On the Tailings.

Here I am yesterday in the historic tailings near Alexandra. They are rubble left over from gold dredging. It's a dramatic place and I've been up there a few times, usually with the aim of taking a new photo, no luck so far.

On this occasion the trip was to see these trees. They were planted a long time ago and in their struggle to survive in this harsh environment some have developed a slight bonsai look. It was that look that I was interested in.

Thanks for the photo Haruna.

Kaka

While dining in a country hotel one evening recently, I noticed that
there were some stuffed animals in the rafters. Here is the underwing of a kaka.

Space Weather

Last weekend I went to Invercargill. One of the reasons I went was to move closer to making a photograph of these structures. I first saw them last year when I was living in Invercargill. Getting closer to these requires permission which I'm working on.

They are a high frequency radar system that tracks space weather. They are in an area where there are Aurora.

From the Road

Here is a view of some of the road frontage at Henderson House.

I have never lived amongst such rocks before, it's a remarkable experience for me.

More and more I appreciate the subtleties of this schist. This house is made from schist so it's possible to lie in bed and study it.

Here is a basement room. The stone was cut from the site.

Chinese Stonework

One of the most moving sites that I have seen since moving here is one on the Clutha called Doctors Point. It is quite a hike but I went there by boat. In many places on the site there is stonework made my Chinese goldminers. This path is an example.

One theory about the name Doctors Point is that it was called that not because a doctor lived there but because there was a saying amongst miners when they were going to the pub that they 'were going to the doctor'.

Gourd Study

On Sunday I bought some ornaments gourds. (see previous posting). This one looks to me as if it has possibilities. This is the best study of it that I have made so far but it is still a little soft in focus.

Cornucopia

Just south of here, on the banks of the Clutha, there is someone who grows giant pumpkins.
Last year's biggest was something like 206 kg. Here is one of his specimens, sitting on top of ornamental gourds that are for sale at 10 for $10.

Weather

On Saturday there were warnings out about wild weather in this region.
Some roads were closed by snow. Citizens were told that it was best to stay indoors by the fire. I decided that, with caution, I would drive to Invercargill.

It was exhilarating. Cleansing.

Schist

This area has very little topsoil, none in places. Much of the landscape is composed of ancient schist, usually with clearly visible sedimentary layers. Some of the seams in this rock are made of quartz hence the white striation.

This rock is in the grounds of Henderson House where I live.

The word schist is from a Greek word meaning 'to split'.

Winter Colour

It is a surprise to me, living in this chilly winter, to see how
vividly coloured berries can be. It's a shock to see them in this environment.

New Zealand School Journal

A few weeks ago I was in Christchurch and had the chance to see an exhibition celebrating the existence of the New Zealand School Journal. Being born in South Auckland in 1941, by the time I went to Primary School these journals were at the height of their power, luckily for me I believe as they used many of the best, from Baxter to E. Mervyn Taylor whose work is shown in the upper image.

Bluff Barnacles

In the grounds of where I live there is a little mountain of Bluff oyster shells, chest high at least. In amongst the oysters is the occasional large barnacle. I'm not sure how to photograph these interesting structures but I'm having a close look.

Central Landscapes

Yesterday, when returning home from Danseys Pass to Alexandra across landscape like this, I was reminded of some photos that I had taken a couple of months ago. I had chartered a small plane with pilot and flew over this landscape for an hour. I was a bit hindered by the curved and rather aged windows but these two photos were the ones that I retained.

The top photo is the famous Poolburn Dam, and the lower, the equally famous Styx Valley.

Danseys Pass

This is an historic hotel on a remote road in Otago. I stayed there last night,
my room was the one on the extreme right.

Curling at Naseby

Yesterday I was in Naseby, a very attractive little town about 40 mins away. It is unusual for New Zealand in that it has an all year round ice rink and now it is opening a luge, one of those long twisting slides of ice that you plummet down in a toboggan, feet first. In Naseby it is set amongst conifers, looking extremely reminiscent of Colorado, especially as it is very much a gold mining town from the later 1800's.

When I visited the ice rink, curling was in progress.

Robot Room Revisited

I photographed this room with a different camera a couple of months ago.
I'm convinced that there could be a photo somewherehere. This particular image may be as far as I can go but I won't know till I have a longer look at it. Sometimes just seeing it up as my screen saver helps me to make this decision.

The room itself already looks very interesting, just as it is. I wonder if I could improve the arrangement. It would not be as difficult as it looks. These shapes are made of wood. They are moulds used for casting gold digging machinery.

The Space Between

Here is a photo that I took today. If I was asked what this was about I would say
the space between the specimens. And the space from the wings to the edge of the frame.

Photo du Jour.

I was back in the butterfly collection of Central Stories, here in Alexandra, Central Otago, today.
Rows and rows of butterflies are always such a tempting subject, just about as bad as autumn leaves. For decades I've looked into displays like this and reached for my camera.

Today's photo is one of the more interesting for me. One reason is that I have a new camera which is more technologically advanced than ones that I have previously owned. It can gulp up photos of close-up objects. It has a very good image stabilisation system that takes the shake out of photos being made at slow speeds i.e. dim light.

It also has the function of face recognition. I've never used this before and next time I am in company I will experiment with it. Principle is that the software running the camera can by some miracle recognise that there is in the frame a human face and that it will then ensure that that face is perfectly in focus and perfectly exposed. The software can recognise and adjust for up to 9 faces in the frame. Remember the days when you took a snap of your two favourite friends only to find that they were both slightly out of focus but the wallpaper between their heads was sharp.

What really clinched it for me with this camera was a reviewer who tested it for face recognition on monkeys, and it worked. The reviewer also said that face recognition will be standard on all digital cameras very shortly just as image stabilisation has become.

Now I am going to surprise you. I suspect that this photo is not about butterflies at all. Someone described one of my themes as 'the aesthetics of dispersal'. I think that this is true. I seek out certain visual arrangements, they may appear in all sorts of subject matters, in some ways 'subjects' are merely the vehicle.

Two Taps

This is, I feel, a photo under development. These taps are on the outside of
Henderson House and even though I have been looking at them for four months
today is the first day that I actually swung into action and took a photo.

It's interesting but not there yet.
Worth pursuing though.

In the Pink

A photo that I took today when even though the temperatures were very low,
the sun was shining. It reminds me of some photos that I have taken of flowers e.g. Fuchsia.

Rita's Room

I have a two and a half year old grandaughter called Rita and on
Sunday I took this photo of her room.

Rita's mother is Japanese, and as a result, I think that there is a Japanese influence on some of the toys that are here, particularly that of Anpanman.

Remember, that clicking on these photos will make them appear in a larger size.

Today's Photo

Taken at Central Stories here in Alexandra. I think that this is equipment associated with gold mining.

Pony Tail

Four times in my photographic career I have really noticed a pony tail.

The first occasion was in my early thirties when, spending some time in Fiji, I saw village children whooping around, playing with a real horses tail. The horse had died as a result of a poorly applied tether strangling it. I think that at the time I had just bought my first camera and wasn't up to even trying to photograph it.

On the second occasion an acquaintance who lived across the road in Ponsonby cut her long black pony tail off and laid it on some newspaper. I took some photos have negatives of the event somewhere deep in my files. I never did anything with the photo though. I felt at the time that it didn't quite make it. I was probably right but I can't be quite sure until I revisit it.

Some years later a hairdressr saved the pony tail of a client and then rang me. Again I felt that I didn't quite make it.

Here, ten years later, I am back photographing the same subject. I'm pondering the result.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

I recently saw a documentary about this Japanese photographer and these are some snaps that I took straight from my television. I'd seen an exhibition of his at the Auckland Art Gallery a few years ago, photographs of wax figures from Madame Tussaud's. Sugimoto has lived in New York since 1974.