Small But Perfectly Formed

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

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

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

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

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,

CC

Dear Christchurch

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

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.