Queenstown

Im currently in NZ- Queenstown to be exact. We are having lovely weather here. So far we have travelled out to Milford Sound and walked around Queenstown town itself. Very touristy area- but pretty nonetheless.

Here are a couple of quick pics....

View from our apartment in Queenstown- seriously the apartment is larger than my house!

Travelling to Milford Sound- an 8 hour driving journey

Friordland National Park 

 

Looking towards the Remarkables from Queenstown Gardens 

 

My travel companions!


More to come at a later date! xx

HDR trialling

I haven't posted in ages and i feel rather guilty about that- I haven't even had the time for new sewing projects due to being so busy! (very guilty about that to be honest) but nevermind i will try and make up for that!

Life has been seriously busy with the house and Christmas. New Years brings plenty of challenges and fun times ahead!

As i am typing this, a nice cool change is coming into the mountains. Its been SO hot for the past week, and for a house that does not have air con its been very unbearable (especially for Miss Figgy the cat). Anyway i have been back taking photos- which makes me happy to be back in the groove again so to speak. Here is a quick picture of the backyard. Over Christmas the bf and i did a lot of clearing and all the bamboo got chopped down- as you can see i don't have a fence there! Anyway this shot is a practice run of a photography technique called HDR - High dynamic range. In a nutshell a normal photographic image does not display a complete range of luminance that the normal human eye can see. Through a number of exposures at different shutter speeds, the combination of these images provides a more accurate image (ok this is a less than technical description- see wikipedia if your further interested)

Here is the image that is (according to the camera- is exact on exposure)

Because of the darker forground and bright background, its difficult to get everything spot on... then in HDR....

So much nicer, richer in colour and tone, depth- everything, just as your eye would see it!!!

Movember portraits

Movember finished up today and as customary at work, we had a morning tea to celebrate the men of movember.
In case you have never heard of Movember....

Each year Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in Australia and around the world, with the sole aim of raising vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Men sporting Movember moustaches, known as Mo Bros, become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo growing efforts. The rules are simple; register online at Movember.com and start the month of Movember clean shaven, before growing a Mo.  

Money raised in Australia is shared equally between programs targeting prostate cancer and male depression. Funds are committed to our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative and the Movember Foundation. Together, the three channels work to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world class programs in the fields of research, education, support, and awareness.


I had the huge pleasure of taking some portraits of the 'bros' that were to be displayed at our morning tea. I dont often get to take portraits, so i really enjoyed the process. Getting a portrait taken is a daunting experience for some and the guys did really well.
I was happy to test out my new flash, ring flash adapter and really test my new lens. Im still getting used to the flash etc, but the lens blew me away- the shallow depth of field is amazing and the detail is insane- im stoked, i am glad i went with my instinct and bought the lens, my old one just wasnt up to scratch!

Here are some of the portraits!

So congrats to all the Mo Bro- they raised a few $$$ and gave this photographer some great experience!
Let me know what you think! Which is the best mo?!