Seems a while since my last post
I have spent so many hours categorizing all my photographs onto
one hard drive and then getting them onto a NAS box the whole process
has taken me about three weeks but now I can find things almost at a
glance ! So we are off and running again till the NAS box fills up!
Which may not be too long.

                                   
                                            Wise crack

                                                     The industrial spy

                                                             Underneath the lamplight


There have been some wonderful shoots with Focus a Meet Up group
mainly shooting steam punk characters who are great fun to be around,
 such fantastic obliging models with creative costumes.

With the closure of the Old Street in Auckland's War Memorial Museum
Focus made great use of it for a few hours. Take a look at some of my shots
I took and fooled around with.

South Island

This last week I visited relations in Blenheim in the north part of the South Island.
A couple of mornings the temperature reached minus 4deg that's COLD.
We took a walk in the park while waiting for the Art Gallery to open. The winter sun was low in the sky.

This was the original shot.

 To give a little life to the picture I added a shot of birds in flight which gave the picture warmth.

I played around trying to give the picture a dimensional feel.

 

A few more layers later with tones and lines which made distinct divisions.

Roll on summer.

At the Grand Again

Waiting .........

More from The Grand

The elegance of an era, I call her Miss Foxy



                

The Power of Less

Had quite a few frosts here this last week with unusual low temperatures, haven't been too tempted to shoot it but this one was close to the house.

To prove that spring is around the corner I came home from the market with a few white tulips and spent the rest of the morning shooting them. Most of the time was in the set up.
I carefully placed the tulips in the fridge to prevent them opening further.

Set up took quite a time but was worth it.

I called this                                 

 

                                                                     The Power of Less

Life While You Wait


I came across this wonderful poem and thought I would like to share it with you.



                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTwrTtqZC1s


                                                                                                           Enjoy

The Grand Hotel

On Saturday I went with  a photography group to shoot  wonderful art deco style models. It was great fun and I have enjoyed fooling around with the photos ever since. I will keep posting as I complete them.

A variation on a theme

After the frost

                       Found on the ground

Mid Winter

We have just passed mid winter here in New Zealand and have had a couple of early morning frosts which have caught the early flowering magnolia in the garden. Roll on spring.

      Caught in the solstice frost 

Faded Glory

This was the title for this weeks picture in bloom photography Face Book Page.
I put this one up, took me a while to find the words.



                                 

At last we are getting some needed rain this morning. Pleased I managed to get out and
take some shots yesterday while the weather held. I have been searching for deer for a while now. I have got loads of these guys.

Transferring onto wood

Here is a first attempt at transferring with various solutions. I now feel I am getting somewhere slow as it may be. In my eagerness to have a go I forgot to sand down the wood but all that can be done later. There are patches where the transfer hasn't taken
and I am not sure why, maybe not enough solution. On this picture it doesn't matter too much as the subject is vintage.

  Picture taped to alignment board

 Final Picture

 Will keep you posted on the next attempt.

There is Autumn in the air

The mornings are so much cooler and so are the evenings but during the day
we are having temperatures of around 24deg. Long may it last.
Here is my first shot of Autumn I just love their warm rich colours.

I called this one

Autumnal Tears

 

 

 

 



Vintage Harvest

On a recent trip to Glenbrook Station Vintage Harvest Weekend
I was pleasantly surprised to see Garnet arrive on her bicycle just
in time to catch her train.

Another one on the beach

Sunday Stroll

Urititi Beach Walking with the Lamas

North of Waipu Beach with Steampunk Whangarei Krakens Lair

Amazing weather for the walk along this beautiful pristine beach with long stretches of
golden sand.

 

 

 

 

A Touch of Autumn

This morning when doing the dog walk I detected a touch of autumn in the air.
Somewhat cooler and the mornings are now getting darker. Though the temperatures
are still up in the day.
I saw this little guy on the way it looked so delicate.

 

 





Just made some Banana loaf Paleo style so good thought I would share the recipe.

 

Result

 

 

          Help yourself !

Beautiful but naughty

These beautiful rainbow lorikeets are feasting on the apples in the garden.
Trying to get them picked before they have all been eaten ! Such a beautiful bird.

 

 

Spent an evening shooting in the cemetery with models here is another in this series

 

 

I called this Seeking Sanctuary

 

What is she thinking ?

Godwits over Miranda   Feb 2015



Thought I would print  this picture onto tissue paper and then place onto a wood block using wax for a more ethereal look.

 

 

 

Final picture encased in wax

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Godwits at Miranda

The incredible godwit migration

Date: 13 June 2014
By: Bruce McKinlay | Technical Advisor, Ecosystems and Species

A male godwit showing how fat they are before migrating to China

Godwits spend the Austral summer in New Zealand and Australia. Every September about 80,000 of them will fly back to New Zealand.
A recent report revealed that a number of bar-tailed godwits have been recaptured more than 18 years since they were banded - this is quite an incredible feat!
The implication of travelling each year from the Southern Hemisphere to the Yellow Sea, then to Alaska for breeding and then back (over 20 times!) is mind boggling stuff.
Especially for a bird that weights a maximum of 400g for males, and up to 600g for females.
Even more impressive is the report of a red knot, which was last seen in 2012, more than 22 years after it was banded.
That's a 100 g bird travelling from New Zealand to Siberia each year for 22 years. That is a serious amount of Airpoints dollars (or in this case polycheate worms).


I went down to Miranda foreshore a couple of weeks ago to shoot the godwits before they took off on their annual migration to Alaska amazing site. I am still playing around with the shots I took.








 

Day Trip     round Manakau Harbour and the peninsular      

Stunning landscapes with rolling hills marking this  beautiful area with a few surprises along the way. This was one of them.

                     This is Kohekohe Presbyterian Church  1886 - 1976

Summertime

It's been quite some time since I wrote anything on the blog no excuses of course.
The weather here in Auckland has been above average and I have been pleased to used the cooler on the heat pump.
I was very busy prior to Christmas and even more so after with the arrival of family to stay from the South Island. So there has been many good trips out and about. picnics and barbeques.
Since then I have been struggling to put together a web site and prepare one, it is proving to be very slow but now the time has come to knuckle down and get it completed as far as I can.
Here are some of summer snaps... more to come .

 

    Summer on a beach North Auckland

 

This one was taken at sunrise on my iPhone at Torbay beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another early morning shot with my iPhone

 on Torbay beach walking the dog