PRINT of the Month for February is this colourful composition from Omata, on New Plymouth’s southern fringe. Enlightened fennel flowers front for an almost-full moon, rising slowly without fanfare.  The road is a quiet, no-exit one and but for a muted drone from distant SH45 the scene had no soundtrack. This fine art photo is printed […]

LOL, as I did when I read this 6-word snippet online just recently. This is Memento mori [“Remember your mortality”] meets Embedded Quote, with a colourful ornament from Te Henui cemetery, New Plymouth. What it is to be human, and of a certain age! Will any of it matter in another 50 years?

“Eternity is really long, especially near the end”, according to Woody Allen. Of course eternity can’t be measured in years, but the only other scale we have is that of generations, counting from our own backwards or forwards, to the umpteenth. This too is an odd meditation: some people can barely remember their grandparents, and […]

“People have to die but flowers last forever”, no one said; this series is devoted to the Latin phrase that reminds us that our lives all have an end. Plastic tulips and carnations mingle here with real life bulbs, in this cameo from the upper slopes of the Picton cemetery. A single non-perfumed daphne flower […]

How I love the crescent moon. The new moon is a real waif, and only visible for a short time on the twilit horizon, before it too sinks below sight. Then night after night the crescent moon fattens, spending longer in the western sky – each night the moon rises about an hour later, so […]

Sometimes the full moon keeps me waiting. Its predicted peep over the horizon lags, for example, because a range of hills blocks the view. Anticipation! Which hill will the moon rise over? What pictorial elements should I line up for a creative memento of this exciting occasion?? Yes there are apps to tell me such […]

Sadly missed, Picton cemetery. 11.59 a.m, 14 April 2018 A striking cameo, illustrating colour composition. The two elements of the composition have been widely spaced, but there is just enough line and texture to hold the frame together. The simplicity of the image owes everything to the uncommon colour of the plastic flowers. As for the […]

This is a sample illustration from my long exposure Perfect Evenings 2018 New Zealand calendar. Magnolia flowers are a welcome sight in the southern spring, appearing from July to September, depending on the species and local climate. By moonlight or street light they are even more luminous and lovely than by day. Printed in just a small […]

2791 & 2794. Te Henui ti kouka in flower, by moonlight. 25 October 2015 Usually I try to avoid subtlety, but these two images a short interval apart demonstrate the use of flash. In the scene above – the steep flank of an old pa above the Te Henui in New Plymouth – the flash […]

9286 Ahu Ahu hues (moonrise-with-flax-flowers) Simple, graphic compositions such as this moonrise-with-flax-flowers can be varied in post-processing with the hue tool. In my tool kit this is handily located next to the saturation dial, and enables a surprising spectrum of bizarre and surreal imagery. I have put some variations up for contrast but am not […]

9428 Moon force attack, Waiwhakaiho, 10.26pm, 5 January 2015 New Zealand flax again, plus full moon and scuds, in an image combining flash with background moonlight. To use flash in this way, start with aperture selection. This means finding the f-stop that fits your camera distance, as the flash has its own inherent shutter-speed. Then extend […]

 Let us live most happily, possessing nothing; let us feed on joy, like the radiant gods.  –  The Buddha 24mm; ISO 200. 60 seconds at f2

 Earth laughs in flowers.  –  Ralph W. Emerson 85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16. Incandescent light balance

 Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.  –  Dalai Lama 28mm; ISO 2000. 629.4 secs (10.5 minutes) at f11

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize that prisoner was you.  –  Lewis B. Smedes 85mm; ISO 500. 15 seconds at f16. Incandescent light balance

Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.  –  John Petit-Senn 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11. Incandescent light balance

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy? – Oscar Wilde  85mm; ISO 2000. 1/400th second at f4

   I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty.  –  Ellen Sturgis Hooper 50mm; ISO 2500. 30 seconds at f16. Flash    

There is no substitute for moonlight and kissing.  –  Barbara Cartland 85mm; ISO 2000. 70 seconds at f16. Flash

 Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. –  Buddha (attrib.) 85mm; ISO 1000. 63 seconds at f2.5. Sodium vapour light balance

Nothing is ever the same twice because everything is always gone forever, and yet each moment has infinite photographic possibilities. – Michael Kenna  28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6  

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. –  J. von Goethe Driving back after sunset from an amble around Stratford, Taranaki, I was pleased to see this dramatic church in Inglewood, the next country town. The magnificent kowhai tree in front was laden with blossom, while a branch hung down above the main floodlight. Not […]

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. –  Aesop Last full moon I spent many happy hours over several evenings tackling the budding magnolia next door. This one worked better at f5.6 than at f16, to my surprise, but with f16 needing nearly 5 minutes the risk of a breeze was […]

Desire is something irrational for which one always has to pay a high price. – Pedro Almodovar On biting winter evenings two strategies can help prise the moonlight photographer from homely warmth. Either go out while it’s still daylight, or stay close to home – for an easier retreat. For this extended exposure in the […]

Garden flowers in full spectrum colour at maximum aperture; torch-aided focus.