Really, I should get up before the sun more often! This is the view from the bedroom door of the place I am staying when the sun rises in the morning.There may not be a beach and ocean to escape to here, but I do love how the clouds are different every dawn, the colours never seem to be exactly the same either and of course the cows in the field move around too. All I have to do is really look, and opportunities abound for great uplifting shots. 
Now that I have moved to the D700, there are a few things..

I am spending some time at a friends place while they are away. They have a bountiful orchard plus paddocks with creatures and a great outlook with water views. A great place for reviving the soul. this shot is my favourite for the day. I am testing out the combination of the 70-200 on the D700 where it 'better belongs'. I am really loving the..

As I was driving home last night, I watched the full yellow moon creeping up from the ocean over Waihi Beach. It was one of those times when I wished I was down at the beach capturing it. However, I try to live fully present in each moment so I fought those thoughts. Besides, when I did get down, it was still amazing. I tried different techniques last night including..

Well I finally did it! I had a birthday and turned 40! Well actually, I haven't had my actual birthday yet at all. It sure felt like it this morning when my lovely husband presented me with a D700 as an early birthday present. Well, I have been dying to try it out all day, but being the usual busy day, I waited until this evening and decided that that was actually most appropriate seeing as...

Tomorrow is full moon. It rises over our beach and is a fantastic thing to watch if the timing is right. My plan was to wait until tomorrow and then go and "shoot the moon". That was until I looked outside my front door this evening. A casual glance just to see what the blustery conditions had blown up weather wise. Today really has been annoyingly windy with dust getting into everything. 

I was greeted with this view. In fact this is my very fist shot I managed to fire off once I had set up the tripod and dialled in my settings. Yes, truly those colours actually were there in the clouds. 

I have been trying to work out...

One of my favourite things to do is to create an image from a concept or idea. Combining the raw materials to produce a piece of artwork. Photography is the most powerful tool at my disposal and I do love to create from it to take the image further. It feels like the painting process only faster and easier to undo undesirable outcomes. To start with a blank canvas and a head full of ideas is wonderful. Once that first stroke is made...

I had my first swim for the season on the 5th of October. The water is still cold 15 degrees C, but it was a refreshing dip and the air temp is lovely, around 23 degrees. 

Images in Monochrome: Can one effectively present a sunset or water like this one, in a monochromatic rendition? Understanding of course that Monochrome by definition is one colour but can contain many shades. This is different to a grayscale image or a 

Focus: Such a fundamental aspect of Photography. Badly focused shots are always binned. Get it right in camera then sometimes add blur back in during post processing. But, as photographers, we are very selective about where we want that focus point to be and where and to what degree the blur is allowed. Life has been a bit like that recently..