My best of 2013

Having a look around on twitter and other such social network sites it seems to be a trend for people to do a post about their best work from the previous year.  I have been thinking about this for a while and have come to the conclusion that I am going to add my own version to the legions out there.

Now I must say that I am not doing this as some sort of glorification of me, a sort of "look I'm amazing and I'm going to tell you why".  I think this is going to be the first step in a yearly appraisal where I can look at the pictures I have made, select the ones I liked the most, articulate why and through this process grow as a photographer as I identify methods that have worked and try to improve upon them.

So I hope you enjoy these pictures and my babble as to why I enjoyed them and think they were the best of 2013.  Enjoy.

A Jetty on Lake Wakatipu

Front and center.  This is by far and away the best shot I took in 2013 and there are a number of reasons for this.  This shot i had a vision of in my minds eye and I managed to execute that vision to a tee.  We actually drove past the location on the way to Glenorchy outside of Queenstown and as soon as I saw it I immediately mentally bookmarked it in my head to stop on the way back and photograph it.  I knew the water had to be smoothed out with a ND filter and I wanted a really calm, cool feel to the picture.  I believe this really came through in the final edit and I'm absolutely stoked with the final result.

Sydney's Opera House

Here's another shot from 2013 that I really liked.  I went across to Sydney for the third British and Irish Lions test match and took some time out to photograph the famous opera house.  I had been to Sydney before but with a smaller point and shoot camera and much less knowledge than I have now!  Using some tips picked up from watching Jeff Cable's night photography seminar at B and H I was able to get this picture much sharper than normal and I really like the result

Rangitoto from Narrowneck Beach

This was another planned and pre-visualized shot that turned out pretty well.  This is one of the loveliest little beaches in Auckland and gives wonderful views of Rangitoto, the dormant volcano that is synonymous with Auckland.  The rocks provide some pretty good foreground interest and this is one of the first times I have managed to successfully place foreground interest into a landscape shot.  I think this shot signaled a significant step forward in my Landscape photography and I am really pleased with the results I got here.

Auckland Traffic

My first ever experiments with slow shutter speeds and what really sparked more interest in my photography was shooting light trails in Perth with a friend in 2010.  Since then i have often indulged myself again in shooting light trails.  This is a shot i took of the motorway near our apartment.  If you know Auckland traffic you could only wish it moved as freely and quickly as this picture suggests.  This motorway is often a slow moving parking lot at rush hour, especially the lines showing the rear lights!!  I love how you can see the indicators of cars changing lanes interspersed in the red lights.

So there you have it - my four best shots of 2013.  If you have stuck around till now I hope you have enjoyed the read and my thoughts on the pictures.  Hopefully you will have seen a significant growth in quality and substance of my photography when we reach this point next year!

Thanks for dropping by

Zanzibar - Night Market Magic

When I have a camera in my hands I have the ability to capture something and hold onto it and more importantly I can share what I have captured with people, people who mean a lot to me, people who I have never met before and anyone else who may be interested in taking a look.  When you couple those facts with travel you have the ability to capture and share some pretty special experiences.

2012 saw us travel to Zanzibar and it is a truly captivating island.  The main hub/capital of the island is Stone Town and is steeped in history being one of the last active slave trading posts.  There are sombre reminders of that dark time in the world's history like this memorial.

Slave Memorial, Stone Town - ISO 100, 18mm, f/10, 1/50sec

Thankfully though that is behind us now and Stone Town is an amazing and vibrant place to visit, with one of the best experiences in my opinion being the night market.

Zanzibar Night Market - ISO 1600, 18mm, f/5.6, 0.3sec

Every evening in the main square this market is set up and comes to life with some of the most fantastic food and sights.  The vibrancy of this place is amazing and a stark contrast to the past.  I love how the slow shutter speed of the shot above  has given a blur to some of the people, it really adds a snese of hustle and bustle to the picture.

Seafood galore - ISO 1600, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/40sec

This is the standard fare, local fisherman will display the days catch and you choose what you want which they then cook on an open coal fire and then you negotiate the price.  I love the photo above, I look at it and I am taken right back to that market.  A lovely balmy night, gas lamps hissing and tantalising smells all around you.

Donna and our chefs - ISO 1600, 18mm, f/8.0, 1/40sec

What I love about this picture is it shows how much has changed for the good in Zanzibar.  I believe that at heart we all want to interact with each other and share part of ourselves, be it in conversation or a simple exchange like over this fire place.  I enjoy having the ability to capture these interactions.  This night in Zanzibar will always be with me and having pictures to refer back to and loose myself in tugs at something inside me, it is a great feeling and I hope that sharing these pictures allows you to have a glimpse into that evening as well.

Thanks for dropping by.

The day I witnessed a wildebeest cheat death

In view of the changing nature of my blog I figured my first non-New Zealand story better be a good one so here is a story from a trip to the Masai Mara with a set of photographs I am pretty pleased with.

2012 saw us heading off to Africa so I could show my partner my roots and we decided that a visit to the great plains of East Africa would be a great way to start off.  Our first stop was the Masai Mara in Kenya where we hoped to bear witness to one of the greatest migrations on the planet and all that went with it.  With the potential wildlife photography bonanza in mind I treated myself to my first big telephoto zoom lens a Sigma 150-500mm.  Armed and ready to go I could not predict what Africa would unveil to us on our second morning there.

About 30 minutes into our morning drive we came across these two chaps:

The Brothers - ISO 800; 289mm; f/6.3; 1/400sec

An unbelievable and romantically East African scene....... although off to the right there were about 40 matatus (mini buses) with their clusters of tourists popping out of the open roof tops!! Such is life on the great plains in modern day Africa.  In attendance was also a decent sized heard of wildebeest and you just felt something was going to happen.

Sure enough after preening and posing for the cameras the cheetah threaded their way through the attendant tourist vehicles and began their appraisal of the heard, looking for a victim.  It was so bizarre to watch the wildebeest standing watching the cats, as if paralysed by fear, but I suppose it is better to keep your enemy in sight.

Sure enough though the action exploded and it is quiet something how an intense moment like this can explode into life out of nothing.  The cheetah pushed and probed the heard looking for their spot and when they saw it they struck:

The Attack - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/640sec

This young wildebeest was singled out for breakfast and the daily struggle for life in the wild began to play out in front of the lens.  I love how the plover flying along is also in focus, pure coincidence that it was in the same plane as the main subject to come out sharp at a relatively shallow depth of field

As the photographer this whole scene seemed to take place in slow motion for me.  Our matatu driver Alfons produced the most skilled manoeuvring in a mini van on rough terrain I have ever, and probably will ever, had the privilege to witness.  The entire time I had straight tunnel vision (maybe it was due to the viewfinder) and the only things I could see were the cheetah and the wildebeest.  Keeping a steady smooth pan and some how controlling my breath I was reeling off shot after shot:

Final Impact - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec

With the exemplary cross field tackle shown above the cheetah brought the youngster down and part of you felt sad for the wildebeest as you knew what was to come next........ or so I thought!!

The Cavalry Arrives - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec

Mom suddenly decided now was an opportune time to intervene in the piece and intervene she did!

Saviour - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec

And right in the middle of the intervention is when my buffer decided it was time to say it was full and that would be all!!!  Extremely frustrating but a great incentive to one day upgrade to a better camera body with a higher buffer.

The final shot here is the cheetah that engaged in the chase ruminating on the meal it had lost and wondering what the next move for the day should be.

The End - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec

This was a truly amazing experience and one that will live with me forever.  I am so glad that I have a passion for photography as it has allowed me to document these moments and capture them forever; but most importantly it has given me the opportunity to share this wonderful experience with all of you.  I think that is the greatest gift photography allows us to give - the ability to capture and share moments with people.

I hope you enjoyed this story, if you are interested in seeing the full sequence of shots from that morning you can see them here on my flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76192039@N05/sets/72157631959535144/

Thanks so much for coming by

Happy New Years

Happy New Years everyone!  Hope you all had a great one and spent it with people who are important to you.  Here is the view we had off our balcony as New Zealand welcomed in 2014.

Skytower Welcomes 2014 - ISO 100; 21mm; f/8.0; 32 seconds

Been thinking alot about this blog over the holiday season and I think I am going to use it differently to how I originally intended.  Initially my vision was for this to be strictly about New Zealand but as I have started feeling my way into photography with a wee bit more purpose I think it would be better served as being an outlet or a window into my experiences and thoughts.  Consequently there are going to be posts that are not strongly rooted in New Zealand.  I am going to keep the name as it is for now and then when inspiration strikes it may change.

Anyhow just a heads up so when decidedly none New Zealand stuff appears it is not out of left field!

Thanks for dropping by!