Final shots and starting to edit.

I had to start editing and after spending hours with around 90 photos I had it down to just 24. But I still needed something else, I didn't have everything I needed. An extra night of shooting and only 10 days before the portfolio is due, but it was worth it.

At Wynyard quarter there are these water reed ponds. At high tide, and with a good sunset something beautiful can be captured.

Simon had told me about how the moonlight does weird things, so I wanted to see what I could do with it. Here is my first venture into shooting the moon. It was very tricky to get the exposure right.

This shot is one of my favourites. I had taken a number of shots that I really liked, and I was standing there enjoying just being, breathing in the experience. As I was enjoying the moment I glanced at the dark sea, and noticed how the light from a motorway light was casting ripples. I wondered how it would look in a photo.

It looked good.

Enough of the sea and mist

I had enough sea and parks with mist to sink a small battleship and I needed something else for the portfolio. Something that captured the urban and concrete that Auckland has. I shot down at Wynyard Quarter over three days from late afternoon to just after sunset. I was able to capture some of the old container buildings, with shadows and curves that intrigued me.

Bold and foreboding, if only I had got a person in front dressed in bright red.

I love the shadows and how the light highlights the blue. I was trying to use a ladder for this shot, but it was too unstable so I ended up with the tripod on a step.

If only this pair of steps had a sun setting behind them, but I ran out of days to shoot and I had a portfolio to create.

Getting my focus

When I first started taking shots at night I would often have out of focus images. I found it hard to look through the viewfinder and see clearly enough what I wanted in focus. I tried using the auto focus but the camera struggled with being able to know what to focus on.

But with shooting so many nights and having to wait around for the light I played with the live view function. Eureka, I could finally fine tune my focus and make the images crystal clear, and sharp as a pin. I feel in love with photography all over again. I could even zoom in on the image and make a specific part of the subject what is in focus, and with a very shallow depth of field this became a valuable tool.

This shot was taken with f1.8 and the focus is exactly where I wanted it to be.

More shots and the learning of waiting

I spent a number of nights where I would wait for the shot. No longer was I taking many photos on a location, but instead I was taking only 5 or 6. Where I would have taken 20 to 30 only a few months ago. I took the time to get the correct focus, the time to get the correct exposure, and the time to get the composition, just right. Sometimes this created a great image, and other times, well at least the elements were correct even if the subject was a bit bland.

Yes, the side of a motorway, but I had to climb a fence that blocked the way in. Even the kids wouldn't come with me, "its illegal and the police will arrest me". Lucky they didn't and I got to walk along the side of the motorway.

Shoot and reshoot

After reviewing my images I knew I had to go back, and for quite a few days I was up at 5am shooting, and then again at 7pm, hoping for that golden light. Some times were quite depressing, the light wasn't quite right, or I had forgotten something, such as a remote shutter release.

I added Mt Eden into the mix to see if I could build on my shots of lines, maybe a path might present itself, or a cityscape at night. I liked what I could do with the long exposures and the way light and movement can be captured.

Here is an image at night, maybe something I could work with.

I was lucky with this shot, the end of day was drizzly and overcast, but it meant that the clouds were very low. This shot of the path was taken around 6pm and you could see the low clouds drifting over the path.

Deciding the title

I thought about why it was so important to me to capture Auckland in the way that I was. I realised that with moving to Queenstown one of the things that I will miss the most is the familiarity I will leave behind. I have lived in Auckland for almost all my life. I know her quirks, the places that the tourist wouldn't. From this loss a photographic series was born. A series on Auckland called familiarity. The brief to capture images that are a little unusual, capture the beauty of the everyday Auckland that I know.
Here are some of those images.

Under a jetty at Herne Bay


Under the harbour bridge

Another jetty at Herne Bay

Only those who live in Auckland will know where they are, and even then maybe they won't..

My shot list

I decided I needed a plan, a shot list that would make a portfolio of Auckland. I wanted to capture the everyday places, not the fantastic sunsets, or seascapes, but the everyday that Aucklander's take for granted. I had some shots of Cornwall Park that showed the park in a different light, the misty look. after some thought I came up with a plan and went on a recky to visit the places and get ideas on the shots I would take. It took a couple of days but finally I had a shot list. Here it is;

1. Devonport wharf at - sunset

2. Cornwall park early morning - sunrise

3. Herne Bay jetty and around the small bays - sunset

4. New walkway along motorway and Victoria park tunnel - night

5. Wynyard Quarter around the containers - sunset and sunrise

6. Under Harbour Bridge from first turn off after bridge heading north - sunrise and sunset

These areas are where I feel comfortable, I feel that they have a story that I can capture in a photo. My only worry is will I have enough time to make the photos and then edit and print them....