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  • View From Above

    image

    Ive been meaning to try out the android web posting on wordpress for some time now, so decided to share a mobile snap I caught a few weeks ago during work. Taken from the 27th floor from one of the buildings on Aucklands waterfront, it was a beautuful sunny day. Unfortunately being there early morning the glare from the sun didnt allow an angle where my reflection could not be seen, but not to worry. Everything was so small looking down upon the city. Perspective changes everything!
    Taken on ghe samsung galaxy II.

  • Lion Rock

    After taking work home, I only had time for an archive hunt again today, ‘Lion Rock’. Located at Piha, which is a west coast surf beach about 40km from Auckland’s central city area. Although this shot is of the back of the ‘lion’ and erosion has taken its toll, from the side one with imagination can make out a lion sitting and watching over the ocean. As a child I recall being scared to death as dad egged me on to climb to the top. Its since been fenced off halfway up and people can no longer go to the top, so I’m glad he made me back in the day. I recall the cold morning I got up and left to get this shot at about 5am on my day off. Looking to get it at sunrise, I was happy to also have the moody clouds in the background. Shot on my Sony A230 with a 20mm focal length, I later converted to B&W in photoshop and brought the contrast out a bit in the clouds.

  • The Shortest River

    One from the archives today, we have ‘The Shortest River’. Located in Gisborne, on the East Coast of the North Island in New Zealand, the Turanganui river is said to be the shortest river in the Southern Hemisphere. At a puny 900m (.56 miles) long, it cant be far off. My photo must account for almost 1/3 of the river! Length aside, this area of New Zealand is also famous for being the first landing spot of Captain Cook – the first European/British explorer to circumnavigate New Zealand.

    Captured on the little Fuji j15, I cropped, pushed saturation and added a cross processed filter all in Gimp. The saturated colors reflect my memory of Gisborne when I visited during the summer time about a year and a half ago.

  • Looking up the Pine Tree

     

    After helping some friends moving house furniture today we went for a quick stroll down at their local coastal bush area – Hilders Park. Although a very small walk in itself, it has some beautiful views out across the top of the Waitemata Harbour, great for a small picnic stop in summer I would say. Walking back up to the car I took this shot looking up the steep path to a pine tree. Although not captured amazingly, I love how the light diffuses in the leaves of trees, and the glow they appear to emit as it tries to shine through.

  • Bridge by Night

    Last night whilst waiting to meet friends for dinner, I took a stroll down by the waterfront in town. After last weeks long exposure success with the Ricoh, I wanted to give it another go. Auckland Harbour Bridge was built in the 1950’s and opened in 1959. By 1969 it was deemed to small already (someones bad forward planning) and we had to add two extra lanes on each side of the bridge – the “Nippon Clipons” – named due to Japan getting the contract to make them. In the 1990’s we added a center barrier, due to a high number of fatal head on collisions. Unsurprisingly, since the clipons were added, traffic flow has grown immensely. As with many bridges around the world, its an ongoing piece of maintenance to keep in critical day to day use for 170.000+ motorists each day.

    Captured on the GRD IV, with an exposure of  60 seconds at 100asa / f7. Aspect cropped a little in post using Gimp, and contrast bumped up one notch.