Archive: ‘personal posts’



2011 rugby world cup fireworks

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

ok so… anyone who knows me knows i’m pretty much a beginner where sport is concerned. of course, i like it when our teams win; but i’m not usually interested in watching how it happened. but i made an exception yesterday for the RWC opening ceremony. from about 4pm i was watching it on the tv, and at 6pm we went to sit in traffic for an hour to get to Mt Victoria in Devonport, which is probably the best vantage point in the city for waterfront fireworks displays.

this was the same place that i shot the 2011 New Years display from. last night the smoke didn’t really disperse during the show which certainly made some interesting effects but it did block part of the end of the display from view. here’s a couple of pics… (full gallery on our facebook)

auckland event photographer

auckland event photographer

auckland event photographer

auckland event photographer

auckland event photographer

auckland event photographer

visit & like our facebook page to view the whole evening’s display :)

working with perspective… 28 may ’11

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

no – this isn’t a post about composition techniques!

two weeks ago, i had my busiest week, professionally and personally combined, since i started running my company. on top of all the normal stuff, i had four shoots in a row: one each day from monday to thursday; i went out three nights and one morning to various social events & meetings; one of my kids went on a school camp and the other had a milestone birthday; and my car chose THAT WEEK to play up, requiring daily visits to the mechanic and last-minute scrambling to borrow a loaner.

as the week wore on (in other words, by monday afternoon LOL), i could feel my general sense of peace evaporating and even though outwardly i was still me, inside was Frank Costanza in the famous “SERENITY NOW!!!!” Seinfeld episode. moment by moment i was enjoying my clients, the photo shoots and the events; but overall i was “butter scraped over too much bread” (thank you Tolkien).

today, i was thinking. if it’s true that that day to day dramas won’t matter a year from now – or even a month from now – then why let it matter RIGHT NOW? life is much longer than this moment, therefore this moment is suddenly much less important.

“a small pebble, when held up to the eye, obscures all else and blurs the vision; whereas if it is cast to the ground it becomes an insignificant bump on the path.” perspective is one of the greatest wisdoms, i think. and the greatest challenge is to keep it in view continually.

at the beginning i said this wasn’t a post about composition… but really, it is. you need to be conscious of what your life is made up of. is it a collection of helpless responses to stress? or is it an overall positive calm, in spite of the squalls and storms?

here’s a photo from a walk in the rain with my camera last week:

auckland photographer

(SERENITY NOW!!!!) :)

life at 1/100th of a second… 14 apr ’11

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

“Photography is savouring life at 1/100th of a second”
-Marc Riboud

auckland lifestyle photographer

i am surrounded by people who often say to me: “how can you enjoy yourself at |insert place/event here| when you’re lugging that giant camera around?” or: “you’re not even really here, you’re watching everything through that tiny window”

so, finding a quote like the one above resonates with me. there are others out there who feel most like themselves while recording their world through a viewfinder, & to deprive us of it assuming that you are somehow relieving a burden is at best a misguided kindness… at worst an arrogance (oh dear, that’s a harsh word isn’t it).

photographer Chris Orwig says, in a recent guest blog post for Photoshop Insider:

“Photographers are an interesting bunch. …we discover that life’s small mysteries and moments can be magnified. Somehow we get more out of life with a camera in hand. When we take pictures, we see more clearly, we remember more deeply, and we live more fully… We are driven to create something that is one of a kind. We want to expresses our unique voice and vision. It is something we have to do. Taking pictures satisfies an internal thirst. It is an essential part of who we are.”

auckland lifestyle photographer

some people scorn this worldview, and feel pity for those so dependant on a little clicking box for enjoyment. but you can no more turn off the art in an artist than you can prevent water from wetting things. without a camera to hand, we are often even more distracted; mentally frustrated by the lost opportunities to capture & create.

so be tolerant of your “mad” photographer friends, and consider that the behaviour which you find so vexing today may well delight you in years to come, when your own memories of the day have grown hazy & faint! :)

(ps: i highly recommend visiting the link above for Chris’s guest post: it’s a fantastic read!)


subscribe  |  all site content © 2012 available light ltd  |   powered by WordPress  |  Blog Theme based on LJP & SLR Lounge

FACEBOOK
TWITTER