Spotlit toutouwai
I wrote a post recently about OOFFE (Out-of-focus foreground elements!) and how they can help remove distractions in cluttered images. A weekend trip to Ecology bush at Tāwharanui was the…
Leaving Campbell Island
Leaving a harbour for the open sea can be daunting. We read forecasts and anticipate the swells and the wind, but experiencing the transition from stillwater to rolling ocean is…
Incoming!
Little zipping tūturuatu (Shore plover) are difficult to photograph in flight! They're very speedy wee birds. After spending a lot of time, and getting a lot of blurry images of…
A hike around Enderby Island – 2020
In 2015, Enderby island was my first boots-on-ground subantarctic island experience. It was Christmas Day. I opted to see as much of the island as possible on a circumnavigatory hike…
Little zooming legs
Even walking in a group, I usually end up on my own. At the back. Or way behind, distracted by patterns, plants, light, and of course, birds. I like taking…
Adding OOFFE to your images
Lets talk about OOFFE. By which I mean "Out-of-focus foreground elements". It's a terrible acronym, but the alternative is a mouthful! Typically in wildlife photography, you want a clear shot…
Dinner
This tiny titipounamu with his dinner is one of my favourite images from a weekend up in Arthur's Pass a few years ago. The light was gorgeous but gone inside…
Dawn around the Pinnacles
The 5am start is a struggle, in the chill starry blackness before dawn. We traipse down an empty road in the dark to hop aboard the comforting familiarity of Trevor's…
Shorebirds
What can I say? I've missed the ocean. I'm taking every chance to be on or as near the sea as possible now. With limited opportunities to get out on…
Tāwharanui birds
Mornings are not my strong suit. I need a compelling reason to leave my warm cocoon of covers, but I'm getting better at giving myself reasons. A few weekends ago…
Eyes in the dark
I'm halfway up a tree and there's a Duvaucell's gecko giving me a very disconcerting grin. I'm perched so I can see across the expanse of burrowed ground that forms…
The Ōi of Mauao
The sky has faded from dusk blue to navy, a punch of cobalt where the sun has set. Smoky clouds are strewn across the sky, and we walk a gravel…
January fieldwork
After seven days in the subantarctic, I'm back on the Poor Knights islands. It's Northland warm, still and sunny, Shag bay turquoise and calm. The storms of December ripped through…
Muriwai, Muriwai, Muriwai
I've lived in Auckland for eight years or so now. Because I'm unashamedly a bird person, and seabirds are my passion, Muriwai gannet colony is one of my most-visited places.…
Light at night
I have a complicated relationship with the lighthouse on Burgess island. I love it for the predictable swing of the beams that slice out into the night, rays reaching out…