Looks a lot like Christmas

Looks a lot like Christmas
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Getting sparkling circular bokeh like this is such a hit and miss affair for me. It seems to be a matter of using the right lens, in my case an old 50mm 1.7 prime at the widest aperture, having the light in the right place -back or side lighting seems to be the best, and having something that catches the light behind the main subject. In this case it was water droplets from the recent rain on the branches in the background, or at least I think it's the droplets, maybe it was just the way the light was coming through the leaves.

Hopefully if the sun finally manages to come out in the next few days I will practice my bokeh shooting technique ready for the next bokeh Wednesday.

The beach in winter

The beach in winter
Originally uploaded by borealnz

We are lucky here in Dunedin that we have so many wonderful beaches just a few minutes walk or drive away. This is St Clair the most popular of the city beaches. On the chilly and damp Saturday when we were here the beach apart from some people walking their dogs the beach was empty; for once we managed to time our visit to low tide so we could actually walk on the beach rather than along the track at the top of the dunes. These poles, probably the remainder of an old wharf or pier are a magnet for photographers, I don't think anyone with a camera walks past them without taking a photo, and usually on a Saturday there is a wedding party or two here getting their photos taken but there were none on this day.

We walked back to the car via the park behind the dunes and naturally by that time it had started to drizzle.

I used a digital lith effect on this image, it was originally warmly toned but after "playing" decided the subtle blue toning reflected the chilly conditions more accurately.

Warmth...

Warmth...
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I am lucky that our city's Botanic Gardens are only about quarter of an hours walk away from where I live so I visit it often, it's another reason why flowers and flora predominate amongst my photos. This afternoon I walked there with my camera; it was cold and showery and the gardens were all but deserted. I was there between showers luckily and spied this wattle in flower in the upper gardens -a beacon of gold and couldn't resist some photos. This was taken with my old 50mm manual lens at f1.7, after years of neglect I am really enjoying using it again. A subtle layer of texture (thanks Paul Grand) has been added and a TTV frame.

Oh and it poured down on my walk home!!

Dunedin's Jaffa Race

Jaffa Race
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Last week our annual chocolate festival was on here in Dunedin -there are many events but the one I went to was the jaffa race. Jaffa's which are large round orange lollies, hard candy on the outside and chocolate on the inside are rolled down Baldwin St, the world's steepest street (and I can confirm it's very steep!) Each jaffa is numbered with a paper sticker and at the end of the jaffa first through a chute is declared the winner and some lucky person gets a prize.
This year the morning was grey and drizzly and I was wondering if the race was going to be held at all but luckily it cleared before hand. The race is over in seconds and watching the jaffa's coming down the hill is amazing, it's like a fast moving sheet of orange. At the end of the race kids race to pick up the battered jaffas, (many come armed with bags for the purpose) and I watched as the trickle of water coming down the gutters turned to red.
This photo is from a couple of years ago as my shots this year didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

BBF Camera

About a month or so ago, I was approached by the nice people at Powershovel a Japanese crowd who develop and sell toy cameras, and asked to try out a new camera they are developing. Of course I said yes! The camera, known as the BBF is a twin lens plastic camera that takes 35mm film. I had the camera for a week and in that time had to take 5 rolls of film, then both camera and film were sent back to Japan. If the photos are any good they will be used for promotion of the camera which is to be released in about August. Using the camera was a learning experience for me, it's ages since I used a film camera and especially one with so few controls. First of all I put a trial film through to try and figure out what worked and what didn't, then it was onto the real stuff. I can tell you that taking 5 x 36 exposure films in a week isn't easy, especially when it's winter!
The camera has two exposure settings, sunny and cloudy, about 5 focus settings ranging from .8 of a metre to infinity. Photos can be taken in bulb mode or normal, there's a hotshoe for flash and there's a mask thing that you can put inside that gives you square photos (I didn't have one of these).
Anyway I really enjoyed using the camera and am looking forward to September when I get my photos back (and can find out what rubbishy shots I've taken) and they are also sending me a camera of my own!

Here is one of the trial shots I took with the camera, some fennel growing in our garden -cross processed using photoshop. Using this camera inspired me to get my own real TLR so as a result I am now the proud owner of Lubitel, but more on that at a later date :-)

IS-land

IS-land
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Taieri Island or Moturata lies just off the Otago coast at the mouth of the Taieri River about half an hours drive south of Dunedin. The island is a wildlife reserve and is home to many seabirds and probably seals too. It was apparently the site of a whaling station in the 1830's and 40's. At low tide it's possible to walk out to the island.
It was low tide when I was there a couple of weeks ago and I probably could have made the walk to the island but I didn't want to risk it and have to wait for the next tide to get back. The beach was almost deserted apart from the sea birds and a man in a wet suit who appeared to be preparing to swim to the island, I didn't stay to find out.
The title of this photo refers to one of my favourite books "To the Is-land" by one of my favourite New Zealand authors Janet Frame.

Apples

...
Originally uploaded by borealnz

At this time of the year our basement makes a wonderful "studio" -the sun is low in the sky and comes through the dirty windows onto this old desk. Because the windows are so dirty the light is filtered and if I use my 50mm lens open wide, I don't even have to use a tripod.
The apples you see here are from our old backyard tree, I picked a boxful in the autumn and the basement is where they are stored. I am not sure of their variety, they are fairly sweet with a tough skin, and don't mush when cooked, unfortunately they don't store all that well.

Butterflies

Butterflies
Originally uploaded by borealnz

These are the dried flowers of a climbing variety of Hydrangea ( I think).
I was walking through our local Botanic Gardens last week looking for things to photograph when I spied these growing over a wall and couldn't resist a them as were so pretty and delicate. I'm glad the gardeners hadn't cut them back -I must remember to go back and see them in flower.
The photo has been enhanced with a subtle texture layer.

Nuggets lighthouse

Nuggets lighthouse
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Thought it was about time I did another entry or two here, I might try and keep this blog more up-to-date but don't hold your breath!

The Nuggets Lighthouse is at the north end of the Catlins Coast in South Otago. It's a wonderful place to visit, rugged and beautiful, there's a short climb from the car park up to the lighthouse itself. On the day we visited it was raining and the conditions were far from pleasant. But despite the weather I managed to take a few photos in the area, some of which are amongst my favourites.