Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?  –  Mary Oliver 85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f6.3

 There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.  –  Rachel Carson, Silent Spring 85mm; ISO 1000. 30 seconds at f11. Sodium vapour light balance

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy.  –  Joyce Grenfell 28mm; ISO 2000. 192 seconds (over 3 mins) at f11

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8

And the only sound that’s left / After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up / On Desolation Row.  –  Bob Dylan 28mm; ISO 2000. 68 seconds at f8

Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away – Robert M. Hutchins 28mm; ISO 2000. 20 seconds at f5.6  

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  

28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8. Flash  

[Only the camera can express] the full majesty of the moment. –  Paul Leopold Rosenfeld Looking down on the tops of the persimmon. You can only do this on a very still night, as the slightest breeze blurs the detail. However, to get a really creative blur, you need a gusty evening – nothing in-between […]

I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.  –  Paul Simon (The Only Living Boy in New York) Still lifes by moonlight are formidable propositions because of the problems in seeing what you have, particularly with close framing and the shallow depth of field of a mild telephoto. This scene was […]

 I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.  –  Vincent van Gogh 28mm; ISO 2000. 66 seconds at f10

 At their best, photographs as symbols not only serve to help illuminate some of the darkness of the unknown, they also serve to lessen the fears that too often accompany the journeys from the known to the unknown. – Wynn Bullock 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

High tide by moonlight, Turtle Cove, Golden Bay. 7.35 pm, 2 June 2012  The night has vast potential for creativity.  –  Michael  Kenna 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

Daylight is too easy. What I want is difficult – the atmosphere of lamps and moonlight.     – Edgar Degas 28mm; ISO 2500. 30 seconds at f11

Ah the moon’s too bright, the chain’s too tight, the beast won’t go to sleep… – Leonard Cohen (I’m Your Man) 85mm; ISO 500. 294 seconds (5 mins) at f16  

 Seeking love keeps you from the awareness that you already are it.  –  Byron Katie 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 secs at f5.6. Mercury vapour light balance.      

If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.  –  Dr Suess  28mm, ISO 2000. 15 secs at f8. Col balance 2500 deg K.

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. – Ursula K. Le Guin 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f7.1. Flash      

The future is just going to be a vast, conforming ‘suburb of the soul’.  –  J.G. Ballard, 1982   28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f9. Light balance 5000 deg K

Live courageously, and produce.  –  Vincent van Gogh  28mm, ISO 2000. 3 secs at f8. Sodium vapour light balance

To make the truth more plausible, it is absolutely necessary to mix a bit of falsehood with it.  –  Dostoevsky Staying three nights this week at Marahau, gateway to Abel Tasman National Park (Nelson), we had lovely evenings “to behold the waxing moon”. At Kaka Pa Point we discovered an easy path down to a sandy cove, Breaker Bay, above which […]

The world to me is a dream and the people in it are sleepers. I have known a few instances of intensity but that is all.  – Katherine Mansfield 28mm, ISO 2000. 6 secs at f2.8  

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.  –  Helen Keller 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f16

If only I could stand on a street corner with my hat in my hand, and get people to throw their wasted time into it!  –  Bernard Berenson, U.S. art critic Taken last year at Te Hapu, Golden Bay and recalled by our more recent stay. Moonset before midnight always means a crescent moon, a simple […]

Blend a little foolishness with your wisdom: it’s nice to be silly at the right moment. –  Horace 28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Flash