Category: Blog 2018

15 November 2015

If you go to Barcelona this place should be the first on your list. I first encountered Sagrada Familia over 30 years ago on a Contiki Tour.

I remember it as looking like an impressive sand castle. You couldn’t go inside at that time. But you must go in as the interiors are truly amazing and so different to all the other basilacas and cathedrals in Europe. The lighting is also amazing late afternoon as you can see in the photos.

But what can a frustrated photographer photograph when the building is surrounded by cranes and the inside full of tourists? You guessed it, photograph the people instead, make them the subject, especially the attractive ones…..

To see actual photos of Sagrada Familia head for the Special Projects/Europe page.

1.    Nikon D750    iso 3200    170mm    f4.0    1/125sec.

2.    iso 400    110mm    f4.0    1/125sec

3.    iso 800    135mm    f4.0    1/90sec

2 August 2015

On the  4 June in this Blog section Sarina made the above comment. I would agree with her but was surprised as she had only seen a few of my shots I posted on our Whats App group page.

Anyway she asked for it and now she’s going to get it “in Spades” as the expression goes.

Its easier to get a unique image when photographing people as opposed to landcapes. With landscapes you have anything from a few seconds to a few minutes to get the shot. If you have someone (or many people)  next to you then they have probably captured the same image.

With people its that microsecond that counts. That fleeting glance or expression is all it takes to elevate the image from just ok to something special. Hence the term “decisive moment”.

But the trouble with photographing people is that it requires one to be “Thicked Skinned” as there is the occassional verbal abuse. Landscapes are generally passive unless the weather plays up.  A lot of my group were mainly photographing scenery, themselves, food and the odd child. It takes a rude  “banana” (slang-yellow on the outside, white on the inside) like me to put cameras in strangers faces and recording their everyday activity. My daughters accuse me of being a stalker…..

However it is important to be respectful with the image and hopefully it doesn’t embarrrass them if they saw it. To me its the people that I see and meet that makes travelling enjoyable and rewarding. Hopefully through my images you have a chance to see the real people of China and realise how bloody hard they have to work just to survive.

As mentioned elsewhere in the Blog sometimes its the journey that can be more rewarding than the destination.

1.    14 Jan 2015    Nickon D3s    iso6400    56mm    f2.8    1/30sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

2.    15 Jan 2015   Nikon D3s    iso 200    180mm    f4.0    1/180sec  Nikon 70-200mm f4   

3.    Nikon D3s    iso 12800    32mm    f2.8    1/10sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

They’re doing our dishes out there!  And it was very dark. They were actually doing the dishes in the dark. Sally shone a torch to illuminate the dishes!

4.    16 Jan 2015    Kunming   Nikon D3s    iso800    28mm    f6.7    1/250sec    Nikon 24-70 f2.8

5.    Nikon D3s    iso800    70mm    f4.8    1/250sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

14 September 2015

Well my birthday came around again. As predictable as the Sun revolves around the Earth, another 365 days then Whamo! Another year older, a few more holes drilled, a few thousand more shutter actuations achieved and just a few more “keepers” for the photographic website.

This year my Geraldine Guide, Wayne Keenan, recommended I visit the above poets lake and do some photography there as he knew I prefer the wild sparse landscapes to the pretty scenery (wife and sister in law excluded!).

So on Dr Googles advice I discovered  “Lake Coleridge Lodge“. They provide comfortable accomodaton, hot meals and warm friendly  service. Toni and Dean are excellent Hosts and if anyone wants to spend a relaxing few days in the middle of great South Island scenery I can unreservedly recommend this place.

So for my significant birthday I arranged a “threesome” comprising of my wife Sally and her sister Winnie. The third part  was Mrs Hyundai i35 which we hired from Go rentals. It performed well managing the snow and gravel with great stability. In fact my favourite words on the trip were “Thank God I got a rental!” This was in response to the amount of mud and dirt worn by the car. The girls performed admirably as well……. that is being extremely patient and letting me stop anywhere to take lots of photos. They were great company as well.

The Lake itself is hard to see. There are only 3 or 4 access roads to the lake as it is surrounded by hills. None of the photos here are of the lake but on the other side of the hills. But once you see the lake it is amazing as it is so undeveloped. Not one holiday home or batch to ruin the sense of isolation. Sorry you will have to see the lake yourself as there are no photos of the lake on this website. I took a few but the images were too postcardy for me.

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