Night Cycling

I saw this photo of Anna’s a few weeks ago and thought that I would try something similar when I had the chance. I think that Anna did it better though. The wind was quite strong so I had to take photos quickly before the water dried out.

The background is from top to bottom, blue sky, neighbour’s red tile roof, white brick fence, dark wooden fence. Cleaning the windows is on my to-do list.

Up the Spout

It has been raining a lot recently and I have a cold. Photography is therefore limited to around home at the moment.

Over the Fence

After a couple of glasses of wine, our neighbour likes to put her records on and sing. Loudly. On her patio. Until 5 a.m. It’s hard to get annoyed with someone who sounds so happy.

She doesn’t do it at the moment due to the cold. I miss it.

Joy Amid Wetness

If I can help it, I won’t cycle in the rain. I don’t mind getting wet, but I don’t feel as safe on wet roads – wet brakes and reduced friction between tyre and road – as I do on dry. Also, when I bought my bike, the mechanic offered to give me a lesson on how to clean it. I made the mistake of accepting his offer, and can now take most of the bike apart and put it back together again completely spotless.

Before I accepted his offer, it would take me 5 minutes to clean my bike. Now, it takes between 90 minutes to 2 hours to do, so I try and reduce the number of times I do it. If I cycle in the wet, I need to clean the bike same day. If I cycle only on dry days, I only need to do a clean once every couple of months.

Last time I took my bike in for a service, it was so clean and in such mint condition that the mechanic asked me if I had ever ridden it. I found that amusing as it had done over 2500 kms since the last service.

I do admire these two cyclists, and the numerous others who were out training on Tamaki Drive on Saturday morning in the heavy showers (and occasional sunshine). There aren’t many events in New Zealand to train for right now, with the biggie being the Round Lake Taupo Challenge in November and the competitive triathlon season beginning about the same time, but it is great to see so many people out cycling anyway, rain or shine.

A Slice of History

I first saw this scene at the Auckland Tank Farm about a month ago. At the time, I only had my 6-year-old digital compact on me while my SLR was getting repaired and the resulting pictures were not what I wanted.

As soon as my SLR returned, I retook the photos, only to discover when I got home that the camera settings were all at their defaults. While I could have probably got the image I wanted with a RAW image, I couldn’t get what I wanted with the JPEG that had been produced.

Take 3 had completely washed out skies.

Take 4, I didn’t even bother getting out my camera as it started pouring as soon as I arrived on site.

This is the fifth attempt, and most likely the last as this area will be completely levelled in the next few weeks. Some of my photos such as this one used a graduated ND filter and I was amazed at how the sky was completely white in the photographs where the filter was omitted, and how well the sky came out when it was fitted.

Things Can Always Be Made More Interesting

I try and catch up with some friends from school every few months. Occasionally we play mini golf. Last year, we discovered Black Light (Glow in the dark) mini golf and I don’t think that we will ever go back to ordinary mini golf again. Funny thing though – our scores are nearly identical to when we could see what we were doing in regular mini golf.

A Night at the Races

Alexandra Park with Mount Eden to the left and the Auckland CBD to the right.

Classic Otago Terrain

I love Otago, and the one thing that differentiates Otago from the rest of New Zealand for me is the sight of golden-brown hills like these ones. This sort of hill is almost always within sight throughout Otago.

Double Zero Equals Zero

One Tree Hill hasn’t had a tree at its top for almost 10 years, hence its nick-name – None Tree Hill. In the next few years after consultation with local iwi has been completed, it is hoped that several native trees will be planted at the top of the volcano, and the tree which best shows survival skills will become the “One Tree” while the others are removed.

The DNA of Movement

On the Auckland wharves is an area of reclaimed land which houses a
large number of huge tanks containing oil. It is known as Tank Farm.
Currently, this area is in the process of having these tanks
dismantled and the area turned into apartment living and hopefully a
public area for viewing the Auckland waterfront easily.

This photo is the side of one of these tanks which may only exist for
a few more days or weeks, as I noticed when I took the photo that
workmen are clearing the area around it. The rate of change in
Auckland is astonishing. If I see something to photograph, it is best
to do it immediately, because by the time I return with ideas on how
to take my planned photograph, the whole scene has changed.

A Brief Moment of Quiet Reflection

I was driving between Roxburgh and Alexandra, crested a hill and saw
this scene and kind of slid the car to the side of the road in my
haste to take the photo. I was lucky that the police car behind me was
still ascending the hill, and didn’t see my slightly dangerous
manoeuvre or I may have been ticketed.

The stretch of State Highway 6 between Greymouth and Westport is
regarded as one of the world’s great drives. Lonely Planet’s Bluelist
names it in their top 10 best road trips. I agree that it is one of
the most scenic roads that I have ever driven, but scenes like this
would have me adding State Highway 8 from Dunedin to Geraldine to that
list.