12 September 2023
In August 2022 , for my birthday treat, I took a Jet Boat ride with my good friend Ricky who was accompanying me doing landscape photography. This jet boat ride was not like the normal perception of what what the ride entails-Shotover River for example. This was not about zooming down rivers, getting close to canyon walls and 360 degree turns getting wet along the way- think river roller coaster. No, this is more about exploring parts of Mt Aspiring national park that most wheeled tourist don’t see. Looking back at my images gives me pleasurable memories of the rawness and beauty of the South Island. What about the jet boat ride you may ask? Fantastic, well worth the expense. I think winter will be a good time as there is plenty of snow around and this adds to the beauty.
How not to do Landscape photography
When you do landscape photography, I recommend using a tripod, a full frame camera or larger (more dynamic range), take your time and enjoy the scenery. This is slow photography. Bracket your exposures, crop for different angles of view and try different compositions. That’s half the work done. Post processing manipulation will then help you to express your creativity to the fullest. Ideally a mounted print is considered the best output as opposed the an image on the computer screen as you see here. Unfortunately I don’t have enough wall space to exhibit all my work!.
The images before you is doing everything contrary to what I preach. No tripod as it is a bit hard to do on a moving jetboat. I used my 4/3rds small frame sensor camera (less dynamic range). But it had good on body image stabilisation. Having lens stabilisation would have helped as well but that particular lens didn’t have it on. I shot at wide aperture and a fast shutter speed. No time to compose or think. Just snatch and grab (like my travel photography style). I was surprised anything came out. My last effort many years ago was shooting from a moving train along the Otago rail trail. Everything was either blurry or very boring!
