Series: Hobsons Days
Hobsons Days is an (ongoing) series of documentary portraits – of houses, cars, buildings and life in general – taken on the streets of the City of Hobsons Bay by photographer Campbell Mattinson.
Bus stop at Williamstown Beach.
A couple walk along the esplanade at Williamstown Beach.
Photo of Hosking and Son Electrician in Effingham Street, Newport.
Photo of the Hot Wings Charcoal Chicken shop on the corner of Ferguson Street and Melbourne Road, Williamstown.
Photo of the shops in Hall Street, Newport. A feature of these shops is a pink building and a tattoo parlour.
TiC Retail Accessories, Blackshaws Road, Altona North, 2022.
Portrait of the Pantelis service station on the corner of Yarra Street and Douglas Parade, Williamstown.
Blackshaws Road, Altona North, 2022.
Williamstown Beach carpark.
A beautiful weatherboard house in Civic Parade, Altona.
Hatt Reserve, Williamstown Esplanade.
"Entry". A house in Yarra Street, Williamstown with bushes growing over the entrance. Copyright Campbell Mattinson.
Anchorage Avenue, Williamstown.
Ford Falcon, Williamstown South.
Hit of cricket. Hatt Reserve, Williamstown.
Shapes. Thorpe Street, Newport.
Portrait of The Orange Jeep. Parked on the corner of The Strand, Williamstown.
The House at the end of Maddox Road. This house, pictured in early 2022, was part of the fishing village on the estuary side of the Grey Reserve, Williamstown. This house has since been removed.
Challis Street shops, 2025.
Altona House.
Parking on Waterfront Place, Williamstown North.
Two older men with tanned skin on a beach. One man is sitting on rocks wearing a white sun hat and swimming trunks. The other man is standing in the shallow water, shirtless, wearing a red cap and dark shorts. They are near the water's edge with clear water and some rocks and seaweed around.
Paisley Drain, Williamstown North.
Two men on a pier by the ocean, one shirtless wearing swimming trunks and goggles, holding out a smartphone toward the other man, who is dressed in a dark t-shirt and shorts, with a cloudy sky overhead.
I often stop and look at a house, as it stands, in the course of its life. It could be old, it could be new, it could be run down, it could be anything. I find all kinds of houses, in all kinds of repair, beautiful, in their own way. The only time houses are deliberately photographed though, in general, is when they’re ‘for sale’, or if a builder or architect wants to document their work. I decided to start photographing houses for the love of them. For the dignity of them. I started photographing them, basically, out of respect.
I’m a portrait photographer. I started taking “portraits” of houses.
I also saw, around where I live, a great number of houses being demolished. With some of these houses then it was a “last chance to see” moment. I’d see a house standing in beautiful light and think, If I don’t capture it now, I might never get the chance again.
I took a photo of a house in Altona and, within a couple of weeks, it was demolished. I’ve looked at this photo a lot since; it was old and overgrown, but I’ve developed an affection for it, even though it’s now gone. It feels as though it was a privilege to capture it, sitting there in the sun, on what turned out to be its death bed.
When I first started taking pictures of houses, I was often frustrated when cars (or people) were in the way of the shot.
I slowly realised that cars weren’t in fact marring the shot; they were making it.
I often now deliberately include cars in these portraits of houses and buildings. It seems natural to include people too, if they walk into frame.
This is how The Last House Standing photographic series came to be. The Last House Standing is a portrait series of houses, cars and people in their landscape. I made this series for the love of it. I find these buildings and cars, these lines, these colours and these textures, exquisite.
The corner of Rosshire & Basil
Every morning of my primary school years I walked past this house. It was on the corner; its side fence faced west, and copped the late sun. Until recently this house was rented by a young family. The front yard was always strewn with toys, balls, trucks, spades and plastic cars. The rent was $450 per week. I knew they’d moved out when the curtains were all left open, and toys on the lawn disappeared. A few days later the services to the house were cut; the water, the electricity, the gas. The wire barricades went up. Three townhouses will go on this block, at $750 per week, per townhouse.
Effingham Street Electrician, Newport
Photo of the Hosking & Son Electrician building in Effingham Street, Newport. This Newport building would make an excellent film or photography location.
