New Glimpse Website

This week has been all about my website. I've had the same one kicking around for a couple of years and it was due for a bit of a revamp. In fact far more than that, it needed to be made into something functional rather than just pretty pictures. This was music to my wife's ears, as she is involved with the dark arts of SEO and has been telling me this for years! But when you are so focused on everyday work, it's hard to think about opening a new can of worms.

This week, said worms were released with vigour! I wanted way more control over this site, with the ability to update it and include a stock library. Lately I have had a lot of requests for stock images to be used on brochure covers, ads, posters etc. Happily I usually have something that fits the bill, particularly as I can't pass up a great landscape when I see one!

So after much planning, the first batch of content has gone live with more following hot on it's heels! The URL remains the same www.glimpse.co.nz so come and have a look round.

I'm very excited that from here on in, It will be an ever growing, evolving entity that will show you something new every time you visit... no pressure!

Sandwiches and surprises

I've had a pretty good look around New Zealand in the last 15 years since I settled here, but it never fails to amaze me how many incredible new places there are to discover, even in areas you think you already know really well. 

On this occasion it was the Karangahake Gorge, near Waihi. I've driven through it many many times and even cycled the trail that runs along the river and through the old mining tunnels. So when a friend wanted to do some walks in the gorge for her birthday I thought why not, a nice day out, but I didn't really expect any surprises. Oh how wrong I was! So we had a few enjoyable hours wandering the trails, tripping over in the old mining tunnels (note to self, bring torch that works next time) and bouncing the swing bridge making certain people rather nervous! Time for lunch and Owharoa Falls was decided on as our picnic destination. 

I have no idea why I would not have visited them before, they were stunning. Not massively tall or wide, just a perfect fan shape. So I happened to have, ahem, a bit of photography gear with me... just the one camera body and one or two, ok maybe three lenses and a couple of flashes... and a tripod and a few filters! You know travelling light (excuse the pun). All justified I feel by the image I managed to capture, shown above. A long exposure made possible with a few filters and a bit of flash to open up the shadows.

So the moral of the story is to keep an open mind as there is always something new to discover, no matter how well you think you know somewhere. That and pack light and let the missus carry your sandwhiches! Cucumber sandwich anyone?

Getting personal

No travels around the country this week... sadly. I had some electronic gadgets to shoot which required a fair amount of retouching due to being in less than pristine condition! Sometimes I wish my lenses weren't quite so sharp! Another shoot with some young lawyers who were very friendly and agreeable, which helped no amount as it was a rather fast paced experience, lots of thinking on my feet! A couple of small shoots in retail environments rounded the week out for me.

Unfortunately as with so many shoots, I can't post images until the clients have themselves used them. I will endeavour to try and take a few more behind the scenes pics when the pace allows. The clients wouldn't be too impressed with sneak previews on my blog methinks!

I do however have a sneak preview of the first stage of an image I took for a personal project. One of the things you hear from successful photographers time and time again is the importance of personal work to nourish your portfolio. Sound advice indeed! Believe it or not it's not all super models and exotic locations in a working week (see above), well not in my world anyway! So I am determined this year to make time and put some ideas into action, further procrastination will not be tolerated! First off the bat involves a wonderful retired couple Glyn and David and their classic car. The image will be a composite and I am currently scouting out a suitable location to be the background of the image, oh and I need to wait for the next full moon... because I need a werewolf! Just kidding, it's the moon I'm after, although now I come to think of it a werewolf would be cool!

I will post updates as the image takes shape, now where's that silver bullet...

Pass me a weatherman

Last week's trip to the wind farm left me wanting more of that 'freedom of the road' feeling, so once the week's regular workload was cleared, the maps came out! New Plymouth was quickly decided upon as the destination that would give us a route along the road less traveled. A look at the Metservice (NZ weather) site told us that we were in for great sunny weather for the next five days -  happy days!

So my wife and daughter decided to come along for the ride and we were going to camp to add to the fun. Much packing ensued and once the kitchen sink was finally loaded, it was off to bed for a 6am start!

We awoke to rain... hmmm this wasn't meant to happen. A quick check of the weather site revealed that it was only going to be showers for a day and where we were headed was going to be fine

.....they lied!

After a 400km drive in the rain without a single photo opportunity we arrived at a very soggy New Plymouth. Now call me soft, but I'm just not interested in putting up tents in the rain, it's not my idea of fun at all. Plan B was decided on and we got ourselves a room at the Devon Hotel which I can highly recommend, really friendly helpful staff and great rates. My daughter gave the beds a top bounce-ability rating, she cleared the gap between them with ease and good air time!

It was just as well the room was nice as it proceeded to rain for the next two days and we never even got a glimpse of the 2700m Mount Taranaki, let alone get a shot of it!  I have to say I am no big fan of the weatherman at the best of times but this just took the biscuit, each day they promised better weather but none came. 

So I would like to propose a national 'kick-a-weatherman' day! I cannot think of another profession where you can consistently get your job wrong with no fear of losing it! C'mon you know I'm right!

Finally we gave up and headed for home although not until we had a good stroll along the coastal walkway to the Te Rewa Rewa bridge (the shot above) which was very cool indeed... even in the rain! At least the rain subsided for the journey home and I managed to get a few road shots along the way.

On the highest point of Mt Messenger, I jumped out to get a shot of the road tunnel and bumped into an amazing guy from Taiwan called Pin ( please excuse my spelling if you read this). He had just spent the last 80 days or so cycling from the top to the bottom of New Zealand and was on his way back up to Auckland to fly out the following week. I was so engrossed with his tales of the experience, it completely slipped my mind to ask for a snap of him! I kicked myself all the way to the tunnel, until I woke up to the fact I was standing the wrong side of the armco barrier with a 300m drop just behind my heels! Not a big fan of heights I have to admit.

Oh well lesson learned, never miss an opportunity and seize the moment!