This balloon company was nice enough to invite me out on a ride, but I’ve never taken them up on it! I don’t know why… I’m not THAT busy! I bet it would be absolutely beautiful too. I’ve flown over this area many times in a helicopter and taken photos, but that’s always a bit of a rush. I think being on a balloon would be very calm and relaxing, allowing you to take all the time you need to compose photos of beautiful Queenstown.

Balloon over Lake Hayes

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-21 01:59:19
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/320
• Aperture5.6
• ISO400
• Focal Length70.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Here’s another photo that I did not put on the website for the new AirBnB because I felt there were way to many photos on there anyway! But, since it’s hard to take a bad photo around Queenstown, you end up with a ton of extra photos anyway! One of my favorite things about these grasses is how they flex and wave in the summer winds.

My backyard in the summer

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2017-03-18 07:17:12
• CameraX1D-50c
• Camera MakeHasselblad
• Exposure Time1/15
• Aperture16
• ISO200
• Focal Length30.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Every Winter here in Queenstown, there is a mini-Burning Man. Well, it’s a bit more like a Freezing Man because it’s usually below zero! My friend Duncan is part of the planning committee and he’s a fellow burner like me. It was such a transformative experience in his life that he wanted to bring as much of the experience to Queenstown as possible. There are a lot of art installations, performances, and all sorts of things to entertain.

Luma in Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-06-01 02:47:59
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/100
• Aperture
• ISO6400
• Focal Length
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

I love it when I get to introduce new people to New Zealand during my workshops! These are incredible events and we usually end up visiting Queenstown Gardens. There are so many different kinds of trees and the colors are completely ridiculous. Often times, we begin here in the gardens so that everyone immediately gets some good photos to share with friends and family back home.

Autumn Light in New Zealand

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 09:58:05
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture20
• ISO50
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Here’s a photo I took during the Autumn Workshop (which you should sign up for!) when we went up to the top of Coronet Peak. I have a list of like 10 of my favorite places to take the group… I usually wait till the very last minute to decide based on the weather. All the spots are good during any kind of weather, but some are better than others… It’s only taken me about 10 years to figure out all this stuff!

New Zealand during the Fall Workshop

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-25 09:19:52
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/800
• Aperture4
• ISO250
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Here’s a photo I took during a recent workshop in Queenstown. See that area down below in the valley with all the farm plots? That’s the area I live… I feel very lucky to have all these magical mountains around me!

The Remarkables in Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-25 08:09:46
• CameraFC2204
• Camera MakeDJI
• Exposure Time1/120
• Aperture3.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length8.6 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias-1.3

Here’s another photo from the workshop here in New Zealand. This one happened to be with the Pixel 3 phone. I am often quite amazed at how incredible the camera is on this phone. Maybe its most underrated feature (which seems a bit obvious when I point it out) is how convenient it is. Once you get into the world of photography, you are able to see nice scenes throughout the day. I don’t always have my big Sony with me, but I do always have my phone! This was exactly the case here when we were driving up to the Remarkables in our bus and I saw this scene. And yes, even though I had my Sony, I decided to take this one with the Pixel!

The Pixel 3 Phone

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-25 16:57:13
• CameraPixel 3 XL
• Camera MakeGoogle
• Exposure Time1/1250
• Aperture1.8
• ISO62
• Focal Length4.4 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramProgram AE
• Exposure Bias

On one of our morning photo walks, I saw this beautiful tree along the lakefront in Queenstown. I didn’t have the right lens, so I took a 2×2 panorama. I merged them together in Photoshop to create the final image. I’m pretty happy with it, but I honestly think it would be better if I had stayed here and wait for the sun to shine through the leaves.

Panorama of an Autumn Tree Before Sunrise

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 08:19:37
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1.3
• Aperture10
• ISO160
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias+2

During almost all our workshops, we spend the first morning walking along the foreshore in Queenstown and then into the gardens. This is the first time we had many layers of clouds and fog rolling in and out throughout the morning. I stopped on the beach to get this photo of all the layers stacked up together. One of the tips I often give around composition is to try to take more landscape shots in portrait orientation. There aren’t a lot of “rules” around orienting photos like this, so you can be much more experimental in how you choose to group the subject matter you are shooting.

Layers in Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-23 09:27:35
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/80
• Aperture8
• ISO50
• Focal Length105.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias

Every day the weather is quite different for our workshops. We never have a set plan about where to go each morning for sunrise… I usually wake up about 6 AM and start checking all the weather sites to see where the clouds will be, possible rain, and all this sort of thing. There’s still a certain amount of guesswork and reading the tea leaves. On this morning, I wasn’t 100% sure that going to the top of Coronet Peak would work out, but it did!

Moody Morning from Coronet Peak

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2019-04-25 08:57:42
• CameraILCE-7RM3
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1600
• Aperture4
• ISO250
• Focal Length50.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramManual
• Exposure Bias