Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. –  Daniel F. E. Auber Using the wide angle with flash at twilight is easier than the telephoto because the former has better depth of focus. Aperture selection balances the two light sources, the flash burst with the longer background fill. Flash […]

Patience is a bitter plant, but it has sweet fruit. –  Chinese proverb The new crescent waxes and each evening is higher in the sky. Through a wide angle the early moon is barely visible; waxing a night or two later it is more conspicuous. Being higher in the sky it is harder to frame […]

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. –  Albert Schweitzer 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f7.1  

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state. We must be doing something to be happy.  – William Hazlitt 85mm, ISO 2000. 3 seconds at f2. Incandescent light balance.

Suburban twilight and new moon. 5.42 pm, 4 July 2011 Effort appears to be the main art of living. –  Harold Nicolson 28mm, ISO 100. 5 seconds at f22. Incandescent light balance.

[The object of art is] to make eternal the desperately fleeting moment. –                    Tennessee Williams The trick with any arc of headlights is to minimise the full-on glare of the lights, something likely to occur at some point in your frame. Here in the second frame from a moonlight sequence you see a short space […]

Everyone complains of his memory; nobody of his judgement. –  Francois de La Rochefoucauld When setting this up I wasn’t certain I was on a public road, but according to Google this is Cook Road, overlooking Waimarama on the coast. No vehicle came by the whole time, but traffic was regular on the main road […]

It is only with the heart that one can see properly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. –  Antoine de St Exupery Although my heart is in this place, in this case I saw by ear, as the swans weren’t visible by moonlight. However they were very audible, and other wetland birdlife also […]

I don’t sing because I’m happy. I’m happy because I sing. – William James Ratapiko is a small hydro lake near the edge of the Taranaki ring plain, about 40 minutes northeast of New Plymouth, in a quiet country district. Quiet on a winter’s evening at least, as in season Ratapiko is popular for boating […]

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust Out for an evening’s recreation, I soon noticed these poplars on the fringe of New Plymouth. They are lit by the rising moon and distant street lamps, as well as the lights of a neighbouring school, […]

The greater the contrast, the greater the potential. Great energy only comes from a correspondingly great tension between opposites. –  Carl Jung “Contra nuit” adapts the French term contra jour, meaning against-the-light effects, to this special application by full moon. I’ve tried it here from the safety of the broad shadow of a poplar, as […]

Low-flying cloud on the outskirts of New Plymouth accompanies this uncommon perspective from a high point near Barrett Domain. Running the beam over this attractive specimen from a steep ridge nearby, I spotted another outline in the background. Although deceased, the second tree adds depth, twisting the perspective further – mostly we look up at […]

NEWS: The above image is one of about 50 of mine which have just been published in a free ebook of quotations by Hannah Samuel, public speaker, author and mentor, of Auckland. The Pocket Book of Men’s Wisdom, Volume 1 is a compilation of quotes from Kiwi men associated with Big Buddy (www.bigbuddy.org.nz), a mentoring […]

Twelve hours before the Christchurch earthquake I was somewhat wearily walking the quiet waterfront at Kaikoura, 150 km to the north on the east coast. I was happy after a perfect evening of night photography, and had the moon well up behind me when I spotted these trees high above. They fringe the cliffs which […]

Despite this corner being at evening’s end Gerry and I were happy for the uphill slog that began here, under a moonless, starry sky. By text message we had heard of the huge earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and remote though Te Hapu station (www.tehapu.co.nz) may be at the top left corner of the South […]

Out for some night photography, you’d think that the simple equation of dark = dark at least ensured you had plenty of time to set up your masterpieces as you came upon them. That is, without finding the common daylight problem of something changing your scene. Alas, so often this is not the case! Of […]

Once again my title doesn’t really do this justice. The pleasantly secluded location borders Barrett Domain in Westown, on the western outskirts of New Plymouth. I have climbed up to this pastoral corner many times, having first discovered it on a sunny summer’s evening in 1976, when the grass was really long and my model […]

We waved the torch over nearby palms on our way back from Gilbert’s Beach, at Te Hapu (www.tehapu.co.nz), a remote cattle station in Golden Bay. On a wide angle lens it is easier to stop the stars, which were more visible with the moon being blotted out by a cloudbank. Having selected Direct sunlight light […]

Effective light painting with mixed sources, using very high ISO

A low angle on the plain and a karaka grove; company and constraint

Warm colours from a sinking moon, plus colour contrast – but where’s the beef?

Palms, balm and moonlit calm; the issue of personal safety and the usefulness of a lighting assistant

Vertical grace and green against a starry sky; the search for critical focus

Streaks of unexpected colour on a moonless night; “It must be film!”

Simplicity and multiplicity; vertical frame with a wide angle