I thought it’d be fun to go through what turned out to be my top content on social media for the year and that continues today. Mainly I’ll focus on Instagram but I’ll drop in a few others towards the end as when they get traction (e.g. Flickr) the stats go crazy. So, here’s number 8 in my most viewed posts of 2023… does that make them the BEST? Not so sure, but for whatever reason they connected with people, or the algorithm!

Number 8

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-09-25 16:50:09
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Yesterday’s image featured a natural double rainbow. Here’s something a little more artificial, although very cool in its own way.

Vivid Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-06-18 19:17:20
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time4
• Aperture4.5
• ISO80
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+0.3

I can’t remember if I was up late, or up early on this day but whatever the case it was worth the effort!

Early Morning in Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-09-25 16:50:09
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Sydney, Australia is just a short flight from New Zealand where I live. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s still 4 hours, but everything else is 10+ hours from New Zealand.

There is an area called The Rocks that is one of the oldest areas of Sydney, and this is just a short walk away. I love this photo because it causes confusion the first time you see it. I try to do this sometimes with my photos where I attempt to cause the viewer to wonder exactly what they are seeing. After a few moments, they slowly figure it out and that gives them a little squirt of dopamine.

Sydney Spaceship

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-01-09 17:52:05
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time15
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

How’s this for a unique reception area? Well done Sydney Customs House, well done!

Underfloor City

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-01-09 16:30:50
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/4
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

This image started as me trying to find something interesting to shoot while wandering around in Sydney one night. Then more recently I was commissioned by a collector to create an animated NFT from it. Never in a million years did I think that it would end up looping into infinity on someones wall when I took it… in fact back in 2013 I wouldn’t even have considered that an option! You can see the final creation here.

A Fun Sydney Creation

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-01-09 17:52:05
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time15
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

When we were in Sydney, my friend David Maxwell got us on a boat to scoot around the harbour for a while. It was great fun. We went under the famous bridge there a few times and saw people casually walking across the top. I thought you had to be harnessed in or something, but, hey, you know how crazy Aussies can be!

Walking along the bridge in Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-06-08 20:28:21
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture6.3
• ISO250
• Focal Length178.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-2

A few years ago, I went to Australia with Neal Stephenson while he was researching his new book. I’m a great secret keeper, so I can’t talk about it. We had a great time… I actually kept track of a lot of stories of our adventures, but I don’t want to release them until after his book is out! If it wasn’t for Neal, I might have never seen the bustling metropolis of Dubbo, Australia.

The Opera House in Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-09-29 04:56:44
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture5.6
• ISO200
• Focal Length250.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Here’s a photo I recently edited from Sydney Harbor. While this huge rubber ducky was here, I took a ton of different photos. This shot is one of my favorites.

Happy People in Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-01-08 12:36:09
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/30
• Aperture11
• ISO400
• Focal Length18.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

We spent an amazingly fun day out on a yacht sailing around the Sydney harbor. It’s tough to take a bad photo out there! We did have a bit of an incident with the quadcopter, though. It got so far away from us that we were unable to figure out how to get it back. It was just a tiny white speck, and you could tell if it was moving forward or backward or right or left. After quite a bit of panic, we finally figured out the right orientation and brought her home!

The Sydney Opera House Before the Storm

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-06-20 11:48:02
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/160
• Aperture7.1
• ISO100
• Focal Length41.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias