Flower Power

The South Is. has some of the most beautiful scenery. We saw lupins in flower along the side of the road almost everywhere we went. Lake Tekapo where these photos were taken had the most lupins I have ever seen in one place. The photos really don't do them justice - they just seemed to go on forever. Fields of pink, blue, purple and white flowers.

The Tui

For ages I had been chasing tui around with my camera. They land on the trees outside our house but by the time I get the camera out they are gone - sitting just out of reach of the lens calling out to me. I have even gone places where there were lots of tui in the trees thinking I just need to get close enough to get the perfect shot. However if they are in a fast moving mood that perfect shot is not going to be achieved.

So I was really surprised on a trip to the Auckland zoo, when I was NOT looking for tui, to see one sitting posing for the camera and luckily I had it ready. I finally had my perfect tui image and I didn't even have to go hunting to find it. These photos were taken while waiting for the rest of our party to catch us up and it was a sheer fluke that we were even at that spot waiting. We were not in an avairy, or enclosure of any kind, these birds are free flying natives of New Zealand.

New Zealand Scenery

We went on a road trip around the South Island of New Zealand, through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I am not really into landscape photography but I certainly gave it a try on this trip. This first image was shot from Knight's Point on the West coast. There was a lookout offering some stunning views.


We spent a bit of time at the glaciers, though the weather made it difficult for us to get much in the way of photos. We couldn't get to the Fox glacier because the road was closed due to slips and floods, but we did manage to get to the lookout at Franz Josef glacier. There had been huge amounts of rain just prior to our arrival so there was no way to safely get across to the glacier itself from where we were. I was happy to photograph it from a distance.

Multiple Exposures

I have run out of recent images to post here today, so I have delved back into my archives and found something interesting. These photos were taken at the old railway tunnel at the north end of Upper Hutt. The park surrounding it is called Tunnel Gulley for obvious reasons. I might have to head up there again soon as I am sure the bush will have some interesting fungi about now.

Anyway, these photos are of my husband walking in the tunnel. Multiple exposure images all done in camera. No photoshop cut and pasting in these images. It was achieved using the tripod, a long exposure and a black card to put over the lens when he moved positions in the tunnel. These were about 10 second shots which allowed for two moves (three different positions). They give the erie impression of ghostly people walking through the tunnel.

It's a simple but fun exercise to do and one I plan to have another go at. I would like to try it with two models at once, perhaps children playing to show a bit of movement as well. I can see it would be an awesome place to shoot a wedding photo too. If you can get your head around the mud that seems to always be there.

Family Portrait

Our living/dining room can be turned into an impromptu studio in about ten minutes flat. Furniture gets pushed to the sides of the room and the backdrop stand comes out. I have several different backdrops I use but I tend to favour either the white roll of paper or the black calico. I feel that they are the two backdrops that will never date.











Last Sunday we had family turn up for a portrait session. I have worked with Chelsea in the past and she is very photogenic. She wanted a photo with her mother for Mother's Day. I never just shoot one photo when the studio is set up, if we have gone to the trouble of setting it up we may as well have some fun with it - and we did!

Odd bits

Walking around the valley at Zealandia we weren't just looking for the birds and fungi. All around us there were wonderful photographic opportunities, all we had to do was see them. The tree trunk to the left is a perfect example of this. It's just a tree trunk but there were these delicate little leaves growing on the side of it and I liked the contrast between the old and the new, and the pattern that was forming from it.










There were a lot of tall trees towering over us, all majestic and straight in stature - well almost all of them. The image to the right shows that having an odd one out can make a mighty fine image. I loved the quirky way this tree was growing. The non-conformist.

I also like using black and white for some of the photos giving them more contrast and tone rather than colour. Sometimes the colour can be more distracting than good.







This last image is one of my favourites. I was waiting for Nga to finish photographing some fungi and just happened to see the toitoi with the light making it stand out from the rest of the foliage. I was playing with depth of field in this shot trying to get something that looked just that little bit whispy and mystical.

Fungi at Zealandia

There was lots of interesting fungi in the bush at Zealandia. The weather has been perfect for it. Wet and warm. They look like little colonies of huts growing up the rotting tree trunks. Different types and colours make for interesting photos. I have no idea of the names of them - that doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that I can photograph as many different types as I can find. You almost need to look with a different type of vision to spot them, they blend so well into the environment.

Its not always easy to see the underside of the fungi but these little orange ones (below) always look better from underneath. We cheated a little and turned the log slightly to get the view we wanted.