For years, Old Melbourne Gaol was one of those places I returned to whenever a new lens found its way into my camera bag. Its dim corridors, iron staircases, and weathered bluestone walls made the perfect testing ground — a place where light fell unevenly through narrow windows, and every corner carried shadows thick with history. I would wander through the cells and archways like a quiet ritual, examining how each new piece of glass interpreted the old prison’s atmosphere.
But time changes habits. Somewhere along the way, I realised I had gathered all the lenses I truly needed, and my visits to the gaol slowly faded into memory. It has been years since I last stood beneath those cold ceilings with a camera in hand.
This frame was captured with the Laowa 9mm f/5.6 — an absurdly wide piece of glass that bends the world into something almost surreal. The perspective feels wild and untamed, stretching the gaol’s architecture into dramatic curves and exaggerated lines, as though the building itself is leaning inward to whisper stories from another century. The distortion gives the image a strange energy, turning the old prison into something dreamlike and slightly unsettling, where stone and shadow seem to warp at the edges of reality.
Sony A7RV
Laowa 9mm f5.6
Linking Black and white community
