Twospined spider

The idea was to visit the gardens to see what they'd planted under their hibiscus.  We've an area that we've just started to plant and thought hibiscus could be good, but what to plant with them?  Where better to get ideas than Auckland's Botanic Gardens?

Armed withe camera and 50mm lens off we set.  Close by the carpark we noticed a rather strange "growth" on a leaf.  The growth turned out to be a Twospined Spider.  Apparently, these spiders arrived in New Zealand from their native Australia about 30 or so years ago.  No one seems to know how they got here, but they seem like they're here to stay.  The female is the most colourful of the two genders and also has the ability to change colour.

Not being sure what was sitting under the leaf we decided to give it a prod with a stick.  The spider slowly lifted its body to reveal its legs and then stood up, turned so we could see its rather strange body shape, then sat down again just where it had been before the prod.  Check here for a triptych of the spider.

Very cute.  Amazing what you see when you carry a camera with you.

Oh, the hibiscus?  Well, it seems that they've planted all manner of plants with them.  Bromeliads, ferns, palms pretty well anything!

Trains are off!

Thought you'd take the train to Auckland?  Think again.  Until the 17th January no trains will enter Auckland via Remuera as the tracks have been removed.  As you can see from the image to the left, some of the rails have been lifted and placed on the platform.  Just like playing with a toy train set!

Quite amazing that you can lose one of the main rail routes into the largest city in the country whilst they lower the tracks in preparation for electrification of the network.  I suspect this disruption is just the start of many over the next year or so as preparations get under way for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Both lines have been lifted as you can see from the image below.

Walking home

Walking home, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

It was a lovely evening. I was sure there was going to be a sunset so headed to a place where I'd get good views. I was there ready, but the sky didn't seem to be doing anything worthwhile so I set off home. Walking down the hill the sky became quite dramatic, and I was now in the wrong place! Instead of atop the hill wit great views I was on the street surrounded by houses! The shot in this post is the best I could do at the time. Nine shot HDR processed in Photomatix Pro.

Next time, I'll wait for it to go dark before I leave my viewpoint :-)

Morning at Omana

Morning at Omana, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

Boxing Day in New Zealand; I still can't get used to having it warm and sunny at Christmas after years of being cold and wet back in the UK. I'm not complaining you understand, it's just that it doesn't really feel like Christmas to me.

A morning walk took us to one of South Auckland's beaches. The sun was quite harsh and very bright. As you can see from the shot above most of the colour seems to have been bleached out of the image. The images in the post are unprocessed ... just a bit of a crop.

It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful; I suspect a lot of people headed to the malls to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales. I have to say, I was delighted they did as the morning walk was quite lovely.  Heading along the coast past Maraetai we came to Duder's Beach from where we could see the Coromandel Penninsular in the distance and some cormorants drying their wings closer to shore.

I was a little concerned about the images so took several at 1 stop intervals to process in Photomatix Pro as HDR images. To have a squiz at a couple of these check here and here.  I quite like the flare in the second of these two images as it seems to point to the boy on the beach; almost a sci-fi type feel to things!  Let me know what you think.

Less is more?

Yellow Flower, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

I can recall in the days of Kodachrome there was no opportunity for the average photographer to make changes to the image after it had been shot. Everything happened in camera, and there wasn't an awful lot you could do there either. Composition, depth of field and shutter speed were pretty well all you had to play with and, of course, a choice of focal lens if you had an SLR.

Now we can make all manner of changes very easily. We can also take hundreds of shots without the hassle of changing films, labeling them appropriately and then processing them ... or in the case of Kodachrome, posting them and then waiting a week or more for the results to come back. I can recall taking shots in Jordan back in 1978 and not seeing my results until 1979! Now I can see them instantly on the camera's rear LCD.

So, what about going back to basics. Forget photo manipulation software and concentrate on getting it right when you press the shutter. I'm not saying never use the software, but just try to take an image or two with the expectation that the software won't be required.

With this in mind I wandered around my back yard. The image at the start of this post is a crop of the image below.

No post processing save for a crop, and I'm not sure the crop has benefitted the image if truth be told.  This second image plays on the use of a diagonal linking the two flowers and perhaps has more interest than the first that merely places the centre of the flower on an intersection of thirds.  The second image was what I saw in the camera (click on the image to see it a little larger).  What do you think? Perhaps leave a comment below.

Bottom Lake (6 am)

Bottom Lake (6 am), originally uploaded by nzcjs.

Take a shot at 6am. This is the challenge. Not sure for how long I'll be able to do this, or how frequently. The idea came from Paul Smart of Maxam Photography. As I'm usually up and about close to 6am I thought this'd be a breeze. Yeah, right!

Yesterday's attempt failed miserably as I was so tired and just couldn't leave the cosiness of my bed. Today, however, I faired a bit better.

I rose at 5.30am and set some bread cooking. I'd had an idea of capturing some joggers running through Totara Park, but after getting the bread going I was a tad late. The sun was already up, but not too bright and some street lights were still lit. Realising that I wasn't going to get the joggers at 6am I started to shoot anything on the way that looked vaguely interesting.  I was taken by the reflection of the street light on the wet road ... better get something before it get's too late and I miss 6am again!

Crossing the motorway it struck me that you may like to see Auckland's traffic at 6am on one of the country's main state highways leading into the country's largest conurbation. State highway one just south of Manukau City.  Trust me, it's not normally like this!  Perhaps the annual exodus from Auckland has started early this year as people depart for their holidays.

At last I reached the bottom lake at the Botanical Gardens and thought this could be the place for the first shot. The water was very still and the clouds looked like an HDR shot could work.   This is the image at the start of this post.  A five shot HDR processed with default settings in Photomatix Pro.  (I didn't have time to do anything else and it looked pretty good.  Problems at work meant I had to head off to the office).

After taking my five shots for the HDR image I was looking at the water and noticed a few insects causing the odd ripple. Then I started to get wet! Typical Paul D Smart! Jinxed by the British project with British weather!

I may try another 6am shot next week. Let me know what you think of the images in this post.

Oh, on the way home I noticed Santa, rather worse for wear.  Somewhat deflated you might say :-)

 Comments, if you have any, below ...

University Clock Tower

University Clock Tower, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

We made a trip in to Auckland City today and enjoyed some glorious sunny weather. Albert Park was a blaze of colour and quite a few folks seemed to be enjoying the summer weather. It's starting to warm up a bit now!

The image above is of the University Clock Tower taken from the top floor of the Library. Quite a lovely building and inside it's just as nice. You may remember this shot of the spiral staircases I took last year?

On the way home we managed to get to the top of Mount Wellington where we enjoyed some quite spectacular 360 degree views of Auckland and its surroundings.  Below is the view towards Panmure.