I usually run with a theme. This week I am taking you out with me again. Each year my city runs a festival 'Enlighten' where public buildings in the parliamentary triangle are illuminated and fun is celebrated. It was virtually the last celebration that went ahead last year because of Covid, and I was very glad to welcome a smaller, safer, quieter version back this year.
As always, lots (and lots) of photos follow. There are probably more than enough for several Sunday Selections. Settle back with your beverage of choice...
We went in early to ensure that we found convenient parking. This year we had absolutely no problem. So we wandered down to the lake and waited for dark. And enjoyed ourselves mightily during that wait.
The university is elsewhere but I did like their use of cloud in this sign.
I loved this tribute to our first people and the depiction of the Wedge-tailed eagle.
I think these are ibis wending their way home.
And a panorama of the scene as the sun set.
Then the lights went on. Starting at the National Art Gallery.
That central panel is new this year and captured some of the people (not me) watching as the illuminations unfolded.
I really enjoyed watching the lights playing on this fountain change colour.
I hope your week is filled with colour and excitement.
Just as beautiful though. And since some people probably skipped, bet it was nice not to have a crowd.
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: On the night we were there the crowds were certainly much smaller - which suited us just fine.
DeleteHi EC - what a fun event - glad it was more peaceful this year ... and you enjoyed your time down at the lake. That wedge-tailed eagle is beautiful ... and an excellent tribute to your first people. Lovely range of photos - thank you ... all the best - Hilary
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: It was delightful. The Night Noodle Markets were gone this year (for obvious reasons) but there was still colour, whimsy and fun. I 'think' that the Wedge-tail is the totem animal for the Nnunawal people on whose country my city was built.
DeleteLots of fun colors. I like the polls.
ReplyDeleteMike: Those poles changed colour too. I have shots of them in different colours as well.
DeleteSo many colors. Love them all.
ReplyDeleteJamie Ghione: We loved it too.
DeleteEverything is beautiful. An area not too far away from me has "Art Walk" on Saturdays during the summer. I'd love to go but never have because it's too hot.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Janie Junebug: In other years Enlighten has been hotter than I like. We have had a cooler than usual summer - which made a huge difference as I wandered round.
DeleteDrinking a cup of Oolong tea and enjoying the view...
ReplyDeleteThank you, EC!
Catarina: Thank you. You will need many of cup before I finish showing the Enlighten delights to you.
DeleteI have bird envy and event envy! Though there are things to see and do here, they are nothing like illuminated buildings.
ReplyDeleteAnne in the kitchen: We went to Enlighten the first time out of curiosity - and now we go back each and every year. Illuminations change the buildings completely.
DeleteWonderful photos
ReplyDeleteThe Blog Fodder: Thank you. I struggled with some of the illuminations because the images scroll past so quickly.
DeleteGreat series and I look forward to the others you have taken :)
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you. Watch this space.
DeleteA wonderful selection, I was walking around the lake with you, as I've done before with the help of Google Earth. A beautiful place.
ReplyDeletelostinimaginaryworlds: I do love the lake and find it soothing - at any time of the day.
DeleteWow, the art gallery is spectacular! And it looks as though you had a lovely evening for your outing. Your sunset photos are beautiful. :-)
ReplyDeleteDiane Henders: The National Art Gallery is a wonderful place anyway and the illuminations just add to the joy. And yes, we did have a lovely evening to wander around in.
DeleteWhat a great event so well captured. I like that real scenes are used rather than just multi coloured patterns.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: I like it too - and many of the holograms are moving pictures which change frequently. It is very, very clever.
DeleteOmg! Wonderful sights and wonderful eye!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Everywhere I looked there were new wonders.
DeleteI'm glad you told me what those puffy things are (actually fountains) of all colors, what a fun post, and such lovely sights. Thank you so much for sharing them all. I look forward to more. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: The fountains look so different bathed in different coloured lights don't they? There will be more. A lot more.
DeleteYou obviously enjoyed your visit greatly - such a lot of lovely photos! The exhibits are very good (especially the wedge-tailed eagle), and I particularly enjoyed the sky shots, and the lake too - you have captured some really beautiful sights, EC. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteP.S. What is the tall skinny cream building beside the lake?
DeleteI look forward to more Enlighten pics in your next post, and I hope that you have a pleasant and comfortable week.
Alexia: The cream building is our carillion. For many years the chiming of the bells was transmitted to the city centre. I miss it. We did have a lovely evening (improved by many less people than we expected).
DeleteWhat a beautiful display of illumination and so colorful.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering about the displays on the buildings if they are hologram or are they painted directly on the building?
I'm looking for the next post.
Hugs,Julia
Julia: They are holograms and frequently a moving display (literally and emotionally). The buildings in the display are significant ones in the city and I think they look better illuminated.
DeleteSuch a lovely event.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing your photographs and look forward to seeing more!
Enjoy your weekend, and have a good new week too.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Thank you. I hope to see another colourful event tomorrow morning. Have a wonderful week.
DeleteThis is lovely, and bring it on. I especially liked on the National Art Gallery, as if it were floating above the street.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: It did look like that didn't it - and is a lovely addition to a building which owes much to the 'brutalist' style of architecture.
DeleteSpectacular. All of them, and well worth the wait. Your city does it up well! I love the colored lights wrapped around the columns too. Now I want wraps of lights in my future garden. Everything is full of vibrant color. Delightful to look at. Thank you for sharing so much beauty with the rest of us. :)
ReplyDeleteRiver Fairchild: I would like those colours lights in the garden too - running up and down trees would be good. This really is a lovely festival - and free. The cost of the fuel to get us there and shoe leather didn't amount to much.
DeleteThat à cheerful event! And your photos are beautiful. We are still in lockdown and all nice events are chancellerie. A rather boring life
Deletehttps://gattinawritercramps.blogspot.com/2021/03/sunday-selection.html ,!
Gattina: It is a very cheerful festival - even when the numbers are down. I am heading over to your Sunday Selections now. Thank you for joining us again.
DeleteThe first photos are all so peaceful, then the lights came on and created wonder. I really like the National Gallery display.
ReplyDeleteRiver: The transformation was wonderful wasn't it? I should have taken a video of the National Gallery Display - it was a rapidly moving treat.
DeleteMe gusto la imagen de las nubes, Te mando un beso
ReplyDeleteJ.P. Alexander: Thank you. I am addicted to skyscapes.
DeleteThese are lovely and I look forward to more and send a hug to go with the kiss from JP Alexander.
ReplyDeletee: Thank you. This is an annual treat for us - and I am very glad to share it. And thank you for the hug - which I reciprocate.
DeleteHeipsan.
ReplyDeleteI like the landscapes and the moon, and the galleria, too. The lights are beautiful. You have had a great adventure.
Hugs
orvokki: Thank you. It was a small adventure - but very welcome.
DeleteA varied array of photos, that is for sure. And an enjoyable array it is.
ReplyDeleteI hope the coming week treats you kindly, EC...take good care. Cuddles to Jazz. :)
Lee: I hope the week is kind to me, to you and to the world. And filled with colour and excitement.
DeleteWonderful pictures--- I was amazed to see a formation of ibis. I fell in love with the murals and lights.
ReplyDeleteBill: I was amazed to see the ibis too - and revelled in the light display.
DeleteSuch a pleasure to look at you photos, very pretty :)
ReplyDeleteNatalia: I am glad.
DeleteGreat pics and fabulous colours in them.
ReplyDeleteaussie aNNie: It is a delightful festival.
DeleteHi! I found your blog via "E". this is beautiful.. I absolutely loved the magical light pillars!! Looking forward to looking at other blog posts :) Sunday greetings from Southern Africa!
ReplyDeletekaren: Welcome and thank you.
DeleteHi EC,
ReplyDeleteSome great photos there.
:o)
Cheers
PM
Plastic Mancunian: Thank you. It was a lovely night.
DeleteIt seems like a wonderful festival, Sue, and I am encouraged to see the acknowledgement of the first nations people. I have obviously been in the wrong places, but in two visits to Australia I have only seen two aboriginal people.
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: It is a wonderful festival. Slowly we are starting to acknowledge our first people - which is long overdue. Our treatment of them and the things that are important to them still needs work. Lots of work. Steps have been taken. Strides are needed.
DeleteDear EC
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos of a beautiful festival. I like the fountains and columns very much.
I look forward to seeing more...
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: Thank you. You may regret encouraging me - there will be more than one Enlighten post to come.
DeleteMy week won’t be as colourful as your day was. So much to take in, EC. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: I expect that your week will be calmer and more natural - both of which have a very real charm of their own.
DeleteSuch breathtaking pictures, and I love them all. Hope that you are doing well! Hugs, RO
ReplyDeleteRO: Thank you. I am ok - how about you?
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhat incredible photos of the Enlighten Festival. The moon behind the clouds really impressed me. You have such a great command of your photos and absolutely STUNNING composition. The nighttime part of the festival is certainly colorful. This is going to be fun to see more of it as you share it from behind your lens, dear.
Bleubeard and Elizabeth: Thank you. I have many, many photos of the moon - most of them failures. Which doesn't stop me trying. Enlighten is very colourful and I delight in it every year.
DeleteSuch amazing photos. It looks like it was a lot of fun. Can’t wait to see more next week. Take care and be safe my friend.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: It was a heap of fun - and much less crowded than other years. You stay safe too please.
DeleteI bet anticipation builds as darkness nears. The Arts Gallery building shape is Oregon similar. I would like to walk the illuminated path in the last photo and be turned many colored!
ReplyDeleteStrayer: If you stood on that path you could be blue, purple or red. You might even turn green...
DeleteThese are great. I really like all the sunset & sky shots. And the lights with their various images - those are fun.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
lissa: I am glad that you enjoyed all the photos - they are very different.
DeleteLove it all. Thanks for showing your wonderful surroindings.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): Thank you. More to come. Quite a lot more.
DeleteI loved all the pictures. What a fun post.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: I am glad - thank you.
DeleteConfess I consider fireworks and Lasershows light pollution; one more one less. Still, my I eyes liked what they saw.
ReplyDeleteAh, and the first cranes were singing when after sunset passing Seanhenge – messengers of spring.
Sean Jeating: I suppose you are right and they are light pollution - though fortunately short lived.
DeleteI hope you enjoyed the fading light at the start of the post more - which owes nothing to our species.
Ha, I did enjoy. Nature is the finest of all artists.
DeleteThe peace of the night.
Sean Jeating: She is indeed the best of artists - and her galleries are superb.
DeleteI am impressed with the colours and lights. But I don’t see many people attending in the pictures. Are they still worried about Covid? I expect that many of us will find it difficult to feel safe in crowds for a while.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are quite right, I find Angela Thirkell’s Barchester novels amusing, even if she is not quite PC and rather dated by now. I read one today where she refers to “dagoes”. Not something she would get away with today, thank goodness.
Friko: There were definitely fewer people attending this year. I suspect part of that is because it is harder to buy food and drink there. There are stalls but you are required to book.
DeleteAngela Thirkell is decidedly dated, but still fun - and certainly a product of her time.
So many wonderful pictures.. especially love those of the illuminations and the moon.
ReplyDeleteHena Tayeb: Thank you. We had a lovely evening.
DeleteA nice tour, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAndrew R. Scott: I am glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteSo beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy selections are over here.
messymimi: Thank you. I have seen and enjoyed your selections.
DeleteWhat a glorious colourful event you went to and I am so glad there is was not crowded for you. Thanks for all the cheery shot, just the thing to cheer me up and looking forward to even omre next week. Have a great week ahead
ReplyDeleteMargaret Birding For Pleasure: I am very happy you liked these splashes of colour - we did too.
DeleteThank you so much. Love these photos and learning more about your country.
ReplyDeleteGlenda Beall: I am not sure that this is a particularly Australian event but we look forward to it every year.
DeleteBelle foto, non conoscevo l'aquila con la coda a cuneo.
ReplyDeleteUn sereno e felice inizio settimana a te.
Giancarlo: The wedge-tailed eagle is native to my country so it is not surprising that you didn't know about it. They are majestic and beautiful birds. Have a wonderful week.
DeleteMy favorite photo is the one of that flock of birds flying in the pale sky.
ReplyDeletegigi-hawaii: I am glad to hear that. I debated including it, but it was part of the evening so I did. An excellent part of the evening.
DeleteYou are genius with your Sunday Selections. Each one of these brought joy as I scrolled through them.
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: Thank you. What a truly lovely thing to say.
DeleteI like birds. They're peaceful, free and wise happy spirits. One flew by my window just now hi fiving me, seriously! Its joined a group of them, buddies likely in the little forest beside us to sing thanks for today.
ReplyDeleteSpacer Guy: I love birds too, and am quite certain that your visitor was high-fiving you.
DeleteEverything is so lovely, Sue. The celebrations you have in your country are always remarkable. You do take such lovely photos and I am so grateful that you share them with us.
ReplyDeleteStarting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: Thank you. My city is renowned as being duller than dish water. I don't agree and am more than happy to share the joy and the wonder.
DeleteDear EC, thank you. I just finished reading "All the Town's talking." (Fannie Flagg) and am feeling somewhat melancholy. She always writes with a light touch about deeply philosophical subjects. And always she leaves me feeling somewhat melancholy because I meet the depths often of loneliness in her books. This one was especially good. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee: Fannie Flag can do that can't she? She gently insinuates uncomfortable ideas and concepts into our heads - where they stay. Look after yourself please, which includes your mental health.
DeleteThe illumintaion or moving art on the wall of the National Art Gallery merged really well into the background as dusk fell. Like a continuous picture from the wall into the sky. The ibis wending home looks like War planes in formation on way to battle.
ReplyDeletekestrel: You are right about the illuminations. You are also (sadly) right about the ibis flight. I hadn't thought of it that way but when I went back and looked at the photo again I could see exactly what you meant.
Deletewow i love the pattern of the sky bird
ReplyDeleteand the purple sky....it's so dramatic...
realy beautiful photos
Gustyanita Pratiwi: Thank you so much.
DeleteOh my gosh yes a lot of photos, but I could have gone for more! It was like day tripping with you into the evening hours, with the gallery photos, right down to the changing of the fountain. When you have beauty to behold you just must share it with us! Enjoy your week, enlightened I am just by these inspiring photos! Take care.
ReplyDelete21 Wits: It is early here and before long I will be heading out the door, hoping to capture yet more beauty and fun - which I will certainly share.
DeleteWhat a wonderful light show.
ReplyDeleteHope your week is filled with soft breezes, energy and good health.
Hugs,
Sandra Cox: It is a wonderful light show. I am endlessly grateful that most of it is free too. Fun for all. And thank you for your wishes. Here's hoping.
DeleteSuper. What an amazing event. I'm so glad you could go and enjoy it. I wonder if my Canberra cousin was there too, I will have to ask her as we have a Zoom planned for this week/
ReplyDeleteShammickite: It is a heap of fun and I do hope you cousin could see at least part of it.
DeleteGreat assortment of photos. I especially like the sun.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog via David's (Travel With Birds). :-)
Anne (cornucopia): Welcome and thank you. I love your avatar (I am a big, big fan of tigers). David's blog is beautiful isn't it? And informative.
DeleteThose sunsets!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are surrounded by such beauty - and it's lovely that you appreciate it!
Jemi Fraser: Thank you. I am a beauty addict and, if I had to sum myself up in one word, that word would be appreciator.
DeleteWow! You've shared some beautiful sights. Looking through your photographs made me wonder whether you'd like the slideshow put together by FIAP for International Women's Day. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to share the link here, if not and you're interested you could search for FIAP Celebration of World Women's Day 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMSlShKYrE
ReplyDeleteKim: Thank you so much. The link works well. In a brief look I loved that it featured young women, old women, glamorous women and those who have probably never known glamour. I have bookmarked it and will savour it in full later.
DeleteI am so glad you were able to attend this year and that it was able to be done safely. It looks like such a magical event. Love all the lights- and the sunset and water were lovely too. I am amazed at all the work that must go into such an event. Looking forward to more pictures. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
DMS ~Jess: I was very glad that the festival came back - and that very corners seem to have been cut. The work involved is phenomenal - and for such a brief event.
DeleteWhat a journey this is. I will be back to see more. Those ibis in flight................
ReplyDeleteJ C: The ibis were generous icing on the cake weren't they?
DeleteTruly, truly beautiful EC!!!!!! I went back and looked at your photos twice!!! LOL! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMagic Love Crow: I wish you could have been here to share the fun. Big hugs to you too.
DeleteAn interesting read! I got intrigued to read about what the event was all about. The pictures used are also so colourful.
ReplyDeleteMonica Singh: Welcome and thank you. Enlighten has become an annual treat for us.
DeleteThis certainly seems to be an incredible event… appears all magical and fairy tale to me. Some great captures playing with nature there. The illuminating building, the colorful pillars and the fountains (looked as if some delicate wings of birds) are nothing short of magic. The aura created is simply serene! Waiting for some more.
ReplyDeleteRohan: Welcome and thank you. It is a wonderful festival and one I look forward to each year. There are several more Sunday Selections posts featuring Enlighten up now.
Delete