Well, that was an interesting year! Here’s a small selection of my photos from the past 12 months.

Obviously the biggest event of the year was the COVID-19 pandemic. I took a lot of photos to document this important period of modern history which are categorised in this overarching album. These include empty city streets, signs and some of the ‘urban happiness’ that emerged from this difficult time. I have no doubt that all records of this pandemic will be important in the future when we look back on what happened.

Another feature of the pandemic has been a rapid increase in walking and cycling infrastructure, particularly around the CBD. I went on a couple of trips to check these out over the year, with much more still to come in 2021. These include protected bike lanes, shared zones and parklets.

In non-pandemic photos, I finally remembered to take my DSLR with me after one of my shifts at the Australian Open. I spent a little while wandering the site as a patron instead of a staff member, which gave me a bit of a different perspective on things.

Another disaster that befell us this year, which seems to have been largely forgotten by the pandemic, was the ‘Black Summer‘ at the beginning of 2020. This caused huge amounts of smoke across the country, including in Melbourne where the air quality was at dangerous levels for much of January.

My last trip done just before the lockdown hit Victoria was a walk across the Mornington Peninsula from Flinders to Safety Beach. Lots of nice scenery and interesting things to see along the way, including the closed Red Hill Line.

Another trip a little earlier in February to Werribee was to the Werribee Mansion and surrounding areas. It’s a really nice place to visit and is well worth the entry fee for the National Trust. The Rose Garden and surrounding property is still free to enter though.

Lockdown also brought its own opportunities to do more detailed explorations of local areas, including Kew and Richmond.

Later this year, I gained access to a small drone. This has opened up a lot of new opportunities and it’s been great fun taking photos and videos from a totally different perspective (even if the local insects aren’t fans).

Happy 2021 and hopefully it’s a drastic improvement on this year!