Oceania Storm CD Release Party

Polynesian dance at the CD launch party.

What a great CD launch party!  Oceania Storm launched it's latest CD last night in Mangere.  A few other acts took to the stage in support of Oceania Storm and it was a wonderful evening of Polynesian entertainment.  There were dancers and musicians from all around the Pacific and I had a wonderful time.

Oceania Storm were the main act though and the band was in great form.    Strings were supplied by members of Auckland's Philharmonic Orchestra and I'm sure I recognised some of the brass section from other bands!  All up the band comprised sixteen musicians and three vocalists and they sounded very good indeed.  Good work by the guys on the sound desk.

Lighting was pretty good.  Way better than the last time I shot the band at the Bellbird in Manurewa!  The only problem now was the smoke machine gave a somewhat hazy and lack lustre appearance to a number of my shots, but I suppose that just adds to the atmosphere?

I'll close this post with a few shots of the Oceania Storm band members form the night.  The shots you see here are just a small selection of the ones taken and there's quite a few performers I haven't added to this post. If you think I may have some shots of you you'd like to see, please email me as I'm sure we can sort something out for you.

The New Bridge!

After feeling pretty rough over the past few days with a chest infection I was delighted to get out into the sunshine today and visit the new motorway bridge over the Manukau Harbour.  This new bridge, very similar to the previous version, has been added to increase the number of traffic lanes crossing the harbour.  The old bridge will cater for all the north bound traffic and the new bridge will look after the southbound traffic.  Apparently, this new bridge has only taken two years to complete, whereas the previous version took eight.  Obviously practice makes perfect.

Lots of people came to walk over the bridge and enjoy the views over the harbour ... even the Prime Minister, John Key, came along with his scissors to cut the ribbon signifying the opening of the bridge.

It's not all finished yet and there's a little bit of landscaping to complete, but the overall impression is very impressive.

I took a wide angle lens, really to get as much of the view as possible, and will complete this post with a few views taken close to the bridge.