Petone is a small centre at the northern end of Wellington harbour. When the first settler boats arrived in the 1800’s they landed here and the first settlements were established. The area has a lot of very old villas and its main street escaped most of the strip mall development of the 1970’s to retain a very old character.
Each year in February the Petone Rotary Club close off most of the main street and set up a street market. Somewhere around 400 stalls sell or promote their services to around 30,000 people. It is therefore a great place to practise a little street photography or to simply enjoy people watching.
Fairs like this bring out the crazy in people especially teenagers. Although they are also an excuse for bad t-shirts.To many of the kids on this ride this will be their first roller coaster. The girl in front has supreme confidence while the two behind don’t look like they are enjoying themselvesThis ride is a lot more sedate than the other.There is a wide variety of sideshows trying to relieve you of your money with the promise of prizesThis little guy has found something he really likes in the used toys stallA group of older stallholders promoting tai-chiWhen I saw this lady talking on the phone I could not resist the shotIn the middle of the shops is an old villa used as professional offices. The grapevine over the porch is probably a century old and has a very fine crop this yearMother and daughter have visited the face paint stand togetherThis little guy was not all that convinced when this lady painted his hand and asked him to put it on a piece of paperSome of the stall holders really get into the festive spirit.Local band Shenanigans entertain for the balcony of the Empire hotelSomeone has been very busy hand knitting these items although I do wonder whether any copyright fees have been paid to the original designers
Last weekend was Wellington Anniversary which meant we got the Monday off work. As such it appeared that lots of events were planned to occur and the Saturday was particularly popular. In addition to several beach related sports event, there we two large scale festivals. In Civic Square there was “Out in the Square” which was a celebration of the gay community and at Waitangi Park the Wellington Pasifica Festival was held.
The events had appeared in a number of facebook posts with the comments from those going that it was a great event especially if you liked to shoot street photography. So camera and a couple of lens we headed into town and the first stop was Civic Square.
At first glance the event had all the elements that you tend to associate with gay events, namely lots of colour and drag queens.
The announcer for the entertainment certainly stood out from the crowd.
Now flamboyant people are great to shoot and those that are entertainers I have no qualms about photographing them. But as I walked round the festival and talked to some of the stall holders I just got the feeling that it was not appropriate to simple shoot others on this occasion. I do not know why but I thought that there was almost a risk that I was trying to capture them as if they were a freak show, whereas in fact they are perfectly normal people.
I know that there is a bit f an argument that goes on in Street photography in terms of whether you should ask someone whether you can take their picture. On one side is the thought that if you are going to invade their space then you should be polite and seek their permission. Countering this is the equally strong argument that if you ask then they will pose and that destroys the candid side of the image that you want to create.
I am a little in both camps. For some images I will simply take the image, but generally if I want them looking straight at me I will ask permission.
I found this lady’s make, costume and the umbrella quite appealing so I asked if she would mind me taking her image.The bright colour hair was the initial attraction with this lady. Again permission was sought
We then moved onto Pasifica after a slight detour through the city.
This dog was waiting to greet people in a small gallery in Vivian street that we didn’t know existed.
Pasifica was very crowded and it was a little difficult to shoot the craft being worked on without other people getting in the way.
More headbands being made.Making Tapa cloth is a very slow process.A lady weaves flax into little flowersAll concentration producing headbands, although not with natural ingredients
Finally on the way back to the car a street performer was entertaining the crowd in front of the Te Papa museum. In the case of street entertainer I will normally shoot them first and then pay them some money.
Yesterday I was shooting the presentation of the 2013 Prime Ministers Pacific Youth Awards in the Banquet Hall at Parliament. I had to take two different styles of shots. During the ceremony this involved recording the presentation and speakers on stage. Then at the end I had to get group shots of the winners, sponsors and the Minister. Normally this would also involve the Prime Minister but this year he was absent due to the Nelson Mandela funeral in South Africa.
Now the things about any photograph involving politicians and particular Ministers is that there day is timed to the minute and therefore you do have the time to muck around. This is especially so if you need to grab some shots at the end of a function that is likely to run behind schedule.
The key to this is planning. Having shot in the venue before I know that it is not one to let the camera control the setting. The stage is always set against the outer wall of the room which contains floor to ceiling windows. Basically this amount of back light is going to completely fool any in built meters.
The other things was to remember that these images were intended to simply record the event. They were not intended to be award winning images where lighting is paramount. Rather the lighting had to a balance between being strong enough to illuminate the people but at the same time not harsh enough to make then look bad.
I arrived at the venue well before the start and set up two lights fitted with shoot-through umbrellas as shown in the diagram below.
I used shoot through umbrellas because I knew that this would give a reasonable spread in the light, as well being extremely portable. What I needed to factor in was the differences in the power of the lights that would fall on each of the party particularly those in the middle and those standing closest to the lights. This is something that you can really only work out effectively with a light meter.
I took a reading in the middle with my shutter speed at 1/100s and ISO 100 and came up with f9. I then went to the point where the person closest to the lights would be and repeated the process. This time I got f10 which was really pleasing because it meant that there was only a third of stop difference in the positions. I would have accepted anything up to a full stop of difference knowing that I could compensate for that in post.
As it is best to shoot more towards the right, f9 would be my choice for the setting.
Sure enough a couple of speakers ran long and the session finished slightly behind schedule so I was pushed to get in all the shots before the Minister had to depart. The shot below is the end result.
Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Hon Hekia Parata, the seven winners of the 2013 awards and three of the sponsors of the awards.
The Hood Aerodrome in Masterton is home to a fairly decent collection of replica World War one aircraft and yesterday they hosted an airshow to commemorate the end of WW1 on 11 November.
It was only the second time that I had attempted to shoot an airshow, and this time I had two advantages over the last one. The first was these planes fly a lot slower than their WW2 counterparts, and secondly I had borrowed a 600mm F4 lens. This lens was massive and best worked from a tripod.
Being a fixed length introduced a challenge when you were trying to get all of the plane in the shot. I have selected a sample of images below. I am not a plane enthusiast so couldn’t tell you exactly what plane was what, but at least you can work out which side their were on.
There were six German plane in this formation, three Fokker Triplanes make famous by the Red Baron.
The 600mm did let me get in close to the pilotsA pilot of a German plane did say that he was never allowed to win a dogfight and was alway shot down.The smudge is someone head getting in the road, but I liked the shot too much to not include itThe angle of the planes makes it look like a little wing walking was happening
I was suprised to learn that this British Triplane actually inspired the Germans to create the Red Barons famous aircraft
The front gunner of this bomber has a great view but it must be really coldThe one French aircraft
On the way to the Masterton Airshow we stopped at the Gladstone School fair. This school in a small country settlement was founded in 1876. It was times with a local scarecrow competition, and judging by the amount of cars in the parking area very well attended.
I just love taking shots of people enjoying themselves. While it would be a temptation to use a longer lens all of these images are shot on 24-70mm.
A fine selection of wares for saleThe school pool was used for a lucky duckFace painting was another crowd favorite.A collection of scarecrows adorn the school fenceThe kids really love it even if the ferris wheel is tinyHot dogs on a stick with tomato sauce. You can’t something that yells fair moreShe happily posed for me
A lot of fun can be had with car inner tubesHow the juggling is supposed to be doneParent helpers get into costumeKids try their hand at juggling
The Petone Winter Carnival has been going for 7 years but for some reason it always seemed to clash with other things I had to do so this was the first year that I have managed to attend.
It is a combination of activities that run from mid day and concludes with a fireworks display. It also includes a fire event where groups build sculptures during the day and at night they are set alight. I am not sure about the wisdom of some groups who placed fireworks inside their creations and I am sure that quite a few jackets suffered damage from the flying embers.
The original forecast for the day was rain but as luck would have it the conditions ended up being perfect.
Shooting in falling light is always a great challenge. Shooting burning objects has its own challenges as well as you go from little to too much light very quickly. And then there are fireworks that present their own issues.
To get a taste of the event I have chosen a simple selection of images
Not exactly sharpBrillient light on the sailing clubThe set of drums eruptThe phoenix/dragon is consumedFiredancers were difficult to capture mainly due to the crowd
All the fun of the sideshowsBeacons in the nightA fine array of foods and waresPoppy Dust entertainThe joy of kidsNature put on its own lightshow earlier in the dayKids having funAmazing bubbles from two fishing rods and lengths of leather
This was the second year that I attended the ImageNation conference organised by the Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association (AIPA) which is held at the Unitec Campus in Mt Albert Auckland.
The 2012 event had been such an inspirational event to me that I had high hopes of a repeat this year. For the most part the conference did live up to what I was expecting although I do admit that several of the speakers on the Saturday afternoon did not really impress me.
I have listed below some the gems of wisdom that I gleaned from the various speakers.
Learn how to edit your images because if you do that you will work out how the shots before you take them.
Don’t try to shoot stills and video at the same time. All you will end up is two average outcomes.
Find the ideas or people that excite you and follow them. Try to recreate their images.
You can learn a lot about lighting from studying art paintings (especially the old masters).
When charging for work, charge as much for post production work as for shooting.
In putting together a portfolio, show what you have a passion for rather than putting in one example of each style. This will show your style. Be brutal in your editing and if you are not completely happy with an image, then leave it out. A portfolio should only contain 10 to 15 images at maximum.
If you know how to control daylight, you will know how to control any light.
Try to shoot images so that the viewer feels that they are in it, rather than simply looking at it.
Get in close and make it feel close.
A style will only develop through lots of repetition of what you are obsessed with. Repeat but make subtle variations in the repeat.
As soon as you have the shot, move onto the next one.
And my personal favourite, when asked to the Art Director what makes a good photographer he replied
“Take good photographs, and don’t be a prick doing it”
Every two years the church we go to runs an all day event for women called “Body & Soul”. It contains a number of elective sessions, entertainment and inspirational speakers. I was asked to document to day for them.
This year it contained an additional item with a fashion parade by Upper Hutt designer Rasha Taylor, with a showing of day, ball and wedding dresses.
Now the main issue with photographing a run way show is generally light. In some shows there is too much and at others not enough. Fortunately with the show I knew in advance what I was dealing with and being the official photographer was able to bring in some of my own.
I initially thought about a speedlight but discounted it as it gives a very harsh light and the spread is very uneven. In the end I set up a strobe and umbrella on a boom arm. This enabled me to light up the last 2 metres of the catwalk with a reasonable consistent soft light head to tow at around f8.
In order the ensure a proper angle on the girls I brought in a small step ladder and shot from the top. I have been really pleased with the images shot.
Many people seem to think that when you are asked to photograph events that it is glamorous. Unfortunately the reality is something else.
A fellow photographer asked if I would take some photos for the local paper of a train being delivered to its new home. The train is question was an old British Electric Unit that entered service in 1954 on the Wellington commuter service and was finally retired in 2012. It was referred to as the “Cyclops” due to the fact that it has a single large headlight at the front. When it was finally retired it was sold to the Wellington Heritage Electric Multiple Union Trust for the princely sum of $1. The Trust had arranged with the Rimutaka Incline Rail Trust to store it at their yard in Mangaroa Valley just north of Upper Hutt. These yards sit alongside the Wellington – Wairarapa rail line.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council was sponsoring the cost of towing it from Wellington to Mangaroa and then KiwiRail had provided a crew that would take a section out of the Wairarapa line and then join the siding to it so that the train could be pushed into it.
As you can imagine this involved a lot of people and some key timing. The work could not begin until the scheduled Masterton unit went through not only Mangaroa but in fact was through the entire Rimutaka tunnel. Then the train with the unit would come up the line from Upper Hutt. The loco towing it would be uncoupled and drive further north. The track would be altered and finally the loco attached to the back of the unit would push the unit into the siding.
Everyone hoped for a dry day. Instead we got constant rain. Then the Wairarapa unit was running 30 minutes late which made everything late.
Fortunately I had a big golf umbrella with me and found someone else who wanted to shelter under it willing to hold it while I got the shots. The camera was in a plastic bag to keep it dry. Not very eloquent but effective.
Some of the older carriages on the site.The gang take the existing track apart.New track is laid
Careful checking as it comes into the yard.
The sign says original paint job. Not so sure about the graffiti though.
For the first time ever the Portrait Group within the Hutt Art Society teamed up with several photographers to present portraits in all mediums. I had five images selected to go into the exhibition which runs until April 28 at the Odlin Gallery in Lower Hutt.
For the first image I decided to try a little bit extra processing in photoshop to create textures. To be honest I am not sure how I feel about the image. The print does look better than the digital image though.
pwfotos 
