Southern Safari

Day one of our 100% Photgraphy Southern Photo Safari! We're supposed to start with a sunrise at St Clair, so I went down yesterday for a little recce to see what we could do. The weather is not cooperating, so the sunrise was subtle and fleeting.





Conditions like this force us to be creative, so I don't really have a problem with taking the gang out for this kind of thing. But now it's raining and I've heard we've scratched the beach shoot. Probably a good idea. I'll find out what the new plan is over breakfast. Improvising! I love it. It's going to be an exciting day.

I'd Like To Share Something With You

It's this:



There's such a growing interest in photography these days that I've decided to advertise the fact that I run workshops and guide photo safaris to help people make pictures like this. This shot is one I took up in Coromandel, but there's so much to share right in my own back yard here in Dunedin and the surrounding regions. This has also been precipitated by the trip I'm taking for Tourism NZ et al at the end of the week.

I'm stoked to add that my mate Mike Thorsen is keen to help me in these adventures. Mike's a first rate wildlife and macro photog who also likes to share what he knows. So, I've added this page to my freelance business site, so people know where to find us. Get in touch!

Congrats Camilla!

Canon have just announced the winner of the Tourism NZ EOS Photochain comp. It's Camilla Lundbak. Camilla will be accompanied by Neerav Bhatt and myself on a truly fabulous photo safari at the end of this week, supported by Canon Australia, Tourism NZ, Tourism Dunedin and Venture Southland. Check out Camilla's winning picture here.

The competition judges said "The water, the mountains and the curtain of light seem more like layers in a pop up book." Nice call. Congratulations Camilla, looking forward to helping you capture some more great pictures from my neck of the woods!

Meet Some Friends Of Mine

My upcoming tour of Otago and Southland is to accompany the winner of the Canon 100% photography competition. I'm not sure who that's going to be yet, but I hope they're bringing some thermals. After several weeks of summer temperatures in the high 20's, a southerly blast is now lashing the new scarfies (university students) and fashionistas in town for ID fashion week (which my lucky mate Mike McQueen is shooting).

What I do know is that we'll be accompanied by travel and technology writer Neerav Bhatt. Neerav's a prodigious blogger, and you should check him out here. As well as a bunch of great gear lent by Canon from the trip, we're hoping to get our hands on their new 550D for Neerav to review.

Right now I'm also racing to put together some shots for a little show I'm putting on with Mike, Reatha Kenny and Mike Thorsen. Together we've formed an informal project-based group called The Light Brigade. Reatha has amazing skills at shooting people, some of which you can see here. I'm stoked to add that we've just been joined by my old mate Lindsay (Sid) Somerville. Lindsay's a seasoned pro, and you shouldn't let the fact that he and I have played in a couple of bands together stop you from checking out his stuff.

The little show? More on that later. Meanwhile, here's one of the shots I'm thinking of including.

Road Tested

Time to gear up for my little road trip, so I'm posting this from my Android phone. The shot is one of the black capped terns that hang around the harbour here. Looking forward to sharing more of Otago and Southland's wildlife from the road!

Let Me Be Your Guide

OK, exciting news: In a week's time I'll be hitting the road as photography guide with some Aussies and a TV crew travelling through Dunedin and parts of Southland. We'll spend the week walking, driving and choppering into places like Otago Peninsula, Stewart Island and Milford Sound to take pictures. I'm honoured to have been chosen, and I'm excited about being able to promote my beautiful region in the best way I know.

We'll be using some top-of-the-line gear supplied courtesy of Canon Australia, blogging and tweeting about what we do and see along the way. We'll literally start the trip in my back yard, Otago Peninsula so here's a shot looking back down the peninsula to my neighbourhood (extreme R) and the rest of town.

I also booked another hair fashion shoot with my friends from Sliver Salon for April, have been approached to shoot an album cover for one of my favourite local bands, and have some scripts on offer. Not a bad week, really.

More details about the trip to come.

Living with Clutter

I picked up the hoarding habit from my Dad. Our garage was full of old tea chests, filled with assorted used spare parts from appliances and bits of tools I couldn't name. He hated throwing anything out, because he knew he'd find a use for it one day. If you look around our cupboards and sheds, you'll see he passed the gene on.



It's the same with my pictures. I delete complete failures straight away, but I'll keep everything else on my hard drive for months. I'm a believer that sometimes you just need time to see the value in a shot, and like my writing Guru JV says, "Your hard drive doesn't care how many drafts you keep on it." I'm preparing shots for a public screening soon, so decided to see if there was anything undiscovered in my early folders. I found this shot that I'd never really been ready to appreciate. Glad I kept it now.

One thing this exercise has taught me is that I really shoot a lot in portrait orientation, even my landscapes. Interesting. Speaking of landscapes, it looks like I've got a rather exciting shoot coming up in a couple of weeks.

Check back soon for the big announcement.