Choppy made a stop at the airport in Milford Sound to re-fuel the helicopter so we could keep the flight going longer. It was a super-long day of flying with nearly five hours in the air. I’m not sure how much fuel a helicopter can hold, but we were flying pretty hard so probably about three hours worth… By hard flying, we actually had two helicopters up as we were flying from location to location.
Today, if you’re a Passport member, then you’ll get to see some clips from the amazing 8K footage we captured for Over The Top Helicopters here in Queenstown, New Zealand for my friend Choppy! What kind of equipment did we use? We took up two helicopters, one of them had the first 8K flight setup anywhere in the world – specifically, the Shotover P1 MK ll dedicated 8K gimbal with a Red Monstro camera and Angenieux 36/435 zoom lens.
And here are a few of my favorite photos I captured on those amazing few days of shooting!
Here are some of the best video shorts we got from helicopter to helicopter! They are going to be using these in HD at trade shows and stuff to run in the background and other edits will be used for different purposes. Thanks again to the whole team for helping out!
If you haven’t seen “My Octopus Teacher” – then make sure you get it on your list… here’s a trailer for it.
Daily Photo – Driving to Milford Sound
As you exit the tunnel on the way to Milford Sound and Mitre Peak, this is the scene with which you are presented. I pulled over to the side and launched the quad to see the hypnotic scene from above.
Not far from where today’s photo was taken is the famous tunnel to Milford Sound. Here’s a 360 video we released that shows what the experience is like!
Daily Photo – A Moody Fog in Doubtful Sound
What an awesomely moody morning! I was really hoping for a bit more clarity, but sometimes I can be a little moody too. It was pretty cold outside, as we were here in the late Autumn. It was one of those rather misty mornings, so the cold really felt like having a cool blanket around you all the time. Every few minutes, I’d have to wipe down my lens… but this Sony A7r Mark 3 seems perfectly weather-sealed so far, so that is great news!
Here’s a quick hit tip about making imperfect reflections in Milford Sound.
And here’s one of my favorite photos from this same spot!
Daily Photo – A Royal Panorama
I don’t make a lot of panoramas with my quad, but I thought this was the perfect situation. Usually, it shoots at such a wide angle that panoramas are not even necessary. But I wanted to do something that would end up with a much higher resolution. So I got a lot closer to the castle then normal and took four or five photos across.
My best advice is to come for at least 10 days and spend the entire time on the south island. Rent a camper van and just roll around all over the place. Some people try to squeeze in the North Island and the South Island into one trip. Just do the south. The north is fine, but it’s too much to squeeze into one trip.
Daily Photo – Tane Kayaking in Doubtful Sound
It was a very moody evening in Doubtful Sound, and it wasn’t just moody because of Tane. The afternoon had seen 70 knot winds, which translates to about 130 kilometers per hour or 80 mph. Crazy, eh? We couldn’t even go outside on the deck. The crew really seemed to enjoy all the wind; for what reason, I cannot discern. It also made me wonder more about why the measurement of knots came about rather than kph or mph. Even as I write this, I’m going to go look this up.
Okay I just looked it up, and it is only vaguely interesting. Here you go:
A knot is one nautical mile per hour (1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour). The term knot dates from the 17th century, when sailors measured the speed of their ship by using a device called a “common log.” This device was a coil of rope with uniformly spaced knots, attached to a piece of wood shaped like a slice of pie. The piece of wood was lowered from the back of the ship and allowed to float behind it. The line was allowed to pay out freely from the coil as the piece of wood fell behind the ship for a specific amount of time. When the specified time had passed, the line was pulled in and the number of knots on the rope between the ship and the wood were counted. The speed of the ship was said to be the number of knots counted (Bowditch, 1984).
Aurora HDR 2018 is now available for both Mac AND Windows! That’s right, the world’s leading HDR photography software has been entirely redesigned with exciting new features, improved user interface, speed improvements, Windows support and more. I’ve been using it a ton and I think you’ll be blown away!
Current users of Aurora HDR should check this link to see if you qualify for the upgrade price. New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 and my new Aurora HDR tutorial in my online store.
Already own Aurora HDR Pro and want to upgrade? Click here to find out if you qualify.
Sneak Peek Inside Aurora HDR 2018
Below is a sneak peek video I made that shows off just SOME of the new features!
In other news… Art of Tidying
I just finished listening to a good podcast by Tim Ferris about the Art of Tidying with Japanese-neatness-guru Marie Kondo. Here’s a link!
Daily Photo – Flying Over the Entrance to Milford Sound
This is a panorama I took right after coming out of the tunnel through the mountain to Milford Sound. It’s such a long drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound (about 4 hours), and seeing this after the tunnel is always extremely rewarding. Don’t get me wrong… the whole drive itself is beautiful (it’s New Zealand!) but after getting through this tunnel, it’s like you enter a different world. It’s basically the only way to get into the fjords unless you fly, which I haven’t tried yet. I do have it on my bucket list to take Over the Top and Choppy on a joy-ride over there to take photos like crazy!
I took this less than a year ago, but I had no memory of what lens or camera I used. I had to go look at the EXIF! I was 90% sure it was the Hasselblad, but I had no clue on the focal length. It looked quite zoomed in, but then I realized the waterfalls are so massive, you really can’t tell. Anyway, it was the 35-90mm, shot at 60mm. I wish there was a zoom lens, but in everyone’s life, a little waterfall must fall.
Daily Photo – Rainy Day in Milford Sound
In Milford, when it rains, the mountains pour. I tell most people when they go that rain is probably one of the best weather situations down there… literally THOUSANDS of waterfalls. I believe I took this one right by the tunnel that leads from one side of these massive mountains to the other. Waterfalls are crazy on both sides… mind-blowing, really. Whoever built that tunnel and road to Milford Sound, THANK YOU!
For just the price of a few cups of coffee a month, you can be a passport member and see a new 360 video today where I’m talking about my goals at Milford Sound. I was able to accomplish a few of them, and I failed at others. I have some fun photos from this trip coming up! 🙂
Passport Exclusive – My goals at Milford Sound
I often arrive at a location with amorphous goals. I’m sure this happens to you too. I get to a cool place, even one I’ve been to before, and then I have a sudden worry: “What the heck am I going to shoot here that is interesting?” Here’s another video for you, gentle Passport Member (thx again!) – where I talk about some goals… It’s good to have some goals and then vary from your main course… as is the case with today’s photo that was taken during this outing.
This was taken early in the morning at low tide. The tide here goes dramatically up and down. At high tide, you can just see a few branches sticking out of the water, but at low tide, you can walk about half a kilometer out into the bay and get shots like this. I shot this at f/1.4 with the Leica 21mm on the Sony A7r Mark II.
