13/8/2010 130 present: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Jolimont

ID: 20706
Photographer: Susan Hunt
Copyright: library does not own image (image not on public access)
Org ID: Snapped130pres

Description:

Winner of the Snapped: Melbourne past and present photography competition 2010.

Please contact Melbourne Library Service if you would like to enquire about obtaining permission to reproduce this photograph.

Judges' comments:
The photographer captures the changes in the MCG, the changes of fashion, the change of season, even the change of sport. By closely following the wide format of the old picture and the view just over the heads of the spectators, the photographer draws us into the unchanging Mecca of sporting arenas, the tension of the game and the absorption of the crowd. With them, we are perched in anticipation on the edge of our seat, ready to leap up with a roar as our team seals another goal, or cracks another six!

Susan's comments:The main impetus for entering Snapped was the opportunity to exhibit one of my grandfather's panoramic photographs. I had recently purchased a digital camera with a panoramic facility, enabling a photo which would match Grandfather's format.

My grandfather William Hunt (1873 -1940) was a prolific amateur photographer, with his own dark room. Some of his photos were bought and published by newspapers of the day.

Grandfather had a number of cameras, one being a Kodak panoramic camera, which we still have. It is a simple box with a lens which rotates through 180 degrees exposing an 11 inch-wide negative. His panoramic photos are of significant sites and events in Melbourne and Sorrento in the 1930s. However, with this MCG photo, we have only an original print – the photo was published, and the negative kept by the newspaper. Grandfather's handwriting on the back states:

Melbourne Cricket Ground 19 Nov 32
England v Australia
Australia batting
Larwood bowling to Woodfall

The football game (Collingwood v Essendon on Friday 13 August) contrasts with Grandfather's photo, and highlights the evolution of the MCG - from the individual pavilions of the 1930s around the oval, to its current unified colosseum-like space, with games at night under lights. The photo is taken from as close as possible to where my grandfather's was taken.

Please Contact:

Melbourne Library Service

Image held by Melbourne Library Service
Phone: (03)9658 9700
Email: library@melbourne.vic.gov.au
Website: Melbourne Library Service