Elephants are awesome

Today I photographed a march from Civic Square to Parliament seeking an end to the ivory trade.  When asked to be the official photographer for this event I jumped at the chance.  It was a 'peaceful' but noisy march through the streets of Wellington during the Friday lunch period.  At the end of the march the Hon. Dr Nick Smith heard the pleas of group and received a collage from pre-school children with a simple message 'don't let elephants only exist in our imagination'. Elephants are being killed at the rate of 1 every 15 minutes for their ivory... at this rate there will be none in the wild by 2025.

Here's a link to the information and an opportunity to sign the petition. http://www.iworry.org/

Seascape

I had an early start yesterday and took a few photos where the North Island meets Cook Strait.  There didn't seem to be a particularly large swell but still managed to get a few shots of breaking waves.

The top image is near the airport and the one on the left is at the Wahine Memorial Park.  The rocks are really jagged... not the sort of place to try and get ashore during a storm!

Grab and go?

OK - so don't judge me by the photo... it was taken in the office using my iPhone.  However, there has been quite a bit of talk around the Department of Internal Affairs about grab and go bags (yes, that's the job that pays the bills).  Grab and go bags... what to have, what about shoes, will there be a big quake etc.  So, here is what I have (FYI, I'm the Manager Development at the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management).

This stuff is mostly under my desk (some of the food is in my cupboard and is part of the lunch supply - which I keep topped up now and this helps with rotation too).  The only thing missing from the shot is my hard hat but as you can see, comfortable shoes, shorts, socks, jocks (hidden under the t-shirt), overalls, wet weather gear, gloves, torch, radio, panadol, first aid, dust mask, ear plugs, dehydrated towels, water (both the sipper and water container are full), toilet paper, nut bars (yum), light stick, protective glasses, whistle, chocolate (even yummier), big bag and back pack plus other useful bits and bobs.

I don't hump this stuff around with me (that would be paranoia to the extreme).  We have an emergency plan and we know what we're going to do.  It certainly helps if you've thought about it beforehand and you'll feel happier too knowing that you and your family are prepared.  Now that we've had a reminder, there are no excuses.

If we have a shake, make sure you're safe... drop, cover, hold!

Life on the street

It's been a while since my last post however I've been out and about taking photos in Wellington for the last assignment in my paper (finished this paper now).  The images needed to be connected in some way, so I chose street performers.  We have a few regulars in Wellington which is great.  I was lucky that the Jazz Festival coincided with this assignment.  We had to submit 10 images so here are a couple of examples.

I love the reflections in this shot... it was a happy accident but made me try for it with some of the other images I captured.

This is a Wellington Train Station regular... makes a living selling his CDs and playing on the street.

One of the things images can't bring to life are the sounds.  This guy was great... and nice to catch a mum teaching her child about giving.

Often we try and avoid a cluttered shot, but I liked this one.  Really busy even though there's only one guy in the shot.  Cuba Mall was really really busy so it was a miracle that I managed to get this one.

Not all flies buzz

This week we had to get a close-up shot of a fly... are you kidding me... at this time of year.

I hunted for flies while we were cleaning up in Palmy.  Found one that was completely desiccated (and really ugly).  To be honest it wasn't a pretty shot.  I did the housework yesterday partly in the hope of finding something lurking... nothing.

Plan B - a fishing fly.  I could picture the nice colours reflecting in the sun against a black background.  We were going to visit a few open homes in Lower Hutt today so thought I'd go to Hunting and Fishing.  Got their address off the website and was good to go.  Nope, building demolished and a block of flats going up.

Plan C - the fly of my new jeans.  Fortunately I'd prepared this one on Saturday (contingency planning - who knew it would come in handy?)

Think the black and white gives it a bit of grittiness.  Anyway, job done and now on to the next assignment.  This time using film... wow!

A sense of place...

This weeks assignment was to take some shots that provide a sense of place without taking a big wide angle... it needed to be in the detail.


 These two shots were take at Chaffers Marina, near the boat lift.  I think they portray the dreary weather and the marine environment well enough and black and white just adds to that.










Quite like the poetry in the walkway too... a real reflection of Wellington.  I think I'm going to enjoy photography in the capital.

Painting with light

Things are starting to settle down here in the capital and we've had a few more changes than anticipated... a flash new laptop (yippee) and we've traded in the Aurion for something that can squeeze through the Wellington traffic a little easier.  We opted for a VW Jetta - quite zippy!

This morning I dropped friends to the airport at some ungodly hour and had decided to do my 'painting with light' assignment after that.  I'd already planned out in my head what to do so it was reasonably straightforward.  I think you can tell from the shot what painting with light is all about.  I reckon it's pretty cool how I don't show up in the shot even though I was waving the torch around and turning it off and on at the appropriate times.

For those of you who are a into this stuff, I used my 50mm prime on bulb setting for a 34s exposure at f/22, ISO 100.  I must admit it took a few attempts for my brain to get the 'e' round the right way.