Te Uku Wind Farm

So what do you do when your client cancels your shoot at the very last minute... apart from gnash your teeth and jump up and down a bit? Why you go on a 350km round trip to see a wind farm of course! It all made perfect sense as the sun beat down on me and I scratched my head. Did I mention it was 1 oclock in the afternoon that this master plan occurred to me?

On my last few trips south from Auckland I had noticed some wind turbines sitting high on a ridge right on the horizon. So a quick bit of googling (is that even a word?) found that what I had seen was the Te Uku wind farm. Turns out it was only finished in 2011 and has the tallest turbines in the country, 130m high with 49m blades that can do up to 17 revolutions a minute! Imagine that, I'm surprised the hills don't take off! My wife is giving me the 'you are such a nerd look' for remembering all those useless facts, hey it's a boy thing!

It turns out opinions are quite divided on wind farms, but I think they are rather beautiful to look at, not to mention being a great renewable energy resource. And yes I would be quite happy to have them in my back yard, although i'm not sure where I would put my daughters trampoline! Since Te Uku is in an area that I don't often visit, it made it perfect for my plan. I have a client who I often shoot scenic road shots for and 'the road less travelled' usually provides the best photo opportunities as well as location diversity.

So down to the Waikato I drove, scouting out suitable locations along the way. Took a break in Raglan for a cuppa and to wait for the light to come right. As most Kiwis will tell you, the beaches around Raglan are pretty stunning in their own right and definitely subject matter for another trip. Unfortunately on this occasion there was a ripping onshore wind that was sand blasting everything in it's path. Great for exfoliating but absolutely not good for camera gear!

Heading back along SH23 to Te Uku around 7ish, I tried out a few of the vantage points I had seen and did my usual dodging cars dance. I can't resist a shot from low down in the middle of the road, but wouldn't recommend the health benefits of this! In the end I found I couldn't get as close to the wind farm as I would have liked, but did manage to get some images I was happy with at the end of the day. Mission accomplished. Finally rolled into my garage a little before midnight and the thought did cross my mind that next time I might just leave a little earlier... maybe!

Save a horse...ride a cowboy

...as the song goes. Finally thawed out from my 'cool store' experience and this week it was time to get hot and sweaty at the Whangarei Rodeo. If you've never been to one, you're missing out. They're dusty, gritty, sweaty, exciting and real! It's a cross section of New Zealanders that us townies don't often get to meet and a great opportunity for photography.

It's not until you get up close to bulls weighing nearly a ton that you appreciate how much guts these guys have, then there's leaping off horses at full gallop and wrestling steers to the ground! Not for the faint hearted and I do wish I could have some of what they had for breakfast. Having a zoom stuck through the fence, you sometimes forget that the large livestock/cowboy filling the frame and getting closer by the millisecond, isn't actually about to crush you... though the snigger of the people who have seen you leap backwards might!

Rather than a bull ride or bareback shot, I chose this photo because I love the way the steer and rider are like a mirror image of each other. I guess in this game, you gotta be at one with the animals. Check out some more of my rodeo images on my site.

The tax man breathes a sigh of relief

... as the phone starts to ring earlier than normal this year.  Maybe the less than seasonal weather has encouraged people back to work earlier - who knows!  Anyway, the accountant and the tax man will certainly be happy about it.
  

This week I layered on all my thermals and headed off to the Antarctic to shoot some amazing ice-scapes... err in my dreams! The thermals part is true, but this assignment was to photograph a collection of organic, gluten free, natural food products in a 'cool store' for a brochure. It's amazing how cold 12C degrees feels when it's 24C outside! The range of products was quite staggering and it's incredible how time consuming styling product ranges of 20-30 items can be! It was a good shoot, with great people, I'd like to thank Dave and Laina for all their help and especially the huge goody box they sent me home with!


...but still, I couldn't help dreaming about those ice-scapes!

It's Alive!

Firstly a very happy 2012 to all! After much procrastination, my photography blog finally comes to life! At this time of year, in my beautiful part of the world, everything closes down for a month, while everyone takes their annual leave over the (usually) long hot summer. Its enough to make a self-employed photographer like me break into a cold sweat as all his clients drive off into the sunset with a cheery wave and everything goes eerily quiet.

However every cloud has a silver lining and mine comes in the form of finally getting the time to get this blog started and also building a new website that does something more than just show pretty pictures! The plan is to have the site going live next month and finally be able to offer a stock library. I can't tell you how long I have been wanting to get that going!

So I'll be posting images on a weekly basis with shots from various shoots, trips and adventures along the way, as well as sharing some of the photography news I have come across during that week. Hopefully there will be enough of interest to have you visit again and join in the discussions.

I thought I would start the year by showing you my favourite image I took last year. I have been really enjoying experimenting with long exposures and neutral density filters and this was one shot where everything came together perfectly at the beautiful Tawharanui Regional Park. Standing on the rocky headland I was able to get right along side the surfers as they picked up the waves and pan along with them. It created a whole lot of movement which I really liked and after a few attempts (er... quite a few actually) I nailed this shot. For me it's the fact that the water is so fluid, excuse the pun, rather than having the water frozen into a static object. 

Thanks for dropping by, see you next time.