On one of our morning photo walks, I saw this beautiful tree along the lakefront in Queenstown. I didn’t have the right lens, so I took a 2×2 panorama. I merged them together in Photoshop to create the final image. I’m pretty happy with it, but I honestly think it would be better if I had stayed here and wait for the sun to shine through the leaves.

Panorama of an Autumn Tree Before Sunrise

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 08:19:37
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1.3
• Aperture10
• ISO160
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias+2

After I dropped off Ethan, I began a random drive around Picton and the north island to find some new scenes. Almost immediately, I came upon this tremendous logging operation. It was impressive to watch all these huge logs being dropped off and then transported to this ship. I assume (but not sure) that this ship then takes all of these logs to China.

The Wood Comes Down the Valley

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-05-06 16:22:51
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1600
• Aperture8
• ISO400
• Focal Length105.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

On our first full day, we went on a great walk along this coastline on the North Island of New Zealand. The first half of the walk was along a trail up and down through the trees. The second half was down there, along the coast. It was quite rocky, as you can see… I was focused on not twisting my ankle or anything! At the end, we were walking along a nice soft beach, so I took off my shoes and let my feet sink into the sand.

The Beautiful Walk Near Te Arai

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-29 17:34:00
• CameraFC2204
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/640
• Aperture2.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length4.4 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias+0.3

During almost all our workshops, we spend the first morning walking along the foreshore in Queenstown and then into the gardens. This is the first time we had many layers of clouds and fog rolling in and out throughout the morning. I stopped on the beach to get this photo of all the layers stacked up together. One of the tips I often give around composition is to try to take more landscape shots in portrait orientation. There aren’t a lot of “rules” around orienting photos like this, so you can be much more experimental in how you choose to group the subject matter you are shooting.

Layers in Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 09:27:35
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/80
• Aperture8
• ISO50
• Focal Length105.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Every day the weather is quite different for our workshops. We never have a set plan about where to go each morning for sunrise… I usually wake up about 6 AM and start checking all the weather sites to see where the clouds will be, possible rain, and all this sort of thing. There’s still a certain amount of guesswork and reading the tea leaves. On this morning, I wasn’t 100% sure that going to the top of Coronet Peak would work out, but it did!

Moody Morning from Coronet Peak

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-25 08:57:42
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1600
• Aperture4
• ISO250
• Focal Length50.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Here’s my friend David Maxwell from last week at the New Zealand Autumn Workshop. We visited The Hills golf club in Arrowtown to see all the sculptures there… this is the newest one, with a Maxwell for scale.

David Maxwell for Scale

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 16:45:56
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/800
• Aperture4
• ISO50
• Focal Length105.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

This was one of the many fun stops we had during our Autumn workshop. I used to do four workshops with one for each season… that was a little too much, I think! I love teaching, but it does take a whole week out of my life… and I’m only one person! Anyway, I decided just to do one a year now… and do it in this beautiful Autumn season.

The Reflections of Glenorchy

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-24 10:03:16
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture7.1
• ISO250
• Focal Length92.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Here’s kind of a fun photo I took over near the lake and clubhouse at Jack’s Point in Queenstown, New Zealand. Usually, my landscape shots are quite wide and I rarely zoom in… but then I look at results like this and think I should do it more to add to that compression effect.

Jack’s Point

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2020-07-09 04:01:28
• Camera
• Camera Make
• Exposure Time
• Aperture
• ISO
• Focal Length
• Flash
• Exposure Program
• Exposure Bias

I don’t even know what kind of plants these are, but they are quite beautiful. I was driving back from Picton to Queenstown, and I made as many side-stops as I could. I drove to the end of a random road near Blenheim and found this cool area… it was great from the ground level, but even more mesmerizing from the air.

The Red Fields of Blenheim

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-05-06 16:58:19
• CameraFC2204
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture2.8
• ISO200
• Focal Length4.4 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

We usually take our workshop guests out here on the walk through the wetlands. Every time it’s completely different, but it’s always a guaranteed good photo or ten! On this particular morning, the wind and the lake were calm, leaving for a perfect reflection. The area around that pyramid-shaped mountain is called Paradise.

Walking along the boardwalks in Glenorchy

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-24 10:05:10
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture7.1
• ISO250
• Focal Length49.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias