Learning To See

My New Year's Photography Resolution

2012-01-13T12:28:00.000+13:00

After a little thought about what I'd like to achieve this year, I came up with several good options... seeing out my 40's in as good a physical shape as I can (requires much effort), remodeling my house and garden (requires much expenditure) and working hard enough to earn an overseas family holiday (requires huge change in character). I've settled on one that I'm determined to fulfill: Doing some good with my photography.

I've never thought my shooting was ground-breaking enough to be really significant, nor had that large an ego to think my pictures made a big difference to the world, but last year as I cast my electoral vote, I decided I had to do more to help change the world for the better, so I'm going to try and use some of my shooting for good. Here's my first step.

You'll probably already know I live at the base of Otago Peninsula, a part of the world blessed with great landscapes and wildlife. Mrs C, Miss C(8) and I like to get out and enjoy what it has to offer whenever we can, and one of our favourite spots is Sandfly Bay.

There's a great big dune there that you walk down to get to the beach and once down there, you're likely to see some of our small breeding population of Hooker's Sea Lions. They're magnificent beasts and despite their size and appearance, are pretty safe to go see - from a respectful distance.

The large males can be a bit protective of their territory, but mostly they're up on the beaches resting after a hard day at the office.

Here's the thing. They're endangered and the New Zealand Government isn't doing what it can to prevent these beautiful creatures from being accidentally killed by squid fishing trawlers. They could easily place sea lions under the protection of the marine mammals act, rather than the fisheries act, and they could move to encourage the squid fishing industry that is licensed to fish our waters to use less damaging methods like jigging rather than trawling.

I hope you feel the same, and if you do, that you'll go here to the Forest and Bird website and sign the petition (its very quick and easy to do) requesting our politicians to make some changes. It's a small thing, but I'm hoping by doing many small things with my photos this year, I can make the world a little better or at least leave it as good as I found it when it's time for Miss C(8) to take her family to Sandfly bay.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

The Tease

2012-01-06T15:04:00.000+13:00

Fortune Theatre have just started to tease their 2012 season and I can reveal just a tiny bit of the shooting I did for them, so here are some pics I did for a few of the new productions:

My first session was late last year, with the lovely Elena working as the poster girl for the season. I won't go into details about which play this shot was for - I'll just say everyone will find the topic... stimulating. Sexy was the keyword here, so I made liberal use of my ringlight adapter.

Then there was the nude shoot with six lovely and rather brave women. I'm sure I was more nervous about the whole thing, but it went very well and the final result will be very good. Rest assured that in the shot they used, my flashes actually fired. Big, flattering light sources for this one.

The last shoot for the season was today with veteran Kiwi actor John Bach. John worked super hard to get into the character for this shoot, so I think the play itself is going to be pretty intense. I shot John against black for this with plenty of rim light for intensity, then I picked up on the red splatter at his feet and we started working around that. I've got a feeling one of those improvised shots will be the keeper.

I always enjoy working with the gang at the Fortune. If the shoot was anything to go by, it's going to be another very entertaining year in Dunedin Theatre.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2011-12-31T14:25:00.001+13:00

What a year it's been. Revolutions, Earthquakes, Tsunami... I can understand anyone looking forward to a more settled 2012. I've had a year of changes myself - plenty of work and growth as a photographer, a book project to stretch me, and a new business involving lots of video shooting on my DSLR's.

To see the year out, I'll be playing with my band Bluestone in Dunedin's Octagon tonight and I'm looking forward to it. Soon I'll be camping with family at Glendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka, near this delightful spot at Diamond Lake. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to share while there, and a trout or two on my new fly rod. I also hope that despite the upheaval everywhere that your 2011 has been good, and that your 2012 is even better. See you then.

Yellow Eyed Penguin

2011-12-19T17:48:00.002+13:00

Thanks to some very special friends, I was able to get close to some nesting Yellow-eyed penguins and their chicks last week. It was a privilege to get this close to the world's rarest penguin and I'm so lucky to have them just 15 minutes from my back door. I was shooting video for a special project, so here's a very, very brief taste.

This is just one of the species Martin Bailey and I plan on showcasing on our Southern New Zealand Photographic Tour next April. I do hope you'll join us.

Closed Set

2011-12-19T16:10:00.002+13:00

If only I could show you the pictures from my latest shoots. In due course I can, but you'll have to wait until they're published first, since they were for the Fortune Theatre's 2012 Season catalog. What I can show you is the closed set below for one of the productions. Closed because one of the plays features quite a bit of nudity so my wonderful models were baring all for the shoot. Another revolves around the invention of a certain ...personal device - and I ain't talking about your iPad. Needless to say once the ice was broken, we all a lot of fun during these shoots.

As you can see I was shooting with my big strobes and softboxes and a few camera flashes for lots of big, soft, flattering light, and had the camera tethered to the laptop running Adobe Lightroom so I could show the creative director what we were getting.

If the shoot is anything to go by, next season at the Fortune will be highly... stimulating. And as Al Swearengen says, that's all I have to say on the matter.

Moving Pictures

2011-12-09T16:38:00.001+13:00

Once again I've been so busy with a number of other things that I haven't had a lot of time for my own photography lately. Hopefully the Xmas and New Year vacation will remedy that. The new startup business I'm involved in is starting to take up more of my time, and while I can't say too much about it for now, it is picture based - its just that the pictures happen to be moving ones.So in lieu of some lovely stills, here's a very little taste of the motion pictures I'm making.

All rather exciting.I haven't stopped shooting stills completely though. In fact I've a theatre shoot next week that proves to be very interesting. More anon.

Another day, another sunrise

2011-11-14T12:02:00.001+13:00

The thing about sunrises is, every one is different. Same spot, same time, different weather.

A nice little sun-up, but not nearly as much colour in the sky today. Oh well, one of these days I'll get the shot I'm after. At least it's just a 10 minute drive from my house. Ansel Adams didn't have it so easy.

Lighting the Sunrise

2011-11-13T09:07:00.001+13:00

My good friend Producer/Director/Writer Mark Strickson has a wonderful phrase: "let's not over-egg the pudding". It's sort of another way of saying 'gilding the lily'. It came to mind this morning when I was out trying to light my sunrise shots. I just needed the foreground rocks lifted a little, so was downslope with a 580EXII flash and CTO gel, while I had a remote trigger on my camera. There I am with the flash in the corner of the shot below:

Not quite over-egging the pudding I hope, just adding a little light to bring out the lichen pattern in the rocks, while the sunrise did its thing. Unfortunately it wasn't the spectacular one I was hoping for, but I did get a little colour and was ready when the colour in the sky peaked.

A few minutes later and most of the colour had gone.

So after my setup I got a few unlit shots, while listening to the Yellow-eyed penguins calling on the beach below.

There was also a sealion playing in the waves. Guess I'll be carrying on down the track in a few days to see if I can get any pictures of the wildlife.

Between shots I checked for twitter updates on my smart phone (as you do). Looks like the Otago Daily Times has decided to show an interest in the local Occupation and have run an interview with Kieran Trass this morning. Shame they couldn't get a better picture of him.

In other news, Mike and Fran Thorsen have ended their sojourn on St Helena. You can read their final post from there in their Banzai Chicken blog. It's going to be interesting to see where they wash up next. I'm guessing we could be seeing some cool shots of post-earthquake Christchurch one day soon.

The shrubs around these Highcliff rocks? Coprosma crassifolia. Thanks for the botanical steer Mike. And thanks Jaq Tweedie for proofreading services. Gilding the Lily.

The Occupation

2011-11-10T15:00:00.003+13:00

This all started after a brief correspondence with my friend Andrew Read, a Professor at Penn State. Andrew mentioned the students were close to rioting over the tragic situation over there regarding football coaches and allegations of sexual assaults. It made me think. I'm not that much of a rioter but I think the worst thing you can do is to ignore some stuff, especially when it's in your neighbourhood. After a couple of weeks of being pretty dismissive about our local branch of the Occupy movement, I decided I owed it to myself to go down to the Octagon and talk to people there, so I could at least be entitled to my opinion. And of course, I could take my camera.

My uninformed position was that here were a bunch of people jumping on a bandwagon, protesting against a whole bunch of social ills - wanting financial and political reform, but perhaps not being the ones directly affected by all of those problems. After all, there's a lot of nice camping equipment, smart phones and laptops in that campsite. It looks like a bit of a lark.

I had short chats with Michelle above, and with Kieran and Anton.

OK the lark part was the first thing I was wrong about. Nobody's having that much fun. I can't conceive of camping without some beers and a barbecue any more. Chuck in the sleepless nights in the open, noisy city centre, the occasional bit of abuse, hassle from the City Council, and being away from the comforts of home. It's a little like something a family member said about the notion that being Gay was an unwise lifestyle choice: "With all the crap we go through, why do you think anyone would choose this?"

So what's their point? What do they want and when will they be satisfied to pack up and move on? That's hard to answer. The financial reform agenda of the original Occupy Wall St event has attracted a whole bunch of people with different issues to voice. What they do agree on is that in the current political and financial state of affairs, our democracy isn't working as well as it should. They feel that dissenting views on a whole range of issues - from deep sea oil drilling to fluoride in the water and the cost of our new stadium - aren't being given a fair hearing. What they all agree that they want is a better dialog between ordinary people and those who represent them. Who can argue with that?

Aaron, Jesse and Miche

Sure, there are plenty of young people here, but this isn't a crowd of benefit bludgers and bleeding hearts. There's a fair smattering of ordinary people who have put aside their own businesses for a while, taken time out from their jobs, or leave home and family for a few hours a day to lend weight to the message that they'd like to start a discussion. I also presumed that a lot of the Octagon business owners would be putting the heat on the city council to move them on, but while I was there, a few local business people were sending over food and messages of support.

I'm no journo. I'd really like to see our local media get inside this story a lot more than they have. So far the coverage of this event seems to focus on how these peaceful protesters are disrupting events in the Octagon and when the DCC will harden up and find a way to evict them. The official police line is that they have a right to peaceful protest and they're not in favour of a forceful eviction. When will this all end? I guess when these guys feel they're being listened to in a meaningful way. When will that happen? I really don't know. But at least I have a better idea of what they want. A better public conversation.

Is that a bad thing to stand up and ask for?

Landscape - step by step

2011-11-09T09:55:00.000+13:00

Today I finally got out for the dawn start I've been waiting for. The weather wasn't perfect, but I really want to start nailing my Peninsula landscape locations, and that just means going there again and again until I'm 100% satisfied I can put my clients onto great shots. I was actually a bit late for the best of the sunrise. I only just got there as the sky was reaching peak colour and after a few minutes it was gone. Still, I got a lot out of the visit.

I keep returning to this spot because I've got some good shots here, but not yet the great ones I know there are. The problem is, I'm not sure what those shots are yet. My subconscious knows, that's why I'm attracted here, so I just need to spend more time until the pieces come together. Today it started. It's about bringing all the elements together - the right light, the great backdrop and the boulders. I need to go Strobist on the landscape. By the time this dawned on me the sunrise had peaked, but I did a few test shots with flash on camera anyway, just as a step in the right direction. Next time I'll be there earlier with a good plan, maybe a couple of light stands to get the flash off camera, experiment with some coloured gels and I'll be a step closer.

Thanks to some great work by my friend Tourism Consultant James Hacon, Martin Bailey and I are ready to go live with our Southern New Zealand Photo Adventure. We're taking bookings here on Martin's site, so check out the details. It's going to be the trip of a lifetime.

The Boulder Field

2011-11-07T14:44:00.000+13:00

Yesterday I popped over the hill to Highcliff to get in a little more practice shooting video with my slider and think about including the spot on my Southern NZ Photo Adventure with Martin Bailey. Unfortunately the wind was a bit strong and despite my best efforts I just couldn't hold my gear steady enough to get any smooth camera movement. As well as the rig shaking, the wind was actually buffeting my arm so much I couldn't move the slider with a nice fluid motion. Never mind, another good lesson learnt - things have their limitations. I did manage to get a few nice shots of the place though. Nothing award-winning, but fun to get.

It's a magic spot, even on a less than ordinary day. The round basalt boulders and their lichen patches are so intriguing. I even found one that had split, which seemed fairly rare.

What caught my eye yesterday though was the hardy little shrubs that grow between the boulders. It's a very windswept spot, and these are the only things higher than grasses and lichens that grow there. I think they're a Coprosma species, possibly Coprosma propinqua? I'm hoping my botanical photog mate Mike Thorsen will post a comment to put me right here. When not running photography workshops for the locals on the island of Saint Helena, Mike is photographing and helping conserve the local flora.

I recall hearing at school that NZ Coprosmas evolved a handy way of protecting their leaves from browsing by giant Moa birds by keeping them on the inside of the body of the bush, rather than on the tips of twigs. An interesting story - I'd be tempted to believe it's an adaptation to coastal wind.

There's an obvious relationship between the shrubs and boulders, I'm guessing the boulders provide just enough shelter for the young shrubs to establish. As they grow, they mould into the rocks, but ones that are especially rocked by the wind seem to have an additional bit of personal space, while still moulding to the form of the rock.

Adaptation, isn't it grand?

Sliding on Otago Peninsula

2011-11-01T08:23:00.001+13:00

I had a couple of spare hours yesterday so went out with my latest piece of kit, the Glidetrack Shooter SD. Its a set of slider rails for smooth video camera movement. Yeah, we're almost getting off-topic here: Video. But with the convergence of DSLR and Hi Def video, in my opinion stills shooters need video skills up their sleeves. And I'm not just a stills shooter, I like to think of myself as a content creator.

Anyway, I popped out to a couple of my favourite spots 10 minutes drive from my house on Otago Peninsula, Sandfly Bay and the derelict farmhouse on the Nyhon track, Hoopers Inlet. The slider is only 75 cm long, but gave really good results on the ground or mounted on my Induro tripod legs. I was so over television, but this could get me back into moving images again! Very brief Youtube test clip below.

The music is from "Our Universe" by Professor Kliq. Shots taken on my Canon 7D with the EF-S 10-22mm and EF L 24-70mm 2.8 zoom lenses.

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Now Santa, can we talk about that fluid drag head, follow focus and set of LED light panels? LCD monitors never offend...

Southern New Zealand Wildlife and Landscape Photography Tour

2011-10-29T08:25:00.002+13:00

Are you up for a bit of adventure?

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that when I'm not out shooting as a working photographer I'm out shooting for pure joy - mainly the fantastic landscapes or wildlife we have here in New Zealand.

After a bit of thought, some hard work and a lot of help from some wonderful people, I'm ready to share it with you and offer a Southern New Zealand Wildlife and Landscape Photography Tour. For 12 days next April, we'll tour the southern South Island, taking in its scenic and wildlife wonders, from great white sharks to mountain parrots, from Milford Sound to Otago's tussock high country.

We'll be catering for photographers of all abilities, and will be offering workshops on camera craft and post production along the way. I say we because I've invited Japan-based photographer and web presence Martin Bailey to join us. If you don't already know Martin's work or subscribe to his podcast, I suggest you do.

We'll be finalising details and coming up with all the information and booking details soon, so keep a close watch here, tell your friends and set your camera dial to adventure!

Lightroom fix

2011-10-23T12:31:00.003+13:00

For ages now, I've been struggling with an annoying feature of Lightroom. Whenever you make any change to a picture in your catalog, if it's been published to a service like Flickr, it marks the shot for republishing, and does so when you next publish anything to the service. In republishing the picture, it looses titles and other info, but most annoyingly, the links I use from my blog here all get broken and I have to go into the dashboard and fix them all up. Not any more, thanks to this handy little free plug-in from Rob Cole. Thank you sir!

Taking a little break yesterday, I headed up to Nenthorn for some fun. Nenthorn is up in the hills between coastal Otago and the Strath Taieri Valley. It was the site of the last quartz gold rush in about 1889.

There was a thriving little town up here but it only lasted for about 5 years. Now there are only a few ruins left, the one above (the old St Bathans Hotel) being the most intact. It's a grand place on a Summer's day, but I'll bet the winters were hard up here.

I didn't exactly have golden hour light for landscape photography, but it was so nice to get out of town for a day. More on the place here.

The highlight for me was the simplest thing, getting close to a common skink with my 100mm macro - as close as I could get before he bolted!

I tried to get close to some more, hoping to find a Grand or Otago skink, but all I saw were wriggles disappearing into tussock as soon as I approached. I did manage to sneak up on a rabbit though. Not exactly endangered in these parts, but good practice for wildlife photography. I'm hoping this is going to be a great summer for getting out and shooting.

I've got a lot of wildlife and landscape trips planned - including a very special southern safari package that I'm putting together. If you want to take the ultimate southern New Zealand photographic tour, stay tuned!

Get Over Yourself! - Discipline for Photographers

2011-10-02T12:11:00.000+13:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks again. There's been the final bit of shooting for the book I'm working on, and a few jobs around town. It would be impossible to say what's been more enjoyable or instructive, but this one was great to do:

That's my old boss, Michael Stedman from NHNZ. Another environmental portrait for my book that I lit to serve the story. In a nutshell, NHNZ is at the cutting edge of TV technology - a leading producer of 3D documentaries. Hence the techie looking background colours on the video bank in the background. I lit Michael with a single flash, up high and snooted to restrict the beam. I have to admit, I had a nervous moment at the start. I had a definite plan for this shot, based on my last visit. At that time though, the place was still being fitted out, and there were a lot more gaps in the bank for beams of light to stream through. Never mind, I got something we liked fairly quickly.

Another fun shoot involved a tour of Dunedin's water pollution control (sewage works) and water treatment plant. Run and gun shooting there, as my bandmate John Mackie was leading me around and when not laying down his powerful grooves in BlueStone, he's a busy city engineer. Just to show I can get portraits in available light, here's one of the lads up at Mt Grand, looking into a drinking water treatment vessel:

There have been a couple more visits to Emerson's Brewery, first to shoot famous Dunedin sound muso David Kilgour lend a hand dry-hopping the new "Tally-Ho" brew. Run and gun again.

And a calendar shot of the brewery's big three, Bob, Richard and Chris.

The lads were lit with a small softbox and filled with my Orbis ringflash adapter, a setup that's quick to do and pretty versatile in terms of the looks it'll give. The Orbis also gives you great speculars in the eyes. Then there were some head shots for local Accountancy firm JW Smeaton, a great bunch of people who all had a good time and made my job easy during the shoot. I used the same setup there. Here's Neil Stevenson:

A good little spread of shooting styles and conditions. High concept, run and gun, and bread and butter portraits and I loved every assignment. Especially the bread and butter stuff. Funny thing is, lately one or two of the photography students I've been helping to tutor are finding their bread and butter assignments hard to get motivated about. Not enough creative challenge. One of my most talented pupils is disillusioned with being asked to hand in technical exercises and is getting behind in his work. I really hope he gets over this, but despite his talent, he may not make it.

To make a living at photography (or succeed at anything), you really need discipline. It's not always sunsets, big lights and action. It also takes a bit of experience to know that even shooting heads against a wall, there's enormous scope for creativity and talents beyond composition and exposure. You have to embrace and overcome every challenge, not just the technical and creative but the personal as well.

You think it's easy for busy accountants or CEO's to look relaxed in the middle of a business day while their colleagues are watching? It isn't, so you have to engage people to help get the best out of them. That wasn't something that came naturally to me. I had to learn it like lighting, and no two situations are the same. I used to dread engaging with subjects. Now I relish it. I hope my students go the distance and learn to bring all they have even into their routine shooting.

A huge part of the creative challenge lies in overcoming yourself.

Newspaper photography

2011-09-13T11:28:00.003+12:00

Here's a niche job: Newspaper photographer. Not shooting for newspapers - just shooting newspapers.

So many newspaper movies and TV shows are about the journos and editors. Guess why. They're the ones who write the stories. After my recent visit to Allied Press though - home of the Otago Daily Times, I can see there's just as much potential for drama in the operations side of the newspaper business. It's seriously industrial.

These are the ODT's old Goss letterpress machines. They've been replaced by a new offset press, so they sit there in the dark, waiting for someone to find them a good home. I love these industrial giants. And in a strange way, I even love the black grime that inevitably coats any photog who lingers near them. To get the shot below, I put a couple of flashes to the sides and rear to backlight the press as well as one inside and one aimed at the face from an angle to light it and give a little shape.

Once upon a time the newspaper business was filled with fag-addicted, cynical journos, foul-mouthed, grimy printers and massive, noisy presses. I'm glad to say not much has changed, apart from the process of making the plates that do the printing. Below is an old linotype machine that the paper keeps around for display purposes - and a good deal of nostalgia on the part of a senior manager ODT or two.

The two Hals below are the machines that now make the plates for the new offset printing process. Where the linotype machines needed molten lead and compositors who'd declare a demarcation dispute if a journo dared empty the rubbish bin, today it's all digital: image servers, laser etchers and polymer-coated aluminium grapholiths.

You'll already know I'm a huge Strobist fan, so it'll come as no surprise that this was my favourite shot of the visit. The ambient orange light is what the operators switch to when they have to open up the machines and inspect the light-sensitive polymer-coated plates inside. It seemed like the perfect light to use, but to add some interest, I shot a little blue light around the back of the room, and shone a bare speedlite on each of the Hals to get rid of the orange wash from the room.

Here's something that hasn't changed: The news still needs paper - kilometres of it every day. The store here holds just enough newsprint for about three daily editions. No funky colour here, just a speedlite popped behind some of the rolls on the left and one aimed at those on the right to add a little shape.

When the paper finally meets the ink in the offset press, it travels at approximately a bajillion metres per second. I was lucky enough to be lining up this shot as it gathered pace. The noise is like being strapped to the wing of a B-52 as it takes off - kinda thrilling, kinda scary - and that's with the earplugs the printers gave me.

Some would say this technology has killed the romance of print. Others would say the only time the ODT failed to get out in its 150 year history was because of an industrial dispute.

Fun with a Fisheye

2011-09-06T18:55:00.000+12:00

I hear Canon's new EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fish eye zoom is a lovely bit of kit. I may well treat myself to one eventually, but meantime I'm enjoying my new Peleng 8mm fisheye. You can check them out here. They're made in Belarus, weigh a ton and are fully manual. It's a beast, a relic from the cold war. It's just a fixed 8mm, can be prone to a bit of lens flare around the edges of the image, and suffers chromatic aberration and softness at the edges, but at about a fifth the price of the Canon, it'll do me nicely for a while. Above is the nearly full circular 180 degree image it takes on my full-frame Canon 5D Mk II. Below is something I popped into Dunedin's Octagon to shoot at lunchtime. This was on the crop sensor Canon 7D. It proved useful for the panoramic kind of pictures I want for the double page spreads I want to open the chapters of my book on Dunedin business. Fun fun fun.

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Shooting The Emersons

2011-09-04T09:32:00.000+12:00

Last week I'd arranged to shoot at Allied Press, the home of the Otago Daily Times in the morning, and shoot over to Emerson's Brewery for a team portrait in the afternoon. I should have known I'd find too much to have fun with at Allied to squeeze into a morning, so I needed to pull off the Emerson's picture as quickly as possible and get back for the 3.00 press run. Luckily, I already had a plan in mind, and was fairly confident that I could pull it off quickly. Richard Emerson has a boutique brewery that is really putting the big Beer Barons on notice about quality and passion in brewing. Since I'm running with a "Tartan Mafia" theme for my business history, shooting Richard and team as this upstart crew seemed like a fun idea. Of course, there were challenges to overcome, so I thought I'd do a little anatomy of the shoot to let you see the process. Challenge number one: The environment.

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Grey. Typical industrial setting: lots of fluoro light mixed with diffuse skylight, concrete and stainless steel. I had 20 minutes to make it mine before the staff would assemble. My first job was to add a little colour to the environment. Blue gel on flash, attached out of sight to a keg in the right background via an nasty clamp to colour those brew tanks. I was a little worried that all I'd get was a small specular reflection of my flash. That would have meant to get the whole tank blue, I'd need it to reflect a big blue reflector or diffuser, but the tanks were burnished stainless steel, and not only gave a nice diffuse reflection of the blue flash, they bounced it around each other.

Well, they started to, but I was confident that once I had my exposures between ambient and flashes balanced, things would work out the way I wanted. Another blue flash to cover the background from the left, and while Richard pulled a prop into place, I set my key light for him nice and high.

I wanted hard, high key lighting with no modifier to get a film noir-ish look, but without time and booms, knew that I'd have to settle for light that wasn't really as high as I wanted. Still, as I put some CTO gel on Richard's key, and another light up with one to light the rest of the assembling team, I was getting into the zone. Here's the lighting diagram if it means anything to you. With my sketching skills, I've got to say, it means little enough to me.

Nearly there. My 20 minutes of prep was up. Shooting in the middle of even a quiet work day, you just can't waste people's time, so I explained my mafia crew concept and started arranging the team quickly.

My instructions were simple. No smiles please, look directly into the lens, and hang tough. I arranged some groups, made sure I didn't have a straight horizon of heads and told everyone that straight arms would make them look like zombies, not mobsters. I guess I've been doing this long enough that I had my lighting ratios pretty good right from the start - good enough for a quick setup anyway. So I shot some frames and bada-bing:

I was happy, but it always pays to listen to your client. They know the business more than you do. Richard knew that the brewery is constantly being rinsed with hot water and is actually quite a steamy environment, so he wanted some steam. I had my doubts about how manageable that was going to be, but it was a good idea, and he assured me it would be quick to arrange. Minutes later, the floor was awash and steam was rising. Just not the way we wanted it.As you can see, it raised a smile or two.

Not a problem. I liked my clean shot, and knew a little digital steam would be a lot easier to work with later on. If this were one of those big Beer Baron budgets, this wouldn't have taken the hour it did. I'd put a couple of days into the shot. I'd probably shoot the background separately to get the lighting even better, and take everybody into a studio or at least in front of a clean backdrop and shoot them all separately, immaculately lit noir fashion with higher light, some hair lights and kickers. Then would come some heavy post to assemble a kickass composite But Richard Emerson and his crew aren't Beer Barons. Not yet anyway. Small is good for now, and for me, so is fast. Getting what I did in short order, I was pretty happy. Almost as happy as a couple of pints of Emerson's Bookbinder Bitter can make me.

But there was no time to rest on my laurels. Back at the Otago Daily Times, the stories were written, the plates assembled and the presses were warming up...

Engineering your Light

2011-08-28T11:38:00.003+12:00

Another day, another cool industrial shoot. This time it's Farra, a Dunedin Engineering firm with its roots in some of the earliest foundries in Otago. In contrast to Speight's Brewery, the combination of fluoro light, dull steel and concrete buildings made for some pretty dull surroundings, so it was time to get the flashes, clamps and gels and add some colour to the equation.

On the left, that's John Whitaker, Managing Director of the firm, and the first not to be connected to the pioneering Smellie family who founded Iron Rolling Mills Otago out in Green Island in the 1880's.

My Dad did this kind of work for over 40 years in shipyards, hydro projects, smelters and so forth. I even worked alongside him in an Aluminium smelter for a few summers, so I get a real kick out of shooting in these environments. It reminds me of the great era of postwar engineering when men with calipers and welding gear could do anything - or so little kids like me thought. As well as the big stuff like building maintenance units, hydroelectric turbine components and specialist cranes, Farra make a lot of cool stainless steel stuff like home breweries and the small rotating screen here. Again, we didn't want to interrupt work for too long, so this was another run and gun job, but I think everybody's going to be pretty happy when they see the results in my book.

Return of the Naval Aviator

2011-08-25T08:55:00.004+12:00

For those of you attending High School in Dunedin, that was my nephew Sub Lt Christiaan Robertston landing in your paddock in his navy Sea Sprite helicopter. The news article is here.

Yes, we're all proud of the ~~boy~~ Sub Lieutenant and his many deployments overseas, although female members of the family wish he would ~~stop womanising in every port~~ settle down with a nice girl some day. Us guys, we just want to see him fire that Maverick air-to-surface missile at something.

Just to show his lighter side, here he is with yet another young woman (his cousin, Miss C(6)) on a previous port visit. He often wears a heavy disguise to avoid angry fathers, jealous boyfriends and the flotilla of girls he seems to attract wherever he goes.

For a little more on the neph and his machine, check out this post of mine from December 2009.

From Beer to Photography... and Back Again

2011-08-24T12:47:00.003+12:00

I subscribe to the theory that beer was the catalyst for human civilisation and thus photography. No kidding. Long before anyone thought to bake bread from wheat, people were probably eating an accidentally fermented porridge of barley grains. The fermentation created a protein profile that was more nutritious and it also left the consumer feeling wonderfully refreshed. The demand for this porridge - and later the beverage - led to the rise of agriculture. Bread was invented later as a way to make the raw ingredients store better. The need to keep tally of the stores led to the development of written language, and it's a smooth ride all the way from there to the printing press, computers and the Canon 5D Mark II.

Anyway, this week I got to do one of my bucket list shoots: Speight's Brewery. Established in 1876, Speight's is a Dunedin institution. So much so that its heritage tour is one of Dunedin's most popular visitor attractions. That's either something to do with the wonderfully preserved brewing gear, or the tasting session at the end.

Either way, I had a blast. It was mainly a job of balancing ambient window light with flash, bouncing off light coloured walls to get a large apparent light source to shine off the beautiful copper brew kettles etc. If this were a full advertising or promotional commission, I'd probably take the time to set up big white scrims and bounce surfaces and really sculpt things, as well as pushing just a little more light up into the ceiling.

As it was, there was so much to get through that this was nearly a run-and-gun operation. The hero of the whole shoot was my new Nasty Clamps. The time they save is amazing. No more fiddling around with light stands. Not nearly so much anyway, just whack a flash on and clamp it to a door, bench, brewer - whatever's handy.

>

So here's a Nasty Clamp in action. Elegant, eh?

With so much to see, I'm going back to Speight's for another shoot. There's lots left to get through, like the board room, the fermentation tanks, and maybe, just maybe, the tasting lounge.

Top Secret

2011-08-21T21:26:00.005+12:00

Not a lot of people know that after Fisher and Paykel closed their Taieri manufacturing plant, they moved into Dunedin and now employ well over 100 highly skilled engineers and designers in a design and testing facility above Wall Street Mall. They create cutting edge kitchen appliances for the world market, hiding in plain sight. When somebody mentioned that maybe they should be careful about industrial espionage, they came up with a wonderfully Dunedin solution: They bought some blinds for the design part of the office.

Last week I was given access to the premises for my book celebrating Otago businesses. F&P bought out Dunedin's historic Shacklock company years ago, so I'm profiling them. I never knew whiteware could be so cool. They've got some cutting edge stuff in there, so cutting edge that I'm afraid I can't reveal it. But what I can share is the lengths F&P go to in testing their products.

Of course they do the thorough safety testing you'd expect, making sure emissions from gas hobs are within various international standards, or ensuring that oven windows have no dangerous hot spots. Then there's the destructive testing, running rows of dishwashers continuously until a part fails, or surrounding one with an array of microphones in a soundproof room to find out just how silent they run. It's the unexpected stuff that really tickled me, like the crash test turkey.

It's a polystyrene model, seen here next to a typical Kiwi oven. Big eh? It's the size of a standard American Thanksgiving turkey, something pretty important to know if you want to make ovens for the US. I expected them to use pH and temperature controlled water in their dishwasher tests, but not the exactly prescribed spinach or ketchup for their soiled dish testing. It's logical, as is the rigorous toast browning test they subject their grills to.

It's a fascinating place, but like a lot of industrial premises it's made for results, not for aesthetics, so to tart a few shots up, I threw a bit of light and colour around, like the red-gelled flash inside the oven in the turkey shot above. Here's another example, a wide shot of part of the prototyping area, a rather dull space under the ambient fluoro lighting:

All I needed was a wide shot to reveal some of the space the facility occupies, and I didn't have a lot of time to arrange lights, but with just a couple of gelled flashes and a Nasty Clamp or two (See my last post about these, they're suddenly my favourite piece of kit. They make flashes quick and easy to arrange in this kind of environment where light stands are inconvenient to lug around and erect) I was very quickly able to lift the scene.

Much sexier. And the bonus? Otago colours!

Another handy gadget for photographers

2011-08-06T16:00:00.000+12:00

Joby Gorillapods are very versatile little tripods that double as clamps. I've found mine extremely useful for sticking my flash in places where a lightstand isn't practical and was thinking of getting a couple more, but today I saw this:

The Nasty Clamp combines the Joby's segmented leg with a clamp. It also looks rather... suggestive, but that could just be me. It's supposed to be able to support a 580 EXII flash and a small softbox, so with the way I like to light things on the go, it looks like just the kind of thing I'm after. Think I'll get one or two and check 'em out. I'm also looking forward to getting some new Carhart flannel-lined work pants in the mail. I love my old pair, they're perfect for photogs who have to work out in the cold.

Android App for Photographers

2011-08-05T13:21:00.004+12:00

At last, somebody (chainfire) has come up with a DSLR remote app for Android users. This one allows you to fully use your Canon DSLR from your Android device with just a USB cable. There's been a DSLR controller out for the iphone for some time, and not being a Mac or iphone user (I started off as a Mac lover but it's a long story...) I've been awaiting the development of an Android equivalent. It's still in beta, but I gather demand has been so high, the developers have released it early, and there are some enthusiastic reviews already.

I'm looking forward to hooking it up to my new Samsung Nexus S (that's my old HTC Magic in the picture) and taking it for a drive. You can check it out in the Android market here.

UPDATE: Seems the app is fine on Android tablets, but not yet working on phones without host functionality like my Nexus S. As the Android Market notes say: Most Honeycomb TABLETS should be compatible. At the moment the only PHONE that is compatible is the Samsung Galaxy S2, with the 2.3.4 KG series firmware or newer.". Fingers crossed for the full release...

Who Ate All The Pies?

2011-08-02T19:56:00.005+12:00

At last, I was able to step away from my manuscript and to a little shooting for a new client today. Steve Turner runs Who Ate All The Pies?, the finest gourmet pie bakery I know of. I have to say, Dunedin is becoming a great town for food and beverage, from boutique beers and its famous cheese rolls to whisky bars and fine dining. And shooting for these establishments definitely has its perks.

Due to a slight glitch in communications at the bakery I arrived without a good brief and the bakers weren't prepared for an intrusion by a flash-popping photog. That wasn't the only challenge. It's a typical small bakery with just enough room to work, not to pose or shoot, there's lots of stainless steel and few places to hide lights, and the overhead fluoros lend things an inorganic blue/green ambience. James Hacon who who had organised the shoot was delayed in a conference call and I was aware of the clock ticking on client time. Not to worry, time to improvise and get to work.

Bakery. No brainer: Shoot product coming out of the oven. Easy - CTO gel on one of my Canon flashes, into the bottom of the oven and another flash bouncing off the ceiling to light Steve. It looks realistic, but it's normally black as night inside the oven and those pies actually just came from the fridge. You can tell because Steve's wearing hygiene gloves, not oven mitts. But we got the look we wanted.

Thankfully James' call ended and I got a brief: He wanted some shots to tie into a promotion around the international rugby games we'll be having in Dunedin as part of the World Cup tournament. He'd bought a bunch of team jerseys so we had some fun with a few ingredients around the bakery. The family sized pasties made the perfect rugby ball for the England jersey, potatoes seemed right for Ireland, and for Argentina we went into the freezer of the butchery next door for Steve to pack down in a scrum against a side of beef. Georgia? No problemo, a quick Google search and we learned that as well as rugby, the Georgians are fond of a clear grape liquor called Chacha. A borrowed shot glass was all that took. Running out of interesting backgrounds, I decided to pull Steve out front of the shop, have James hose his coffee machine in blue light to contrast against the red jersey, while Ray held up my new 40cm ezy-type softbox with the 580EXII inside for Steve. I'm looking forward to using that bit of kit some more.

Steve and James were happy. I came away with a Venison, rosemary & red wine pie, Ray with a Beef, bacon and tomato one, so we were pretty happy too. It wasn't exactly the well thought out Rembrandt lighting session I'd like to do, but when the pressure's on, sometimes you just have to kick for touch.

Now I'm waiting to hear about some largish projects I'm bidding for, which will be interesting. Also hatching up something very exciting on the pho-tour front. An announcement on that is still some way off, but worth waiting for.

Ghosts of the Past

2011-07-20T10:43:00.001+12:00

One of the tricks I'm planning to use in the book I'm working on (celebrating 150 years of the Otago Chamber of Commerce) is to combine historic pictures with contemporary shots taken from the same viewpoint. It's an idea I got from Sergey Larenkov's amazing WWII photomontages.

Photoshopping the montages isn't so hard. The most difficult bit is trying to get in the exact position and matching the focal length of the original photograph. Having a copy in front of you is essential but often its impossible to match the positions, especially in photos taken a long time ago as some places have been built on. It's also a challenge trying to match the lighting and weather conditions but its a very satisfying thing to do when you nail it. I'm tempted to make another book project of this one day. The thing I've picked up from Larenkov is that drama in the photos makes a huge impact, not just the change from then to now. People also help bring the shots alive, especially when they stare out of frame.

You can tell by the frames on these that I've made them my shots of the week for my mail list followers and the feedback has been very good. If I do try to make a commercial project of this, I might collaborate with a talented designer I know to really make the technique sing.

Join the conversation! Leave a comment.

Faces and spaces

2011-07-13T12:34:00.002+12:00

The other day Mrs C asked for a bunch of my images to use for compliments and greeting cards for her business. She's a pretty good client, so I cut her a special deal: She gets to use my work and I get... certain considerations. They turned out so well I'm thinking of producing some for sale eventually. That's my favourite model Boog. I'm so disappointed that he's left town, the camera loves him... in all his altered states.

I've also been back to Dunedin Public Art Gallery to shoot promotional shots of some of their spaces for hire. Shooting rooms can be scary and challenging, but DPAG is one of my favourite clients, and any time I get to climb a ladder for a shot is a good time! This was an exercise in stability: perched up a ladder, attempting to get a hand-held low-light shot with an unstabilised lens. Never thought I'd be able to produce a sharp shot at 1/8 before, but it's amazing what you can pull off when you're really motivated.

Industrial Photography

2011-07-05T13:57:00.002+12:00

I'm glad to say that I'm finally getting to the part of my book project that I've been looking forward to: Shooting the pictures. I love industrial photography, so shooting the engineering firms is going to be great fun. There's something very cool about manufacturing and metalcraft, although after working summers at the Bluff Aluminium smelter, I knew it wasn't the career choice for me. Like my Dad (who was a foreman fitter there) used to say: "I can tell you love hard work boy, I've seen you sit on your backside and watch it all day long"

AJ Grant is one of the firms I'm writing a little about, so when I popped in today to talk to manager Allan Grant, I thought I might as well take my kit and get some pictures. Allan's brother and partner Bruce wasn't there, so I thought of this as a quick test shoot.

AJ Grant is a blacksmith and metalcraft firm who also do a great job of children's play equipment. I've already got some playground shots, so I wanted to see what could be done quickly in the workshop. I was drawn to the most cluttered part of the building.

The fluoro lighting was pretty standard, and there were some really dark places under the mezzanine storage area - that's lit by one of my flashes. I knew I'd want to lose the ambient and do my own lighting. The foot of the ladder looked like a good spot for a portrait of Allan. I like the clutter that busy workshops always have, but didn't want it to look too grungy, so I decided to add some contrasting colour to the foreground and background. There's something about blue light that lends things a hi-tech look, so I figured it would help Then I popped another flash on the floor with a red gel to wash up the pillar in front. I was happy. A quick exposure test with Laurie as my stand-in (top), and then it was time for Allan.

You could have gone crazy with this - softer light for Allan, hair/rim/fill light, more restricted beam...tormenting Allan until he gives me the perfect pose and look... there's no limit to the number of ways to do this. I may well go back and do it again when Allan's brother Bruce is available, but this was a quick workshop portrait, and it does the job.

Low Light, Little Camera, Big Lizards

2011-07-04T21:00:00.005+12:00

Last weekend I forced myself to leave my DSLR gear at home for once and just take my little Canon G12 on a short family vacation to Auckland. It had served me well in the underwater housing during my white shark dive trip, but I hadn't really done much with it topside, apart from playing with its excellent macro function. One highlight of our weekend was to be the Walking With Dinosaurs show at Vector Arena, so I knew the G12 would be up for a good test. It didn't disappoint.

The lighting conditions were pretty low and we were a fair way up in the arena, so for much of the time I had the ISO cranked up to either 1600 or 3200 - places I very seldom go with my 7D or 5DII, while the lens was zoomed in to the max 5x 140mm equivalent. I have to say, I was impressed by the quality of the images it gave me. Almost as impressed as I was by the creatures and the show.

Recommended.

White Sharks: Epilogue

2011-06-23T09:03:00.006+12:00

Couple of things today. Maybe three.

First, a little coda to my White Shark cage dive trip. The yellow buoy above is property of the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere. My best buddy Mike works for them, helping protect NZ's marine fish stocks. A few days ago an old documentary making friend of mine, Radio New Zealand National's Alison Ballance showed her partner my blog. His name is Malcolm Francis and he works for NIWA too. The buoy in the picture is part of a study he's undertaking of white sharks.

Malcolm got in touch and asked if I could show him any pictures of the tags on the sharks we saw. See that one on the shark below - just in front of the dorsal fin? I sent Malcolm a few topside pictures that show the colour banding, and despite the rippling effect of the water, he got a few useful data points for his study. Malcolm let me know two of the sharks we saw are: Blue-red-red, a 3.3 m male tagged 2 April at Herekopare Is and Black-black-red, a 2.8 m male, tagged 29 March at Edwards Island. So in our tiny way, we helped further our knowledge of these magnificent fish.

Second, it's kind of fitting, when a picture I took while making a documentary about shark attacks got me into this whole photography thing in the first place. TV tends merely to demonise sharks - that's how it attracts an audience. It's good to add something actually useful to the pot, even if it's one datum of info. I've come a long way in a short space of time though, thanks to that shot.

Thirdly, it's winter here in NZ, not just climatically, but there's a winter of the soul here for a lot of folks, with the economy, the ChCh earthquake, and the Highlanders' fall from form in the Rugby Super 15 competition. My good friend Reatha, who moved her photography business to Wellington is feeling a little chill herself. She was doing gangbusters down here, but despite her excellent Retro-style wedding, portrait and family photography (she's all class - shoots film on Hasselblad and Holga), Wellington is a little slow to discover her. That's no surprise, it's not exactly wedding season, but it's time to book that spring or summer shoot now. Do me (and yourself) a favour. If you or anyone you know in the upper South Island or Lower North Island is looking to get some stylish engagement, wedding, family or portrait pictures done, check out her excellent work here, give her a call or refer your friends to her. You won't be sorry.

Please don't be offended...

2011-06-22T14:21:00.001+12:00

... if you see this cheeky youngster flipping you the bird around Dunedin over the next month or so. It's another shot I did for Fortune Theatre for their upcoming production of "The Tutor", written by Dave Armstrong and starring my old Broadcasting School buddy Phil Vaughan.

Dave Armstrong was one of the writers of the hit TV comedy "Bro Town" and Phil, apart from being an ex Big Wednesday presenter and drive time DJ, is a funny guy.

Should be good for a laugh.

White Sharks, Part Four: Hooking a Lemuel

2011-06-21T22:34:00.004+12:00

Friday morning dawned beautifully at our sheltered anchorage at Port William, Stewart Island NZ. We all roused in the darkness at 7.00 am and to my surprise, I had a tiny, tiny headache, possibly due to the several beers, the large scotch and the glass of celebratory shark-diving port I had had the night before. I went up on deck to be greeted by the morning chorus of Kiwi and Kaka from on shore and knew it was going to be another great day.

The first order of the day was breakfast for 13 hungry men. Easy: Fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, toast, baked beans and a mug of tea. Headache dealt to. Time for deckhand Johnno to haul up the anchor and Skipper Mike to guide us to the next dive spot, where he usually saw big female white sharks. It was only 15 minutes away, just around the point from the spot we'd been at the day before. Anchor down, cage in, and berley cast on the water, in about 20 minutes a smallish male arrived to check out the bait. When I say smallish, that's still just over 3 metres. It was looking good, until an unforeseen complication arose.

The Undersea Explorer, a semi-submersible vessel showed up about 200m away, and chucked down their own berley trail, tempting our shark away, and probably any others that were in the vicinity. If there had been paying customers aboard it would have merely been rudely competitive, but it was only manned by a couple of crew, having a little fun before taking the boat over to Bluff. Then they circled our position, adding to the confusing scent trail for the sharks. Skipper Mike got on the blower and with much restraint, requested they ship out, which thankfully, they did.

Suddenly though, things went pretty quiet. We waited at least another forty minutes and saw no more sharks. Dark clouds were gathering, it was cooling down and our sheltered position was starting to feel the growing swell. With no sharks about, nobody was that eager to get into the water and wait. So the Skipper decided to hop into the inflatable boat and scout the previous day's position for us, to see if the swell was affecting it. He returned with the news that it looked like a better spot, and we moved there.

Not long after we had anchored up, it looked like the same male white shark had followed us there and started hitting the bait. His behaviour was different to the slow inquisitive passes of yesterday's sharks. He wasn't exactly aggressive, but he came and went in hunting mode, coming up unseen from the bottom every time, hitting the bait or decoy quickly, and disappearing again. He came so quickly one time, we didn't pull our seal decoy away in time and he bit a flipper off, which quite amused Craig.

Cage secure, it was time to dive again. My mate James Hacon was having camera issues, so I lent him mine. Little did I know he'd get one of the best shots of the trip on it, and then just to rub it in, he took a "who's your daddy?" shot of himself.

By now, Lemuel was starting to have second thoughts about just enjoying the action from topside. Nobody was applying any pressure, although we dearly wanted him to have the same experience we had of these wonderful creatures. I was thrilled when he decided to give it a go, and while he got some quick instruction from Mike, I suited up so there'd be a friendly face in the water with him.

When we got in, it was obvious that Lem was enjoying the experience.

Mike Bhana was in his cage alongside us, working with his 3D video camera (Mike's heading away around the Pacific filming a 3D underwater TV series soon) and I managed to get a nice picture of him doing a typical day's work:

Now I'm used to seeing Mike filming big predators underwater, often without a cage. He knows I'm not impressed any more. What does impress me is that he does it in this water without gloves. Now that's brave. But it's pretty hard to control a still camera underwater, never mind the intricate controls of a Hi Def 3D video camera. Gloves just don't work.

After about 20 minutes watching that male, I was done and so was Mike and the other guys. Plenty of pictures and tales to tell, it was time to get out of the cage, into a hot shower, and warm clothes for the trip home. We were all pretty satisfied and I think every one of us would do it again. Lem confirmed it on the drive home. He was hooked.

So my thanks to the team for their fine company and a great adventure: Skipper Mike Haines, deckhand Johnno, Mike Bhana, Clarke and Tony Gayford, Kaiser McCormack, Ulrik Olsen, Antony Wyborn, Jonathan King, James Hacon, Lemuel Lyes and Craig Cassidy.

Now if this were a fairy tale, this would be the end. But there was no monster here, just some wonderful wild animals; no heroes, just a boatload of blokes having fun and no moral, but a very nice consequence.

As soon as I started to tell this tale, someone saw my blog entry and something small but very cool transpired.

More in the pipeline.

We interrupt this programme...

2011-06-21T20:02:00.002+12:00

There's more mileage left in my Great White Shark Cage Dive Adventure, but today I needed to pop into town and deal with a little copyright infringement. Just a silly little thing, but one I didn't want to let slip.

It all started last year when I shot the delightful Stewart family in some promotional pictures for St Clair Beach resort, at the request of my friend, hospitality expert, tourism consultant and new dive buddy James Hacon. James paid for the pictures, and the deal was that I'd also supply the family with a set for personal, non-commercial use. As in most cases, I retained full copyright over my images. I don't sell my pictures, I give you a licence to use them, in whichever way we agree.

So the other day, some tweets from Sarah alerted me to the fact that a picture I'd taken of her beautiful daughter El had turned up on posters around town and on the web, advertising a local bar and cafe, most likely taken from El's facebook page. Clearly a case of unauthorised commercial use.

I didn't want to play the heavy, so I contacted the proprietor of said bar (who I'm familiar with) and politely explained the situation and more importantly, the solution. First, I'd check with El that it's okay for the bar to use her image to advertise, and for a very nominal fee, I'd not only licence the picture, but I'd provide a much better digital copy than the low-res, squished version used.

Offer accepted, problem solved. But I couldn't get over my proprietor friend's ignorance of copyright issues in advertising the bar. Just taking a picture off the internet to use commercially is no different to me walking in and helping myself to use of the venue for a night. I think I'll just have to accept that people are going to do this - mostly out of ignorance. Whatever their motives, it means I'm going to be a little more vigilant about unauthorised use of my work.

White Sharks, Part Three: Into The Cage

2011-06-21T10:03:00.011+12:00

So there I was, a 3+ metre white shark prowling the bait tied off from the boat, a diver in the cage already, and me suited up and ready to join him. Was I nervous? Hell yes. I'm nervous anywhere my cameras get near water.

The gear I'd brought for the dive was relatively inexpensive: My 10 MP Canon Powershot G12 and the Canon WP-DC34 housing. I did have a Dicapac splash bag just in case I wanted to get my DSLR's under water, but I'd recently replaced the crappy plastic port for good quality glass and hadn't had time to leak-test it thoroughly. It was mainly there if I wanted to get some off-camera light from a flash and optical slave unit, or for wet topside shooting.

The great thing is, there's such a range of good affordable underwater point and shoots or point and shoot housings that anyone can do this and get great shots now. This is the 21st century version of big game hunting. Print and frame your trophy picture and put it on the wall for all to see, while the animal lives to thrill you another day. The light was dull, so I had my ISO set to 800. Skipper Mike clipped on the hose for my air supply, and in I got.

I was expecting a shock of cold water but the suit seals made it quite a painless experience. The hardest part was to keep from bobbing up to the top of the cage as the buoyancy of the 7.5 mm suit meant I was still a little under-weighted. Thankfully Mike had tied some rope to the bottom of the cage for foot holds. They were sorely needed, as the swell was shaking the cage like a cheap cocktail. With one hand on your camera, it's not easy to stay steady and line up shots.

I expected my heart to be racing by now. Maybe it was, I didn't notice. I was focused on breathing steadily, keeping an eye out for the shark, and getting my camera in position. Actually, my first impression was "Bugger, the visibility isn't as good as it looked from above". A week of bad weather had put quite a bit of sediment into Stewart Islands usually clear waters. So while the shark wasn't in sight, I got a picture of my cage companion, Ulrik Olsen. At least I think it's Ulrik. Hard to tell under all that gear. Could'a been the gimp for all I know. Over in the cage I call the cheese grater, Mike Bhana was ready for some 3D action.

Here's my tip for shooting wildlife: Keep one eye out for the critters, and keep another on your companions, especially the more experienced ones, since they're likely to see your quarry before you. They just know how the animals behave and where they'll be. By the time I'd steadied myself to get a decent shot of Mike in his cage, I figured out he was actually filming back in my direction. Well not exactly my direction. He was aiming slightly off to my right, straight out from my cage. I turned to look, and here's what I saw:

Oh.

Now a sane person might get a shock to see this and to be honest, before I became such a photo nut, I may well have been looking at a serious bill for de-fouling the wetsuit. Instead, I just thought "Damn, maybe I need to get out and get my 7D in the splash bag with the 10-22mm EF-S wide angle lens if he's going to be this close". True. My next thought? "If I use flash, all I'm gonna get is a curtain of murk".

I know wildlife and conflict shooters get this focus when they're looking in the viewfinder that makes them master that healthy fear of risky situations. It's what gets them the shot. It has also gotten a few of them hurt or killed, but the good ones preserve a tiny percentage of their awareness for self preservation too, and they're my heroes. The closest I've come to that focus was shooting priceless works for an art gallery. I was so focused on moving in to re-frame, I walked into my ladder and nearly sent it crashing into a Goldie and a Rita Angus self portrait (that's what public liability insurance is for, children).

Anyway, here I was, in the cage, in the zone, and watching this beautiful fish glide around us, in heaven.

Seriously, this was not a monster, just a beautiful, powerful animal.

I think I saw two or three different animals. It was hard to tell, being so obsessed with just trying to frame them up in the rocking cage. But they weren't acting aggressively at all. Just inquisitive, occasionally testing the bait or the seal decoy with their teeth.

I was a way off getting prize-winning shots but I always knew this was going to be a learning trip. It takes experience to deal with all the complications of the underwater environment and moving animals before you can think about things like composition and including other objects for scale. But to give you a better idea of the size of this beauty, that's a 3m rigid bottom inflatable he's behind.

15 or 20 minutes into it - it could have been longer, I wasn't looking at my watch - and I was cold and cage-tossed enough to get out and let someone else have a look. As I climbed back on deck and dumped the weight harness, I remember having a little reality check. What did I feel? The only word I can find is: Serene. Excitement came a little later. The look in Mike Bhana's eyes pretty well sums up our spirits, although this was a fairly typical day at the office for Mike, lucky bugger.

We'd all been in except for Lemuel, who didn't dive and was happy to see the beasts from topside. No pressure from us. Then reality set in: we'd been adventuring all day on light snacks. Time for real food, so the fishing rods came out. Not sampling Stewart Island's abundant table fish equates to the sin of sloth when you're down there. I got a barracuda (fail) a dogfish (fail) and finally, a blue cod. Lemuel caught most of the cod, and soon enough, Skipper Mike had us anchored in the calm bay at Port William, had fired up the BBQ, and we engaged in the much more worthwhile sin of gluttony.

Beer began to flow. So did the conversation. James's fine single malt scotch Whisky was produced, and in celebratory mood, I stood on the deck with a glass of Australian tawny port and a Cuban cigar (which I never inhale and only indulge in about once a year, kids). Spirits were high, but we were mindful not to overdo it. After all, we had another day's diving ahead of us.

Especially young Lemuel.

More in the pipeline.

White Sharks, Part Two

2011-06-19T13:34:00.017+12:00

Late update: Shark scientist Malcolm Francis of NIWA has seen some of my shark pictures from this trip and gleaned some useful data from them. That really does round this amazing trip off for me.

How much more can I pack in to just a few days? Shark diving, a band gig and now a copyright infringement to be sorted. More on that later perhaps. This post is about our white shark cage dive trip to Stewart Island.

At 7.00 Thursday, we slid out of our sleeping bags on board the Candice-Britt, to meet the full compliment from Auckland who had driven down from Christchurch at 2.00 am. There would be no slap-up breakfast as we were all keen to get under way. Cage secured, boat fueled, a cup of tea and a cold pie, and we were out into the swell, crossing Foveaux Strait bound for the Titi Islands, off Stewart Island, NZ.

As it turned out, the swell had eased nicely and the crossing was a breeze, made easier by the fact that the Candice Britt is a nice powerful catamaran that cut through the waves faster than bad news spreads on Twitter. Not wasting any time, our deck hand Johnno got to work preparing some shark bait.

No boat on Foveaux strait goes unaccompanied. Mollymawks, or more properly, small albatrosses are your constant companions. We were tracked by Shy and Buller's albatrosses. Their soaring flight is just beautiful to watch, and fun to try and get a good shot of from a rolling deck. If you're not a gear-head, feel free to skip the next para:

I used my 100-400 f/4 L to good effect here. Its image stabilisation is the best thing since autofocus, but there were times when the 24-70mm got some nice shots too. I should add that most of my topside images were taken on my Canon 5DmkII or 7D, while I had my Powershot G12 and underwater housing along for sub-surface action. Just for emergencies, I had a 450D and a splash bag with a 580EXII and 540EX flash and some optical slaves at the bottom of my sleeping bag, along with a small flask of whisky, a cuban cigar and half a bag of corn chips. If you're serious about photography you really have to be prepared.

About an hour after leaving Bluff harbour, we anchored off one of the Titi islands. The Titis are also known as the Muttonbird islands. For centuries, local Maori have been coming here to gather the Sooty shearwater, a local delicacy - although those with an uneducated palate would liken it to a tough, greasy, salty seagull - only not as appetising.

It was time to gather sharks and our anticipation was building although you might not have noticed. I think the excitement was tempered by the thought of getting into that cold water. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. This is the southern ocean, 11 or 12 degrees C on a good day. If you're lucky, you'll last about an hour without a wetsuit before hypothermia gets you, although there are tales of some hardy types actually lasting over 12 hours and living to tell the tale. But the water wasn't going to put us off. There was work to do: A berley trail to be laid, bait to throw in, and just to tempt the big predators a little more, a little seal pup decoy made from foam. It made sense that the seal silhouette would attract sharks, but who'd have thought it would work on albatross too?

As we waited for the guests of honour to arrive, Mike got onto the hydraulic crane and lowered the cages into the water.

The main cage is nice and sturdy, with room for four divers. Mike Bhana's personal cage was a rather different affair however.

Our skipper had whipped it up from aluminium tubing the night before. One man could easily lift it, and I was thinking one large shark could easily pop it apart. That is, if it didn't want to just poke its jaws in through the massive gaps in the bars and pull you out. You'd have to be nuts to think you're safe in that thing with a big shark around. Or you'd have to be Mike Bhana. Mike's one of the most experienced shark shooters (as in camera, not gun) on the planet and I've seen him fend off dozens of big sharks with his camera. If you didn't know him, you'd think it was some kind of crazy machismo combined with a death wish, but he has a real love of sharks, combined with years of experience. I'm sure he'd get out of the water if he thought he wasn't in control of the situation. I'm just not sure if I've seen him do it yet.

Once the cages were in, there was nothing left to do but wait for the sharks to show. Luckily for us our skipper Mike Haines (did I mention his business, Southern Aqua Adventures?) knows just the best spot to find large white sharks, and some showed up almost immediately. This was the little one:

Skipper Mike had done his part. Now it was time to do ours. I'm not sure if it was the sharks or the water temperature, but there was a complete lack of gung ho about the moment, as a few of the lads just shrugged and began to suit up. We were about to come face to face with one of the planet's greatest living predators. Sure I was nervous. I hadn't dived in a few years, and the last time I was in a cage I found it terrifying, waiting for a Mako shark to appear from out of nowhere. This time the sharks were right there, and they were huge - nearly 4m long and of massive girth. But to be honest, this time, I couldn't wait. This was going to be my first chance to do some underwater photography, and it was with one of the most spectacular subjects I could imagine. I had a challenge to face, and I was totally focused on that. While the first divers went in, I prepped my camera and underwater housing, put on my togs, and suited up. My time had come.

More of this story in the pipeline.

White Sharks, Part One

2011-06-18T17:04:00.004+12:00

Got back from my White Shark cage dive trip to Stewart Island last night. Headline: Photog has sublime couple of days off. I have to prep for a gig tonight, so I can't write up the whole story yet, but here's how it starts...

Wednesday night I fueled the truck and hit the road with my old NHNZ colleague Lemuel Lyes, bound for Bluff. There we met friend and tourism consultant James Hacon over a beer and tried to contact the rest of the crew who were supposed to arrive from Auckland at various times that day. The good news: Two were already there, Craig and Kaiser, hanging out at the fire station with our Skipper Mike Haines. The bad news: the others were delayed by the volcanic ash cloud coming from Chile, and would have to drive down from Christchurch in rentals that night, arriving around 2.00 am. The only thing for it was to head for our vessel, the Candice-Britt, load our gear and help skipper Mike get the dive gear and cages aboard.

No boats had been out all week, but the forecast was for easing seas, so it was with no little sense of excitement that we crawled into our sleeping bags and tried to sleep, disturbed only by the slop of waves against the hull, the hull occasionally crashing into the jetty, and the arrival of a travel-weary Mike Bhana and the rest of the Auckland contingent at around 2.00 in the morning.

Soon all aboard were bunked down and ready for the huge day that would begin at dawn, just a few hours away.

Gotta grab my guitars and harmonicas now and dash, more in the pipeline.

More fishing

2011-06-14T21:54:00.001+12:00

This may sound a little extreme, but the long haul of researching and writing the book I'm doing has had me itching for a little adventure, especially a short, intense one with some good photo opportunities. So when my old friend and colleague Mike Bhana offered me the chance to join him and a bunch of other reckless types on a shark diving expedition, I was in from the start.

So here I am, checking my underwater housing and splash bag, thinking about what clothes to pack and hoping that the forecast 5m swell doesn't keep us from the sheltered anchorage on Stewart Island where we'll be cage diving with White Sharks. Last time I got in a cage up in Tutukaka, the Makos we were burleying for didn't show, so this is my next big chance to get in the water with a real monster. I've seen mature tiger sharks close up from topside, and dived in the same water - thankfully all I saw were some reef sharks that day - but I know that if we get the big whites we're expecting, this will be an intense experience.

And the bonus is that if everything else goes well, I'll get some good pictures. Fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll still have them all when I get back in a couple of days. Wish me luck!

Marching with the Saints

2011-06-05T13:07:00.003+12:00

Now and then I hear from my old collaborator Mike Thorsen who's now living on the island of St Helena with his wife Fran. We'll exchange words on each other's Flickr stream, or swap news about a new bit of gear we like the look of but can't possibly afford. It's the usual bloke's kind of conversation, just a few degrees above grunting and pointing, but it conveys plenty.

Now that they've been settled for a little while though, Mike and Fran are blogging about their time studying and protecting the island's incredibly fragile native flora, as well as a few other adventures: helping out with other wildlife surveys; shooting the odd wedding, or just learing about life among the Saints, as the locals are called. It's a cool look at life on a tiny speck in the middle (and off to the right a bit) of the Atlantic Ocean. Check out their Banzai Chicken Blog.

A little fishing

2011-05-29T20:38:00.002+12:00

I've been itching for a little time off to do some recreational photography lately, but just haven't had the time, despite the awesome late autumn we've been having. Today though, I took a little time out today for a fishing expedition with Mrs C and Miss C(7).

Thought I'd play around with my new UW housing for the Canon G12 but the water was a little murky - not to mention cold - to get in and do a lot more than just a couple of shallow test shots. I'll just have to book a shark dive or something to give it a real shakedown.

But then I saw this.

A discarded carcass. I hate it when other anglers leave their mess around. Yes, I suppose it's just biomass being returned to the natural environment, but I'm sure it's better to bury your waste or at least fling it into the bush where it's not going to spoil anyone else's enjoyment. The clown who did this had to know that the place is also a drinking water reservoir for the city! Not a good look. So I decided to grab my other camera and work it into something with a bit more power. It could make a good bit of eco-ganda if you didn't know the real story.

In the end, I let Mrs C and Miss C(7) do all the fishing. I was happy enough with the pictures I'd caught.

Time

2011-05-15T19:58:00.012+12:00

It'll be another month or two before I'm clear of writing my book and can devote all my time to photography again, but I can't wait (of course I'm still for hire 24/7). Meanwhile, I've been out doing some shooting for the book, getting shots of some historic business premises about town.

I've been going out at various times of day to experiment with different looks.

As winter approaches and the sun gets lower in the sky, sometimes it's harder to get good light on some buildings. If some of the building is in direct sun, the disparity between highlights and shadows is often just too great for a good image. Rather than boost the fill light slider in post or make a high dynamic range picture, I'll shoot the structure in low light early or late in the day. The architecture isn't so defined, but its a natural look and the whole building is evenly lit by the low ambient without hard shadows and highlights. It does mean using a tripod, since sometimes the shutter speed is around 1/15th, but I tend to use the tripod for landscapes anyway, and I'm liking the results.

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I'm also liking my assistant/model Miss C(7). Not only does she watch my gear when I'm working, she also acts as a useful model when I'm shooting playground equipment.

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And the best part is, she still works for milk shakes.

Tools and Style

2011-04-21T10:03:00.004+12:00

Sometimes you work consciously to develop your style, sometimes it happens by accident. I play a little blues guitar in my band and the other week, started playing on my old Fender Strat instead of the semi-hollow Epiphone I've been using. It struck me that the different guitar noticeably changed my sound and style of play. A change of tools can do that.

So, the other day I did a little photo shoot for EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. It involved shooting Johnno, an electrical contractor installing a timer on a heated towel rail. Cutting down on that kind of waste will save householders hundreds of dollars a year and reduce the need for more power plants, dammed rivers, etc. Gets a tick from me.

The PR company that hired me on ECCA's behalf had also got a photo journo to do some shots for a story in the Otago Daily Times, so I made sure I was there early and was prepared so that I could give her the time and space she needed to do her job. She didn't need much, and lit the shot as I've seen a lot of newspaper photogs work: On camera flash pointed up, with a diffuser on. Quick, efficient, and on to the next job.

Since I was shooting stuff that might be used in a campaign, I wanted a look with just a little more pop, so my plan was to use a simple setup David Hobby of the Strobist blog uses: A key light at an angle to the subject to define things, with an Orbis ring flash to fill the dark shadows. Key and fill. Nothing exceptional apart from the choice of a ring light for fill. Kept dialed down it works nicely to eliminate hard shadows without chucking light everywhere or creating secondary shadows. My assistant Ray was my voice-activated light stand, holding the key. Here's one of the results:

It's exactly what I was working to get. Then as we got into it, I took one shot just before the flash Ray was holding could recycle, leaving Johnno lit only the ring flash. Of course it was a bit under-exposed, but shooting raw rather than jpg files, that wasn't a complete disaster and was fixable later in Lightroom. But looking at it in camera, I saw something I liked. It's nice and simple but it's not a lighting style I'd think of using for a tradesman. Normally I'd think hard, well defined directional lighting for men. This is more a glamour kind of light but I did a few more exposed primarily by the ring light, and I stumbled upon something I really liked.

You may not even notice the difference I'm going on about - and that's good, I don't want my process to distract from the image. So what's so different about this look?

Because it doesn't have the usual defining shadows created by a high key (like natural sunlight or ceiling lights), it doesn't look completely natural and yet because we're used to seeing a lot of on-camera flash, it's not so novel that it looks particularly weird. It's just a little bit different - the even light with the subtle falloff around the edges of things - and the halo-like background shadow it creates is kind of distinctive, and I certainly haven't seen it used for tradesmen before. Because of that, I like it and I'm going to keep playing with it. I like to be versatile, but if you're serious about creative endeavours, it's important to evolve a distinctive style of your own too.

Your style is influenced very much by your choice of tools.

The Apprentice

2011-04-15T10:26:00.001+12:00

It's official. I have an apprentice.

CC conducting photons

A few months ago I got a phone call from a Rheinhard Schatz in Germany. He'd seen my stuff online, wanted to visit New Zealand and do a little photography, and asked if I would mentor him. That's a big responsibility, but I've done some teaching before and love a challenge, so I said sure, I'd be happy to meet him and give him some tips. I didn't really expect to see him a few weeks later, wanting to be taught for as long as his visa lasted.

So there we are, sipping coffee and I'm looking at some of the shots he has on the card in his 7D. He's asking me real enthusiastic newb stuff like which metering method to use, and what I think of the10-22mm for a walkaround, and I'm looking at his shots, looking for something good and really, really struggling.

There were few obvious subjects in most of his shots, terrible light, awful composition, camera shake. I had plenty of criticisms to make, but they were all going to be constructive. You know why? It all reminded me of my own stuff and not that long ago. Ray had some work to do, but if I could do it on my own, I was pretty sure he could with a little guidance.

I told Ray his stuff was about as bad as it got and that I knew from personal experience that the only way was up. Shot by shot, I told him what I'd want to do to make each one better. I don't like to lay down rules, this is a creative medium; rules are helpful but can be a shackle. Instead I like to think of them as options, and I was telling Ray what the options were in each of his frames and which ones I would take. God bless him he took it all on the chin. More importantly he was keen to get to work. We've been on a couple of walkabouts, he's assisted me on some shoots, and I've given him a few exercises to do.

Well yesterday he showed me his results and they really impressed me... bold, graphic compositions, leading lines, silhouettes, nice use of colour... some real intent had gone into the pictures. There are still a few technical things to attend, but Ray has come a long, long way in a very short space of time. I'm so pleased with his progress, I'm going to see if he'll let me show some of it soon but meanwhile, meet my apprentice... already working hard, reminding me of the deadline I set to get a lighting setup sorted. Kiwi tenacity, German efficiency, we're going to make a good team.

Ray... of Light

Very Good Fortune

2011-04-14T22:00:00.001+12:00

Go see some live theatre.

Two very good mates and former TV colleagues recently managed to tear Mrs. C and I out of the house to see a play at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre. I'm so glad we got a sitter for Miss C and went along - and not just because of the pre-show Scotch I had with them.

I really have no excuse not to be going to this season's shows. I shot some of the promo pictures for them; I went to the preview evening and they all looked like a good night out. The main stage production that's running right now is "God of Carnage" and here's the shot they used for the poster (before being put through the fab-u-tron):

That's Lara Macgregor, the Fortune's new creative director by the way. I think she's doing sterling work.

Tonight's show was downstairs in the studio, a one man play called "The Second Test".

I know. One man play. You immediately think "heavy" or "high risk of stage death". Forget it. This is the true story of 22 year old test cricket bowler Bob Blair who, when the rest of the team were battered, bruised and bowled out, walked on against a ferocious South African attack at a time nobody expected him to: the day after hearing of his fiancee's death in the Tangiwai railway disaster. It's funny, sad, and thoroughly entertaining. 70 minutes flew by like 15.

It's written and played by Johathan Brugh, who's voice and face you'll recognise from a fair few kiwi ads. I recognise him from 90's comedy duo Sugar and Spice... I'll never forget their sketch of Jacques Chirac being rogered by a... well, I won't go there.

But you should go to the Fortune. Great stuff. And on the way in, check out the light panel, there are some fabulous promo shots on it.

Stay Away From Cheap Glass

2011-04-02T21:47:00.006+13:00

I learned a lesson in lenses yesterday. I'd just received my Canon 100-400mm f/4-5.6 L USM Zoom lens and was gagging to get it out and do some shooting with it. Of course, before I could, I had to burn the packaging and bury the courier's body in the back yard before Mrs C found out about my second big purchase in one week.

The evidence taken care of, I leapt in my truck under the pretense of going out for cigarettes, and headed down to the local bird roost. I was a little worried about the deception because Mrs C is an amateur detective and I've never smoked cigarettes in my life before, but like many photogs I'm not that rational when I've got a new piece of gear to play with. Anyway, after a breakneck drive down to the inlet, I started shooting some pictures of some royal spoonbills and shags, but was immediately underwhelmed by the zoom's performance.

I couldn't believe how soft the images in the review screen were, even in the 100-200 range, and at all f-stops. I expected to get some joy at f/8 or f/11, but saw no improvement whatsoever. I put my 70-200 on the 5DII to check, and sure enough, even blown up, shots from the 70-200 at 200mm look better than the 100-400.

Here's a shag with the 10-400.

...and here he is with the 70-200. Even zoomed in, the image is sharper.

I was starting to feel a bit gutted, having shelled out a reasonable amount of money for this lens. Had it had a bad knock and needed the elements realigning? Was it just a dud? This is a lens with a great reputation and I really expected better, especially after considering the much cheaper Sigma 150-500 which has some very good reviews. I was having another look at the Canon when I got home and duh - I realised it had a Kenko lens protect filter on... Could that be it?

Here's another shot, this time of a wild lawn sprinkler from my back yard - same lens, 400mm.

And now here's the same lens, same focal length, same wildlife, with the filter off.

I felt a flood of relief (and just a little embarrassment) at this discovery. I'd always heard that cheap filters degrade your images, but I didn't think the effect was this pronounced. I like to use Circular Polarising Filters (CPL's) for a lot of my shooting, and was immediately worried that I should've gotten the $400 ones instead of the sub-$100 that I do have, that everything I've done so far could have been much, much sharper. I checked them out, and thank goodness they're okay. But boy, the whole experience will make me a lot more careful about choosing filters in future.

So I tried my 2x extender on, just for good measure. As I expected, you lose some sharpness with it, as well as half your speed - at maximum focal length, you go from a max aperture of 5.6 to 11. Even more challenging is the fact that you lose autofocus. But frankly, the results are still better than with that crappy filter.

I was so relieved I had to tell somebody. The good news is: Mrs C didn't bat an eyelid when I confessed about the new purchase. That woman is an angel. Of course as soon she's out of the house I'm going to be checking her wardrobe for the new dress or pair of knee-high leather boots that must be there.

So now I'm free to fall in love with my new lens but what I really need is a subject worthy of it. The local Yellow - eyed penguins are all hiding in their burrows and moulting at the moment and frankly, 400mm is overkill for sea lions. Luckily, I've got a project coming up that is the main reason I got this lens.

Stay tuned for that adventure.

Small But Perfectly Formed

2011-03-29T13:06:00.000+13:00

I just snapped this little cicada out on my deck. I think they're handsome little bugs. I got the shot with my latest bit of kit, the Canon G12 point-and-shoot. It just arrived today, so it's too soon to report on a thorough shakedown, but I'm impressed by its macro capability already. It'll shoot from 1cm away. I'm looking forward to using it for those times where it's just not practical to carry my DSLR's. The small size and flip-out screen will help me get angles I can't with my bigger cameras.

I have just about filled my kit bag with everything I want, apart from a few accessories like filters and such. The last bit on my wish list should be arriving soon and thank goodness, it's time to start contributing to the family coffers!

The Washout

2011-03-19T15:09:00.003+13:00

Photography has all but replaced fly fishing for me. I don't mind that much. It's very similar in nature. I was in Wanaka last week to do a little high country mustering shoot for a new client. The weather maps made it look like there'd be a one-day fine spell before some nasty stuff came over, and the farmer I'd been dealing with had decided to move his sheep that day.

It was going to be a great experience: I was to shoot a group of musterers moving a mob of merinos from the Timburn station valley floor, up and along the ridges to Mount Misery near the St Bathans range - spectacular and beautiful country. But the night before I got a call I wasn't expecting: The move was cancelled. A contractor had decided to come and do some crutching that day. We'd be moving the mob the day after.

No problem. I rose before dawn anyway and did some shooting around the property in the golden hour light before heading up the ridge line to get some wide shots of the valley below.

It was a magic day despite the lack of action and I was pumped to think that we'd be up on the tops tomorrow. But as I got back to my hotel that afternoon, I could see clouds on the horizon. That night the rain on the roof made it hard to sleep.

Or it could have been the huge plate of ribs I'd had for dinner.

The call came at 0600. No good. The tracks were too soft to move the stock, maybe next week. So I took the long road home via the Lindis pass. The streams were still rising but occasionally the sky cleared and I managed to get some shots for my library and other projects.

It's so like fishing. Even the worst day taking pictures is better than most days not doing so.

Under House Arrest

2011-03-14T09:42:00.005+13:00

Meet James Macandrew, one of Otago's early businessmen and Provincial Superintendents. There's a great story about James that goes like this:

After a bitter feud with Johnny Jones, one of his business rivals, Macandrew's handling of the provincial finances came under investigation. It looked like he'd been using local government funds to stave off bankruptcy. James was promptly jailed by the local magistrate, but removing him from the office of Provincial Superintendent would take longer. Meanwhile, canny James used his powers to declare his own house a prison, effectively making the magistrate's order one of home detention. Eventually the matter was rectified and he was given less luxurious accommodations. He bounced back from this setback though, and had an illustrious career in politics. A staunch Free Church Presbyterian, he dismissed the act of singing in church as a Papist extravagance, and was a fierce champion of Otago in the New Zealand Parliament. That's why his bust sits outside the Otago settlers museum.

I can sympathise with James right now. It feels like I've been under house arrest for months, working on a history of Otago Business. I'm spending most of my time either at the library or my desk here at World Domination League HQ, researching stories like these. Then I'll be moving on to archival picture research, which should be a little more interesting. Dunedinites embraced photography early, and the town had some fine photogs at work in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Soon though I'll be getting stuck in to some of my own photography for the book, like the pictures of convicted fraudster Michael Swann's car collection in the last post - and some industrial shooting, which I really get a buzz from.

There is some short term relief on the horizon though. This week I've got a landscape commission, which means heading into the Central Otago high country for a couple of days, shooting working life on a sheep station. I can't wait.

Like that other notorious Scot (at least Mel Gibson's version) cried: Freeeeeedom!

Tire Kicking

2011-03-04T15:06:00.003+13:00

I popped in to Turners Auctions today to take a look at some impounded vehicles going under the hammer this weekend. Twenty-four cars, motorcycles, boats, and trailers. Not that I'm in the market for a new set of wheels or anything.

The collection includes three Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a 1911 Cadillac, a 1928 Buick convertible, a 1969 Mercedes Benz, an E-type Jaguar, a 1924 BSA motorcycle, a pleasure cruiser and three inflatable boats. They were owned by convicted fraudster Michael Swann, who conned the Otago District Health Board out of about $18,000,000 in exchange for buggerall IT services. 18,000,000 is a lot of zeroes. It's also a lot of hip and cataract operations, cancer scans and dialysis machines, which is why Swann isn't too popular in these parts. I was told Turners have actually been getting busloads of folks from rest homes coming in to see these vehicles, spit, curse and burn Swann's effigy.

As with any good crime story, there is a constellation of supporting rumours. Take the Honda motorcycle below. Legend already has it that once the writing was on the wall, Mr Swann offered it to a local gang in return for a little protection in prison. Smart move. Except now that the authorities have the bike, the protection might not be so good. Oh dear.

It's a nice collection though. I wish I'd had time to do these cars justice. The ideal would have been to hoist a white sail up above the cars and bounce light off it, giving nice big clean specular highlights bouncing off that gleaming metal. Oh well. Instead I went for a few flashes here and there to add a little juice and occasionally kill the ambient. My favourite actually turns out to be one taken with just ambient below. I like how the cone from the light above helps frame the shot a little.

I think I should have shot more ambient, gone for a documentary feel instead of motoring glamour. Lesson learned. I wanted a little glamour look to add to the story I want to tell later on - I'm featuring the Swann fraud story in a book I'm working on. More on that later.

Auction starts Saturday 5 March at 11. Could be a good chance to snag that Rolls you've always wanted.

Proceeds to our local hospital!

Help Me Help Christchurch

2011-02-27T09:28:00.001+13:00

Before the September earthquake last year I had the pleasure of walking around Christchurch, just talking to people and taking their pictures for a commercial job. On a busy weekday in the square, nearly everyone I approached was happy to help and generous with their time.

Just after lunchtime on Tuesday 22 February, I felt the house shake. I knew right away that another earthquake had hit Christchurch, 374 Km away.

As we know, the devastation was Biblical. Their beautiful cathedral is rubble as is much of the city, many of its good people injured, homeless, dead or missing.

If you were planning to visit New Zealand any time soon, please don't let this put you off. The rest of our beautiful country is unscathed and you'll find a very warm welcome here. But if you're not visiting any time soon, there's another way to see a little of our place and help Christchurch.

I'm selling some of my pictures (my landscapes - not the folks above) and donating to the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. For details, click here.

You can follow the links to find some of my favourite pictures for sale. But if there are any pictures at all on my blog that you like, get in touch. For the month of March, you can buy anything you want here, and I'll donate on your behalf.

Cheers,

Dear Christchurch

2011-02-23T08:28:00.002+13:00

Yesterday I felt the quake at my desk here in Dunedin. We all thought last time was bad, but since the jolt, Mrs C and I have been watching the devastation that has struck Christchurch and it's clearly much worse. New Zealand is a small country, and we'll all be touched in some way by this tragedy, so know we're with you. We'll help pull you out of the mess, and in the new days to come, we'll help you rebuild.

Mrs C just sent a bunch of lunch packs to help feed the student army of volunteers who are helping to clean the city up. I'm going to sit and figure out how I can use my skills to help. Meanwhile, this one's for you.

The Wonder of Sex

2011-02-17T09:56:00.003+13:00

Well if that isn't a title to get me some hits, I don't know what is. Unfortunately it's not really mine. It's the title of an upcoming show at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre. Just before Christmas I had the pleasure of shooting some promotional material for the fortune's upcoming season and now that they've had their live preview it's okay for me to share a few shots.

This one is of 'The Wonder of Sex' writer Patrick Barlow. I knew Patrick in a previous life when I was writing a kids science show for TV and Patrick was acting in it. For this shot, since we were shooting for a few different productions on the downstairs stage at the Fortune, it made sense to take my studio lighting kit. We could have relied on the house lights to get the full theatre effect, but I didn't have time to muck about with an unset lighting grid. Gotta say I'm not in love with the grey background and the line through Patrick's head, but the shot was to be cut out and photoshopped later. On the Fortune's Website, you can see their graphics maven Nikki has done some saucy Photoshop magic on the original. I like it a lot.

The shot below reveals my set-up reflected in Patrick's eye: Octabox high left for Key, softbox left for fill, and a kicker/separation light high left rear, provided by one of my bare Canon flashes.

And there, if you look carefully in the middle of it all, is me at work -something you often have to look very hard to find.

The Photographic Assignment With Almost Everything

2011-02-02T14:04:00.019+13:00

You can click of any of my pictures to go to my Flickr site for a larger view. For a really good look, click again to view them on black.

Some days one of those assignments with almost everything lands in your lap. Just before I left for family vacation, I got a call from a client looking for someone to photograph the transport of some wind farm components from Dunedin Wharf to the installation site above Lake Mahinerangi. I'd have to take some days out from my camping holiday to do it, but this job had it all - cool stuff to photograph, technical challenges, and a great excuse to get up before dawn. My only disappointment was that wharf security wouldn't let me as close as I wanted to the ship, let alone on board, or that I couldn't ride on the trucks. It would have been nice if there'd been a budget for aerials of course, but apart from those tiny niggles, the only drawback was the lack of an insulated coffee mug with a one litre capacity.

The shipments rolled out from the wharf at 4.00 am, which meant 3.00 am starts for me. I love any excuse to light shots, but my chances here were limited since nobody was going to wait around for me to faff around with flashes, stands and radio triggers, and the safety guys were not prepared to risk me dazzling their drivers, so while I did manage to quickly pop a flash into the cab of one of the trucks (top) and some others on the payload, much of my pre-dawn work had to be done with the ambient lighting at high ISO and long exposures - as well as a little of Lightroom's fill light slider.

I spent a little time up on the Saddle Hill overbridge trying to combine second-curtain flash with long exposures to get some light trails leading up to a static image of the vehicles. One reason for my choice of position was to show more of the payload rather than the tractor units (the main part of the brief) as well as show where the stuff is heading to rather than where it's coming from. The other reason is that it shows the trucks heading down the wrong side of the motorway out of town. Some units were so long, they wouldn't be able to negotiate the Mosgiel roundabout or some corners on the left-hand side of the road. This was a hard shot to get right. Only 3 trucks make the trip at a time, and because the weights of the components are different, they travel at different speeds, making the exposure for the light trails different every time. Add to that the fact that nearly every time a truck went under me, a logging truck went by me just a meter away on the overpass, making the whole thing rumble and sway.

Nice shots to be had as the trucks started climbing the hills above the Taieri Plain, but again, without the risk of dazzling the driver, I couldn't employ second-curtain flash and shutter drag to get the effect I really wanted - not that I think my flash would have been as distracting as the lights of an oncoming vehicle, but safety first.

Dawn saw the 3-truck convoy come together at the Mahinerangi Road turn-off, where I was able to use a little flash during the drivers' short break. Again I would have liked to go all Joe McNally or Strobist on it and place flashes in cool places, but there was really only time to keep the flash on camera and do the old run-and-gun.

It was hard to get a meaningful perspective on some things other than from far away - the blade units are 44 metres long, not counting the added length of tractor unit or trailer. Get up close, and they're just weird shapes tapering to a tiny tractor unit half a rugby paddock away.

Finally there was the long slow grind along gravel roads up to the wind farm site above Lake Mahinerangi. I'm not a huge fan of these things in our valuable high country landscapes, but this is a pretty good location: lots of wind naturally but it's way out of view in pasture land overlooking an artificial lake, surrounded by pine plantation forest. This place lost its natural values a while ago. And these things do look kind of cool in their own right.

Images captured, lessons learned as always. Now I just have to wait and see if the client is happy - and catch up on a little sleep before the next job.

On Vacation

2011-01-24T10:02:00.001+13:00

Well, not quite on vacation. I'm back in town doing some commercial shooting for the day but I can't wait to get back to our camping ground and more of this...

... and who in their right mind wouldn't?

Back later.

A Retina-Searing Kaleidoscope of Chiffon

2011-01-11T09:55:00.002+13:00

In my last post I said the Tautuku wedding would be a hoot and it was, so I had to share this:

I'd have to describe this wedding as tasteful. In a lime-chilli-chocolate-peppermint-honey-soy-mustard-wasabi kind of way.

15 chiffon-clad sirens in a rainbow of colours, a beach, and Elvis. I'm lucky enough to be selective about the wedding jobs I take and I'm glad I took this one. The chance to play with all that colour was a dream and an inspiration. My grateful thanks goes to Bridget and her "bitches" for letting me be a part of it all.

Wild Weddng

2011-01-05T11:48:00.001+13:00

I'm in the lucky position of only taking on wedding work I really want to do. Weddings can be great gigs, but there are issues, like working on your weekends and dealing with bridezillas (not that I've actually ever met any ~~apart from the one I married~~). Believe me, full-time wedding photogs earn their money. So I'm really looking forward to heading here to shoot a wedding this weekend.

Tautuku Peninsula, in the Catlins district. It's beautiful wild country where my client will be getting married at an outdoor education camp. Group photos on that wonderful beach and the nearby cliffs. Now here's the interesting bit: 15 Bridesmaids in 70's style Chiffon dresses. Talk about contrast! It's going to be a hoot.

No Wasted Walk

2011-01-04T11:51:00.003+13:00

Yesterday I was full of good intentions... striding off up a track that leads up Maungatua, camera and lenses in my bag, hoping to get some landscape pictures from the treeline, but mainly intending to get my legs in shape for the Hump Ridge Track I'm walking in a couple of months time. I'd allowed a few hours for the exercise, but a little over five minutes in, I was confronted by this:

Lee Stream in flood. (Not to be confused with the Lee Stream that flows into the Taieri upstream of Outram Glen). In other circumstances I'd have crossed and carried on with my walk, but the rain was still falling, and while I had a watertight gear bag, I really didn't want to risk returning to a higher stream and hazardous crossing. I could jack it in and go home, or I could wander back down the track, trying to see the great subject material around me and capturing it. Four hours and a few hundred metres of bush track. I decided that would be just enough time.

OK first photo opportunity. Stream in flood? Time to pull out the Neutral Density filter and make that water dreamy-soft.

I was using exposures from about 4 to 10 seconds here. What I've learned with long exposures like these is that foliage can be a problem. Your rocks will be nice and sharp (assuming you've got your camera rock steady), the water will be smoothed out, but if you've any breeze at all, the foliage will be moving about and blurred in the final picture. OK if you want it, but you start to lose the effect if you haven't got plenty of good sharp stuff in frame. Unless things are really still, it's best to frame for just the rocks and water.

Then I was off down the track, getting some details of the walk: reflections in puddles, macro of leaves, bark textures... I've been into strobism for so long, I was kind of missing my flashes, but you have to be able to work with what you've got. The light was mostly overcast, but occasionally some dappled light hit the forest floor, isolating or back lighting a fern.

The tripod was invaluable, allowing me to get nice sharp shots in the low forest light, but if I hadn't had it with me, I'd have adapted. That's going to be my mission on the Hump Ridge Track - to help people make good pictures no matter what the circumstances, no matter what their gear. Puddles, dead leaves, flooded streams...the world is full of great subject material. We just have to learn to see it.

Over Another Hump

2011-01-01T10:30:00.003+13:00

Welcome to 2011. I know for certain that it's going to be a good year. That's because I've got some challenging new projects in the pipeline that I'm pretty excited about. Foremost in mind is my celebrity walk on the Hump Ridge Track.

For three days starting on March 2nd this year I'll be doing the walk and sharing all my photo expertise with those who join me. That's going to leave us with about two days, 23 hours and fifty minutes to fill, so it's a good thing that there's so much to enjoy along the way.

First, there's the spectacular scenery. You just take that as a given on New Zealand walking tracks. For instance on day two we'll descend through the coastal rain forest via the Percy Burn viaduct, a remnant of the forestry industry that once exploited the area. More of the track's eye candy to come in a later post.

The Hump Ridge celebrity walks are much more than bush-bashing your way from scenic wonder via epic outlook to awesome vista. I've done my share of sweating up the hills and mountains with a 20kg pack, eating only what I was prepared to carry and sleeping in spartan huts, tents or rock bivouacs. This March, we'll be walking the track, but all our heavy gear will be transported to our accommodations by helicopter. (I won't tell if you won't.) Personally, I know I'm going to struggle with the temptation to carry more photographic gear in its place.

Those accommodations? Comfortable? Make that very comfortable. Forget about sleeping on a thin groundsheet on top of gnarled tree roots while your companions snore like an engine test at the airbus factory (although it's hard to forget if you've ever experienced it, believe me). Think private rooms with King-size beds. And while I'm enough of a ~~masochist~~ purist to still enjoy a strip wash in a cold mountain stream, on this trip I'll be enjoying hot showers. Now lets talk about the food and drink.

Leave your dried food and water purifying tablets at home. The Hump Ridge guided walks offer excellent food on licenced premises. When I walked into Okaka hut last year, I expected to be greeted by the traditional aromatic mix of camp stove fuel, damp socks and insect repellent. Instead, I was welcomed by the smell of baking brownies. Something to drink? Great wines, cold beers, take your pick. Let me tell you there's nothing like a mulled wine as you take in the coastal and alpine views from Okaka hut and that's just what I plan to do. In moderation of course, there'll be two more days walking to do.

But that's not all we'll be doing. On my walk, we'll be making stunning pictures together. Let me tell you how, in another post. If you're interested, click your way here to find out more about the track, and make a booking.

Goodbye and Good Luck Mike

2010-12-24T10:11:00.004+13:00

Yesterday was something of the end of an era for me. My mate and photo collaborator Mike Thorsen left Dunedin for a new life on the island of St Helena. Mike and I have been bouncing ideas off each other fairly intensively all year; I had the honour of shooting his wedding and the pleasure of using him as my assistant on several of my commercial shoots. On our last gig together for Tourism Waitaki, between me grunting at him to adjust or shift lights and reflectors, he actually found time to take some behind-the-scenes shots.

See how I seem so totally focussed on my subject that I don't even notice Mike in my shot shooting back at me? And that I look as if I'm in total control and know what I'm doing all the time? That's how good he is.

I'm going to miss our catchups over coffee to talk gear, his expertise in macro shooting and his advice on post production, but what I'll really miss is how good Mike makes me look. I'm expecting to see some great stuff come out of his time overseas.

Good luck mate, I'm looking forward to working with you again some day. I'll be your voice-activated lightstand any day.

On that note, it's time to put away the toys, tear myself away from the PC and wrap for the year. Happy Christmas and a great 2011 everyone. I hope you've been entertained, just a little informed, and come back for more adventures in photography next year.

Blow Wind, Blow

2010-12-22T07:28:00.002+13:00

Yesterday was one of those spectacularly hot blue sky days that you just want to spend near some water.

Dunedin's beaches can be sublime on such days, so James down at St Clair Beach Resort asked me to pop down there and get some exteriors. It's a job that suits my natural inclination to portray things with strong saturated colours. What we weren't expecting were the Nor'west gales that blasted the south. Up in the hills, gusts were reaching over 150 kmh. It must have been about then that I was perched with James on top of St Clair Majestic Mansions, trying to get the shot below of the resort and saltwater pool in the background.

I wanted to bracket some exposures so I had the option of some HDR post production, so had the tripod set up with my 14kg camera bag hooked on to help keep it steady. We were like straws in the gale up there. You can see Majestic Mansions just behind and to the right of the resort in the shot below. Funny how the wind doesn't really show but honestly? There were some scary moments.

It would have been nice to go for a little dip at the beach after the shoot, but I didn't fancy having my body sand-blasted. Driving home through wind-blown debris was just as scary. The temperature back home was around 30 C. One of our trees was down, the veggie patch had been hammered, and in the region, fires were burning, power lines were down and roofs were being lifted. In situations like this, there's nothing like the company of a 7 year old and a lawn sprinkler.

Happy Hour

2010-12-19T11:15:00.004+13:00

One tiny snag about shooting pictures for a living is that I can't share everything I do straight away. Often my clients want to release their promotional material or whatever it is first. And fair enough too. That's why I can't put up anything from my recent magazine or theatre shoots. I can share a little of this though, some work I did in a local hostelry.

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It was one of those informal shoots where my client had a family coming in for drinks and dinner who were happy enough to be captured. Kind of a fishing trip for shots for general promotional material. Not a bad idea, we got some useful stuff, but you're always going to get better results from a comprehensive brief. It dawned on me that this shoot wasn't all about the family per se, but more about good looking GV's (general views) and detail shots to build up the venue's promotional catalogue. Before our time was up, my client and I talked and I quickly did a few experiments designed to show him what else we could do. The shiny, colourful stuff behind the bar is great material for detail shots, so I created some impromptu lighting schemes with my flashes (one or two of which needed to be cloned out later - this was just a quick experiment) and looked for some creative opportunities.

You can tell I also pushed the envelope a little in the post processing. I'm sharing these because I don't really expect them to be used. It might not be the sort of thing that fits in with the existing promotional material - the less processed stuff should, but I like to offer clients something extra they might not have thought about and it always pays to push myself in terms of new techniques.

We'll see what comes out of this shoot in terms of further business. I was up front and told my client I thought I could do more for him knowing his needs a little better now. I also feel I'm just getting comfortable with this hyper-real look and how to achieve it efficiently. It won't always be appropriate, but it's another tool for my photgraphic trick bag.

Bad Press

2010-12-14T07:07:00.003+13:00

There I was, hanging out in the local primary school playground, waiting for thunder to roll. ND filter, remote timer release, wide angle lens, tripod, rain jacket... and I'm standing around in the big wooden playhouse they have, partly for the shelter, partly because I can climb the ladder to the upper deck to get a great shot of the sky and surrounding suburbs when the lightning comes.

The thing is, hanging around playgrounds with a camera while there's a class in after-school care just is not a good look. Even though I'm known to everyone as Miss C(7)'s dad, I felt kinda pervy. After half an hour or so, I skulked home. The rain had passed without a storm anyway. On the way past the classroom, I made sure to stop and make small talk with one of the teachers, chat about the weather, and my obsessive hobby. I almost showed her my test frames of the sky. A reputation as a kiddie stalker is something you just don't need.

So home I went to play around with some frames from my last shoot with Stuart Devinie at Fortune Theatre. Pushed the fill light, contrast, clarity and blacks sliders to the max and got this. The different looks that are quickly and easily possible when you shoot raw are just amazing. I'm going to keep experimenting with portrait styles. You never know, I might crack that Dave Hill look one day - although this is somewhere between him and Andrzej Dragan.

The Newspaper Man

2010-12-13T12:01:00.000+13:00

I recently had the chance to shoot some pictures of actor Stuart Devinie for Dunedin's Fortune theatre. I could've done it with the theatre lights or my camera flashes, but wanted big, soft light, so rigged the softbox and umbrella onto my new 1000 WS studio strobes. Lotsa light. Bang, bang, bang. I was ready to get all creative on the job, but my client wanted straight stuff to cut out and composite with other material. Maybe next time. Just for this posting I decided to ramp up the clarity and contrast - a bit like a high pass filter to give Stuart some edge.

I'm dying to do some stuff in the style of the Brakhas. Check 'em out. I love where they're going with their Sketchy Mondays blog, as mentioned in David Hobby's Strobist blog. I think their Glee cast pictures are particularly inspiring. Reverse engineer the lighting on those shots and you'll see why I'm trying to make a bracket that will hold four or five of my flashes in a row together.

With the increasing load of commercial work I'm doing, I'm getting more commercial gear. There's been the aforementioned studio strobes, and a Pure Sine Wave inverter to power them in the field. I'm expecting some backdrop stuff to arrive any day. I may do some posts on that stuff soon. Right now there's thunder forecast, and I'm hoping to get some lightning shots later. Fingers crossed...

Clever Pixies

2010-12-07T16:25:00.002+13:00

In this day of digitally scheduled broadcasts this may seem foreign to modern viewers, but back in the day, TV was live. Shows were started with the push of a button, determined by an analogue control room clock and stations frequently had to make up or fill a few minutes here and there to stick to the advertised programme. Long pauses while presenters stretched until the incoming feed came online, test cards put up during breakdowns and silent, stately black screens were commonplace. When I was a kid the old NZBC TV station DNTV2 used to run this filler piece - basically an early music video of the Pixie Town animatronic display set to "So What's New" by the Tijuana Brass. I loved it. The display used to be housed in the DIC department store until it went out of business in the 80's, but now it's kept at the Otago Settlers Museum, dusted off and switched on every Christmas.

Handmade, driven by gears, belts and levers; lit by Xmas lights, I wonder what today's kids make of it. I've taken Miss C(7) and although she didn't exactly linger for hours, it's become something she looks forward to, something of a Dunedin Xmas ritual, like the Santa parade. Well last week I got the job of shooting some new publicity pictures of it. Another little dream job.

To be truthful, it doesn't pay the kids to linger, as closer inspection reveals these Pixies are a slightly sinister lot: Hard drinking, donkey-kicking tricksters. But I was in Pixie heaven. I shot them with a 2 light setup - my Canon 430 EZ at low power and high for key to simulate the Pixieland sun, and my Yongnuo 460 into the Orbis ring flash adapter for fill. Nice and quick. Occasionally there'd be challenging shots, like the Carousel. It was lit with fairy lights inside that came on and off intermittently, and it also turned, so getting the exposure and frame I wanted took some patience. I could have spent more time on it, but am reasonably pleased with the frame of the Lovers Nest here.

The scenes captured, I did another quick pass with just the Orbis and my 100mm Macro lens, getting closeups of the wee faces. Not exactly Dora the explorer friendly or pretty for that matter, but these are from another time, handmade made by Kiwi grownups for Kiwi kids to enjoy - not some corporate drone designing a merchandising product. Last year I shot Humpty Dumpty - a companion piece to the little pixies - it had real human teeth, and was seriously Gothic/sinister. These little guys could just have real human hair, I wouldn't be surprised one skerrick, but it's those quirky little details and surprises that are part of Pixie Town's enduring charm. Go see it some time.

Another Day, Another Planet

2010-11-26T09:04:00.000+13:00

Thought I'd just throw this one in the pot today. It's another from Moeraki Boulders. I could have bracketed the exposures and combined them in HDR, but sometimes, you want a shady boulder to look shady, and the sun to look like the large thermonuclear reaction it is. It's okay to have blown out highlights sometimes. A good example is the small specular highlights in peoples eyes. They need to sparkle.

This is one of the shots I put out to my "Shot of the Week" mailing list. Sometimes they feature here along with their stories, sometimes not. If you'd like to get them in your email every week, just drop; me a line via the contacts link, twitter etc. I'm always listening.

Moeraki Madness

2010-11-21T12:30:00.003+13:00

It was a 4 am start for my voice-activated-lightstand Mike and me the other day. I had a shoot for Tourism Waitaki that Mike was helping me with; We were due to kick off with some models at 0900, but we thought we might as well get there at dawn, to get some of our own pictures of the famous boulders. They're a bunch of beautiful spherical stones, said to be the remains of eel baskets, kumara and calabashes washed ashore from the wreck of the ancestral canoe Arai-te-uru. The less romantic explanation is that they're septarian concretions that have been freed from surrounding mudstone by coastal erosion. I know which I prefer.

The weather had been mixed all week and as we got there, we knew we weren't going to be in for a spectacular sunrise, as the coast had clagged in. Never mind, we thought, moody and misty works just as well.

Our mood wasn't helped by another bunch of photogs though. Not long after we'd started, along the beach comes four guys with the same idea. Without a word of acknowledgement, they just muscled in and started shooting over our shoulders. It tended to make us a little bloody minded about letting them in. Mike merely played dog-in-the-manger with a guy toting a medium format camera, while I dropped the C-bomb at them. In hindsight I'm just a little disappointed at myself for not being more welcoming to obvious tourists. They were clearly semi-pro or pro going by their gear, but their attitude was seriously amateur.

I reminded myself that they're just rocks, and this was only ever going to be a recce for me anyway, so it didn't come to a fist-fight. Once they left, calm was restored, and it was beautiful down there on the beach, especially with some small Hectors dolphins surfacing just a few score metres offshore. I took some long exposures, trying to work with soft waves and hard rock, while Mike took a bunch of bracketed exposures to combine later. I'm looking forward to seeing what he gets, we've both got quite different styles.

Leisure out of the way, we grabbed a quick breakfast once the visitor centre opened and got on with the assignment once our models arrived from the local Polytechnic. The light came and went, and it was hardly tourist brochure weather, but we got some interesting stuff that my client was really happy with. My favourite is the one above, partly inspired by the movie Alien. It was a quickie we pulled off on the way to the next location. The girls were lit by Mike with a Canon flash on the left, while I had another low right, aimed at the boulder. With just a little more time, we'd have got some flashes inside the rock working to light the girls up, and a much softer key on them, but we were on a hectic schedule.

It turned into a long day, several different locations, run and gun, with Mike trying his best to give me good light in a few minutes.

So many different conditions and setups, we just about threw everything we could set up quickly at it - bare strobe, softbox, strobe through translucent reflector, silver reflector... nothing but fun.

And now, batteries recharged, Miss C(7) handed off to a friend for the afternoon, I'm out the door for a magazine shoot. Yeah.
But this boulders thing. I've never encountered it in New Zealand before. I guess I should expect it at an iconic scene in the goldern hours, but don't some basic manners apply, like, say hello to other photogs at a scene? What's your take on photog etiquette?

Model Mayhem

2010-11-18T11:30:00.005+13:00

As part of my support for Dunedin Gasworks Museum, I went this week to take some shots of children there. We're trying to focus our marketing on kids and family, rather than the engineering and steam enthusiasts that the place traditionally attracts.

Miss C(7) was definitely up for the job, but I thought it would be good to have a young lad along for balance, so she suggested one of her classmates, Mr M(7). Now it just happened that he had a very important play date scheduled with Mr C(7) (no relation). And so it was that I set forth on Tuesday with 3 youngsters, my camera and lighting kit and just an hour to get some usable shots. I also had a bag of sweet bribes and energy supplies. Keeping kids well fueled is essential if you want them to work. I just don't know how they got children to labour hard in Dickensian times on starvation diets. Another useful secret lost to history there.

Now like Gremlins, there are risks to feeding children - it's easy to overfuel them, which is what I think I may have done. Either that or the two lads were simply overwhelmed by the steampunk wonder that the DGM is. Whatever the reason, my plan for a few well-lit scenes rapidly devolved to get-what-you-can.

The Engine House is a complex mix of window light and different overhead sources, which makes pictures taken with the ambient light pretty unattractive. My first setup had me trying to highlight the machines with bare strobes and the kids with a strobe and shoot-thru umbrella for some soft light. Nice idea, and the test shot above of Mr M(7) is one of the results. Unfortunately, test pops were about all I could get, as the minute I went to adjust my light, the youngsters raced off to explore some machinery (I can't blame them) or boiled over with giggling, jumping, song and dance (I still can't blame them). As you can see, the umbrella gave me the nice soft light but spilt everywhere, including the shiny walls. I decided the best course of action was just to light some machinery dramatically, hope it provided some highlights to the kids wherever I managed to get them to stand still, and use my ring flash adapter to fill the harsh shadows on their faces.

It was a step in the right direction. Losing the shoot-thru lost the distracting and unattractive background and the tools and machines look good in hard raking light. That left me to try and get a performance out of the kids. What I learned here is that you don't have to worry about them under-performing. It's pulling them back from rolling their eyes, sticking out tongues and making faces down the barrel that is the hard part.

Oh what I wouldn't give for some professional models and the time to light them but considering we only had an hour or so between the end of school and the museum closing, I'm satisfied with what we got here. Thanks to our design wizard, our brochures are going to look great.

Model Mayhem is a web community where fashion-interested creatives like models, photogs and other artists can meet. But this was real model mayhem. Everything they say about working with kids is true, it's not easy but before I make this sound like anything less than fun, let me summarise: I spent the afternoon in a life-size 19th century Meccano set, with all my favourite electronic and digital toys, with three other people just as excited, bursting to laugh and play at the first opportunity. And to cap it off, the kids may not be as professional as working models, but they work for pikelets. Big tick.

Landscape, Lighting and Little Surprises

2010-11-14T20:35:00.003+13:00

The art of making landscape images takes many forms. A while ago, in an effort to get MissC(6) out of my hair for an hour, I gave her a camera and told her not to bother me until she had shot a great landscape picture. She promptly turned around, took a shot of the New Zealand Pictorial Calendar behind her and handed me back the camera with a look of great satisfaction.

At the other end of the scale, there's my mate Dave. Dave has recently played a few gigs behind the drum kit in my band Bluestone - and very well too. He's played some serious gigs with some serious bands in the UK and is as Geordie a lad as you can expect to meet this far south of deepest darkest Newcastle. Thankfully I was born in Hartlepool, about 30 miles down the road (with its own Yorkshire-influenced Geordie dialect). I had the accent whipped out of me in primary school, but can translate for the rest of the band when needed.

I was just a little surprised when this Blues/Rock Percussion God told me what he does in his spare time. Knowing he puts me just a degree of separation or two away from AC/DC made me expect either power boating, Motor cross or the ancient English sport of shin-kicking. But a couple of years ago, Dave started painting landscapes, and bloody good ones as it turns out. I was already impressed at the images that he had to show me on his phone, but last week he asked me to come around and capture some digitally for him before he offers them for sale. Wow.

Dave takes months to make these pictures, spending weeks prepping the canvas before creating the image, then honing details like reflections and small pebbles, and applying glazes to apply colour effects to things like sky and clouds.

They're lovely, but Dave's canvas prep and glazes make his paintings quite glossy - always a challenge to shoot pictures of. You need to light the canvas evenly, avoiding hot spots and direct reflections. You also need to keep the canvas parallel to the plane of your sensor and get the camera well back to minimise image distortion - not always easy in small rooms or installations. Thankfully I had this all in mind and got the job done in short order. As usual, most of the knowledge I applied came from what I learned over ad David Hobby's Strobist blog (link on the right) but the book I'm reading at the moment would have come in handy too. It's Light: Science and Magic by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua, pretty much required reading for photogs who want to master the technical side of lighting. I'm eating it up, but that's the kind of geek I am. Dave's an artist.

I'm sure Dave's stuff will sell well. Keep an eye out for his signature. Probably a good time to invest in his pictures. I'd appreciate it if you did, cause I'm pretty sure that as well as more canvas and paint, he'll invest some of the money on this really nice set of cymbals he's got his eye on that will make him (and the rest of us in Bluestone) sound even better and let us earn some beer money. Support the arts and you benefit the whole economy folks.

I shot the man himself with my Orbis ring flash adapter. Still loving that smooth lighting effect on human skin.

All in all, it's been a fun week, shooting a story for Woman's Day and doing some event and group photography for the Partners in International Management conference at Otago University. I've got another tourism shoot coming up later this week - which has me looking at investing in some very cool lighting equipment. Stay tuned for that story.

I really love this job's variety and the range of people I get to meet while doing it. They surprise you in wonderful and amusing ways. Kind of like when a 6-year old takes a great landscape picture without even leaving your office.

DIY - A Dad Thing

2010-11-09T14:44:00.000+13:00

I've had my Orbis ring flash adapter for a bit more than a year now and I love the soft, even light and trademark shadow it creates. If you're shooting with it for an extended period of time however, it can be pretty fatiguing to hold your rig, and lots of zooming or manual focus can become a real hassle.

That's why buyers began screaming out for an adapter to hold the Orbis onto their cameras and being smart, that's why its manufacturers took their time to create one that would work and last long. When they finally brought it out a few months back, I'll bet more than a few Orbis owners thought "well I could have made that". I know I did.

So the other day, I decided to pop down to my local Mitre 10 Mega store for the hardware to build my own version. There are similar hacks all over the net, like here but here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

1x 1000mm x25mm x 3mm aluminium bar (approx. $NZ 9.00)

2x 25mm 1/4" threaded bolts - I recommend hex heads, but slots will do

2x 1/4" threaded bolts - about 1/2 inch if you can find them.

2x 1/4" wing nuts

2 spring washers

1x fibre washer

1 strip of cork floor tile

2 blobs metal putty

You might have to run around for the bolts - the camera fittings that you need them for are in imperial measure, so not that common any more. I ended up going to Steel & Tube to get mine.

Cut the bar into 2 lengths, drill holes for the camera mounting and adjustable section on the camera portion. Drill slots for the flash mounting and the adjustable section on the flash portion. Smooth rough edges, bend into right angles.

Glue the cork to where you're going to sit your camera. Mould the blobs of putty around the bolt hex-heads to make knobs and let them cure overnight.

That's it. To assemble, fit both sections together and fix with the bolts and wing nuts.

Use the knobs you made to fix the camera and flash. If your bolts are a bit long, use fibre washers to make them a nice tight fit to stop things spinning in the mount.

Hey Presto. The aluminium I used is a little thinner than the real version, but I think it's going to be fine.

The job done, it was time for my assignment: a couple of shots of Miss C(7) as her school's indoor soccer player of the day. You might think this would be easy, but she can be a hard model to direct and when she's also the demanding client, it becomes a hard job indeed. Hardly worth my hourly rate, believe me.

In terms of material cost, I probably saved myself about a hundred dollars. But if I was charging for my time and skinned knuckles, I'd probably be out of pocket. DIY can be like that, but the feeling of satisfaction you get from it is priceless. A bit like taking pictures of your player of the day.

Definitely a Dad thing.

Found Art

2010-10-28T11:34:00.003+13:00

This week I was back at Dunedin Public Art Gallery for a promotional shoot. I'd already taken some venue pictures during a graduation party so this time the job was to create some shots that promote it as a wedding venue. That called for two delightful models, Victoria and Hamish who my wonderful client Tim Pollock convinced to work for me. They were very convincing as newlyweds, especially considering they won't actually be getting married until next year. I wonder if they've booked a shooter yet?

So to the shoot. The post on these pictures isn't totally finished, but this blog is about the process, not the product.

The gallery atrium is a large and lovely space, but for intellectual property reasons, I needed to avoid featuring the large wall and installation art. That meant concentrating on features like the staircases and windows. It was quite an exercise in lighting and as with most gigs, time was a factor. The large windows meant I had to work with changing ambient light. I'm pleased with the shot above, which was achieved with a mix of daylight from the windows, the in-house lights and a couple of flashes - one on a stand for fill and my voice-activated-lightstand Mike T holding one for a hair light. If anything, this shoot really showed me the dramatic difference good hair light can make.

The shot above was lit with my Orbis ring flash adaptor. This is one that could have used a hair light just to add that touch of glamour, but they were standing against a tall window here and I was racing the outside light.

This is one of my favourites. It wasn't on the shot list and my wonderful client Tim may not use it, but I like it. Between setups I noticed Victoria arranging her hair in the window's reflection and I thought it would make for a nice intimate moment. This was actually a test pop, rather overexposed and brought down in post-processing, but it's got a kind of high fashion look that I really like and am adding to my trick bag. I'm a big believer in pursuing opportunities like this when you spot them. My old writing Guru John Vorhaus calls it 'found art'.

More found art. I noticed Victoria playing with the veil fabric and got her to have some fun with it. The spiral staircase was a feature Tim really wanted to capture but lighting it was quite a challenge. Big window daylight coming from camera right mixed with tungsten venue lights. I really needed to bring in some more light from camera left, but the only place to put one on was a mezzanine floor twenty metres away. I was worrying about this the night before and decided to go into a film and video light hire company to see what could give me a 3 metre spread of light at such a distance. I ended up loading my truck with an HMI, a big movie light. It just did the trick. The wall shadow is from one of the sculptures hanging from the ceiling. I figured a shadow wasn't really infringing the artist's IP.

Same setup, this time getting some shadow action from the staircase. Shame about the window in the background, but it is what it is. This and the other stair shot were on Tim's must have list, so I'm glad they turned out well.

Finally, the ambient light outside reached the point where I could get my window shots. I these had firmly in mind although I've never actually executed the technique before. I added a low flash in background to create the romantic back light and also give their faces a little fill. Most of the fill is actually coming from the flash reflecting from Victoria's dress - a handy trick for wedding photography, traditional brides make walking reflectors.

Tim wasn't quite expecting this, so it was nice to deliver it quickly on the night, and he was pleasantly surprised. I think it sells the venue nicely. I certainly hope so!

Have you ever had an experience with "Found Art" in your creative process? Feel free to share with me in the comments section.

The Fader

2010-10-20T20:50:00.001+13:00

For ages now I've been wanting to do some long-exposure water shots along the rocky shoreline. I'm talking exposures of at least 5 to 10 seconds, to turn the waves into a mist-like veil over the rocks. The problem with such long exposures is that even at apertures as tiny as f/22 and ISO at 100, ordinary light levels will blow out your highlights so much all you'll see are a few dark rocks. That means dusk or dawn shooting - golden hour stuff. If conditions are right, you're going to get stunning stuff, but the right combination of tide, sun and weather doesn't come too often.

The answer is to use a neutral density filter. It's a plain grey filter that just cuts down the amount of light reaching your lens, so that the time needed to get a good exposure is longer.

I've had a little ND filter for a while now, but it wasn't really dark enough to knock daylight right back, and it's too small to fit my new L-series lenses. So the other day I sent away for a Light Craft Workshop Fader ND II filter. It'll allow you to drop your exposure by 2 to 8 stops. It had been sitting in my bag for a few days, so yesterday I decided to brave the wet and windy conditions and head over the hill to Smaill's beach to give the thing a test run.

To say conditions were sub-optimal is a gross understatement. The wind lashed me and my gear with sand, and I was constantly wiping rain from my lens. I got a handful of shots that demonstrated the effect, but nothing great. So I went out again today and got the images you see here.

Lessons learned? The first one is that like all landscapes, you've still got to have a good strong focal point to your picture. The flowing effect is nice, but it's got to be balanced by some clear fixed stuff in the frame, like exposed rocks. Getting that balance right isn't easy, but I'm working on it. Plenty of lens wipes are essential. You're going to want to be close to the wave action, so be prepared to protect your gear from the salt spray with a housing or rain jacket. I find plastic shower caps or food covers really convenient. You'll also need to check your lens for spots frequently. There are a few shots here spoilt by the odd rain or wave spot or two (I tidied most of those up in lightroom). Plenty of lens wipes and a little lens fluid will help too.

Next steps? Well, Smaill's is handy, but there are better spots to try - like the classic Moeraki boulders. I also want to apply the technique to wind blown grass in a paddock, and clouds, both at night and during the daytime. All that, and some of it in golden hour light. Maybe then I'll have something really good.

Stick around, there's plenty to do before then.

The Cutting Edge

2010-10-18T16:09:00.004+13:00

I had a little gig last week for Tempus Knives, a range of professional butchers knives. The brief was to get some close-ups of the cutting edges for the graphic design company to create some graphic elements from, as well as getting a few wider shots of the sharpening accessories.

Since it was a warm spring day, I decided to set up out on my deck and use the natural light and my new 80cm cube light tent.

The light tent gives you nice soft even light all around your subject should you need it and you can also insert coloured backdrops. As you can see, I improvised and used one of my microphone stands for holding the knives. I find mic stands nice and steady supports for lights as well, and mine have boom arms which make them doubly useful. It was so nice out there I really went to town, trying to come up with shots that would give the designers lots of creative options to depict the blades in their artwork. I love this kind of creative collaboration.

There are hazards with this kind of work. As usaual, you get so focused on what's in the viewfinder, you can easily forget that there's something very sharp placed in the perfect position to perforate your eyeball or slice your cheek open. Luckily I got away without any major wounds, but while I was revelling in the nice strong (and free) light all afternoon, I did forget that the back of my skin neck was exposed to the UV. That's one advantage of strobes or studio lights.

I just heard from one of the graphics lads that he's very happy with what I brought to the brief so happy client, happy photog and as usual, valuable lessons learned.

Note for next photography shopping list: sunscreen.

Man Flu

2010-10-16T13:28:00.000+13:00

I can tell. You've been here looking and I've posted very little in the last couple of weeks. Man flu. That's half my excuse. The other one is that I've been practicing with my band for a gig tonight. Playing blues is just another of my obsessions like photography.

On the picture front, I've been doing a little more commercial work lately, doing some product shooting with a light tent. I'll put up a post about that soon. I also just got a cool new filter which will be the subject of another.

Meanwhile, check this out. Better posted to my blues blog I know, but if you like my pictures, we might just like the same music. I've been a fan of Darren's for over 20 years now, and like a good whisky, he's aging very well. His new album is definitely worth checking out, he's world class.

Giving a little back

2010-10-07T12:42:00.004+13:00

If you're a regular here, you'll already know I help out a little with promoting the Dunedin Gasworks Museum. You'll also know I'm a bit of an Orokonui Ecosanctuary fan. So now I'm doing just a little for them too. I'm donating one of my wildlife prints to their charity gala.

It's 600 x 400 mm, block mounted. I'm hoping someone makes a good bid for it and it raises some money for the cause. The event is to raise funds for the relocation of some Haast Tokoeka (kiwi). I hope if you're in town, you'll get behind it.

A Walk on the Wild Side

2010-10-07T12:07:00.000+13:00

It's kind of ironic that I wanted to work in natural history film making but wasn't really into doing nature photography. I have my reasons. The main one was that I just couldn't afford the lenses. I know, it's not about the gear, but if you're serious about wildlife photography, you really do need some big lenses to get close to the critters. Especially when they're birds.

The other thing is that I've never really had enough patience. That's ironic too, because as a freshwater angler I've needed tons - not to mention a willingness to go home empty handed. But having Orokonui Ecosanctuary so handy, there's really no excuse for not getting out there and practicing, so that's what I've been doing on my last couple of excursions. I decided to apply the golden rule of trout fishing.
1. Sit and watch. Instead of my default tendency to run around trying to take everything in as fast as possible, I just found a spot the birds were likely to appear at and waited for them to come to me. In this case, it was near a feeding station. Smart fishermen do this too, before blundering into the water and scaring fish they haven't already seen. Often you'll discover a behaviour pattern - like a repetitive feeding beat that you can take advantage of. What I discovered here was that half of the time, the birds landed on a particular branch to eye up the food. That let me pre-focus on where they would land and give me a more natural background than the station itself.

I had my camera set up on a tripod with a 2x extender on my Canon 70-200 IS 2.8 zoom, giving me a potential 400mm focal length, which is about the minimum for serious bird shooting. Wide open though, the results can be pretty soft, and the narrow DoF can mean that if you prefocus on the landing site, your birds eye may not always be tack sharp. I was using my wired remote to get these shots, but basically had to sit by the tripod anyway. Next excursion, I'll think seriously about losing the extender and getting the camera closer, maybe in a tree, using my Joby Gorilla pod. I'll also use my wireless remote trigger, as soon as it's repaired.
So no trophy winners from my trip, but I'm a step closer to getting some next time. I especially want to nail a better version of this - a bellbird with a dusting of blue fuschia pollen.

If you're from Dunedin and haven't checked out Orokonui yet, do yourself a favour and get up there. The birds aren't as bountiful as Karori or Tiritiri Matangi yet, but it's early days, and all you need to see something special is a little patience.

Go Barking

2010-09-27T08:25:00.014+13:00

This idea may just save your sanity. Here in Dunedin it's that time of year many working parents dread: The primary school holidays. Don't get me wrong, parenthood is a blessing and young Miss C is an intelligent, sensitive and well behaved child - most of the time. It's just that during the holidays she expects Mrs C and I to work like cruise ship entertainment directors.

Thankfully the huge spring storm we've had to endure for the last two weeks seems to be abating so yesterday we all went to the botanic gardens for a walk and a picnic. Instead of the usual watching from the bench as Miss C runs amok on the playground equipment, or towing her around on the flying fox, I managed to convince her that some plant photography would be fun. What sold the deal was that since I'm so tooled up with DSLR's, I'd let her use my old Fuji S5600 ultra zoom.

After a brief talk about keeping it on the auto or program settings (I try to remember that despite her sophisticated put downs and masterful manipulation of me and her mother, she is only 6), we set about getting a few shots. To be honest, she still needs to learn to hold the camera steady and develop her eye but for me, the exercise underscored the idea of keeping your plan simple when you go out to shoot if you want a result.

Shooting whatever you find moves you is fine - I'm often moved by my subconscious to capture something and I'll figure out what it is on the bench later, but just so we didn't end up with random stuff that wouldn't give her a little creative buzz later on, I tried to get her to shoot different tree barks. Nice idea, unfortunately it was way too restrictive for this free-spirited six year old; she was still fixated on running amok in the playground and kept to her random shooting plan. She's not big on composition yet, but I do know that like me, she's attracted by saturated colour. Here's one of her shots. While she has a little to learn about graphic form and off-camera lighting, I so get where she's coming from with this:

Anyway, I decided to go through with the idea and make a little triptych. I'm surprised it was so easy to make something nice. Now that she's seen it, she says she gets where I'm coming from, and might give it a go on another of our holiday photo expeditions. Or she might just shoot birds. You just don't know. Her unshakeable faith that she knows everything and that I really don't - well, it could be a mark of young genius. Or it could just mean that she's a little girl.

If you've a kid you might like to try setting yourselves a little assignment like this. If you do, I'd love to see your results. I know it's fun and you might both learn to see something new. I always do.

Who Let The Spider Out?

2010-09-24T11:13:00.003+12:00

It was me. I let the spider out. I didn't mean to.

I was just experimenting with David Hobby's bug lighting setup - see my previous post for the link. It works pretty well, giving nice even lighting to your invertebrates. However it does have its drawbacks - the lighting is a little too even for drama, and you're stuck with the overhead view.

This morning I had a chance to experiment with the setup: Big drama as I found a nice sized spider hunting in the mess on Miss C's bedroom floor. I told her if she doesn't like spiders, then she should keep her room tidy, but that's another story. I replicated David's paper cup, copy paper and flash set up and got some good results. Then I started experimenting a little. First with a dark background. This was a quick exercise, so I just grabbed a bit of plastic. With a smoother background, this would make a good shot.

Okay, then I decided I wanted a lower angle, and to experiment with more directional light. So I made a large ring of paper, so I could shoot my beautiful arachnid from a lower angle, look into her eyes. (For some reason, my default spider gender is female. Maybe it's something to do with hairy legs.)

It worked okay, especially when I was brave enough to open up the loop and let a direct flash in, creating some leg shadows on the paper.

I like the lower angle the paper ring gave me. But next time, I'll try to find something more like white plastic. You see, paper is fibrous. Unlike plastic cups, if a spider should suddenly decide to climb the barrier, escape and say, scurry across the dining room table, she can. With alarming speed.

Thank goodness Miss C wasn't around. Or Mrs C for that matter. Happily I managed to recapture my model and liberate her into the garden.

Lessons learned. As far as I can tell from the 'net, this may actually be a male sheetweb spider. Anyone care to offer a positive ID?

A Lesson From The Master

2010-09-24T08:00:00.000+12:00

Just as I publish something on macro photography, David Hobby of the Strobist blog puts up his own much more useful post on the same subject. Check out his very effective (and cheap) set-up for shooting stink bugs here.

Little Things Mean A Lot

2010-09-23T10:51:00.005+12:00

With my photo guiding business in mind, I'm thinking there may well be clients who are interested in shooting macro . Life's little things can be overlooked but uniquely local photographic subjects, so I'm working on those skills and destinations at present. The first and last time I went bush with my new lens, I learned that if you're going to shoot macro, shoot macro, don't go out with all your gear just hunting for any good shots. You've got to be more single minded, eyes down and moving slowly, covering a much smaller distance than you would if you were prospecting for larger prey. So, that determined, I headed up to McGouns track on the edge of town the other day. It's still a little cold for invertebrates and fungi to be in abundance but I did find this great little red-capped fungus to play with. I got my flash and extension cord out and set it to ETTL - full auto and fired off a shot.

The directional light and narrow depth of field were pleasing but just like with regular photography, the subject needed some fill or bounce light to bring out the detail in the shadow area. The great thing about macro is that your reflector can be pocket-sized.

That's my HTC Magic phone on the right, bouncing light back onto the 'shroom. Worked a treat. Think I'll stash some white cloroplast in my bag, handy for next time. Of course it wasn't until much later that I noticed the little mite crawling around on the fungus. I didn't shoot anything to give a sense of scale, but the 'shroom is about the height of a match. I guess it's as big as an apartment block to that mite.

Next I experimented with the tiny fern tips from the forest floor, placing them on a live leaf like I'd seen on my last expedition. A little contrived looking, but I like the result. This was an exercise in background management. Every time I took a shot I'd notice yet another bit of background distraction.

By the time I'd discovered some dead leaf skeletons, it was getting dark and time to head home for a meal. These were a great find, and something I definitely want to work on in future.

Celebrity at last!

2010-09-19T19:43:00.005+12:00

No not me. My fame stretches about as far as the waistband on my undies does and these days, that's not far at all. I'm more D-lebrity than C-lebrity but I am taking part in one of the Hump Ridge Track's celebrity walks next March. The real celebs doing it are Kiwi sporting hero Barbara Kendall and Fiordland's greatest Moose hunter Ken Tustin. Ken's a former scientist and helicopter pilot who has spent years in the Fiordland bush, many of them trying to confirm the existence of Moose. My mate Max Quinn made a film about Ken a few years ago: "Wild Moose Chase".

I know with their wealth of stories, Ken and Barbara will make great walking companions. I could always share a story from my adventures in blues bands, or in television, but I'm planning on spending more time helping folks make great pictures along the way. It's going to be a blast.

Anyway, click here for more details, and join one of us on one of NZ's best walking tracks!

The Grass Is 17% Greener Over The Fence

2010-09-13T13:30:00.002+12:00

OK, please don't panic if you see blank pictures on some pages. Some of my links accidentally got broken while I was adjusting my Lightroom Flickr export settings. It's going to take me a little while to fix them all again, so thanks for your patience while I get that sorted.

Meanwhile, as well as working on mastering that new Macro lens, I've been doing more commercial work thanks to some referrals by my good friend and bandmate Lindsay Somerville of The Big Picture. Last week involved a fun and cowpat-filled day at Inchclutha near Balclutha.

I'd got a call from Janet Wright at Ravensdown about popping down there to get some shots of Paul and Joanne Barton in a paddock they'd been testing a new fertiliser in. The forecast was for grey skies, so I thought I might be doing some cross lighting from the rear for the group shots of them and Ravensdown rep Mark Crawford, just to give things a little lighting effect to match the scientific element of the subject. As it was, the sun was shining, so I used that and my Canon 580EXII on half power to cross light.

Morning milking done, we had a little time to relax and try a few different angles. Paul, Joanne and Mark were very good sports, and I think we all had some fun.

Posing in the grass done, the rest of the brief called for some general farm shots - with a welcome 'feel free to get creative' into the bargain, so I began with the farm labourers and their office. I made sure to get down nice and low to get plenty of grass in and make the most of that blue sky.

The DoF my new 24-70mm 2.8 L delivered was really cool. I had my circular polariser and UV filters stacked on it at times to give me the natural vignette effect.

I used the 70-200mm 2.8 L for the longer shots. The two lenses make a great working combo for most commercial jobs and having the 7D and 5DII means I don't even need to stop and swap lenses.

Sometimes it's hard to believe, but once you get as far south as Balclutha and into Southland, the grass really does become this intense green. It's got to be a combination of the climate, the soil and the light down there.

As usual, there were many lessons learned that I can share. The cross lighting worked on the whole, but composing the trio the way I wanted gave me some shadow issues I'd resolve next time with some on-axis flash. The time of day and position of the livestock meant I couldn't quite get the rim-looking cross light I wanted, but that would have been doable on a duller day. Tempting to add a contrasting gel to one strobe to see how that works. I didn't want to scare the cows with my flash, but next time I'd try adding a little fill once I got some good unlit shots.

All in all, not a bad day at the office. Best of all, Janet's happy with the pictures she got. Young Miss C is now begging me to take her back and show her some of Paul and Joanne's calves. I might just have to arrange that.

Viva Viv

2010-09-06T22:18:00.003+12:00

With Spring upon us and the tourist season warming up here in the south, I've been working just a little on the Southern Photo Guides website. There's a lot more to do, but for now I've included a little gallery where I'll post (with permission) images made by my clients.

I really enjoy being able to share what I love about this special part of the world - it's natural heritage, amazing scenery and beautiful light, and to help people make their own wonderful images of it all. Not that the creator of my first client gallery needed much help. Please enjoy the vision and style of Viv Adamson.

Too Much Gear at Once

2010-09-05T14:58:00.002+12:00

OK, for the gear heads out there, here's what I've collected in the last couple of years:

1 Canon 450D + EF-S 18-55 and 55-250mm IS lenses. My original kit, and the gear I've made most of my favourite shots with.

1 Canon 7D. Got that a few months ago. 6 more megapixels than the 450D, 8.5 frames a second for action and wildlife shooting, better low light performance and Hi Def video.

1 Canon 5DII The new baby. Full frame 21 Megapix with Hi Def video.

Lenses: A Canon 10-22 EF-S for really wide angle shooting.
A Canon 70-200mm L series 2.8 IS tele zoom
A Canon 2x extender

And bought with the 5DII, 100mm f/2.8 L series IS macro and another L series f/2.8 24-70mm wide zoom.

Great gear. Problem is, it takes a while to get used to. When I first took out the 10-22 ultra wide lens, I really struggled to use it - but then it became part of me. So when I took the new 5DII and lenses out the other day, I expected a workout. I got one.

I headed for Sullivan's Dam, 10 minutes from the city at the head of Leith valley. It's a drinking water reservoir surrounded by native cloud forest, but no clouds on this day. As usual with new gear, I just wanted to play with the extremes it was capable of, so quickly shot some wides with the 24-70. It's a really sharp and versatile lens. Good in low light, it's going to be my new walkaround lens.

Then it was on quickly to the 100mm macro. Wow, what a beast. With a new toy like that, I'm just obsessed with what it can do before I actually start seeing good pictures. So I shot a whole bunch of close-up stuff, none of it noteworthy, just fun seeing mosses and ferns up way up close.

And bugs.

With a macro zoom, the narrow depth of field is a great creative tool for focusing interest, but it's also a real challenge to work with. It's pretty hard to get more than one small plane of a bug in focus when you're zoomed in tight, but I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with it, and start making some great pictures one day soon.

Just as I was starting to get the hang of things, I had a call from a local tour operator about hosting some pho-tours. I'm slowly developing Southern Photo Guides product range, so this was a very welcome chat, and a long one. Stay tuned for news on that front.

Back down at the reservoir, I nosed around an old shed, shooting with the 24-70. Again, the depth of field was cool to play around with, and after a while I stopped seeing what the lens could do, and started seeing some pictures.

Yeah, right now all this new gear is a little overwhelming, but soon, it'll be part of me.

Post Haste

2010-08-25T22:15:00.002+12:00

Quite a week last week. It started on Sunday with The Chaps album cover shoot, and continued with a commercial shoot for New Zealand Post. Most of that consisted of interviewing and shooting folks in the street, in locations from Mosgiel to Christchurch. Kind of fun - I really enjoy interacting with people on this kind of job, but the brief called for natural lighting. The weather (ie light) at the time was dismal, and the deadline tight.

The second part of the job was to illustrate the relationship between NZ Post and one of their clients, Glassons, by covering a pickup from Glassons' distribution centre. Now this part I really enjoyed. Deb the driver was more than a little reluctant to be the company poster girl but I promised her it'd all be over before she knew it (boy, I haven't said that to a woman since my teens). I threw myself into documentary storyteller mode, getting the players to run through the sequence with a little direction and plenty of wisecracks from me to keep the mood light. Good to find out my twenty years in television weren't wasted.

It seemed to work, as I got plenty of smiles out of everyone. The client only requested one shot to depict the relationship, but if I have time, I like to shoot a whole action sequence and look for the one shot that'll tell the whole story along the way. I like the first two here the most, definitely relationship shots - Deb through the forklift frame, the other driver reflected in the mirror - just the little touches I wanted. I felt I had my shot at this point, but like to see the sequence through, you never know what you'll discover when you keep shooting - so I got in the delivery truck to find another angle.

Then I capped it off with the hero-drives-into-the-sunset shot, and some signage in case the client wanted it. Of course I put some time into thinking all this through beforehand, but the actual shooting time took maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

Natural light? I cheated. Just to fill the shadows in the faces, I used a little on-camera flash, dialed way down so you wouldn't notice, but believe me you would have if I hadn't. Actually, I'd love to have gone all strobist, off camera light sculpting faces, gleaming off machines etc, but it wasn't that kind of job. You've got to adjust your technique to the job every time. A shoot like this, with a tight deadline?

Run and gun, lots of fun.

Bed Head

2010-08-16T08:59:00.002+12:00

Dunedin shooter Mike McQueen raises an interesting question about the shot in my last post - why the bed? Well, it was simply there in the room, and I really wanted the band to be sitting in that window light. The casual, improvised feel also fits the band, but I also had a small technical motivation.

See John Dodd and Mike Moroney in the rear? Being back there and smaller in relation to Hyram and Marcus in front, they needed all the help I could give them to be present in shot. John on the left is nearer the light, his jacket and face provide plenty of contrast that draws your eye. Mike's further from the light source, so it's softer on him. The lit side is fine, but the unlit portion of his head and the low textures in his dark clothing would have blended into the background of the wall without the bed head providing a contrasting background.

Not exactly pioneer furniture to match the room, but it did the trick.

The Band

2010-08-15T22:48:00.006+12:00

Got a big week ahead. Actually, it's already started. Today I got to shoot for a CD inner with one of my favourite Dunedin bands, The Chaps. They kind of defy description musically, but think four guys able to play just about any stringed instrument between them, and a few others that involve squeezing, slapping or blowing. The instruments that is, I can't speak for what goes on backstage, but I know Hyram owns a goat. There's a smattering of material in the flavour of John Hiatt and Taj Mahal in their repertoire, as well as a whole buch of other stuff, music with a glint in its eye that you want listen to as well as get a little groove on. They call it "Calypso Swing". You might recognise Marcus Turner in the left foreground from the solo shoot with him I posted here.

If you're here regularly, you'll know I don't often go in for grainy black and white looks, but this picture just screamed out for it. We'd found this nice little shed on Hyram Ballard's property (Hyram's the handsome devil on the right) and I thought the window light in there had this nice quality to it, not to mention the fixtures on the walls. It was still pretty dark in there though, so I had my ISO cranked all the way up; some of the grain here is genuine sensor noise, but it was a little exercise in turning a constraint into a tool. Of course I got my flashes out to light The Chaps as well, and we got a bunch of looks around the property but for now, this is one of my favourites.

Plenty more to look at and process, but like I said, I've got a busy week ahead and might not get around to a lot of post production: I've a meeting about working on a calendar project, a meeting with a regular client about some promo shooting, a regional promo shoot and an annual report shoot which involves a road trip for a new corporate client. Happy times.

On The Run With The Reads

2010-08-10T13:16:00.005+12:00

A lot can happen in a quarter of a century. Take the smiling young chap on the left for instance. This was my Zoology classmate Andrew Read on the night of his farewell party from Otago University before starting his doctorate at Oxford. Andrew went on to marry distinguished behavioural scientist Victoria Braithwaite, father the very lively James and Matthew, be made Professor and Chair of Natural History at Edinburgh University at 35, and has since progressed to a Professorship at Penn State. Me... well, I've learned how to get a little more control over my flash.

Andrew and his family were back in Otago for a little skiing and sightseeing last week, and I had the chance to catch up with them, recall old times, and practice a little hit-and run family photography.

Taking a day off from skiing meant we could bring Andrew's parents Ron and Sophie up for a look at the ski field (Andrew assures me that Treble Cone has the best view of the many fields he has tried) and a family photo with a nice scenic background. Lake Wanaka was bathed in sunlight, but the ski field deck was pretty shady, so I threw my flash onto a remote cord and took a shot with it camera left, just to get a little light on those faces and some extra sparkle in those eyes. Not bad for a quickie, although next time, I'd turn Andrew's face in a little more to avoid the bounce off his glasses. Now when did he start wearing those?

The day was about relaxing together, not posing, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time arranging groups and trying to get the lighting exactly right. I wanted quick setups where the smiles were easy and natural. This one's by far my favourite. Down at the base of the ski field road the sky was brighter, giving us nice directional light from the right, so my flash was providing a nice fill in the shadow areas of everyone's faces. Actually with this bunch, it wasn't hard getting natural smiles. One tip I just got from a friend (thanks Reatha) is that it might have been better to put Victoria in the lower group. Higher angles are more flattering on a woman, while lower angles make men look taller and hide any thinning hair that 25 years of blazing intellect might inflict.

Andrew's an evolutionary biologist, who despite what he may say, realised after attending Oxford that my own field of parasitology was where the real answers were to be found. There just wasn't room for our two egos in one field of science, so I politely moved on to writing children's science comedy TV while Andrew has gone on to heading a high powered research group investigating the mysteries of why malaria is so hard to beat. If you think that's not extremely cool, check out this video he told me about. Remember all those pentagon billions that went into Ronald Regan's "Star Wars" Strategic Defence Initiative? Here's what we got out of it:

Cooler than a can of raid, just not as easy to deploy in the 3rd world, or anywhere outside an extremely well funded lab, I'd say. Unfortunately, this isn't one of Andrew's projects, otherwise I'd be using some of my old university pictures to blackmail him into hiring me.

After the skifield, we headed up the Matukituki valley road, and I stopped to get a few more family snaps before we lost the winter sun down on the valley floor. This is a pose from Andrew much more reminiscent of our student days. The quick snap here was to affirm that yes, I could again use a little flash fill to lighten the facial shadows.

Sun coming from camera left this time (see the shadow behind Sophie), I got to practice my left hand camera hold while aiming the flash with my right (see Matthew's shadow on half of Victoria's face). As expected, the valley floor was pretty dark at Raspberry flat, but on the way back to Wanaka, we stopped by the lake near Glendhu Bay to get a few dusk shots.

Here I took an exposure reading on the background, underexposed by a couple of stops, and then adjusted my flash so the family were nicely exposed. It meant a few test shots, but after just a few seconds I had it. Again, the flash was in the default left hand. By the time I'd readjusted for a closer shot, Matthew was up the tree, making for another nice relaxed family look.

Whenever I've got my camera with me now, I usually have a couple of flashes with me. Even with limited setup time, a little off camera flash lets you cope with the changing light conditions.

Some things don't change though. Andrew's smile. If you knew him in real life, you'd know he's just not this pretty, yet the camera loves him. In fact, you really have to try hard to make him look bad in a photo. I should know. I've been trying for 25 years.

The Dark Side

2010-08-03T11:32:00.001+12:00

Not a lot going on over the last week. Not still picture wise anyway. I've been dabbling in the dark side - yes, video.

Working actually, shooting some web clips on my 7D for a promotion. Fun working with Arri fixed lights, but the best part was having the Zoom H4n recorder on the job. The camera mic on the Canon 7D isn't bad, but the auto gain function means it's just not up to professional recording, so I recorded a separate sound track on the Zoom and synced the tracks in Premiere.

The thing went well and hopefully I'll pick up some more work from it. I'd better, I'm just about to drop a couple of grand on a new desktop to smooth the transcoding and editing process. My little laptop has been a wonderful workhorse for over four years, but she's just not up to handling HD footage and the Canon HD video files require a good strong tin opener to crack 'em open to extract their goodness.

In other dark side news... check this out

Heads up astrophotographers. A solar blast is heading our way, which should make for some Auroral activity visible in latitudes as high as around 46 degrees over the next couple of nights. Dial up your ISO, extend your tripods and get out there! Get high, face south (or north if you're in that hemisphere), avoid light pollution and set those exposures long! Best hours usually between 10:00pm and 2:00 am.

I'll probably be out of town catching up with some distinguished scientists, but with a little luck I might just make it outside for some shots. Bonne Chance.

Concert shooting advice

2010-07-25T11:39:00.004+12:00

This post comes in response to a request for advice from a friend I'll call Mr X.

Hi CC, I’d like some advice if you have any.

I’m reviewing a XXX concert here in London in a fortnight and they need photos. Any advice for concert shooting? My lens can only get down to f4.5 and built in flash only. It’s not ideal gear but it’s what I have to work with so any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

Mr X.

Hi Mr X,

My first advice is more about the shoot than the shooting. Do all your homework first. Scout the venue beforehand, make absolutely sure everyone you need knows what you're doing and talk to as many of them as possible: Promoter, band, manager, venue owner, sound guy, lighting guy, security, and any other media. Make sure they're going to play ball with your plan. It's easy for a venue manager to miss briefing security properly, resulting in you missing out on access. I once nearly had my arm broken by George Thoroughood's bouncer for trying to talk to him without an appointment - and I was part of the warmup act! Talking to everyone also gives you a chance to ask more questions, sus out the best vantage points etc. Pro concert shooters are often limited to shooting just the first 3 songs, and flash photography can also be an issue. You need to be on top of all this.

Now lets talk pictures. The pictures you get could just be the difference between a) getting a gig for Rolling Stone or b) stacking shelves for the rest of your life. For the band, it could be the difference between c) Looking like hardworking professional musicians riding a rocket to the top or d) a bunch of drugged-out crims who just 'found' a van full of musical instruments. Everyone wants you to make the best pictures you can.

OK, to the hardware. I'm not a gear snob. I think you can make good pictures with just about any camera if you have a little know-how, but you are up against a number of limitations with what you have. I just don't think an f4.5 lens is going to be up to the job in concert lighting without really cranking your ISO up well past 1600. On-board flash, even on a high-end DSLR is kind of impotent in a concert setting.

If that is really your only option for a camera, my best advice is to hunt flickr and local camera groups for someone keen with all the gear who will do the shots for free. There'll be dozens leaping at the chance. I think you'll get your best result that way, and you'll be free to concentrate on your review. Much lower stress levels, and you'll make a good future contact.

If the picture credit is important to you, (and why wouldn't it be?) I suggest you borrow or hire gear that's going to guarantee you some good shots with the greatest of ease, and the easiest way is to get a camera with a fast lens that will make good pictures with the ambient lighting. It should be easy to find reasonable camera hire in London. Sounds like you could get away with a prosumer DSLR and fast lens to do low light non-flash stuff I recommend something like the Canon 450 D and the cheap 50mm f/1.8II lens. The 450 only has an ISO of 1600, but with steady hands, you'll be able to get some good pictures - of course if you can get a better camera and faster lens for a good deal, take them. These are examples of what the 450D and 50mm 1.8II can do:

If flash is permissible, then I'd include a strong dedicated flash to give some variety to the shots. Whatever you decide to use, make sure you know the gear and are ready to use it.

If you decide to stick with what you've got, you've got some challenges to overcome, but that's not to say you won't get some useful shots. Get out to some pub gigs and practice until you can get consistently good stuff. Without knowing more about your setup, here's what you might find:

Live setting: Stage lights, moving performers. Flash off. You crank up your light sensitivity (ISO) as far as it goes - maybe 1600, possibly 6400. You probably know that's going to risk some noise in your images, but that's not the biggest worry. I reckon your shutter speed is going to be so slow that you'll get a lot of blur, both from camera shake and the moving performers. You might shoot at slow speed from a tripod, in which case you'll get a nice sharp stage and light rig but blurry performers. And it's not easy to wrangle a tripod in the mosh pit. Not ideal. But there's a glimmer of good news. If your writing is good, blurry impressionistic shots might get by, but I don't recommend it.

OK, now lest see what your options are with flash activated - if they let you use flash. On board camera flash usually has an effective range of 3-5m. Is that going to be enough? Everything out of range will be dark, except maybe for the lights. That lighting will be fairly unflattering too, possibly including redeye. You'll get stuff looking like party snaps.

Your other option is to use your flash and drag the shutter.

I don't know what your camera calls this setting, it might be night portrait or slow sync. Or you could put your camera into manual mode, set your aperture and exposure for the ambient light and use the flash as well, you'll get the same effect. The camera will attempt to get the best exposure for the ambient light, giving you a long shutter speed and blurry images, but it will also fire the flash, lighting and freezing the subject. The result will be a trippy looking combination of sharp subject overlaying subject and background blur. This can work OK for rock shooting. In this mode you'll get something useful. Again, experiment with the technique first. Actually rotate the camera or zoom with your feet during the exposure to make some blurred light trails and you'll come up with some good creative stuff. As you can see, you risk the drugged-out crim look with this technique. This may please some bands.

We haven't even talked about how to use a dedicated flash if you decided to go that way, or coverage - what to shoot, but this could turn into a very long discussion. If you've access to the band, try to get some shots of them before or after the gig too, and if I'd try to tell the story of the gig by shooting offstage stuff too: punters, lighting and sound, setup, soundcheck. That's where a good dedicated shooter can come in handy while you concentrate on the journalism.

Best of luck Mr X, and I look forward to seeing your review.

Have you got a favourite band or concert shooting tip? Don't be shy to share it with us.

More Photouring

2010-07-22T16:23:00.002+12:00

I'd like to think my clients Viv and Margaret learned a lot on my latest photour into the wintry Maniototo, but I've a sneaking suspicion I learned more. They're both very accomplished photogs and got some terrific images on our big day out, which I'm hoping to post a few examples of some day soon.

I was reluctant to snap away myself, wanting to be of most service to my guests, but they insisted that while we were in such stunning surrounds, I get some shots for myself, so I took up Viv's offer of playing with her Canon G10, as well as my own Canon DSLR's. Here's one I liked:

That's solid ice, thick enough to support my weight all the way across. What did I learn of value from the trip? Too much for one blog entry, but I'll share two biggies: Kathmandu duck down vests and fleece fingerless gloves that convert into mittens.

What's your favourite bit of photography wardrobe?

Breaking the rules

2010-07-15T13:15:00.002+12:00

I like rules. Miss C needs them. She's only six and so there's a lot of stuff she hasn't quite got a handle on yet, so until she's ready she likes the rule about always holding Mum or Dad's hand when crossing a road. She's playing it safe, and I'm glad. Of course, she's going to grow out of that rule pretty soon, and it's the same with photography.

We've got rules like the rule of thirds, the one about keeping your horizon horizontal, and keeping the eyes in sharp focus. No-one is going to be punished if you break these rules, they're more like guidelines - ways to play it safe, and there are times when its good to stop playing safe, to break the rules and come up with something special. Like this:

Having made wildlife films, I know critters that are running away aren't nearly as interesting as oncoming critters. I know eyes and faces are the most interesting part of an animal or human being. So chasing Keas the other day, I really wanted an oncoming shot. I wanted to capture the brilliant flash of orange under their wings, the curved beak, and eyes sharply in focus.

Unfortunately they wouldn't play ball. But I shot away anyhow, trying to get what I wanted and learning what I could from each attempt. Looking at the shots later I knew I hadn't got what I set out to capture, but I still liked one or two. The spread of wings, the brilliant colours, the sense of motion, even a bit of mystery and character. Shots of birds' backs, and they still worked for me. I'm not saying they're award winners, but they work on some levels. Over on Flickr, the award-winning wildlife photog Craig McKenzie said (rightly) that normally he'd dismiss a shot like this, but the colour really worked for him. He didn't know Keas had the red flash on the back - it's normally covered by their wings.

Sometimes its okay to break those rules.

Have you taken shots you liked that broke the rules? Tell me about it.

Walking the Tightrope

2010-07-11T22:29:00.004+12:00

Right now I'm in Wanaka on my annual family ski vacation. Unfortunately, this early in the season, the snow up at Treble Cone is less than deep. So I took the time to go on a photo walk by the lakefront the other day. Conditions were dull, so I was out challenging myself to work with it. To be honest, I was struggling and in the cold conditions, was close to quitting several times. I was just seeing cliche landscape stuff.

But I stuck with it. The sky cleared, the sun started to set, and I ran into this guy practicing his tightrope walking by the lake. He was trying to get some shots of himself in action, so I offered to shoot some frames for him, and he let me take some for myself. I got some cool golden hour silhouettes.

It was a reminder of two important things. The first is that making a connection with people always pays off when you're making pictures. The second is that sometimes you need to work it, and sometimes you need to relax and let a picture reveal itself to you, stick it out and wait for the right things to come together. Sometimes you need to walk that tightrope.

In other news, it looks like I'm going to be doing one of the celebrity walks on the Hump Ridge Track next year. My experience of the track this year was brilliant and I'm really looking forward to leading another group of photographers to see what new pictures we can make there. Stay tuned.

St Bathans Blues

2010-07-02T17:06:00.001+12:00

The final destination on my quick Maniototo reconnaisance was St Bathans. It's a beautiful little town, nestled in hills riddled with old gold tailings and a 68 metre deep lake that used to be a 120 metre high hill. It's beautiful in winter, especially late in the day when the golden sun is on the snow, but at this time of year it doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight. Still, it's worth bringing people to, for the mix of old buildings and the blue lake. This late in the day, with snow around, just about everything looks blue.

The blue lake isn't named for this shot, where the low afternoon light makes the snow look blue, but the colour of the water which is affected by the minerals in the surrounding hills. Nowadays it tends to be a bit green though, due to runoff and algal growth. I just had time for a couple of quick snaps and a quick chat at the pub about getting hot lunches for my clients, so like everything on this recce, these shots only hint at what can be done here.

With about 40 minutes before the sun hit the hills, I turned back on the road toward Ranfurly. The late afternoon light and snow combined with the clear sky for great landscape opportunities. The challenge is finding some engaging foreground.

The Wedderburn railway shed is another Grahame Sydney painting icon. It was only restored in the last few years, after being removed, but the painting's popularity and the growing tourist numbers attracted by the rail trail encouraged the locals to rebuild it. It sits at the intersection of some long straight roads that typify the region - and also make it a favourite haunt of motorcycle enthusiasts.

The last of the sun's rays made for a quick silhouette of some cattle, and a shot of the hills above Ranfurly painted pink. Again, this was a wind-down-the-window -and-snap picture, so it's a bit soft and grainy but it shows the potential of the place.

Two hours drive in the dark via Palmerston and I was home. Initial Maniototo winter reconnaissance complete and much intel gained.

Hoar Frost

2010-07-01T16:19:00.002+12:00

Central Otago hoar frosts can be spectacular, and being the coldest spot in New Zealand, the Ida Valley is the place to find them. Sometimes the valley floor is fogged in for days and the cold conditions just encourage the frost to grow and grow, coating everything and turning the landscape into a strange infrared picture where the vegetation is white.

We weren't quite at spectacular as I drove down into the valley the other day, but it was okay. Again, this being a reconnaissance mission, I was more about documenting potential photo ops than making great pictures.

One thing I didn't get a shot of was the several marsh harriers I saw perched on fenceposts by the road. I'd love to get some decent raptor shots one day.

Further down the valley the fog lifted and snow appeared. It's here in the Maniototo that the artist Grahame Sydney has made his own. In his book, he's called it a timeless land. I take the other view, that the works of time are on constant display, that time permeates everything - the long geological time that built and eroded these ranges, and the short day time that creates the changing light and shade.

It's hard not to look for opportunities to replicate Sydney's work.

It's pretty easy to evoke his style here, since much of his Maniototo stuff hangs on the low raking light and folds of the hills.

Still, I don't just want to replicate his vision of this place I must struggle to find my own.

I think I'm learning to see this place my way. One thing I'm not thrilled about is the quality of these uploads. I'm exporting directly from Lightroom 3 to Flickr. Shots on Flickr often look dull to me, and I don't like the pixelation in these. Must go under the hood and tweak the settings. What's the point of a watermark if the images aren't good enough to steal in the first place?

Finally, the blue skies broke through. There was about an hour and a half of sun left and I made my way to my final destination: St Bathans and the Blue Lake. More on that soon.

From Frost to Fog

2010-06-29T21:31:00.001+12:00

As I headed into Alexandra on Sunday, I stopped to get some pictures of a nearby dam. At this end of the valley the frost had gone and the fog was thick but I still managed to get a few snaps - with a little more time and consideration, you could pull of some really nice stuff.

In really cold years the dam freezes over and there are some swans that hang out there too, so a bit of time and they could be part of something nice. This spot joins my photour list. Best of all it's ten minutes away from some of the best cashew chocolate brownies in all New Zealand. I'd tell you where, but it's the kind of photographic expertise I'm charging people for.

I snatched a quick cup of coffee and one of those heavenly brownies in Alexandra and headed for the Ida Valley via Ophir. Ophir's historic buildings make it a no-brainer for photography, so I whizzed through without stopping for pictures. A few km down the road, I got a quickie of this rabbiter's hut for the record.

From here, the Ida valley was just over the hill, and the ice on the wire told me that I might just be in for something special... a Maniototo hoar frost. I couldn't wait to get over there.

Fun with Frost

2010-06-28T19:25:00.000+12:00

There's so much amazing stuff in Otago, you'd be nuts to think you could do it justice in a day, a season or even a whole year of photography. But since I'm planning to take some clients into the Maniototo, I decided to dash over to Alexandra yesterday and travel down the Ida valley to make sure we're going to get some good stuff.

I wasn't disappointed.

My first stop was at Fruitlands, just before Alex. Mitchell's cottage is one of the finest examples of 19th century farmhouse stonework in the country. Boy was it cold though. Luckily I just got a merino beanie to wear under my regular one and some convertible fleece mittens. I would have liked to drive up all the way to the top of the Old Man range and Obelisk, but there was a little too much snow on the road, and I wanted to sus out the whole Ida Valley to St Bathans and Ranfurly before the useful light had gone. At this time of year, that's practically 5.00

The valley floor was pretty well fogged in, but the cottage was just sitting high enough on the range to get a peek of blue sky now and then.

We could easily spend a couple of hours here, on a good day or bad. The cottage is open and you could have a lot of fun in there with off-camera flash. But as good as it is, I think I'll stick to the Ida valley when my clients come. It was so good down there, but before that, I decided to hit a local dam for a little look.

More from that leg of the journey soon.

New Sites

2010-06-22T16:37:00.000+12:00

As much as I've wanted to, I haven't been adding a lot of content lately. That's because instead of working on the photography side of things, I've been attending the business side. I attended a great seminar on pricing and best practice run by the NZIPP last weekend, and am thinking about joining to attend the Michael Grecco workshop at their annual InFocus conference, as well as get some professional accreditation. I've also been looking at my guiding business, things like getting a passenger licence and liability insurance. It's all going to cost, but in the end it'll be worth it. Ultimately, doing it all right will make it easier to do what I really want - make beautiful pictures.

On the marketing front, I've re-worked my websites. First, there's clivecopemanphotography, and second, there's southernphotoguides, which is still a work in progress. I am however, getting client enquiries, which is great. Go on, have a look. Better still, link to them! More on the guiding later.

Which Way is Up?

2010-06-10T12:14:00.002+12:00

Rain or shine, Otago Peninsula is so full of photographic opportunities. I got this yesterday in one of my favourite haunts. Hooper's Inlet was glassy smooth. Flipping the image makes it look to me like a Sci Fi movie poster.

Bring on the Rain

2010-06-08T22:29:00.005+12:00

Did I really say that?

I guess I'm just a wee bit excited about my latest bit of kit. Just a wee bit. The other week I ordered a Matin waterproof jacket for my camera. It's a medium - weight waterproof nylon with a vinyl window and drawstring for the lens.

I got the medium size, which is supposed to fit a 300mm lens, but it fits my 70-200 with 2x adaptor just fine, as well as my shorter lenses. This is the camo version but they make a white one too if you don't like the Rambo look.

The vinyl window lets you check your screen, and it fits snugly around your viewfinder frame. The rain is back, so this afternoon I took it and my new hat up the hill to the Sandymount road to check them out in the rain, and was pretty pleased. No, I'm not showing you my hat. This is one of my favourite bits of the Peninsula. The low light and rain were a challenge, but on the plus side, in the different conditions, I started seeing new things in the landscape that I'd like to go and shoot again. The rain creates little streams and surface reflections that work well as leading lines that just aren't there in drier conditions. With my new kit, I'm ready to learn to see pictures in the rain now.

I've also got my new watermark sorted, thanks to branding genius Nik Sweeney.

Soon I'll be ready to launch my new website, and then the new site for Southern Photo Guides. Plenty to do, and as if that's not enough, I've begun writing a new science series for TVNZ 7 as well as starting work on a coffee table book for the Chamber of Commerce. Happy times.

And the Winners are...

2010-06-03T11:03:00.006+12:00

... all of Dunedin! The sun has returned after a truly dismal spell. Yesterday I was returning home from visiting a colleague to get a print done when I finally saw one of my favourite spots on the Otago Peninsula bathed in light that really made the most of it. I only had a minute to get something as evening cloud was approaching fast, but now I know the best conditions to go there in. It'll be a spot I'll do other shoots, and possibly take guiding clients, but like many good spots, it tends to be a great backdrop in search of a subject to do it justice. It'd be a great spot for an outdoor portrait as long as the road isn't busy.

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Otago Museum Wildlife Photo Comp. There are a few duds in the final selection, like the jury prize going to a nice but rather ordinary portrait of an elephant seal from South Georgia. One of my favourites is of some dolphins seen in the dark reflection of the passengers on board a boat - it's not the most stunning bit of composition but it's a shot with plenty of interest and tells a story. I'm pleased to see the overall winner is a capture of a very nice moment in animal behaviour rather than just another nature portrait.

Check the winners out here.

High Water

2010-05-31T09:56:00.001+12:00

We have been struck by a prolonged bout of rain here in NZ. The whole country has copped it, but there has been a lot of flooding in Eastern and Northern Otago. Not great conditions to go out in, but there are still pictures to be made, so I forced myself off the couch to go and get some just to prove I could.

I found a bunch of contractors dealing with a little bit of surface flooding in the city and staked them out for a while, hoping for a little drama but to be honest, there was just a lot of talking and pointing going on. In wet weather, patterns and reflections in the water are always a good standby, so I got something from the raindrops on the water and the reflection of their truck lights before heading home to the fire. The light was poor, and the rain was miserable (light rather than torrential and exciting) so I found the challenge of making a decent shot quite instructive.

Subsequently, I have ordered a new Matin rain jacket for my camera, and a good waterproof hat.