A letter from Fiji...

Giving up Chocolate....

I typed a post a few days ago, saved and programmed it to post today and well.... it's gone... I'll wait another day to see if it appears back from cyberspace tomorrow (incase it's posting on US time, which is pretty ironic given all the jokes about Fiji time), then I'll give up and retype it. Probably on monday or tuesday.... aaaaarrrrgh the frustration!

In the meantime this is actually on topic to the "lost post" which was already about having to give up chocolate (amongst other things). Here's a very real reason, and shudder..... this would certainly put you off eating the stuff anyway (fairly gory content). 

When will big businesses realise they can't use palm oil or palm waste products (yes YOU Fonterra) if they are causing ecological damage such as deforestation? 

the giant sand dune...

{Aramoana Beach}

Beaches are great, healthy, wholesome. Of course we live right above one pretty much year round. We like them. So it's good to introduce the children to a great old family tradition when over in NZ: cold windy beaches. Besides it saves a lot of $ to get out of those huge wonderous (I suspect that's not a real word) malls we just don't have over here in Fiji, well not in the west anyway (for those of you who are about to comment what about MHCC)...

So we drove out to Aramoana which is a really cool spot just out of Dunedin, and walked around the corner to the kids' favourite spot, the giant sand dune. This dune, I kid you not, is right up there in excitement levels with the steepest street, and the chocolate factory. So you follow the horses hoof marks in the photo above, round the corner and there it is.

It didn't look that far, but I've experienced this sort of thing before. It was potentially big. Very big.

I was concerned. 

But there seemed to be other adults walking up it, so egged on by the kids up I went.

It was really big... as in hamstring burningly big... the sand was really heavy like walking through ... I don't know but something that is really hard to walk through, like glue or [insert your own suitable  metaphor here] ...and the other adults? They had all stopped 1/4 of the way up, they were just distant little dots back down on the beach when I looked down... But the view from the top was fantastic, the kids were proud of me being the only adult up there, and of course the trip back down was magical! 

Note the picture in the second story board on the trendy artistic angle... This is merely because I am trying to catch my breath and haven't got the energy to lift the camera properly... Now that's got to be good for you!

next time....

When we were over in NZ recently we were invited to camp at Lynnore and Andrew's "private" campground on part of their farm where they camp with their friends. We didn't really have time to get the tent out of storage at Grans', so we just went up for the day... and what a great day!

The weather was hot, infact hot enough for kids who live in Fiji to go swimming in the river. The Middlemarch area is also known for the most spectacular and rare cloud formations. Well apparently the cloud that day wasn't as good as it gets, but I thought it was pretty amazing... Lynnore and I headed out with the cameras and took turns with the circular polarising filter and basically agreed to spend longer exploring and photographing another time, though the next time will probably be in Fiji. We were playing with our 10-20mm lenses, so if you think my photo of the dog's nose looks close, trust me... it was really close! The kids played all the great games you play when there are no TV's or electronic games, in fact I didn't capture Tom who was down at the river fishing, then enjoying the wide open spaces on a borrowed bike; or Alice who was away helping with the irrigation (and learning to drive)!

It was a great day, but I will stop talking show a few images that really don't do it justice. Next time (next year) we will bring the tent and camp!

The almost surreal thing was going in less than 48 hours from playing on grassy river banks to sitting in the tropics on the barge we were catching home to the island after our flight. Or am I the only one who finds this sort of thing surreal, is everyone else used to the marvel of international air travel? Certainly it's wonderful to be able to still find a place where you can watch kids enjoying simple play without modern technology... next year....

Uncle Bob and the 17th Shooter

We've got a very busy week and weekend coming up, and heaven knows I blog pretty erratically as it is, so I thought I'd better put in a bit of effort and post today... We had the most fabulous trip to NZ and I haven't even started to show any of it yet, so here we go...

Late September/October I read two books with similar names, the 13th tale, and the 19th Wife... The 19th Wife was a very intriguing story about polygamy, modern day and in early Mormon times. I have no idea what was true and what was fiction in parts of it, but it was very interesting.  The 13th Tale was a romping good historical fiction. I don't usually read that genre, but this was great! So many twists and turns... 

So now possibly you're wondering about the 17th shooter? Is it an account of a bizarre assassination plot? Nope, it's a different kind of shooting... While we were on holiday we were lucky enough to be invited to a wonderful wedding. The Bride and Groom are both NZ Professional Photographers of the year (NZIPP), one current, and one past. There were 16 photographers amongst the guests (no name dropping) and with no official photographer they were all invited to take shots. I guessed that unlike some weddings where there is a main photographer and a "second shooter" given the number of photographers at this wedding I was the "17th shooter"! I promised the Bride and Groom I would provide 5 photos (oh the pressure, entirely self inflicted I might add)...

Wedding photographers talk of a phenomenon known as the "Uncle Bob". Uncle Bob is that guy that turns up to a wedding with all the gear and almost seems to be competing with the official photographer for every shot. We didn't have an Uncle Bob at out wedding I might add. Before and after the studio/official shots our (official) photographer was Uncle Peter (Mum's brother) and he did a wonderful job. They are truly lovely shots.

Becker talks about the "Uncle Bobs" in one of his [b] school podcasts (I get these on i-tunes, they're a free download and well worth a look); I really like his attitude. As he preaches asking forgiveness (rather than permission?) I am about to shamelessly use his image without permission to illustrate an Uncle Bob. Then I'll ask if all 8 of my readers could please follow the links and check out his blog etc etc and make sure if you're in SoCal you consider him for your next few weddings...! That's Becker on the left/back...

But enough about Becker... just imagine the potential for Uncle Bob's at Mike and Jackie's wedding!

There was no doubt it was a really really beautiful wedding, one of those ones where everyone is so happy to see two people together. I've put some of my five pics into a quick storyboard (not my finest composition, but as said I did think I should stop pfaffing around and get a post in today); incase you're wondering it was at the gorgeous Hermitage, Mt Cook, NZ...  it's a good thing I was the 17th shooter as I don't seemed to have any of Mike!! 

...and here's some others... Like the one of the shoes (Mike and Jackie are usually seen in hiking boots and jeans) this shot below was a suggestion from some of the guests we were sitting with down the back -watching Jackie and her paparazzi... I was playing with some effects (as you do) when it struck me. Maybe Jackie wasn't showing off her fantastic toned body (yes yes I know this isn't doing her arms justice...)? Maybe she was calling for help and trying to get out the window?!! 

My camera and flash were away being fixed for three weeks and I was using a Nikon D2xs kindly lent to me by Photo and Video. That was pretty lucky, but I like my camera better and I can definitely see how much better Nik's have got in the last year. The photo below is screaming for a caption (leave all suggestions in comments!), but myself, I think it's Nikon envy...

more shooters on the grassy knoll chairs...

Anyway it was a fabulous 3 days of wedding, thanks Mike and Jackie. As GB doesn't like stopping for scenery I have an interesting series of NZ shots I will post sometime all taken from the speeding car:-even one of the Bride and Groom having photos taken the next day! Bet you can't wait...

And there's a cafe, just around the corner...

 

First up I must note with respect to my comments in the last post (about the quality of my photos recently on this blog) that typepad have always quickly resolved any issues I have had when I have submitted a help ticket. I just haven't done that yet. I thought I would take some time to read a bit more in their FAQ and see what else I could find out first...Today I was thinking about what Michele said about compression and I thought I would save at 800 pixels long and upload at 800 to see what it looked like. So this is going to be one helluva page load if you're on a slower connection, sorry about that (Mum). It may help if you just click on the titles and load one post at a time. But on with the landscape...Also this post is unusually self reflective...

So landscape... people who know me know I don't do a lot of this. I sort of feel more comfortable when a picture is put into context by the addition of people.. but actually I can see that this genre of photography could become very addictive.

What always worried me about landscape is some of the stuff you see. You know- the calendars or post cards where the scene is ok, maybe even pretty. But it's blah. and we know it's blah! In my case I didn't know how to avoid blah, yes I knew how to set the exposure etc, but I was worried, probably even terrified of blah...how do you get the amazing emotion the best landscape photographers have in their work? The sort of picture that is not just pretty, but compelling?

The first requirement seems to be early morning/freezing cold, or preferably both. I wonder if that masochistic element reminds the photographer to add feeling to their compositions? All I can say is I am very lucky to have a sister who went to Antarctica and bought some of the gear back with her! So it seems you all cluster around a hillside in the dark waiting... waiting for the moment...

So I find myself in the predawn standing on a hill. The sun starts to peek through and light up various sections of the scene like the spotlight in nature's auditorium. My fellow photogs start exclaiming and clicking. I stand there feeling confused. It's so huge. What have they picked out that they are capturing? The sun starts to ripple across the valley and the grass lights up, hypnotising me with its promise of warmth and life. My favourite type of photography is enviromental portraits, documentary; so I have no fear of turning straight into the light, no preconceived notions of "how" a landscape photo should be done... 

I'm enjoying myself now, and shooting for my own experimentation with no regard for what anyone else will think. So what if it's all wrong? After all we'll only have to hand over 3-6 for review, and probably I'll shoot 8gig today unless we get rained out (I'm bound to have something there to hand over). Shooting into the sunrise is tricky though, my lens hood isn't dealing with the flare, so I hold my hand above to try and block out a bit more...

OOps! A woolly glove vignette! I go and get a magazine out of the truck. It looks warm and inviting actually, but I have seen some curves in the soft haze of the dawn I just want to capture...

I'm feeling a little more at ease by the time we head into one of the local small towns for coffee. I spot the windows with their reflections in the frosty morning. Fascinating! It took me 3 hours to download my pics on the first day, but today I'm going to try my brand new mac book, so I just keep shooting... The next day we're up at dawn on a hill again. I'm hanging in there, I can see St Bathans and I know there's a cafe there. I see more curves. I like curves. I don't like mirror slap. This one was shot at 1/20s and has appalling mirror slap. Jackie warned me and Jackie was right... Tony writes about it too. I wonder if I'm not anal pedantic enough for this?

When I flag I'm encouraged to keep going. I'm pretty sure what Chris is saying to me here is something like if I keep going he'll lend me his 80-200 f/2.8 lens again! Everyone was so nice...Lucky I have a really fun 10-20mm to return the favour.

That's not Barney the dinosaur in the background, that's Anne. Don't laugh, she's not only a wonderful photographer, she's warm. So we were standing there watching the light filter across the land and its effects, and this morning there was LOTS of colour. What does everyone think of colour? is it too twee? too chocolate box? 

I loved the way this cloud was picked out...but is it just cheap to use sunrise colour this way?

I have the same conundrum in the evening above Fall's dam. There's chocolate box sunset everywhere. I'm stuck with my same old problem of everything being too big and pretty and I'm struggling to make meaningful captures. The sun is just spilling into the mountains. I decide that when it's this cold (yes that lake is frozen, and where do I live? Fiji where it hasn't been colder than 19C since we moved here) any capture is worthy. That makes me feel better, that and that there's a wonderful new laptop waiting for me after a scrumptious dinner and pinot gris at the Wedderburn pub...

Look! I shot two in portrait orientation!

I was quite fascinated by that rock so I clambered down the vertical rock banks to look closer. I didn't take my tripod (ahem! Tony's tripod, I left mine in the car in Fiji). But the other Chris did. It is handy to be an accomplished mountaineer if you want to do great landscape photography it seems (another thing I learned).

At the end of the day I found it extremely intriguing, and I can see the appeal that makes a person want to drag their tripod and other gear out and stand out in the elements waiting for that moment. I spent a lot of time standing overwhelmed and confused, dropped into a situation all  the technical know how in the world doesn't prepare you for. But then I am terrified of mediocrity in my own work (besides it's not a cheap hobby! I need to do it right!)... 

You stand out there and everyone else is shooting away and ... noticing things. I look around and just in the one valley there's so many different textures, and one moment the light is soft and diffuse, then it's picking stuff out... I decide I just have to surrender, and enjoy the beauty, and maybe that will help with the learning too...

It's a pretty place huh? and of course huge...

Looks cold? Yes is cold...

Despite the remoteness of this region there are the coolest cafes dotted all over the countryside, St Bathans, Ranfurly, Naseby (not forgetting Middlemarch on the drive up). The window at the start of this post is just round the corner from the one in Naseby; and it was just across the road from there I remembered... I like shooting people best...

Disclaimer: Tony teaches with a wonderful combination of practical experience, critique, and theory lectures... and most of his participants do not wander around the countryside dazed and looking for caffeine hits like me! A big thanks especially to fellow participants Anne, Tim, Chris and Chris, Ian and Linda for their help and for putting up with me (and my endless tissues)!

Images from the Cold Country...

Of course I meant to take lots of photos when we were in NZ, after all it is beautiful. But somehow it didn't really happen this trip. First I had to drop my good camera off for a bit of maintenance, so I snapped some pics on the way over. This led to a bit of trouble which I will save for another (cautionary) post. Then AK and I were racing against the clock to get from Christchurch to the school open days, so didn't stop on the way south in our little rental car. The southerly blast ensured I didn't have another go at scenery after that...

But I did pike out one day. Saturday we were meant to nip up and catch up with Tony and Linda. But Dunedin was cold and rainy, the road up to Wedderburn is mountainous and can be dodgy and despite our rental car being issued with snow chains it really wasn't a desirable car for snowy or icy conditions. So we didn't go... and of course the weather was glorious...

So here's what we may have seen had we gone -from almost one year before, at the mysterious St Bathans- an amazing place for photos...

The tranquility was only interrupted by the gentle plop of Ian's lens rolling down a hill and into the deep dark water... That was encouragement enough for me to head up the hill for coffee, admiring the feisty trees on the way... 

Was I using the trees as an excuse to walk up the hill towards the cafe? Never! OK well maybe... (to be continued)...

(The new typepad is uploading photos funny. infact it seems to be sharpening them? ick! I won't change these, but I will work on adjusting my save for web to counter this... )

The Cold Country...

Well we all know it's New Zealand AK and I went to, but I'm worried that if I say trip to NZ there'll be an expectation of beautiful NZ scenery photos, and I didn't have time (or weather) to take any! And now you're wondering why butterflies? Bear with me...

The actual reason just the two of us went was to look at schools. Not for a few years yet, but we were told now was the time to go and check it out. We had a nice girls time hanging out in the departure lounge, and travelling the 4 hours to Christchurch. It was also cool to catch up with old friends Mess and Vicky... on the plane ...oddly we didn't see them in the departure lounge. But the one thing about the Nadi departure lounge is it is wonderfully big and full of shops, easy not to see someone. Here's AK waiting with our stuff...

We're not sitting by the shops of course. We are however off to the left of the cafe. Eagle eyed people may have noticed I'm reading that great book. This is the same scene 8 flat whites later... 

Yes I am kidding. But it's interesting how the colour of the seats changes after so many coffees? Anyway here's 2 shout outs:-

Great Service eg 1... We checked the price to take a rental car from Christchurch airport to Dunedin. Only 24 hours rental, we chose the smallest size cars, and we priced all the main brands all of which operate out of the airport... Then we reeled in horror at the price! (this was the week before I might add). So we emailed good old Ace Rentals, who we have actually used 5 times before. Why didn't we call them first? They don't have a Dunedin office. The result? I won't name actual prices because the comparison is so much more effective. ACE fitted us out with a nice tidy little (older but pretty decent) toyota Nissan (edited to correct that) sedan which went like a train (and was bigger than the size class we had been looking at). As there was no one way option we would have to keep it and return it to Christchurch when we flew out 6 days later. The price for this was..... (drum roll)..... NZD$158 less than the one day option with the other companies!!! This included unlimited mileage, insurance, and a nice set of chains in case it snowed! Ace...

The bad news was there was a southerly coming through and it was likely to snow. We took off for Dunedin and the school open days (after dropping off the camera at the camera doctors in ChCh), and of course stopped at the other unlikely place for good service:-

Great Service eg 2... the KFC at Timaru! We don't know what it is there, but they are always smiley fast and efficient. Fantastic. This place is so popular the carpark has a traffic light, and if you are going through on Sunday nights you'll see why...(KFC drive through traffic jam... despite how fast they are!).

The school were simply amazing. In Fiji we don't have a lot of facilities (even KFC is only in Suva, 3 hours from where we live), but I honestly had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw the facilities at these private (integrated) schools in my home town. I'm not going to say their names, suffice it to say they're fabulous, relatively cheap, and quite hard to get into so I don't really want to say too much more about them incase everyone tries to apply the same year as AK! At one school AK took off in their spacious amazingly stocked library (and I think tried to hide so she could stay longer) so we took her to the public library, which (when you go to the schools over here) was an immense treat. Here she is lost in the teen section. There's kinda a red cast, but the lighting was quite red...It was very cool.

It was great to catch up with friends and be home... but cold! Phew! We wore all our jeans, thermal underwear, and our fab merino wool jumpers and jackets, but it was still cold. They build houses cold down there too. My sister's place is one of those beautiful villa houses, but they had the right idea... they had us in a nice smaller room heated with a big open fire. Here's the view from where I sat... that's right, beside the fire...(note they are just like Bahrageous (side bar) and have a bird thingy)

My brother in law showed us a very funny clip on you-tube. Remember that saying "Sing like No-ones listening"? Well that wasn't the case for this entrant in Bulgarian Idol; well not now more than fourteen million people have seen her singing "Ken Lee"...

 

Infact Gary that was so funny we should all give you a big hand for sharing... how's this?

There's a kinda red cast, but it was a very red rug... oh never mind... So with the cold southerly sleety snowy blast the best activities were indoors and we had a great time, including visiting the Museum, which is always great value, but now has a huge tropical rainforest! who knew! Despite it being 3 degrees celcius outside it was 27C in there, and 70% humidity. Just like Fiji! Lots of cool butterflies to look at, but a tad too hot when you're wearing jeans and boots etc... Climate. Sometimes if you flit from country to country like a jet setting butterfly you just cant win...Luckily we don't get to do it often I guess.

We'll end with a quick comparison. My brother back in the cold country, and T back here have both been gardening. Rhys' garden is just great, please consider he is standing by the compost area and it's the middle of winter. And T is just starting. But he has grown some tomato plants from seed... Some people say T is very like Rhys when he was little, but I can't see it. I can see from his expression that Rhys is about to say something brother-ish; so again sorry no beautiful NZ scenery shots. But I'll try and find some for next time, and at least I've left you back in Fiji, rather than in the cold...

We've been Away!

I see I have been tagged! So I will have to post this weekend. In the meantime sorry everyone, and Cynthia, thankyou for your kind comments! I cannot in all honesty post until I finish postprocessing my fiji-swims photos (Kate I am so sorry), in the meantime I'd just like to say don't change computers half way througha job without checking the screen/monitor on the new one is calibrated...

So I changed to a macbook, finally, during our 4 week trip to NZ. And did lots of other exciting things too. In addition to that we went to a Vanessa Amorosi concert back here, and Korovou Prison has had a facelift you probably can't wait to see (yes it still looks damn scary). So I promise to post soon, thanks for waiting!

(photo is from near the head of Lake Wakatipu, NZ. Lots more to come!)