New Zealand – Page 49 – Stuck in Customs
29
May 2018 : Tuesday
filed under  Camera Gear, New Zealand, Passport, Queenstown, Sony A7R 3

A Silent Morning in Doubtful Sound

All 400 of my mostly lousy photos of Doubtful Sound!

Today for Passport Members, I go through the ~400 photos I took over two days in this area. You’ll see how most of them are absolutely atrocious. I’d like to blame the bad weather on day 1, but I really only have myself to blame!

Win a free Mavic Air Drone!

Join me on Facebook Live here as I talk about editing drone videos and drone photos – also be sure to join our Drone giveaway! I’m giving away a new shiny red Mavic Air to promote my new drone tutorial you can find here!

Take a tour through my favorite photos from Doubtful Sound in today’s video. Also included on the tour, are about 395 terrible photos that sent me into a shame spiral.

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Daily Photo – A Silent Morning in Doubtful Sound

I just finished my first overnight journey with Real Journeys down in Doubtful Sound. I’ve lived here on the South Island of New Zealand for about six years, and I had always wanted to do this overnight adventure. I went down there with Curtis and Tane and we had a great time. The first part of the voyage was a bit “moody” with some crazy wind and rain, but that subsided to some beautiful calmness afterward.

One great thing about having lots of rain is that you get to see hundreds and hundreds of waterfalls. I often find it difficult to get a good photo of a waterfall, but I’ll share some attempts in upcoming posts!

A Silent Morning in Doubtful Sound

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-05-09 08:51:31
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture4
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
27
May 2018 : Sunday
filed under  Camera Gear, Milford Sound, New Zealand, Sony A7R 3

Tane Kayaking in Doubtful Sound

Visiting New Zealand?

My best advice is to come for at least 10 days and spend the entire time on the south island. Rent a camper van and just roll around all over the place. Some people try to squeeze in the North Island and the South Island into one trip. Just do the south. The north is fine, but it’s too much to squeeze into one trip.

Daily Photo – Tane Kayaking in Doubtful Sound

It was a very moody evening in Doubtful Sound, and it wasn’t just moody because of Tane. The afternoon had seen 70 knot winds, which translates to about 130 kilometers per hour or 80 mph. Crazy, eh? We couldn’t even go outside on the deck. The crew really seemed to enjoy all the wind; for what reason, I cannot discern. It also made me wonder more about why the measurement of knots came about rather than kph or mph. Even as I write this, I’m going to go look this up.

Okay I just looked it up, and it is only vaguely interesting. Here you go:

A knot is one nautical mile per hour (1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour). The term knot dates from the 17th century, when sailors measured the speed of their ship by using a device called a “common log.” This device was a coil of rope with uniformly spaced knots, attached to a piece of wood shaped like a slice of pie. The piece of wood was lowered from the back of the ship and allowed to float behind it. The line was allowed to pay out freely from the coil as the piece of wood fell behind the ship for a specific amount of time. When the specified time had passed, the line was pulled in and the number of knots on the rope between the ship and the wood were counted. The speed of the ship was said to be the number of knots counted (Bowditch, 1984).

Tane Kayaking in Doubtful Sound

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-05-08 17:02:36
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/125
  • Aperture4.5
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
26
May 2018 : Saturday
filed under  Arrowtown, Camera Gear, New Zealand, Sony A7R 3

More Autumn Photos

All about Project Fi

Here’s a video I made that shows you how I use Google’s mobile phone service. It’s called Project Fi. It’s fantastic because it works in every country around the world and I never have to change sim cards. There are a lot of other great features too that I show off in the video.

Daily Photo – More Autumn Photos

You’ll have to excuse the deluge of Autumn photos here on the blog over the next week or so. I went on a bit of a mission to chase the colors, but I had a great time in the quest. I came out with a few photos that are pretty satisfying. This one is over in Arrowtown by the river there. It’s a great place just to stroll around and look at the colors even if you are not taking photos.

More Autumn Photos

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-05-01 13:21:42
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/320
  • Aperture4.5
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length28.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias+2

Comments
24
May 2018 : Thursday
filed under  Camera Gear, Queenstown, Sony A7R 3

Another Beautiful Autumn in New Zealand

Join us for the Autumn workshop here in 2019!

Our workshops page now has a few photo adventure options for you. Come on over and sign up! You’ll have a blast out here!

Daily Photo – Another Beautiful Autumn in New Zealand

I keep finding new locations each Autumn. Even though I know 50 great spots for photos around here, I force myself to go down new roads here and there. I also randomly drive down people’s driveways to see what I can find. The driveways here can be quite long… sometimes up to half a kilometer. But along the driveways, you can see some great stuff. I’ve never gotten in trouble for this, and whenever I encounter the property owners, they are always very friendly. Well, I’m friendly too, and that helps a bit. And since I only live a few minutes away, I get to sort of call them “neighbor”, which is a good icebreaker.

Another Beautiful Autumn in New Zealand

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-04-30 11:56:19
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture7.1
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
26
Apr 2018 : Thursday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, China, Glenorchy, Hong Kong, Sony A7R 3

Exploring the Hong Kong Opera House

Ride with me to Glenorchy (Part 2 of 4)

And following up from Part 1 of my road trip to Glenorchy is this video below, where I process the photos I took on that extremely moody and windy day!

Daily Photo – Exploring the Hong Kong Opera House

I have a trick I do in China when going into places I’m not supposed to enter. This is a good example… this is the new opera house that is still under construction. I peeked inside from the street and thought it looked incredible. There were some security guards and stuff, so I casually walked up to them and said, “Don’t worry, I’m with the government.”

Exploring the Hong Kong Opera House

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-03-14 03:16:39
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time0.5
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
23
Apr 2018 : Monday
filed under  Camera Gear, New Zealand, Queenstown, Sony A7R 3

Chinese Wedding Photographs in Queenstown

Ride with me to Glenorchy (Part 1 of 4)

I released this video over a year ago to Passport Members and I wanted to share it with everyone now. It shows just one of my random days… driving from Queenstown to Glenorchy on a moody, windy day to try to take some photos. There’s a lot of stream of consciousness and that sort of thing. Anyway, jump into my pickup truck with me and we’ll see where we end up!

Daily Photo – Chinese Wedding Photographs in Queenstown

Here’s a little of local Queenstown, New Zealand color for you. This area has become Extremely Popular for Chinese tourists. I don’t know the exact number, but it’s in the hundreds of thousands, which is significant for a country of about four million people. Another thing I happen to notice a lot, perhaps because I’m a photographer, is a gaggle of Chinese wedding photographers with their couples. I don’t know if you’ve been to a Chinese wedding reception, but they often run a slideshow of the lucky couple in love in exotic locations. It’s all completely ridiculous, of course, but they’ve all bought into this silly fiction. Anyway, to scaffold that fiction, they are all over Queenstown and Arrowtown taking these sorts of photos. You can tell he’s a real “artsy” photographer because he’s wearing a hoodie.

Chinese Wedding Photographs in Queenstown

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-12-30 20:15:25
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/125
  • Aperture4
  • ISO160
  • Focal Length41.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
25
Mar 2018 : Sunday
filed under  Camera Gear, New Zealand, Sony A7R 3

Chinese Wedding Photos in Queenstown

Wedding Photos

I’ve only taken photos at two weddings in my life, and both were at Burning Man. And, neither of those was planned! I just kind of rolled up on my bike and saw a wedding going on, so I went photo-crazy. Afterward, I would always introduce myself to the bride and groom and send them the photos.

I also took photos of a temporary Burning Man wedding (only lasted for the week) and a temporary Burning Man divorce (only lasted for the week). I must say that my divorce photos really didn’t have the same feel as the wedding ones.

Daily Photo – Chinese Wedding Photos in Queenstown

You would not believe how many Chinese people come here to get their photo taken. Every day I see another couple. Sometimes they have these outrageous photographers as well. This guy was in this fully-realized hoodie and he would jump around doing this rather silly photo-parkour. He would gesticulate this way and that, making grandiose movements with his arms. The whole thing was like watching theater. This photo I call, “Saving a drowning victim.”

Chinese Wedding Photos in Queenstown

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-12-30 20:15:25
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/125
  • Aperture4
  • ISO160
  • Focal Length41.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
12
Mar 2018 : Monday
filed under  Camera Gear, Glenorchy, Hasselblad X1D, New Zealand

A Dreamy Day in Glenorchy

Spotify Playlists

I have a bunch of different Spotify Playlists, but one of my favorites is Feelin’ Groovesalad. It’s one of my most active ones that I add to the most… Right now it has over 200 songs and I add about 5 more cool finds a week. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – A Dreamy Day in Glenorchy

Every time I make a trip to Glenorchy I come away with a winner photo or two. The whole place is so photogenic! I should be driving over there once a week or something. Actually, I’m home for a little six-week stint now before a SE Asia trip, so I’m going to set aside more time to visit some old favorite haunts and get some photos! I’ve been pretty busy organizing all my photos and preparing some unique content for Passport members, but most of that is finished now so I can take more photos.

A Dreamy Day in Glenorchy

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-03-21 22:31:45
  • CameraX1D-50c
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/500
  • Aperture11
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • FlashNo Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
27
Feb 2018 : Tuesday
filed under  Aurora HDR, Camera Gear, Hasselblad H5D, New Zealand, Queenstown

The Dart River Valley

Video Tip on Denoising Mobile Shots

Many of you may have my Google Pixel 2 Review on the site, so you know I take a lot more mobile photos than usual. As great as the camera is, there is still some noise in sunset photos and night photos. This video below shows you how I get rid of the noise using Aurora HDR 2018.

Daily Photo – The Dart River Valley

I took this from a helicopter while my friend Choppy was flying me out on a work for a patron. I flew over this delta probably about 10 times, and it looks different every time. This is one of my favorite shots with the shadows of the mountains falling halfway across it.

There is a jet-boat adventure you can do through here. I still haven’t tried it, but it’s on my to-do list!

The Dart River Valley

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2016-03-30 05:56:49
  • CameraH5D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/640
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length35.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
10
Feb 2018 : Saturday
filed under  Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, New Zealand, Passport, Waiheke Island

Tree in Waiheke

Looking to get away from cold USA Winters?

Why not come down here to New Zealand! It’s summertime and a great excuse to get out of all that coldness. If you need more incentive, check out the New Zealand Keyword in my SmugMug Portfolio!.

A bit of Post-Processing Love

This one was a fun little photo. I show you how to increase the sharpness and glow to selected areas of the image using layers. Thank you again for being a Passport Member and I hope you enjoy today’s edit!

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Daily Photo – Tree in Waiheke

The hilly areas of New Zealand (which is probably like 75%!) are filled with these huge trees that are just kinda hanging out alone on hilltops. Many times I see some distant tree and I think, “Hey, I should walk over there!” So, this day on Waiheke I did! You usually have to jump over a fence or four, but no one ever minds. You can walk through these hills all day long and never see another soul!

Tree in Waiheke

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-12-07 14:49:07
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/90
  • Aperture9.5
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias-2/3

Comments