Category: Photographs

Photographs

New Zealand – The North Western Arch

Posted in Landscape Photographs, New Zealand, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized2 Comments

One of my favourite places in New Zealand is the small village of Kaikoura on the East Coast of the South Island. This tranquil, peaceful fishing village has simply the most stunning and spectacular sunrises I have ever experienced. Set against the Southern Alps Kaikoura offers not only amazing opportunities for landscape photography, but also Sperm whale, Sea Lion and Dolphin photography; all of which are quite accessible by local charter.  If you have ever seen the 1983 Scottish film Local Hero and can remember the small fishing village in which it is set, then you have a pretty good idea of what Kaikoura is like (at least that is the feeling and memory I have from the place).

This photograph was taken seconds before sunrise and includes the Southern Alps in the background with the amazing North Western Arch cloud formation brilliantly lit with dawn colour – that colour is real! Lenticular clouds, formed by high winds are just hovering over the distant peaks. In a large print you can clearly see the spindrift coming off the tops of the peaks and the ocean spray on the horizon.

New Zealand – Lenticular Clouds over the Remarkables

Posted in Landscape Photographs, New Zealand, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized1 Comment

During my two weeks in the South Island of New Zealand last year I had several opportunities to photograph The Remarkables on the foreshore of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. This is a wonderful location for landscape photography – not to mention convenient. One can simply wander down from one of the many restaurants before or after dinner, set up, get the shot and then wander back for an evening night cap – pretty civilised stuff and a pleasant change from hours of driving and hiking.

The Remarkables make a stunning back drop to the view across the Lake and the whole scene comes alive with evening light and soft cloud. I was fortunate to get one really good sunset with some lovely soft lenticular clouds to offset the jagged peaks of the Remarkables themselves. Photographed with the Canon EOS 1DS MKIII and 24mm F1.4L MKII at F11 ISO 100 with a 3 stop hard graduated neutral density filter exposure time was still only a quarter of a second (the setting sun is just out of frame on the left). This was pretty much F11 and be there.

Endangered Species Day in the USA

Posted in News and Updates, Uncategorized, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

Today is endangered species day in the USA (pity Australia isn’t so pro-active – Are you listening Peter Garrett?). Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people young and old to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect all disappearing wildlife. Protecting America’s wildlife and plants today is a legacy we can leave to our children and grandchildren, so that all Americans and visitors can experience the rich variety of native species that help to define the United States. See http://www.stopextinction.org/ for more information.

Wildlife Portraits Project – Mandrill

Posted in News and Updates, Photographs, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs1 Comment

The fifth photograph in my Wildlife Portraits Project  is of a juvenile Mandrill taken at the Melbourne Zoo. This was shot with the Canon 1DSMK3 and 300mm F2.8L IS lens wide open at ISO800 through a pane of glass on a very overcast day (with very low light levels).  The 1DSMK3 and the 300mm F2.L IS is an amazing camera/lens combination. Even wide open this lens is about as sharp as one could want on the full frame 21.1 mega pixel 1DSMK3. In this instance, the camera has nailed focus right on the eyes and provided a silky smooth bokeh to separate and isolate the Mandrill from his surroundings. I really like this photograph for the ‘madness’ in this critters eyes and that ‘just groomed’ look to his hair. The small twig he is chewing on adds a little more interest to the photograph than if he had just been sitting there and completes the composition to my eye.

Wildlife Portraits Project – Peacock

Posted in News and Updates, Photographs, Uncategorized, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

This fourth photograph in my Wildlife Portraits project was an offhand opportunity grab shot I took a couple of years ago now. I had gone to Montsalvat with my son Julian to shoot some portraits in the grounds and amongst the buildings when this resident Peacock decided to put on a show for some of the nearby females. Fortunately, I had a suitable lens on the camera and was able to rip off a few shots before he lost interest – this one being my favourite.