New Zealand South Island Masterclass Workshop 2016

In a couple of hours I will be making my way to the South Island of New Zealand in preparation for my 2016 Masterclass workshop. It has been a full year since I was last in New Zealand and I am very much looking forward to returning to this magical country. May is a wonderful time to be visiting and photographing in the South Island; the fall colours will be just about at their peak and the weather is usually quite stable with fresh crisp mornings and rosy pink light.

We are looking forward to photographing around the island including several planned aerial shoots over the spectacular Southern Alps. Aerial photography from helicopter with the doors removed is an incredible experience over these majestic mountains. This photograph from the 2015 Masterclass was taken just on sunrise near Mount cook. Temperatures were will into the sub zero range and the resulting wind chill without the doors meant it was more than a little chilly. The results though are worth all the pins and needles… NewZealand-3313 I am also looking forward to putting the new Canon EOS 1DX MKII cameras through their paces during this workshop. Over the last year I have been photographing with the Canon EOS 1DX and the EOS 5DSR 50 mega pixel camera. My experience with the 5DSR has been somewhat of a mixed bag and I have to say that on the whole I generally prefer the files from the original EOS 1DX (especially above the 5DSR’s base ISO of 100). Quite honestly, 50 mega pixels is just a whole lot more than I need for the vast majority of my photography and so I find myself reaching less and less for the 5DSR. The initial testing I have done with the new EOS 1DX MKII shows the files are considerably improved from the original 1DX; which in conjunction with the other improvements has me very excited about this new camera. I will have more to say about my thoughts on the new Canon EOS 1DX MKII in a future post as well as my thoughts on the current state of equipment in the industry.