2022 in review

So the end of the year is upon us. I had thought this would be a particularly short post - thanks to two car accidents my car has been off the road for the better part of seven months waiting for bits. I often half jokingly refer to my car as the worlds most expensive camera accessory as I bought it specifically to let me get around the country and find interesting spots to photograph.

It is a good way to not only make interesting images but it also serves as a good impetus to get out and see the country. It is amazing how many interesting spots are local - simply often either passed by or in a section you just don’t often have a reason to visit. Which leads me to the first three images.

A letter box in the Akatarawa Valley.

Southern coast sunset looking at the South Island.

Wreck of the SS Paiaka.

All of these are chunks of Wellington that I either doesn’t visit too often or I pass by fairly frequently and don’t take the time to stay that often. Indeed the wreck of the Paiaka has been available to visit now for something like thirty five years now and I simply didn’t know it existed. It makes me wonder what else is tucked around the coastline that I need to find.

The Akatarawa one isn’t anything wildly flashy but I really like the image for the simplicity of it. It is just a semi-rural scene with people reusing a milk churn (I think it that is what it is) as a weather tight mailbox. It doesn’t hurt the red really pops against the lush green behind it. I don’t aim to create complicated pictures - indeed often I am looking to keep the image as simple as possible. Which leads to the next image…

A monarch butterfly.

It is a very simple shot but it was a fun challenge to get both the butterfly and the breeze to co-operate long enough to get the shot. The friend whose house I was photographing this outside was wondering what I was doing and the length of time it took. Still who doesn’t like a good image of a butterfly?

Moonlight over Lake Ferry.

Stars over the cliff face.

Milk Way and a Water Tank.

Here I go back to my general favorite image type - landscapes, often by night. I’ve written in a previous blog why astrophotography - or more accurately landscapes set in context against the scale of our galaxy visible above it has a special resonance for me. So I’ll often try to make it out to observe and photography special events like conjunctions or eclispes as two later photographs will demonstrate.

But it also means I am often out at the right time to see things in special light. Like this landmark on the Rimitaka Hills. (Yes the name has changed, it used to be spelt Remutaka). I was chasing meteors with the Aquarids display happening that night. And on the way back from that happened to be at this lookout point at the right time. This is part of the pleasure of photography - being open to the opportunities present as well as the images you had in mind when setting out.

Rimutaka Hill Crossing by dawn light.

Point Halswell by night.

Solace in the Wind through the Wellington sign on the waterfront.

All three images are a mix of planned and opportunity. Point Halswell being the most planned as I used filters to smooth the water a little but I took advantage of a passing car’s headlights to provide the primary lighting of the light. A good mix of intended and not. ‘Solace in the Wind’ through the yellow O was planned in as much I wanted to see what I could make of the sign - something that wasn’t the typical wide angle shot of the sign itself. It strikes me as possibly being a good record… er CD… er MP3 cover artwork.

The next shot was almost entirely planned. At the new Matariki holiday we had a good conjunction of four planets and the moon for the dawn sky of the holiday. This shot has Jupiter, Mars, the Moon, Venus and Mercury all arrayed across the sky. Such an image showing the structure of the solar system as well as being beautiful is always something to strive for in an image.

Matariki dawn sky with the Moon and four planets.

I then got a chance for a good roadtrip for three days or so down the West Coast of the South Island. This would be the last big trip of the year as the second car accident occurred right on the end of this trip (literally on the final drive home and fortunately a very minor accident). But it gave me a chance to see chunks of the country I haven’t see before like the next two images.

Wesport Municipal Chambers.

Nelson Rocks Road featuring one of the rocks.

Not only did both Gail and I get amazing weather for the middle of winter. But literally the next day a strong storm front hit the whole upper half of the South Island and many of the roads we had traveled literally the day before were rendered impassable. This trip was just fun where we had a variety of places planned to explore but we both were happy to meander a little and take what presented itself. The rocks were one happy surprise that way because we hadn’t planned to hit visit Nelson at all but found we had the time before the ferry sailing and as a result took the detour a bit further out of our way.

It speaks volumes that both of the images I picked from the trip were the happy happenstance ones and not the planned spots. Even though the planned ones turned out pretty well too But the next one was pretty planned.

A Blood Moon and stars over the Massey Memorial.

Getting a full lunar eclipse means I will try and do something different with it if the skies permit. Last time I did a close up of the various phases of the moon through the eclipse. So this time I wanted to pick a good local landmark and feature the red moon with it as well as the stars that become much more visible thanks to the much dimmer moon at the height of the eclipse. To combine that with a locally very famous landmark was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The other change for the year was I bought a small compact camera. A Canon G7 mk II which handily fits into the shoulder bag that I routinely carry. The shoulder bag has a compact umbrella, emergency raincoat, writing notes/pen and my ipad so is useful to have around most of the time. Now I end up having a camera as well for those unplanned moments where the light is just right or something else remarkable is happening. It has made the walk to the bus and work or home much more fun because now I can capture scenes around the city as the whim takes me - like the next shot.

Light and Shadow interplay.

This is another Wellington landmark which many people pass by every working day. But I don’t know how many actually pay attention to it. And having the compact camera with me meant I was there at the right time to appreciate the lovely soft light on it to get this shot.

The compact camera won’t replace my main camera. The lens is good but a little soft, it only has a 4x optical zoom and trying to focus on anything moving is an exercise in frustration most of the time as the auto-focus tracking isn’t great. But it is better than what my now older cellphone camera does. It captures a RAW format image (which you can do with a cellphone now but often they want to over-process the image by default) which lets most of the software tools I use for post processing work easily with the images.

It ends up being the camera I have with me for the unexpected day to day stuff. However it was my primary camera that caught the final image I’ll present here.

A sundog rainbow in the sky.

This I think caps off the year nicely. A completely unexpected event but so happy I got the chance to rush inside grab the camera and capture it. (Yes, I am a big sucker for a good rainbow.)

For a year where I thought I wouldn’t have much to show or talk about it has been pleasantly surprising going through the images and pulling out a representative set of strong images. The other thing I hope is demonstrated here is the continued variety of images. Yes I lean towards landscape as a format but I am still happy to try and see architectural or a bit more abstract detail too where I can. I am consciously trying to keep my photograph a bit flexible and see how it develops.

It has been an interesting year with mixed news. But I just can’t complain too much when I still got the chance to do and capture these things. Here is to 2023 being a year with less car issues and more amazing things to experience and capture.

Oh and hopefully an exhibition now Covid seems to have receded a bit.

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2023 in review

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Spring in Wellington