Been down in Dunedin for some eye stuff and it reminded me of this shot from the coast down there… and that this is another one of those links between Scotland and NZ. The name Dunedin comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh…
I was lucky enough to stay on St. Claire’s beach in Dunedin for a few nights. Each morning had a different sort of sunrise. This was one of my favorites. I was out there pretty much all the time, with my camera fully loaded and ready to go! Beautiful mornings like this are so serene, but my serenity is often a bit challenged with trying to get as many interesting photos as possible. Another challenge is getting the quadcopter ready as well. If it’s a great morning like this, then I want to get more than just ground-based photos.
Also, fun fact, Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the steepest residential street in the world… one section is so steep it had to be made from concrete as normal road surfaces on a sweltering day would become unstable and start to melt down the hill.
This is a really beautiful and unique beach just south of Dunedin. It’s not a drive-up-and-visit-beach. It’s a drive-up-and-walk-a-long-way-then-down-a-long-tunnel-beach. Once we got down there, hardly anyone was around. The views are amazing, and we even saw a few cliff divers later in the day.
From the new NFT drop on Foundation
I’ve gotten really into this show called Hamilton’s Pharmacopia. I’ve probably seen about 10 episodes now, and I just watched this one about an Iboga ceremony in Gabon. This looks way more intense that other ones I have done, some of which you can hear about on my podcast page.
A few years ago I had a TV interview down here on that peninsula. I honestly can’t remember what the interview was about… but as with all TV interviews, the discussion was quite surface-level and we never got into anything deep. I knew that was gonna be the way it was, so I decided to actually do some other stuff while there, like flying my quad to get some cool shots like this!
I was on one of New Zealand’s news shows while shooting this. Here’s the footage!
This is a photo taken with my Phantom 4 pro. you can see me over there on top of the cliff with Tina and the news reporter. That was a fun shoot… we talked a lot about Plotagraph Pro. What a fun time! I ended up getting about 10 photos I really liked with the quad… there is an arch and tunnel I could have flown through, but I wasn’t quite brave enough!
Yes, yes, I’m excited about the new Mavic from DJI! But before I get that review up, don’t miss the “Phantom 4 Review” here on the site. Here’s the video review below that features the same location as today’s Daily Photo!
Here’s a photo I got a bit earlier during the quadcopter flight. Note it wasn’t a lot earlier — maybe just 10 minutes. But you can see the difference in the video above how the light went from This orange to That pink in such a short time. These kind of sunrises are rare, so, to me, I end up taking hundreds and hundreds of photos to get the full range of colors over that limited 20-30 minute span. Another reason is because when you are watching the sunset, minute-by-minute, you don’t even notice the subtle color changes… looking back through Lightroom later on really reminds you of all the amazing color changes.
Here’s a little clip from on stage at Facebook’s big conference. Right after this, we started streaming live from a quadcopter.
We stayed here at the castle in Glenorchy for several nights preparing for the big Facebook event above! One night we even had a fabulous dinner in the dining room with all the other guests. I think it’s like the only castle in New Zealand or something? So it’s quite the experience. I’ve always loved castles… I really want to go visit Scotland next and have more castle experiences there!
Thanks to the team at TV ONE and Mark Hathaway for converting this from a hit-piece to a puff-piece! 🙂
Here’s a Plotagraph I took from the quadcopter during the live filming of the show. It was nerve-wracking to be interviewed while trying to take photos and do so many things at once! 🙂
Check out the page here on the site for more info.
I made a much better version of the Plotagraph Tutorial. This one shows full end-to-end and has more samples. I also talk a bit about the price as well as how to share on various social media.
Remember, this was made out of a single JPG – how cool! I made this animation be a bit faster than most to add to the drama. But, of course, you can choose whatever speed you like. Actually, this one has two different speeds for the sky and the water (the water is barely moving).
We’re getting lots of good feedback on the new Phantom 4 review video! Thanks again everyone, and don’t miss the new updated Phantom 4 Review.
You’ll recognize this beach immediately if you saw the new quadcopter review above. I like everything about this photo except for ONE thing. Can you guess what it is before you read the next para?
It’s a small thing… but a tiny thing that gets under my skin. You see the photographer down there by the broken dock? I should have moved the quad just a little bit so that his figure did not bleed into the pier.
