One morning along the coast of Gisborne was incredibly serene. It was one of those nice long mornings where I just listened to music and walked alone, seeing the morning pastels softly moving from one palette to another.
While I was out on an amazing photo commission, I got a bug one night to go out and shoot. I had a good feeling that I would have an amazing time, even if I didn’t get a good shot… So, I grabbed a bottle of wine and my headphones, put on some amazing music, and roamed up and down the beach for hours until I got this shot. It’s too bad nobody was recording me dancing… it was quite a scene, I tell ya!
Here is another photo from Gisborne that I took with the drone. It wasn’t until I got high above this estuary when I realized even more beautiful shapes. It reminds me that I should really get that drone up and out more to see all the cool patterns that are hidden at eye level.
I just saw this funny video about people that take the same photos over and over again in New Zealand.
I probably should have photoshopped all the bird poop off that cool dock first… I don’t know why I didn’t. It would have taken me LESS time to write a few sentences about how I lament not doing it. This is yet another area of my life where I have regrets… If I could have just thought ahead, about how I would be spending 120 seconds writing this, rather than spending 60 seconds with content-aware patching. Oh, how I wish I could rewrite the past… Anyway, this is a 9-photo panorama.
We spent about two weeks at this amazing farm in Gisborne where I was taking photos on a commission. The first week or so, the weather was terrible and there was little or no sun. It made for some very moody and cool photos, but I was really looking forward to getting more natural light. Then, after another long day of storms, the sky opened up a bit…
What a clever idea this is!
While I was in Gisborne, I got my quadcopter up and around to explore the hillside as much as possible. I hiked around these hills quite a bit, but that gets to be quite exhausting. So, instead, I decided just to relax a little and let my quad do the work for me. At one point, I got a little overzealous and the quadcopter ran out of batteries and got stranded on one of these hillsides… which means my whole plan failed as I had to hike up to the top to recover it.
For most of my first week in Gisborne, the weather was terrible and rainy. This was our first crystal clear night… so I made the best of it by staying up till about 4 AM taking photos… I kind of wanted to stay awake all the way until the next day, but I could not make it happen. I was so exhausted and I just crashed onto the bed for a very rough 2 hours of sleep before waking up early for the sunrise.
Every Sunday, there is a fresh how-to video for Passport Members. I hope you enjoy this one as much as the others! Today’s shot was made out of 9 different photos in a 3×3 panorama.
Today’s video shows more about the creation of this photo – enjoy!
I don’t usually put people in my photos, but this shot called for it. There’s this strange thing in landscapes (especially in New Zealand) where you can’t quite tell the scale of things. By putting a human in the shot, it gives the whole thing a sense of scale. My friend Monni spent a few weeks with me here and she was often wandering around with my second camera, and I happened to catch her right at the end of the pier in the middle of this estuary near Gisborne.
