whirinaki

Week 21 Product

Posted 24th June 2018 by robeanne

Week 21 Product: Imagine your image in a catalog or a magazine. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

I didn’t really get hooked into this one – I am not a technical photographer and really couldn’t be bothered to set something up. For me, if I can’t ‘see’ a photo, then it doesn’t get taken!

However, I did remember taking a photo in the sunshine on our first real campervan trip a few weeks ago. We had bought some really nice vodka the evening before we headed away and decided to take it with us.

We parked up in a tiny, remote campsite in the Whirinaki forest, called The Sanctuary Campsite, 5km down a very washed out metalled road. It was lunch time and since we were there for the night and didn’t have to drive anywhere, we decided to have an aperitif before lunch. I was sitting in the van as Nigel prepared it and when I looked down, the sun was casting shadows of the bottles and the glasses. It isn’t a technically good photo, nor is it even very well composed or framed but I like the clarity of colours and the light. In terms of it being an advertisement, it isn’t really any good either as you can’t see the full name of the distillery! But if you want to check out the Cardrona Distillery, it is well worth it!

clear glass bottle and two glasses with clear liquid in, castig shadows in the sunlight on a grey table

The only other ‘product’ type photo opportunity that jumped out at me was the Instagram images I create for Craft Hamilton – a craft beer bar in Hamilton, New Zealand. It is our local haunt and I enjoy creating whacky photos for them!

Here are a couple;

collage of photos showing beer being poured and the name of the bar "Craft" vertically on th left hand side of the image

the menu of a bar vertically on the right hand side, the name of a bar Craft" on the left hand side, the background is glasses on a bar and a full glass of beer

Week 13: Leading Lines

Posted 1st April 2018 by robeanne

Leading Lines: use lines to lead the viewer to your subject

I’m not sure that any of these except the swimmer meets the description above. But I like the lines that these photos have in them. The lines are really the subjects rather than leading the viewer to a subject.

What do you think?

Looking up to the sky from the base of a large kauri tree which splits into 3 separate trees. — Looking up; Kauri Trees

Lush NZ forest with tree ferns, low level ferns and tall tree. Two tall trees form a line vertically through the middle of the image. and the sun is shining through them at the top — Giants of the ngahere

panoramic shot of waterfall which shoots out from the right handside of the photo and lands before it hits a large boulder on left. surrounded by lush green vegetation, sunlight shines through fromthe back. — Water chute

Te Rewarewa bridge is an iconic white metal bridge in Taranaki. a white arch rising up from the bottom left of the image and then diminishing in the distance to meet the horizon mid centre. A ma is standing on the bridge and others are walking across it — Te Rewarewa bridge; Taranaki

Wide river with jetty and steps leading down to the water on the left. A swimmer stands on the post at the end ready to jump in the water. — Evening swimmer at the jetty

Town street. Modern mirrored building to the right with reflection of old colonial building in the mirrors. — Reflections

Town street. Old brick and stone clock tower to the left of image. Modern mirrored building to the right with reflection of old colonial building in the mirrors. — Mirrored building and clock tower

Week 12: Macro

Posted 1st April 2018 by robeanne

Oh, so many to choose from after a weekend away! I forgot to take my SLR in the rush and ‘busyness’ of packing up, so resorted to the ‘pro’ setting on my Samsung camera app which allows me to manual focus and change ISO etc. It is a bit tricky focusing as you basically need to move physically closer or further away from the subject. And steadying a light camera is not easy either. Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with the results.

We spent Easter weekend exploring some of the Whirinaki landscape. A new area for us made easier now that we have a campervan to pull over in and sleep anywhere! The podocarp forest (ngahere) is a stunning place and especially rich with berries and mushrooms now that Autumn is on its way. We were lucky too, with the weather. It is still warm and the sun provided excellent light through the trees.

Here are a few of my shots. Which do you like best?