Balloons Over Waikato

The annual Balloons Over Waikato festival was held 26-30 March 2014 with around 30 balloons participating in a mass ascension, a basket burn, a night glow and a cash grab competition.  Shown below are a handful of images captured throughout the festival.

Styx Kayaking and Kokatahi Tramping

This post contains a few images from an action packed weekend on the coast kayaking the Styx River and tramping up the Kokatahi River.  But first...

A lot has changed in the past month with the flatties and I moving out of Holliss Ave and into the Challis Palace, with Amy!  We have sacrificed our view over Cashmere for a new view over Ferrymead, the estuary being an everchanging sight.

Ferrymead estuary by day...

Photography services!

I'm thrilled to post my first definitive step in the direction of providing photography services.

This brochure has been prepared as a marketing tool to provide to anyone interested in using images I have produced.

While not a sales pitch (as I'm not selling anything!), it is a useful tool to pass on contact details and who knows, one day I may look back on this and be proud of my progress.

Kea Images

Kea are a wonderful bird, well known to be one of the most intelligent parrots in the world.  I have longed to rival some of the formidable images that have been produced by the remarkable photographers of New Zealand's birds.

A while ago I was asked why I enjoy photographing birds and my response was that I enjoy the challenge.  Such a dynamic subject choice, each with a mind of its own and so many different angles to capture while accounting for poor light, inclement weather, harsh terrain, and so the list goes on.

Here are a few of the better images from a recent trip into Arthur's Pass National Park, shot on a Canon 650D.

Zero-to-Hero 2014

The Zero 2 Hero beginner kayak course was held over the week of 10-16 March and was a great success.

The first session was pool based where beginners where introduced to kayaks, spray decks and buoyancy aids and shown the critical factors of boat control.  They were later made comfortable in the boat both right side up and upside down, all in the luxury of a warm pool!

This session is always popular and a lot of fun, concluding with a few boat based games.

New Brighton Sunrise

Every so often, right before a big ol tropical cyclone, Mother Nature serves up a stunning sunrise.  These pictures are from Friday 14 March, 48 hours before Cyclone Lusi was forecast to hit NZ, at the New Brighton Pier, Christchurch.

Unfortunately the blog site seems to have compressed these images and distorted the colours, making them grainy and patchy.  I'm working on a fix at present!