Hi and welcome to my new blog.
With the start of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to launch my new blog. It will not be a daily occurrence for a few reasons: one I’m to busy to publish something every day, and secondly I’m sure all of you are just as busy and would not find time to read it.
By visiting me here you will find inspiring images, technical details, interesting articles and be kept up to date with workshops, exhibitions and anything else I think may benefit and help you with your own photographic exploits.
So where to start? Well seeing as we are entering a new year I thought I would look back over the last 12 months and pick some of my favourite images and comment on them in order to give you some sort of insight into why I take certain Images. I’ve taken many images over this time period and it has been very hard to pick my favorites. I’m only going to share 6 of them at this time, as I’m working on my next book and I don’t want to show too many images that will be in it before it’s published, otherwise there will be no surprises left for you when it comes out!
The first image “Sunrise at Miranda” I thought would be a great image to start with, showing a new day as we enter a new year.
This Sunrise at Miranda was taken early October and only lasted a few minutes as the Sun managed to show itself through the many cloud banks. I wanted to show the amazing colours that nature can conjure up at this time of day, and what photographers refer to as the ‘Golden Hour’. I used the stream not only as a lead-in line but wanted the golden reflection to cut through the dark foreground and add some foreground interest. EOS 5DII, EF 70-200mm f2.8 – 1/100 sec at 102mm, f11, ISO 400 tripod.
Staying at Miranda – these two love birds are just beautiful.
In the mating season Pied Stilts perform an amazing mating ritual that is just beautiful to watch. This is the moment the male elegantly dismounts from the female. I would like to say that the connection between the two birds is human-like, but to be honest, when you see them together with their intimacy and sense of companionship, they could give humans a few lessons. EOS 1DIII, EF 500mm f4 +1.4x – 1/1000 sec at f8, ISO 400 hand held.
‘Greetings’ as two Yellow-Eyed Penguins welcome each other.
I love penguins, and one shot I was really after was to capture two Yellow-Eyed Penguins greeting each other. Here I managed to get a shot of them seemingly shaking hands, or should I say flippers. These highly endangered penguins were photographed down in the Caitlins. EOS 1DIII, EF 500mm f4 +1.4x -1/3200 sec at f8, ISO 400 hand held.
It was the texture that grabbed my attention in this next shot.
This was one of those grab images when you’re just driving along and something grabs your attention. This was taken about 4pm down in the South Island; the Sun was quite harsh as it battled with the dark grey clouds, but it was the textures of the grasses that caught my eye as I passed this small valley, with the dark clouds looking threatening overhead. The dead grass areas were quite bright and the green flaxes were quite reflective so I added a poloriser to help with the detail. The small stream worked as a perfect lead-in to the rest of the scene. I wouldn’t normally take landscapes at this time of day but in this case I feel it works. EOS 5DII, EF 16-35mm f2.8 – 1/60 sec at 16mm, ISO 200 hand held.
Trees in the mist.
There’s nothing greater than being out in the early morning mist as the Sun rises. This was taken at the ‘Blue Duck Station’ in the North Island one misty morning, as I was setting off after the illusive and endangered Blue Duck or Whio. I loved the way the light was catching the taller trees, draped in moss as they towered over the rest of the canopy. EOS 1DIII, EF 500mm f4 +1.4x – 1/250 sec at f8, ISO 500 hand held.
This image always brings a smile to my face.
For my last image, one that always brings a smile to my face, is this one of a Spotted Shag. Taken down in Kaikoura early after sunrise , I spotted (excuse the pun) this beautiful male Shag in full plumage soaking up the warm rays. I took a few shots and then, as if on cue, he started to have a scratch. EOS 1DIII, EF 500mm f4 +1.4x – 1/1600 sec at f9, ISO 400 hand held.
Thank you for taking time to read my first blog, I hope you found it interesting and enjoyable and maybe made you feel like going out and taking some shots of your own. Hopefully you will sign up for notifications of future posts by email or via my facebook page, where I will place a link to all new blog posts. Well, I’m off to the South Island in the morning, so bye for now.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
