Perth at Night - The Haunted House

On Friday night, a group of us went out to take some night photos at an abandoned house north of Perth.



There are a couple of stories about this place that suggest it may be haunted, but we didn't see any evidence of that this night. It is however, fairly well run down and there's a fairly constant stream of visitors, some just wanting to look around, some wanting to skate in the empty swimming pool and some come to paint on the walls. Of course, there are some who come to drink, take drugs or trash the place, but we didn't encounter any of those while we were there.

There is literally no ambient light here at night, except for the moonlight. that means that all of these shots were taken with longer exposures, with the camera mounted on a tripod. They also all used off camera flash for additional lighting, varying from a couple of low powered pops for the close up work to running around firing flashes from a number of different angles trying to illuminate every nook and cranny (and even then, still missing some).



We're already planning more visits to this location, as the constantly evolving nature of the artwork is going to ensure that there will be new, interesting things to photograph for a long time to come.

You can check out the full set of photos from the night shoot at the Haunted House in the galleries over at LandBarge.com.

Tumbler.

Without a doubt, when it comes to movie cars, some of the coolest cars come from the Batman franchise. The latest in this line up is the Tumbler, from the Christopher Nolan directed films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.



Only four full size vehicles were built for the movie, but at least one collector from Japan was determined to get his hands on a Tumbler. In order to do so, he enlisted the help of a couple of guys from Perth, Western Australia, best known to many for their replicas of the Interceptor from the Mad Max films and if you head over to their website, you can check them out for yourselves.

Building this replica has been a four year project for Grant Hodgson and Gordon Hayes of Mad Max Unlimited, and now that it's almost over, they have no plans to make another Tumbler. While they've certainly proven it's possible, the complex panel work involved has been a lot more time consuming than expected, although not without it's rewards. The Tumbler replica has already been featured in one national magazine, and will soon be featured in one of the biggest modified car magazines in Australia. It's too late to catch a glimpse of this car on Australian soil, as it's leaving for Japan very soon, but it will be on display in a privately owned museum over there, along with some of Grant and Gordon's other work. If you speak Japanese, or just want to look at the pictures, here's the website of the museum that commissioned this replica.

Spotto a 57 Chev, A Blown 57 2 Door

This black 57 Chevrolet sedan was recently spotted at the Perth Motorplex. It was first noticed at a Whoop Ass Wednesday, but unfortunately did not pass scrutiny for the night, partly due to the large blower poking out of the bonnet, a definite no-no on a Wednesday night, due to noise restrictions.

After some work to make the car compliant, it was spotted again amongst almost 200 entrants at the Motorplex's Ford vs Holden event on ANZAC Day, where the supercharger doesn't present a problem. Some things that caught my attention on this 57 included the SuperChiller water to air intercooler sitting under the blower, the MSD EFI system controlling fuel and spark and some of the biggest rear tyres I've seen on a street car in a long time. The interior is a perfect blend of classic styling with some modern touches, including a full set of AutoMeter gauges and a B&M shifter.



The car was recently imported from Maryland in the United States, where it had been street registered and driven. It's also sporting a roll cage and has apparently run sub 10 second times in the past. On it's first and only pass at the Ford vs Holden event, the car ran 10.97s @ 128mph, with a launch that suggests there's still more to come from this black beauty, following the pass, the black 57's owner indicated his intentions to do the required work to bring the car up to ANDRA spec so that he can race again next season.