Music in the Parks ...

Wonderful hat design at the park today!

A few folks grumble about the way Auckland Council performs, but the Music in the Parks initiative is something that I think is something quite special as well as something for which they should be congratulated.  During the summer months the council provides free concerts in its parks at which some web know New Zealand artists perform.  It's wonderful, and judging by the people at today's event on Onehunga, well liked and appreciated.

Today's event had Bella Kalolo supported by Funkommunity and was really very good indeed.  Such a relaxed atmosphere, easy parking, very family friendly and best of all, great music!  I'd not heard Funkommunity before but was quite impressed with their performance.  Perhaps checkout their website as there's options to hear their performances on there.  To be honest, I'd popped along to see Bella.  Such a gorgeous voice and quite an entertaining lady on stage too!  I'm still sorting through the shots of Bella and her band and will post those in a subsequent posting.  for now I'll leave you with a few of shots of Funkommunity.

Just a thought ...

I was curious, and somewhat intrigued really, but the way our behaviour changes.  When I was much younger, telephone conversations and letters were the way we would often communicate with people out of earshot.  Telephone calls weren't always the most cost effective way of communicating, however.  I can recall international calls costing significantly more than the old aerogrammes.  I also remember that on every holiday we took there'd be the ritual postcard writing session! I suppose these days it's as quick to post things on Facebook, G+ or your Blog ... and it's rather more personal as you took the shot.  Mind you, I still find we buy a few postcards when we visit places.  Often postcard images are taken at times that show the venue off to its best advantage.  Sometimes, however, it's difficult to obtain postcards of the place you're staying. Unless the town is a regular tourist destination the chances are there won't be a postcard for the place.  This makes me think of Frances Frith.  Frances Frith and his team were pioneering Victorian photographers who embarked on the colossal project to photograph as much of Great Britain as possible during the second half of the 19th century.  Many of these photographs remain and the Frances Frith Company is still selling prints of these images from a era long past.

Nathan Homestead, Manurewa, Auckland, New Zealand

I suppose I'd be curious to know if you buy postcards ... and if you do ... why?  Where I live, in South Auckland, there are some quite lovely scenes and locations, but hardly any postcards of this area.  Is this because nobody wants to buy them, or are the margins so small that the various postcard companies only supply the biggest selling images?

"Family" sculpture, Manukau, New Zealand

Perhaps people pass through South Auckland as fast as they can to get to the "famous" places in New Zealand?  If so, then I could well imagine little demand for postcards for any town not on the main tourist routes.  Maybe it's Flickr or Google Maps that people rely on to see "what's there"?  Somehow though, when I look at Mr. Frith's images I can't help feeling we'll be missing something in a few years time.

Wiri, Auckland, New Zealand

Mellons Bay

Mellons Bay Reserve, Howick, New Zealand

I couldn't decide whether to take my camera or not.  When going to the shops I never like to leave things in the car, and I often feel a bit self conscious when I'm doing some shopping with bags of camera gear in tow.  Problem was, if the shopping finished early I might miss a photo' op'.  In the end I took the D300 and a 12-24mm lens.  The shopping was quick - just the way I like it and I did have about 10 minutes spare time before I had to collect my son from school.  Great excuse to head down to Mellons Bay and see if there was anything worth shooting.

In some ways I was disappointed that I hadn't brought a longer lens as the light on Rangitoto was really quite lovely.  Rangitito is the green volcano you'll see in the distance.  The clouds were lovely and, to be honest, I could have stayed a lot longer if I wasn't required to collect my son.  Maybe next time I have to collect him I'll take a picnic and stay a little longer ;-)

I'll close this post with a few more images from my brief pause at Mellons Bay.

Onehunga Wharf

Spirit of Resolution, Onehunga Wharf, New Zealand

Friday evening usually has the "Spirit of Resolution" docked at the Onehunga Wharf.  Returning from the city in the evening and driving over the motorway bridge I can often see out of the corner of my eye interesting lights and activity as the ship is either loaded or unloaded with its cargo.  Always keen to stop and take some shots, but never with the time to stop and play.  That all changed this Friday.  The sunset looked interesting and we had a bit of spare time, so off we set to see what we could do!

The first shot in this post is a blend of five images shot at 1 stop intervals (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2) processed in Photomatix Pro.  I didn't want the HDR effect, but needed some help with the high contrasts.  The sky was quite bright, but there were deep shadows in the foreground.  There was also the problem of the boat moving on the water as well as the cranes working to relocate the ship's cargo.  I was reasonably happy with the shot, but really wanted a bit more saturation.  All efforts to date have resulted in a somewhat false looking shot, so I'll stick with the image you see above!

Spirit of Resolution, Onehunga Wharf, New Zealand

The second shot in this post is a closer shot of the rear of the boat.  I was quite intrigued with the lights, evening colours and reflections on the water.  This second shot is a single image.  This shot helps you appreciate the range of light levels.  Any suggestions on how to bring out the darks, push back the lights yet retain a reasonable level of contrasts and saturation would be most welcome.

Shot three is a landscape version of shot two from a similar viewpoint used for the first shot.  Difference now is time ... about 10 minutes!  I think I prefer this shot to  the first as it seems to have more interest to it.  Perhaps let me know which you prefer?

The last shot is a 15 second exposure of the motorway bridge from which I've observed this ship on a number of occasions.  I picked 15 seconds in an attempt to "flatten" the water and get a bit more emphasis on the motorway lights.  Not sure it's worked, but I'm sure you'll let me know.  Oh, if you click on the images you should get an enlarged version of the shot :-)

Spirit of Resolution at Onehunga Wharf

Highway 20 motorway bridge at Onehunga.

Victoria Park Tunnel

South entrance to the new Victoria Park tunnel, Auckland, New Zealand

It's open ... well, just to foot traffic today.  Motorists will have to wait a few more weeks before they're allowed to drive through the new tunnel.  Finished ahead of schedule by a good couple of months this new cut and cover tunnel should make life rather easier for those folk on the North Shore as they battle their way home after work.  I can't say I'm convinced it will have either a significant or long lasting benefit, but let's wait and see.

9.30am and the gates opened.  Close by Victoria Park are a couple of 'evacuation' points which hopefully will only be used for the maintenance crews to access the tunnel.  It was through these evacuation points that we gained access to the road beneath.  Several flights of stairs and then, there it was.  All three lanes of the north bound State Highway One. The lanes seemed a little narrow, but perhaps that was just my imagination?

On leaving the tunnel we were impressed by the new skate park. I took a couple of shots of the Maori carvings you can see in the park that I've included at the end of this post.

Welcome to the tunnel!  Clever use of lighting ensures your eyes have time to adjust to the darkness as you enter and the bright sunlight as you exit.  This shot was taken at the Northern end of the tunnel as the road approaches Westhaven Marina.

Access way underneath Victoria Park.  The road is off to the right behind the wall.   Fireproof access ways are provided every 25m in case anything untoward happens on the road.

Contrast between old and new?  Traditional Maori carving and the more modern Skytower in the background.

Old style formatting with a light vignette to accentuate the traditional nature of this carving.

Hillpark Fantail

Rain had been forecast for today and I was keen to get out for a walk before outdoor activities were rained off.  I took my 18-200mm lens and headed off to town.  The local newspaper had published a few old photographs of the area from many years ago.  This led me to think about the type of photographs I could take that would give people an idea of what Manurewa looked like in 2011.  I'd decided I'd get a few shots of the local shops, the main street, perhaps the railway and bus stations.  Well, none of this happened!  Instead of taking shots in the local town, I ended up taking a few shots of a Fantail in small reserve in Hillpark.

Light levels were really quite low.  It was overcast as rain was expected and I was under lots of trees.  As such the ISO was way up at ISO3200, aperture was f5.6 and shutter speed were 1/100sec or less.  The little Fantail was very active, hardly ever sat still, and was a challenge to capture in such low light levels.  My 18-200mm lens isn't the best performer at 200mm and f5.6, but you perhaps get the idea of the bird.

The Fantails often come quite close to you and that was quite fortunate.  It meant I didn't really have to crop the images to get an reasonably sized bird in the shot.  Nevertheless, you may notice the shots aren't as sharp as they could be.  It would be good to compare how a faster 200mm lens would have performed under the same conditions, but until I get a sponsor that's not going to happen in a hurry!  I suspect with an aperture of f2.8 I may have realised a more pleasant bokeh and reduced the noise levels.  It would be nice to compare, just to see if the extra money for a fast lens really makes that much difference.

Needless to say, the expected rain arrived and I never managed the shots in the town.  Perhaps that will happen on another day.  For now though I'll leave you with the couple more shots of the Fantail.

Biker at the beach

Biker at the beach, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

I heard it first and what a glorious noise it made as it arrived at the beach. It gleamed; so highly polished and its colours were all shades of silver and grey. A wonderful machine.

The image was taken some time ago, but I wasn't impressed. I decided a desaturated look might give a nice effect, but first I processed the image in Photomatix Pro from -4, -2, 0 and +2 EV images taken from the original. Back in Lightroom I then desaturated the image and cropped it slightly to arrive at what you see here.
To see the image a little larger, and on white click here.
Comments, as always, are most welcome. That's the only way I'll learn, right?

A spot of fishing

A spot of fishing, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

This images was taken the best part of a year ago and I have to say I was quite pleased with my efforts at the time. The unfortunate thing was that there didn't seem to be much "kick" in the image and it was a truely gorgeous day. Here's the original shot.

I alway try to shoot raw (interesting article here btw) and so I thought I'd try a bit of HDR on the image. The colours may seem a bit vivid, but the sea was quite stunning on the day and the hillside opposite seems more as my memory remembers it.

Three shots created from the original in Lightroom with EV values -2. 0 and +2. These were then processed in Photomatix Pro and the result is as you see.

An improvement? Perhaps. You be the judge :-)

One Tree Hill HDR Sunset

One Tree Hill HDR Sunset, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

I'd wanted to get to the top of Mount Wellington, but time wasn't on my side. All the way to Panmure the sky looked glorious, but there was nowhere to stop. I was convinced that atop Mount Wellington I'd get spectacular views of the sun setting and the clouds. It wasn't to be.

Close to Sacred Heart College though I could stop and get a shot or two. The sun's rays were quite special and this 9 shot HDR image processed in Photomatix Pro highlights them reasonably well. Again, typically, I forgot the tripod ... desperate to travel light, but also plain late leaving home! Thankfully I could rest the camera on the trig point so the images line up pretty well.

More of my HDR shots are here, and if you want to know more about HDR I'd suggest you have a squiz here.

Wenderholm

Wenderholm, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

North of Auckland is a lovely place called Wenderholm. Earlier this year we were fortunate to enjoy some lovely weather as we visited the park. There's bush walks, beach walks and estuary walks. Depending on the time of year it can be pleasantly peaceful or boisterously busy. When we went it was peaceful.


The camera was new, and I took many shots , a few of which I've saved here. Looking back at the images I couldn't help feeling with a bit of a tweak some of my less favourite shots could be improved with a bit of hdr. This particular shot started off like this.
I think you'll agree has detail lacking in the clouds. Surprising to me was that detail had not been lost in what appear to be blown out highlights. Perhaps that's the advantage of shooting RAW? You may also notice extra detail and texture in the sand (or mud).
So, this shot lives another day. Perhaps it will end up in the bin shortly, but for now I'm intrigued by the detail hidden in those clouds in the original image.

Comments anyone?

HDR ponga

HDR ponga, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

Pretty heavy crop of some ponga leaves illuminated by the setting sun in an otherwise shady part of Auckland's Botanical Gardens. Using Lightroom I made a few other images at -3, -2, -1 and 0 EV and then combined these in Photomatix Pro to get the image you see. Not really sure what I think of this one.
Do you like it, or have any suggestions for improvement?

Early morning at Pohara

Early morning at Pohara, originally uploaded by nzcjs.

Quite interesting that what appear to be rather bland shots can, with a bit of HDR, become quite engaging. This particular image had no drama in it at all until a -2, 0 +2 EV set was processed via Photomatix Pro. The clouds have come out quite nicely I think. Perhaps a bit dark, perhaps not? Maybe you have an opinion?