-inspired typeface and so I tend to match it with Crimson Pro, a contemporary, Garamond-inspired typeface. If I want something more friendly-neutral, I go with Noto Serif (based on Droid Serif). If I want something elegant/geometric, I go with Avenir Next LT. (The type designer Adrian Frutiger created both Frutiger and Avenir.)

Graphic showing the typeface Fact (paid) paired with Crimson Pro (free to download), Noto Serif (free to download), and Avenir Next LT (paid).

Fira Sans

Fira Sans is a “wider, calmer” (and free) version of FF Meta, at least according to Erik Spiekermann who created both those typefaces. I like to pair it with TT Jenevers, a Dutch-style serif due to its asymmetrical shapes and ovals that don’t have a uniform slant angle. You’d think this pairing wouldn’t work because they both have their own strong personalities, but the modern Fira Sans works nicely with the classical TT Jenevers. If I don’t want that modern/classical contrast, then I use Merriweather instead – another modern, legible, web-first typeface with its own character. But if I want to go a little more neutral, but still highly legible, I go with General Sans (which I now use wherever I would have otherwise used Montserrat all those years ago).

Graphic showing the typeface Fira Sans (free to download) paired with TT Jenevers Extra Bold (paid), Merriweather (free to download), and General Sans (free to download).

Source Sans

Source Sans is inspired by typefaces like Franklin Gothic (Linotype have their own version of this, which they named Trade Gothic). I almost never pair it with anything other than Source Serif, which is its equivalent in the Source superfamily. If I had do pair it with something else, I’d go with a modern serif like Merriweather or Noto Serif.

Graphic showing the typeface Source Sans (free to download) paired with Source Serif (free to download), Merriweather (free to download), and Noto Serif (free to download).

General Sans

General Sans is a compact (but still readable) geometric typeface that isn’t spiky and expressive like Futura but also isn’t neutral and boring like Roboto. That said, I usually pair it with Jost*, which is a modern remake of Futura. If I want contrast, I go with the matching bigness and orderliness of Noto Serif. But if I want a more interesting contrast, I go with Gill Sans Nova, which is an old-style/geometric hybrid that’s full of character.

Graphic showing the typeface General Sans (free to download) paired with Jost* / Futura (free to download and default on Mac), Noto Serif (free to download), and Gill Sans Nova (paid, but versions also available on Windows and Mac).

Avenir Next LT

Avenir Next LT is a more versatile and fleshed-out version of the original Avenir; while Avenir itself is a more humanist take on the geometric typefaces Futura and Erbar. (I use Avenir Next LT when I want a more geometric version of Whitney but I don’t want something as sharp as Jost*.) I usually pair Avenir Next LT it with Zilla Slab, which brings a nicely contrasting futuristic vibe. If I want something more grounded, then I pair it with Sentinel. Though sometimes I find the best pairing is with Avenir Next LT itself.

Graphic showing the typeface Avenir Next LT (paid, but also included with Microsoft Office since 2019) paired with Zilla Slab (free to download), Sentinel (paid), and Avenir Next LT (paid, but also included with Microsoft Office since 2019).

Slabs

I don’t use slab serif typefaces enough to have a favourites list, but these are the three I use most often:

  • Zilla Slab, an open-source typeface from Mozilla and the one I’ve used in the headings of all the graphics above.

  • Roboto Slab, an open-source typeface from Google that I don’t use often, but is good to have when I need it.

  • Sentinel, which I’ve mentioned above but am including here for completeness’ sake.

Final thoughts

I hope the three of you who made it all the way to the end of this post found it interesting and maybe even useful :)

Since you did make it here, please comment below and tell me what your favourite typeface pairings are and what you use them for. I’d love to know.

FYI, I usually write my blog posts in Microsoft Word with body text in Ideal Sans and headings in Sentinel. But this one I wrote with body text in TT Jenevers and headings in TT Jenevers Extra Bold.

Screenshot showing the top of this blog post as it was written in Microsoft Word using the typefaces TT Jenevers for body text and TT Jenevers Extra Bold for headings.

Note: The Windows, Office, and Mac icons used in the graphics above are by ‘Pixel perfect’, ‘Pixel perfect’ and ‘Freepik’, respectively. Also, if you’re interested, these are the typefaces that come preinstalled with Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS.

4 Jan 2024 update: In the ‘Charter’ section (and the ‘Pairing serif #4: Charter’ graphic) I swapped Trade Gothic (a paid typeface that is, however, downloadable for free on Windows) with Public Sans (a free and open-source typeface).

14 Mar 2024 update: I only recently realised that Avenir Next LT has been included in Microsoft Office since 2019, so I’ve now added my favourite pairings for this typeface as well.

26 Mar 2024 update: Since I added Avernir Next LT as the seventh sans serif typeface on this list, to balance things out I added Source Serif as the seventh serif.

Journey to my favourite typefaces

I have used and played around with many, many typefaces (and their fonts) over the years. These are my current favourites.

Graphic titled ‘Typefaces I like and that I use more than others’ that shows several typefaces categorised under the headings: ‘Sans used frequently’, ‘Sans used when needed’, ‘Sans used when infrequently’, ‘Mono for text, coding apps’, ‘Mix used on our websites’, ‘Serif used frequently’, ‘Serif used when needed’, ‘Serif used when infrequently’, ‘Serif used for reading’, ‘Slab used as needed’.

How did these become my favourites?

I started, like almost everyone does, by using the default typefaces that come with operating systems and word processors.

Not long after, however, I got into typography in a big way. I bought books, did a lot of online learning, and played around with dozens of typefaces and fonts. I used to build and manage websites for a living, so this was partly professionally motivated.

Over time I upgraded to the more interesting, versatile, and practical typefaces listed above. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of the mini typographical journeys I took along the way.

Typeface or font?

Before we continue, there is one thing I should clarify:

  • Typeface = the design of the letterforms and accessories (ie numbers, punctuation)

  • Font = the actual item that produces the letterform, meaning everything from the 12-point piece of metal that gets inked and punched into a piece of paper all the way to the digital file that contains the code for, say, ‘Helvetica Neue Italic’.

To use a book analogy: This Is How You Lose the Time War is the typeface while its hardcover, paperback, EPUB, and PDF versions are its fonts.

Most people’s introduction to typefaces is via the fonts installed on their computer though, so non-design folks tend to use the two words interchangeably. I will not.

Mini typographical journeys

Arial: default typeface in Microsoft Word on Microsoft Windows

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #1 - Arial’. The graphic contains four boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The four featured typefaces are Arial, Avenir Next LT, Whitney, and Inter.

TOP LEFT: Arial is a well-designed and incredibly useful typeface, and I still use it every day at work (though not by choice). It is, however, a boring default that it is now considered the most neutral of typefaces.

TOP RIGHT: Once I became aware of other, more interesting typefaces, I immediately gravitated towards Avenir as the typeface I’d much rather use instead. Unfortunately, Avenir costs several hundred dollars. Fortunately, Avenir Next has been included as part of Microsoft Office since 2019 and so I now have access to a really good version of this typeface.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Not long after I fell in love with Avenir, I discovered Whitney and fell in love with that even more. Whitney is more practical and versatile than Avenir (at least for my purposes) and is also conveniently packaged for office applications (eg Word and PowerPoint). It costs a lot less than Avenir but is still a decently priced typeface. So yay for getting a bonus at work and treating myself to something nice :)

BOTTOM LEFT: More recently I came across the free and open-source typeface Inter, which is an excellent, more interesting alternative to Arial. (Inter is a version of Roboto that’s been optimised for interfaces, by the way. So a good alternative to this would be Roboto itself.)

Helvetica: default typeface in Microsoft Word on Apple Macintosh

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #2 - Helvetica’. The graphic contains four boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The four featured typefaces are Helvetica, Frutiger Next, Fact, and Inter.

TOP LEFT: Helvetica, the digitised and slightly upgraded version of Neue Haas Grotesk, is another excellent typeface. But, like Arial, it is now an overused default. (FYI Arial and Helvetica are not the same typeface. [1])

TOP RIGHT: Helvetica is used frequently for signage, but for that purpose I much prefer Frutiger. Frutiger, however, is expensive. Also, its has different revisions and interpretations, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Fact is an excellent typeface inspired by Frutiger that costs a lot less and is much more versatile (it has 96 styles and supports 100 languages). It is also on sale these days in case you are interested.

BOTTOM LEFT: Inter (a version of Roboto that’s been optimised for user interfaces) is a great alternative to both Helvetica and Frutiger, and it is also completely free.

Trebuchet MS: my favourite default typeface for creative uses

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #3 - Trebuchet’. The graphic contains four boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The four featured typefaces are Trebuchet MS, Montserrat, Whitney Narrow, and Ideal Sans.

TOP LEFT: With Arial and Helvetica out of the way, let’s talk about my favourite default typeface: Trebuchet MS [2]. This is a friendly sans serif font that I love to use when writing, and for the longest time it was my default email typeface. Trebuchet MS is also a “web safe font”, meaning it is universally installed across all browsers and devices. Unfortunately, it had its heyday on the web in 2009 and it is quite limited by modern font standards (its bold isn’t particularly bold, for example).

BOTTOM LEFT: Enter Fira Sans, a lovely, comprehensive, well-designed typeface that is much better than Trebuchet MS in all ways. This is my current typeface of choice when using Google Docs.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Lovely as Fira Sans is, I think Whitney Narrow is nicer. When I’m not using Google Docs, I use Whitney Narrow instead of Fira Sans.

TOP RIGHT: The one downside to Whitney Narrow is that it isn’t as rounded and friendly as Trebuchet MS, which brings us to the typeface I use most often these days: Ideal Sans. In fact, I’m writing this post in Microsoft Word using Ideal Sans right now.

Tahoma: my favourite default typeface for professional uses

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #4 - Tahoma’. The graphic contains three boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The three featured typefaces are Tahoma, Fira Sans, and DIN Next LT.

TOP LEFT: Back in the 1990s when I used Trebuchet MS for all my creative work, I used Tahoma for all my professional work. (Tahoma is basically a narrower, more tightly spaced version of Verdana.)

BOTTOM LEFT: But this too I replaced with the more friendly and full-featured Fira Sans.

BOTTOM RIGHT: In some situations, though, I use DIN. Originally created for road signage, it actually works well in text-dense designs and infographics. In fact, my resume is in DIN.

Verdana: the most legible web safe sans serif typeface

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #5 - Verdana’. The graphic contains three boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and upgraded/free typefaces. The three featured typefaces are Verdana, Open Sans, and General Sans.

TOP LEFT: Like Trebuchet MS and Tahoma, Verdana was designed as a typeface to be used on computer screens. And, like those two, it is also a core font for the web. I like Verdana. It isn’t particularly friendly or elegant, but it is my typeface of choice for email.

BOTTOM LEFT: Verdana might have been incredibly popular on the web in the 1990s and 2000s, but in the 2010s that crown was taken by the more elegant Open Sans. I like Open Sans too, but OMG is it overused.

TOP RIGHT: If I do need to use a typeface like Verdana or the excellent Montserrat – both of which are a little overused – more often than not I’ll reach for General Sans. Where Verdana is big, with perhaps an overwhelming focus on legibility, General Sans is compact and geometric, but somehow doesn’t look condensed, which I think is cool.

Calibri: the newer default typeface in Microsoft Word

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading sans #6 - Calibri’. The graphic contains three boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The three featured typefaces are Calibri, Source Sans, and Whitney Narrow.

TOP LEFT: In 2007 Calibri replaced Times New Roman as the default typeface in Microsoft Word. I used Calibri for a while, but I never fell in love with it. After all, its defining character trait is ‘friendly neutral’. By the way, starting in 2024, Aptos will by the new default typeface in Word.

BOTTOM LEFT: Almost immediately after Source Sans was released in 2012, I started using that instead of Calibri. Source Sans is a free, high-quality typeface from Adobe.  

BOTTOM RIGHT: And once I’d bought Whitney Narrow, that took over from Source Sans in most situations.

Times New Roman: the default serif typeface in Microsoft Word

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading serif #1 - Times New Roman’. The graphic contains two boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and upgraded/free typefaces. The two featured typefaces are Times New Roman and Source Sans.

LEFT: I’ve used Times New Roman a lot over the years and let me tell you that I do not like it very much. Sure it has its uses, but I’ve never been a fan.

RIGHT: As soon as I got my hands on Source Serif, it was all over for Times New Roman.

Garamond: a more elegant typeface that had a terrible font

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading serif #2 - Garamond’. The graphic contains two boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The two featured typefaces are Garamond and Stempel Garamond LT.

LEFT: I love the Garamond typeface, but the Garamond font that comes with Word is terrible.

RIGHT: The Linotype foundry has an excellent version of Garamond created originally by the Stempel Type Foundry in the 1920s. I snapped up Stempel Garamond LT when it was on sale once and I’ve never looked back.

Georgia: the most legible web safe serif typeface

Graphic titled ‘Upgrading serif #3 - Georgia’. The graphic contains four boxes, grouped by default/free typefaces and purchased/paid typefaces. The four featured typefaces are Georgia, Merriweather, Charter, and Mercury.

TOP LEFT: I like Georgia. It’s not particularly elegant or refined. But like Verdana, with its focus on legibility, it gets the job done. For years my personal website used Georgia for its body text typeface.

BOTTOM LEFT: I love Merriweather. Ever since Google Fonts came on to the scene, I’ve used Merriweather for my website’s body text typeface. Indeed, that’s the typeface you’re reading this in now. [UPDATE: This is no longer true.]

TOP RIGHT: When not publishing online, I will sometimes use Charter as my Georgia replacement. Charter is older than Georgia, and it was designed by Matthew Carter, the same type designer who created both Georgia and Verdana.

BOTTOM RIGHT: When I do need a truly excellent, versatile, and highly legible serif typeface, most of the time I’ll turn to Mercury.

Honourable mentions

I haven’t talked about monospace or slab serif typefaces; this post is long enough as it is. But a couple of quick shout-outs.

Two graphics, side-by-side. One is titled ‘Graphics’ and features the Zilla Slab typeface. The other is titled ‘Coding apps’ and features the JetBrains Mono typeface.

LEFT: Zilla Slab is a free and open-source slab serif typeface created by the Mozilla Foundation. All the headings in the graphics used in this post are set in Zilla Slab.

RIGHT: JetBrains Mono is my coding typeface of choice. I blogged about this a couple of years ago.

Two graphics, side-by-side. One is titled ‘Text apps’ and features the Berkeley Mono and JetBrains Mono typefaces. The other is titled ‘Reading apps’ and features the Literata and Bookerly typefaces.

LEFT: Joplin and Notepad++ are, respectively, my note-taking and text-editing apps of choice. I use monospace typefaces in both. Berkeley Mono is gorgeous and joy to work in. It is a paid typeface, but it’s worth it (I got it on sale when it first launched). JetBrains Mono I’ve already talked about above. It is a free typeface.

RIGHT: Literata is a free and open-source typeface commissioned by Google for its Google Play Books app. Bookerly is a proprietary typeface (though available for download) commissioned by Amazon for its Amazon Kindle e-reader devices and apps.

Two graphics, side-by-side. One is titled ‘Elegant neutral’ and features the Neue Haas Unica typeface. The other is titled ‘Modern slab’ and features the Sentinel typeface.

LEFT: Neue Haas Unica is an elegant hybrid of Helvetica, Univers, and Akzidenz Grotesk. I don’t use this style of typeface very often, which is why it hasn’t come up before, but I do really like this interpretation. Also if you don’t get it as part of a bundle like I did several years ago, Neue Haas Unica is pretty expensive. Which is why it’s much easier to recommend Inter or Roboto everyone. (They’re both free!)

RIGHT: I’m not a big user of old style, Clarendon-esque typefaces, but I do like Sentinel. If nothing else, it pairs brilliantly with Ideal Sans.

Final thoughts

So there you have it. More than you probably wanted or needed to know about why I use the typefaces I do. I don’t know if you had fun reading it, but I enjoyed living it and then telling the mini stories about it. And, of course, I enjoyed creating all those typography graphics since, frankly, that’s half the fun of writing posts like this :)

One last thing I should mention is that, when I bought Whitney a long time ago, I discovered that Hoefler&Co is my favourite type foundry. The folks there created Whitney, Whitney Narrow, Ideal Sans, Sentinel, and Mercury – all of which I’ve bought over the years. I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy more of their typefaces in the future. It’s nice when you find a bunch of designers who really float your boat.

May you find the type foundries, type designers, or even just a bunch of typefaces that bring you joy.

Footnotes

[1] Many people think that Arial is a copy of Helvetica. It is not. Arial is designed to be a drop-in replacement for Helvetica, yes, but it is technically a copy of the older-than-both Akzidenz Grotesk. When Helvetica was created, the designers hoped it would be as popular as Akzidenz Grotesk. More on all that here, if you’re interested.

[2] Trebuchet MS was also inspired by Akzidenz Grotesk.

[Photo walk] Along Harbour Esplanade, Docklands #3 (55mm only)

We’re still on step four my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise because I didn’t take any photos last week. That means I’m still at 55mm (which is 35mm on my mirrorless, APS-C camera).

Since I know I’m not going to buy a new 55mm prime lens any time soon (I already own one), I figured I’d repeat the photo walk I started this whole exercise with so I could do a bit of a direct comparison.

27mm vs 55mm focal length comparison

I took three matching(ish) photos to see/demonstrate the difference between 27mm and 55mm.

The weather and, therefore, the light was different when I took these photos, so you’ll notice that I edited them differently.

I don’t have anything to say about these photos, by the way, I just wanted to do the comparison!

Subject framed within a foreground object

Photo of a blue-and-white ferry, now a show boat, as seen through the hole of a bright red lifebuoy that’s attached to a pole next to a harbour.

Subject some distance away from the photographer

Photo of urban dock. In the foreground is a grid of several old, wooden, white-tipped pillars sticking out from the water. In the midground is a boat tied to one of the piers. In the background are several tall buildings.

Subject in the foreground

Photo looking up at a large bronze sculpture of a black-and-white square-ish cow with a tiny head that is stuck, upside-down, on top of a bare tree. In the background is a harbour, a bridge across this harbour, and some tall buildings.

My thoughts on the 55m focal length

I don’t have any strong feelings about 55mm.

I enjoyed being zoomed-in a little more and I enjoyed being able to isolate my subjects from their surroundings a little more than usual.

But I also struggled with not being able to capture the surrounding context that I enjoy showing in my photographs.

I know I’ll get comfortable with 55mm if I stick with it for a while, but honestly, 40mm focal length was much more my jam :)

For now I think I’ll stick with 55mm for portraits and the like.

Photos from my walk

Lady Cutler showboat through a lifebuoy (55mm)

Photo of a large blue-and-white ferry boat, now a show boat, named Lady Cutler as seen through the hole of a bright red lifebuoy attached to a pole next to a harbour.

Docklands Harbour and the Lady Cutler showboat (55mm)

Photo of urban dock. In the foreground is a grid of several old, wooden, white-tipped pillars sticking out from the water. In the midground is a boat, the Lady Cutler, tied to one of the piers. In the background are several tall buildings.

Cow Up a Tree (John Kelly, 2000) with the Bolte Bridge in the background (55mm)

Photo looking up at a large bronze sculpture of a black-and-white square-ish cow with a tiny head that is stuck, upside-down, on top of a bare tree. In the background is the Bolte Bridge, a large road bridge. The Bolte (as it is known) is a large, twin cantilever road bridge with two 140m tall towers that hold up the roadway that spans the width of the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour. More about ‘Cow Up a Tree’, in case you’re interested.

Public art and practical bike stand combo on Harbour Esplanade, Docklands

Photo of a metal bicycle stand bolted into the concrete footpath. Instead of a simple upside-down U-shaped ring, this bike stand has been bent into the approximate shape of a bicycle (though with additional bends and waves so that multiple bicycles can be attached to it).

Receiving a crane-full of construction supplies

Photo of a tall building that’s under construction. A large platform is jutting out of one of the upper floors of this building. A construction worker in high visibility clothing and safety gear is standing on this platform, awaiting the building supplies that are being brought up by crane. A large pallet attached to a cable is being pulled up by a tall crane that is outside the frame of the photo. The pallet is about to reach the platform that the worker is standing on.

Frankston train approaching Southern Cross Station in Melbourne

Photo of a yellow-and-blue electric commuter train traveling through a rail yard that has about a dozen pairs of railways tracks running through it.

Done with the inspection of the V/Line train

Photo of a rail worker wearing an orange high visibility vest. The worker is walking across a rail yard towards a pedestrian walkway. The worker is next to a purple, silver, and yellow train that is parked on one of the tracks.

Working on a diesel engine V/Line locomotive

Photo of a rail worker wearing an orange high visibility vest standing on the walkway that runs the length of a diesel locomotive. This red and yellow coloured locomotive is parked at a rail yard.

V/Line train approaching Southern Cross Station

Photo of a purple, yellow, and silver diesel commuter train traveling through a rail yard that has about a dozen pairs of railways tracks running through it.

Rail worker at the Alstom West Melbourne Depot

Photo of a rail depot with seven large train maintenance sheds, one with an ‘Alstom’ sign/logo affixed to one of its walls. There are also several trains parked in neat rows outside. A rail worker wearing an orange high visibility vest is walking along one of the yellow-lined pedestrian footpaths that weave themselves around tracks across the whole yard.

Taking a break after completing his deliveries

Photo of a white panel van parked on the side of a road. This delivery van has its side sliding door open. In the back of the cargo space are several empty, white, plastic crates that have been stacked on top of each other. The rest of the cargo space is empty. A delivery driver wearing a yellow high-visibility shirt is sitting in the cargo space with his feet sticking out of the open sliding door. The driver is looking down at a phone in his hands.

Next week I move on to shooting at only 85mm. I’m looking forward to that, since 85mm was my most frequently used focal length over the last year.

[Photo walk] Collins Street east #1 (55mm only)

We’re on step four of my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise, which means this fortnight I’m shooting at only 55mm (which is 35mm on my mirrorless APS-C camera).

I could have skipped this step because I already have a 55mm prime lens, so it’s not like I’ll buy another one if I fall in love with this focal length. But then I’m not doing this exercise just to figure out which prime lens to buy, I’m also doing it for creative-constraint reasons. And that aspect of this was fun.

I didn’t have a very long photo walk, though, so I didn’t get as much time with this focal length as I would have liked. But I do like how I can use it to focus on just one subject in a somewhat crowded location.

When I go out next week I’ll play around with using a shallower depth of field to further isolate my subject from their surroundings. The lens I’m using can go down to f/2, and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can achieve with that. (Given the type of photography I do, and the limitations of my existing lenses, I typically spend most of my time between f/4 and f/5.6.)

Dymocks bookshop in colour

Photo looking down, next to a set of escalators, into a large bookshop.

Dymocks bookshop in texture

Black-and-white photo looking down, next to a set of escalators, into a large bookshop.

Koko Black baristas on Swanston Street

Photo of two baristas wearing black boots and black dresses making coffee at a footpath coffee shop branded Koko Black. Two other women on the footpath are looking at what the baristas are doing as they walk past.

Old baby change room at Melbourne Town Hall

Photo of a sign that reads, in all capital letters, “baby change” affixed below an archway that’s between a dark brown wrought iron fence and a lighter brown stone wall. The wrought iron fence separates the entrance to the baby change facilities from the public footpath that runs alongside the historic building. Just outside this sign is a woman talking on her phone as she walks along the footpath.

Bell tower of St Michael’s Uniting Church

Photo looking up at a tall, square bell tower of a polychrome brickwork church building. There are round Romanesque arches built into the building. Along the left side of photo are the leaves of the trees that grow in front of the church.

Cell tower between taller buildings

Photo of a cell tower installed at the top of a five storey building. There are several thin, vertical, white coloured antennae affixed to the structure at the top of this building. There are much taller buildings on all sides of this shorter building. At the very top of the photo frame you can see a jet passenger airplane in the sky.

Spaghetti Tree sign on Bourke Street

Night-time photo of a neon sign in a window that that reads, in stylised lettering, “Spaghetti Tree Restaurant”. The words “Spaghetti Tree” are lit up in red neon while “Restaurant” is lit up in green neon.

[Photo walk] University of Melbourne, during semester break

I had some time, so I did a quick photo walk in and around the University of Melbourne. This was on a Saturday afternoon during semester break so the campus was pretty empty.

It’s been years since I’ve spent any time on campus so it was nice to be back, if only for a little while.

Safety mirror at the Lygon Street tram stop

Photo of a large, convex safety mirror affixed to a pole next to the pedestrian crossing between a tram stop and footpath.

Bicycle hoops at the McCoy Building

Photo looking through six rectangular bicycle hoops installed in a brick pavement next to some bushes.

Bicycle hoops at the McCoy Building, but now zoomed-in and in black-and-white

Black-and-white photo looking through five rectangular bicycle hoops installed in a brick pavement next to some bushes.

Espresso Bar heated area at the Ian Potter Museum of Art

Photo of a glass partition enclosing the outdoor seating area next to a building. A sign on the glass partition reads “Heated Area”, below which are graphical depictions of two red, hot chillies. You can see the reflection of the photographer in the glass partition, though the photographer’s face is obstructed by the text and graphics.

Empty tables at Castro’s Kiosk

Photo taken from table-surface height of a couple of large, outdoor, wooden tables under some umbrellas.

Working from Deakin Court on a lovely Saturday afternoon

Photo of a woman sitting on metal outdoor furniture in a brick court. The woman is on her laptop. In the background of the photo is brick building with several wide, rectangular, ivy-covered support pillars. There is colourful art drawn on the exterior wall of this building, and a door to the side has a sign that reads, “Old Physics”.

Pillars of the Old Arts Building

Photo of a covered courtyard under a historic building that is being held up by several stone pillars.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of Wilson Hall

Photo of a 3-4 storey brick building with windows all along one side of it.

Frank Tate Building (Building 189)

Photo of the rounded end of a three storey, 1920s art deco brick building.

Enjoying the sun outside the Frank Tate Building

Photo of a person wearing a hoodie sitting in a lawn outside a 1920s art deco brick building.

University of Melbourne logo at the Sydney Myer Asia Centre

Photo of the University of Melbourne logo (crest and word mark) in the top corner of a university building.

Cuddling in the sun

Photo of a young man and woman sitting on a park bench outside a brown brick university building. The woman is resting her head on the man’s shoulder. And the man is, in turn, leaning his head on the woman’s head.

[Photo walk] Lygon Street #3 (40mm only)

Here’s part three of my recent Lygon Street walk.

Conclusions about this stage of the exercise are at the end.

Statue of Zelda D’Aprano (2023) at Victorian Trades Hall

Photo of a large bronze statue of Melbourne feminist activist Zelda D’Aprano, founder of the Women’s Action Committee in Melbourne. The statue is holding a large sign in her right hand that reads, “No more male & female rates. One rate only.” while in her left hand she holds a broken length of chain.

Front façade of Victorian Trades Hall

Photo of the light brown façade of historical Victorian Trades Hall that was first built in 1859 and then upgraded between 1874 and 1925.

Sprinkler booster that looks like a robot with large eyes

Photo of a red sprinkler booster that’s part of a fire fighting system installed in front of a building. The sprinkler booster is a large metal pipe sticking out of the ground with a red two-headed terminator at its top. The two fire hose attachments of the terminator look like large eyes. A sign affixed to this apparatus reads “Sprinkler booster. Working pressure 900 kPa. System tested to 1400 kPa.”

Carlton Audio Visual, the fanatic’s choice

Photo of a large blue sign attached to a wall above the entrance of a shop. The sign reads ‘Carlton Audio Visual’. A light blue sign above this shows the street number of this store (164) and reads ‘Fanatics choice’. Smaller signs painted to the left and right of the main store sign read “Hi-Fi sound. Home theatre. Projection room.”

Closed for the weekend

Photo of a several stacks of outdoor chairs next to several outdoor tables, all of which are lying in the outdoor seating area of a restaurant that is currently closed.

Local area map at the corner of Grattan and Lygon Streets

Photo of a tall, wide sign on a sidewalk. The top of the sign reads ‘Grattan Street’. Below this are sections with arrows pointing up, right, and left. Listed under each arrow at the points of interest that a visitor can get to if they walk in that direction. Below all that is a map of the local area, with a large circle drawn around the sign's location on the map. The circle has a label that reads “5 minute walk’.

Cakes at Brunetti’s in Carlton

Photo of two shiny, rounded, pale yellow coloured cakes for sale in a refrigerated display window.

Cake in the Brunetti’s display window

Photo of a shiny, rounded, pale yellow coloured cakes for sale in a refrigerated display window.

I find that I’m so comfortable with shooting at 40mm that there’s no point in sticking to just this focal length for another week. So I’m now going to move straight to 55mm.

Why am I going with 55mm instead of the more standard, ‘nifty fifty’ 50mm focal length? Well, technically, I’m going with neither :) I’ll be shooting at 54mm.

The sensor on my Fujifilm S-X10 mirrorless APS-C camera has a 1.53 crop factor. Meaning if I wanted to shoot at a 50mm full-frame equivalent, I’d need to shoot with a 33mm lens (because 33 × 1.53 = 50mm).

Fujifilm does make 33mm prime lenses, but I already own a 35mm prime lens (the cheap and cheerful Fujifilm XC 35mm F2) so I might as well use that for this part of the exercise. And since 35 × 1.53 =54mm that’s the focal length I’ll actually be shooting at.

It’s easier still to refer to this as 55mm, and so that’s what I’ll continue to say going forward.

I might try shooting at 50mm in the future (now that I’ve sped up this exercise by shooting at 40mm for one week instead of two) but for now let’s go with 55mm and see how I do there.

[Photo walk] Lygon Street #2 (40mm only)

Here’s part two of my recent Lygon Street photo walk.

Bench at Argyle Square

Photo of a park bench under a large tree in an urban park.

Front façade of Building 56 at RMIT on Queensberry Street

Photo showing the regular red brick and grey concrete façade of a university building.

Front façade of Building 56 at RMIT on a sunny day

Photo looking through green shrubs and trees at the regular red brick and grey concrete façade of a university building.

Abandoned shopping cart at RMIT Building 56

Photo of an abandoned shopping card at the bottom of the basement stairwell of a red brick university building.

Reflections of the city

Photo of a large glass skylight that shows the reflection of several tall buildings.

Victorian Trades Hall framed by buildings in the Melbourne CBD

Photo of a historic brown building that is partly hidden by several tall trees growing in front of it. There are three flags flying on this building, the Australian Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag, and the red flag (signifying left-wing politics).

Delivery driver in hi-vis on Victoria Street

Photo of a delivery driver on an electric cargo bicycle waiting to turn right at an intersection. The driver is wearing white sneakers, high visibility fluro-yellow pants and jacket (with hood), and a grey bicycle helmet. The cargo section of the e-bike is holding a large, insulated, soft shell, fluro-yellow coloured food delivery box.

[Photo walk] Lygon Street #1 (40mm only)

I know some of this has to do with the location, the time of day, and how much energy I had at the time, but I found it much easier to take photos at only 40mm (which is 26mm on my mirrorless APS-C camera) than at only 35mm (which I’d been doing for the last two weeks).

In case this is the first time you’re reading about this, I’m in the middle of conducting a creative exercise: for a fortnight at a time, when I go on my photo walks, I’m taking photos at only the 27mm, 35mm, 40mm, 55mm, and 85mm focal lengths.

Aside for the creative challenge of shooting at just one focal length at a time — which I am really enjoying and also learning a lot from — by the end of this exercise I should have a decent idea about which prime lens I’m going to buy next.

I managed to take a bunch of decent photos at 40mm on my last photo walk, and so I’ve split this into three posts. Here’s part 1.

Regular menu and the day’s specials at an outdoor café

Photo of a café menu in the form of a brown leather binder that’s lying on top a single sheet of paper. Both of these are lying on a wooden table in the outdoor seating space of a café.

Readings bookshop

Photo of a large sign on a shop awning that reads ‘Readings’. A smaller sign affixed below the awning reads “Readings. Melbourne’s own since 1969. Books. Music. Film.”

Entrance to Readings bookshop

Photo of the entrance of a bookshop. A woman with her hands on her hips is looking at the books arranged in the display window. A man inside the shop is looking at books displayed on a bookshelf. Entering the frame from the right, and slightly blurry because of the movement, is a small child being pushed in a pram.

Cocktails, pasta, vibes on Faraday Street

Photo of a sandwich board sign next to the outdoor seating of a café. The sign reads (across four lines), “Open all day. Cocktails. Pasta. Vibes.” The café is located inside a wide, red brick building with doors and windows that have been painted green.

Seating outside Vintage Cellars on Lygon Street

Photo taken just above the surface of a wooden table that’s part of the outdoor seating of a liquor store named Vintage Cellars.

Pasta display

Photo of five different types of pasta arranged on a wooden chopping board in the display window of an Italian restaurant.

Gelato at Gelatissimo

Photo showing the inside of a gelateria, with various flavours of gelato on display.

Outdoor heater

Close-up photo of a large, outdoor space heater that is used to warm customers sitting in the outdoor seating area.

Semantic arguments as a last line of defence

Recently I’ve seen people in various online platforms insist that what Israel has been doing in Palestine isn’t apartheid and that what they’re doing now isn’t genocide.

My initial reaction was to think, “how fortunate you are that you can discuss semantics like this from a distance”.

But mostly it reminded me of when the American media refused to name domestic terrorism as ‘terrorism’. Or when they called terrorism that happened in their country ‘terror’ instead.

What they were really saying, of course, is that terrorism is what non-white people do in foreign countries. Stuff like that isn’t done by white people, and it’s certainly not done in our country.

It also reminded me of when people say things like, “Oh he can’t be the one who committed the sexually assault. He’s a victim of sexual assault; he would never do that to anyone else.”

They’re clinging so hard to their beliefs that they have to fall back to semantics to defend their positions.

At no time can they see the reality that:

  • Some white people can and do commit terrorism.

  • There is terrorism in countries with predominantly white populations.

  • Some sexual assault survivors can and do commit sexual assault.

  • Some Jews can and do commit genocide.

But why?

The reason they dig their heels in is pretty obvious. It’s the same reason people insist on sayings things like “not all men”.

Because if they acknowledge that, yes, all men do benefit from patriarchal set-ups, then they might actually have to do something about it.

Or, more likely, they’ll lose the moral wiggle room to do nothing (or the bare minimum) about it. When they’re one of the good guys – one of the #NotAllMen – then they don’t have to do anything more, right?

Similarly, if these people are forced to acknowledge that Israel is an apartheid state that currently is committing genocide against the Palestinians, then they lose the ability to say things like, “what Israel is doing is horrible, of course, but they do have the right to defend themselves.”

Because right now what they’re really saying is, “I can excuse the mass casualties of civilians, but I draw the line at genocide.”

Two-frame screen grab from the television show ‘Community’ in which a white female character says, “I can excuse racism, but I draw the line at animal cruelty.” To which a black female character replies, “You can excuse racism?!”

An aside about a theory

Which then reminds me of one of the theories about why Hamas attacked Israel in the way that they did.

You know when a child keeps needling their sibling till the sibling overreacts? And how parents often shout at the sibling for the overreaction and not at the first child for the initial provocation? That’s possibly one of the reasons Hamas carried out their most recent attacks.

The theory is that they wanted Israel to overreact to such an extent that the world had no choice but to acknowledge Israel’s ongoing, escalating war crimes (along with their continued crimes against humanity).

Of course Hamas did this without the consent of the people of Gaza and at the cost of thousands of Palestinian civilians, many of them children…but that’s a whole other issue.

On a lighter note…

To leave on a lighter note, because I live on the internet, when I see someone digging their heels in about not using the words ‘apartheid’ or ‘genocide’, this meme is the first thing that comes to mind :)

  • It’s only apartheid if it’s from the Apartheid region of South Africa, otherwise it’s sparkling institutionalised (racial) segregation.

  • It’s only genocide if it’s from the Genocide region of Poland, otherwise it’s sparkling intentional destruction of a people (in whole or in part).