Vivid Sydney 2014 (ApriliaLove.com)

It’s that time of the year again: time to play tourist in my own backyard at Vivid Sydney.

What is Vivid?

Vivid is a unique, annual event of light, music and ideas that takes place in the heart of Sydney. During Vivid, parts of Sydney turn into outdoor galleries featuring extraordinary light sculptures, with an array of musical experiences and creative forums also taking place during the festival.

This was my second visit to Vivid, having been last year to see RiFF RaFF play a show at the Sydney Opera House. This time around, I took a few hours of an evening just to soak up the light installations around the city, particularly in and around Martin Place, The Rocks and Circular Quay. Armed with my DSLR, I got the nostalgic feeling of being on vacation again (it already feels like I’ve been back for months!), which was a rather nice feeling especially being in my home city. It’s quite often that you take what you have for granted and spending just a few hours in parts of Sydney I rarely visit made me realise just that.

Here are my favourite shots I took on the night; shot with two different lenses – a 50mm f1/4 and a 10mm f2.8 fisheye.

At the right place, at the right time

One of the more colourful projections of the Lighting of the Sails onto the Sydney Opera House

The Intrude installation – a group of large, inflatable rabbits illuminated in white light

Cellular Tessellation

One of my favourite light sequences of the night – some of those sails looked the same texture as snake skin!

#vividsydney

Urban Tree Project at the MLC Centre

Geo Glow Dome

Emergence in Martin Place

Even ferries and boats on the harbour got into the spirit of Vivid, lighting up the ocean along their way

Gamma World at the MCA Original Facade

Colour the Bridge

Moral of the story:

We often look far and wide for adventure, but sometimes what we’re looking for can be found right under our noses – and in this case, in my own backyard. I’m personally going to make more of an effort to explore what’s around me – just thinking about it, there are so many places in Sydney that I’ve always been meaning to visit, but just haven’t. Now is that time.

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