Oct
19
2017
Notice the young flower in the beak!
On another trip to Wellington. I find it the easiest place to chase Tuis! They seem much more tame in Wellington, and allow one to come quite close.
Jul
22
2017Had a chance to travel to Switzerland then to Italy. Just been reminded how hot Italy can get in peak summer in June! It was over 30C everyday. In the main cities I stopped on this trip, namely Milan, Florence and Rome, there was a heightened sense of vulnerability to terrorism. Most of the large Cathedrals had armed soldiers forming part of the security. These cities are packed with tourists. Nevertheless, if one wants to find peace and and reflective moment to pray in the Churches and Cathedrals, it is still possible.
Armed soldiers outside the Milan Duomo
Sep
13
2016Spending a few days in Wellington catching up with friends and a bit R n R……. weather turned bad! It went from spring back to winter, and it has been windy and wet. Luckily, on the odd occasion, I managed a few photo outings.
No chance to chase Tuis (a kiwi native bird) as originally planned. Sigh!
On a dark, cloudy night…. and it was mysterious …
Sep
07
2016This is not the first time i travelled on the ferry. The trip from Picton, through Queen Charlotte Sound, and the Cook Straight is full of photo opportunities when the weather is right!
Taken from the ferry
Not Strictly Wellington, but the bottom of the North Island. Windy Bottom!
Jul
17
2016Had a couple of weeks in Australia. ‘Seed-Knee’ is indeed a beautiful city. After Sydney, it was Noosa again.
Coming from NZ, I could not help noticing that there are more species of wild life, and especially birds, in Australia. The birds (feathered variety!) are definitely more colourful that what we have in NZ! Jealous, jealous…..
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Sep
24
2015
I was hoping to complement the collection of photos on this site with those taken in the North Island on my recent trip. However, the weather was against me, so there were only a few good days for photography.
One small town in the Waikato tickled me. Just like the town of Bulls near Palmerston North (which have played with the theme of “bulls’), Tirau seems to have a theme too: Corrugated Iron! I am not sure how corrugated iron is related to the town, but there are many artistic representation of buildings and sculptures made out of corrugated iron dotted around the town.
(will slowly start to post some photos soon)
Aug
31
2015I was at Mosgiel recently and visted a few places. When fine weather wasforecast for Queenstown, i took a detour there just for a photo opportunity: i’ve never struck fine weather at Queenstown before! It was indeed a magnificent day.
On the way there there were many photo ops, but stopped at only half of them.
Having lost the old Christchurch to the earthquakes….Dunedin looks impressive
Jul
22
2015Perfect condition as far as the sky was concerned. It just snowed, and the ‘high’ was hovering over the country so no cloud, and light pollution was minimal at Hanmer SPrings. Problem was…… it was minus 5C!.
Yep, Noise is a problem! Cold is another one!. This shot is not the best, but it gave me a chance to experiment with stacking 3 images taken on high ISO. I actually did 15s live-stacking (LiveComp) for 43 minutes of a star-trail of the same shot, but after standing around for that time at minus 5C, I somehow pressed the wrong button, so the image was not saved after showing up on the Live view all those time. Aaaaargh!
I have just investigated…… need a Nikon 810A! Time to get a Lotto ticket!
Milky way over Hanmer SPrings
Jul
11
2015Winter is here, and in Christchurch, we’ve had a few weeks and days of freeze. Last night I explored a bit of astro, since a “high” is hovering above the country. It was freezing cold when I tried to get a star trail above the city. The temperature was about 0 degrees centigrade, and the city was covered with a layer of fog, but from the port-hills, it was perfect condition. I was going to do a composite of 2 + hour shots (of 20 seconds), but after an hour, an aeroplane was about to cross right in front of the shot, so I stopped it at just over an hour. I also discovered that I was slightly out of focus though it is only noticeable at 1:1.
Here’s the first effort
May
31
2015Every face tells a story. Some people have a noble and majestic face, some have a lived face, some have a mystery behind their face. I have always wanted people who would pose for me so that I can ‘play’ with the light to highlight certain features. Mostly people are shy…… Only managed a few, and often without control of the lighting.
Joe McAskill once posed for me – it was easier to ask when he owed me a favour for cutting his hair!. I’m glad he did. His is one of those I regard as a ‘noble’ face (thanks to my handiwork with his hairstyle? !!)
Born in the Hebrides, Scotland, and lived is last years in New Zealand. Many a stories he could tell. He was a lad when the shipwreck captured in the film “Whiskey Galore” happened at his very home. May he rest in peace.
