My wife and I took a lower North Island tiki tour last year to visit relatives and to try and explore places we hadn’t been to. This we found on the way from Napier to Ohakune (all because I wanted to visit an abandoned prison that had been demolished days before we got there.... thems the breaks!). We drove past this on the newer bridge but halfway up the hill I told Sylvia my ever so patient wife, we’d have to turn back, I couldn’t resist trying another ultra long exposure! I knew it would work the minute I set up, the clouds were perfect, enough speed in them and enough blue in the sky to be interesting. While processing the image I tried desaturating it and really liked the look and feel this gave the image. Normally I’d hate shooting with the shadows we had present this day but I like the balance it gives to the right side of the bridge.
We loved this place! Such an amazing old walled city, so much history, such character. So many alleyways and buildings to shoot! I’d never experienced such old buildings before, touching the walls you couldn’t help but think how many people had done the exact same thing in the exact same spot for the last several hundred years. A humbling experience for someone from such a new country. Yes we have history in NZ but not on the scale of some areas of Europe. I just love the textures and feeling to the walls found around the historic city here.
By far the most interesting places for photography I visited in Paris. I fell in love with this bridge. I first saw it in the movie “Inception” and had loved the look of it. I knew when we made it to Paris I’d have to shoot it. The symmetry, the contrast, the material it’s constructed from, the lead in lines - all of it adds up to one heck of a spot. I must have spent hours here walking back and forth just exploring and looking at it before even attempting a shot. Waiting patiently for the right pedestrian to walk by. I love the gentleman’s outfit and once processed as a black and white image it all came together.
A stunning building and some amazing history inside. A day just isn’t enough to explore it all. I loved the mix of old vs new with the exterior of the building and the black and white edit really set this image off. I managed to convince my wife to sit in for the picture which helped add a sense of scale to the large glass conservatory.
One of the most inspiring places I visited in Paris. I spent a lot of time photographing this and the Eiffel Tower. I’d had an idea of wanting to shoot this as a long exposure since I’d first decided on a visit to France. It meant that no matter how heavy the traffic would be (it’s a 4/5 lane roundabout how would it not have heavy traffic in it?!) I’d get a shot similar to how I saw it in my head. Several different vantage points were sampled but this one stood out of the set when it came time to edit. Vive Paris! I’ll be back for you soon!
Heading down towards Thames on the west side of the inner harbour there is a little spot called Whakatiwai. This is from the entrance to the boat ramp and mussel farm operation. An old 1950s wooden-hulled minesweeper has been scuttled and used as a breakwall for the harbour entrance. Quite dilapidated now and weather beaten, it has a huge amount of character which makes for some great images. It’s also a great place to come and shoot astrophotography earlier in the season or a sunrise if you stay late enough after the astrophotography!
A new fancy set of lights was installed on the harbour bridge. Used in conjunction with radio broadcasts, it can play music in sync with the light show. A good friend and I decided we would brace the crowds and try to get some images from the opening night. It took a solid hour or more to park up and find a good vantage point from Birkenhead. Wading through oyster fields and mud on the foreshore we found a nice secluded area and stayed put for the majority of the light show. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing the next one I may just leave a little earlier to avoid the parking calamities!
The local school is quite modern and I had a few hours downtime during a school holiday period. I’d read about a stacking technique for making ultra long exposure so was keen to give it a try and the clouds were perfect for the style of shot I was after. Running around looking for interesting angles and shapes I shot quite a few but these four images are my favourite. Some colour some black and white and while the technique wasn’t perfect I was hooked. Time to really sink my teeth in and work on this style of image some more.
The local school is quite modern and I had a few hours downtime during a school holiday period. I’d read about a stacking technique for making ultra long exposure so was keen to give it a try and the clouds were perfect for the style of shot I was after. Running around looking for interesting angles and shapes I shot quite a few but these four images are my favourite. Some colour some black and white and while the technique wasn’t perfect I was hooked. Time to really sink my teeth in and work on this style of image some more.
The local school is quite modern and I had a few hours downtime during a school holiday period. I’d read about a stacking technique for making ultra long exposure so was keen to give it a try and the clouds were perfect for the style of shot I was after. Running around looking for interesting angles and shapes I shot quite a few but these four images are my favourite. Some colour some black and white and while the technique wasn’t perfect I was hooked. Time to really sink my teeth in and work on this style of image some more.
The local school is quite modern and I had a few hours downtime during a school holiday period. I’d read about a stacking technique for making ultra long exposure so was keen to give it a try and the clouds were perfect for the style of shot I was after. Running around looking for interesting angles and shapes I shot quite a few but these four images are my favourite. Some colour some black and white and while the technique wasn’t perfect I was hooked. Time to really sink my teeth in and work on this style of image some more.
I love this place! Something about industrial machinery I like trying to find interesting new ways of photographing it! I’ve shot here several times and I’m still not sick of it, it’s also another great astrophotography location towards the end of the season too.
I’ve been here a few times but on a good weekend it’s packed! Thankfully this was a weekday mission on a day off, we had the place to ourselves. Continuing with the theme of ultra long exposures this is a stacked image. I’ve been enjoying shooting these kinds of images as it gives me time to watch the scene with my eyes (as the camera is timed to shoot a series of images continually) instead of looking through the camera. It makes a nice change that’s for sure!
This spot can be quite stunning after some heavy rainfall. An overflow spillway for the dam in Auckland’s South West area. It has a great feel to it and an interesting shape. Quite easy to access for those not keen on walking too far too! For this shot I took multiple images and stacked them to create the super silky sky and water moving over the dam. The black and white edit really brings out the contrast in the dam walls.