Jill's Photos

First tomato 5/365

2012-01-15T19:15:00.001-08:00

First tomato 5/365, a photo by *Jilltoo on Flickr.

Homegrown tomatoes are the best! We have to grow them in a glasshouse here in southern New Zealand but it's worth the effort.
When you grow tomatoes in a glasshouse you should really change the soil each year to avoid the build up of disease. We usually buy a load of superdirt which is great stuff if you don't think of where it came from (I won't go into details here :-) )
To this I add some peat, dolomite lime and long term slow-release fertilizer granules. The problem every year is what to do with the soil you've removed, we tend to spread it round the garden as a mulch.
Strangely this year I've got many plants of plum/Italian style tomatoes when I didn't plant any of that type of seed. I suspect it was a contaminated pack of seeds. Just hope they taste okay. I guess I can always preserve them if they're not good for salads.
Although it's probably cheaper in the long run to buy tomatoes from the supermarket I'll keep growing them, the taste is unbeatable!

Rain 3/365

2012-01-13T22:18:00.001-08:00

Rain 3/365, a photo by *Jilltoo on Flickr.

It was sunny this morning, honest! In fact it's been sunny for most of the day. I left taking my daily photo too long so a rain photo is what you get, I do kind of like the watercolour effect it gives to my garden though.

Talking of gardens, I've spent most of the day harvesting - broad beans, raspberries and the tail end of the currants and weeding. I really need to get out into the garden more often!

Breakfast 2/365

2012-01-12T22:10:00.001-08:00

Breakfast 2/365, a photo by *Jilltoo on Flickr.

And because I started the 365 yesterday and didn't blog, there will be two posts in one day! Miracles never cease :-)

Breakfast with the newspaper....
I make bread almost every day, using a breadmaker as it makes it so easy and we much prefer the bread to the bought stuff. I should eat my crusts though!

It's rained here today, the first decent rain for over a month and it's certainly welcome as everything is getting dry.. It's been a great summer down here so far this year, unlike last year.

Blackcurrants 1/365

2012-01-12T22:00:00.001-08:00

Blackcurrants 1/365, a photo by *Jilltoo on Flickr.

What a shock! A new post after almost 3 years!
I've started to do do a 365 picture a day project from my second Flickr photostream and it seemed a good opportunity to blog them at the same time.
The blackcurrants are ready to pick, we have several bushes and they give a good crop each year almost without fail. After the very messy of job of cleaning them (I try and farm this job out to other family members) they are frozen and used for jam and deserts. Mmmm.....

Shortbread

2009-10-07T01:45:00.001-07:00

shortbread
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Every Sunday when I was a child, we went "up to Grandma's" for the afternoon.Grandma still lived out in the country on the family farm and took care of an unmarried uncle. The highlight of the afternoon for us kids was of course afternoon tea. Grandma was a great cook, and her tins were always filled, there was usually a wonderful sponge cake which came in different flavours, a yummy chocolate square, little "buns" and of course my favourite, shortbread!
I made this batch to her recipe especially for "photographic purposes" of course it's nowhere as good as hers..
Anyway, here's the recipe for Grandma's Shortbread (probably real Scottish shortbread too, as my great grand parents were from Scotland.

Grandma's Shortbread
8oz butter
4oz sugar
14 oz flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, then make into a ball and either roll out and cut into squares or shape into a long rectangle and slice into squares. In earlier years grandma used the first method, but in later she used the latter.
Prick the top with a fork. Bake in a slow oven 325 -350 F

Enjoy! I know I did :-)

Portrait of a mother

2009-09-20T04:02:00.001-07:00

Portrait of a mother
Originally uploaded by borealnz

The sheep over the fence at our country hut have just started lambing so there were lots of the cutest little lambs for me try and take photos of when we were down there today. Try being the operative word, as they're devilishly difficult to get close enough to and you have to be very quiet and move slowly or you end up with an entire paddock of ewes baaing for their misplaced lambs.
This lovely lady posed beautifully for me, I think the fact that there was a fence between me and her helped :-)

This was processed using one of the new textures available from Flypaper Textures, the site Paul and I launched just yesterday. I used one called Grande Tour very subtly to add a little more depth and it worked a charm :-)

home brewed

2009-08-03T01:02:00.001-07:00

home brewed
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I grew up with the smell of hops in the house, my father was a keen home-brewer and there was almost always something bubbling away in the corner of the kitchen or the garage. The earlier brews were made in the traditional way with real hops and malt and were bottled in the old tall type of beer bottle you see in the photo. Because there was always a couple of centimetres of sediment at the bottom of the bottle, the beer had to be decanted into a jug and from there poured into his favourite beer mug (ceramic with a picture of a stag)....(it's strange how you suddenly remember these small details). I don't remember too many dud brews but I guess there must have been some, nor can I remember exploding bottles.

When beer kits became available he switched to those for ease of use and while the resulting brew was more predictable it wasn't nearly as exciting as the old home-brew stinking hops and all.
He also used to make his own wine, but I'll write about that another day.

Lost and found

2009-06-24T04:16:00.001-07:00

blue bokeh
Originally uploaded by borealnz

This isn't what I had intended to post today, I wanted to process a photo of a conifer with raindrops, but after searching through countless folders for what seems like hours it refused to show its face. I know it's lurking there somewhere because I saw it only last week.

This leads me to my problem, how do you sort your photos so you can find things easily? At present my photos are sorted into folders by date taken and each individual photo is named once I've processed the Raw file, the problem is that the names I give them are usually very general, flower, beach, garden and as a result I can't find anything easily. So when I want to do a manipulation and want to lay my hands on a certain type of landscape to use as a background, do you think I can find it without having to spend forever searching?

So what's the secret to organising your photos, do I have to bite the bullet and learn how to use Bridge properly, or is there an easier way?

And the conifer....I've still not found it!

As the crow flies

2009-05-09T17:44:00.001-07:00

As the crow flies
Originally uploaded by borealnz

It's been a while since I wrote here but since it's a cold wet Sunday and I've a few minutes spare I thought I'd write a bit about the creation of this photo which I made for the Man Ray contest.

The starting image (provided by me) was of an old compass.
I had been wondering what to do with it all week and had a few vague ideas which would probably have been too hard to put into practice and then when I was out walking I suddenly had the bright idea of adding it to a sign (to tell travellers the way to go) but other than that had no firm ideas. This isn't unusual for me, I tend to make things up as I go along and it's nice to know that I'm not alone, I read recently that Maggie Taylor does the same thing.

So yesterday morning with that idea in mind, I went out and took a photo of a suitable sign, hunted through my archives for a fairly blank wide landscape to add it too (this one started it's life as a beach), replaced the sky and then started adding the other elements. To start with there was just the sign -in fact three signs as I had another two smaller ones in the distance. The crow came next, the one in the sky which gave the piece it's title, then the trees (Nikau palms from NZ's West Coast) replaced the distant sign. But it still didn't tell much of a story so after adding a few more things and then taking them away (there was a skull there for a while) , I finally hit upon adding the other crows, first the one on top and then the others.

After much tweaking of tone and texture I decided to call it finished, I could probably have played with it for another day or longer but decided I needed to move onto something else.

So there you have it, roll on the next May Ray contest!

In the spotlight

2009-01-15T02:46:00.001-08:00

In the spotlight
Originally uploaded by borealnz

We went for a walk along the beach the other evening after dinner, one of the benefits of the long evenings we get this far south, it was a popular place to be too, there weren't any swimmers or surfers but there were plenty of other walkers.

There is more sand on that beach than I've seen for years, which makes a stark contrast to the winter when they were worried about coastal erosion and sand loss. In winter you'd be rock hopping to get to the steps that lead up to the esplanade, at the moment the steps are half covered with sand; perhaps the most noticeable change is to the poles that appear in many of my photos, at the moment the taller ones nearer the sea would only stick out of the sand by about a metre or less, whereas in the past winter you'd be looking up at them and the ones at the back were almost completely covered.
I don't know where all the sand has come from but I'm sure it's more golden than the sand that's usually there and has tiny shells in it.

On our way back down the beach toward to the esplanade the sun decided to peek through a hole in the cloud cover and the light was so dramatic -with amazing shadows and silhouettes. I had the wide angle lens on so those distant silhouettes were actually much closer than they appear. And just as quickly as it has arrived the sun disappeared behind the clouds again.

Wishing you all a magical Christmas...

2008-12-24T00:01:00.001-08:00

Wishing you all a magical Christmas...
Originally uploaded by borealnz

It's Christmas tomorrow and the presents are wrapped, the cake is iced and the trifle is made. Having trifle for Christmas is a tradition in our family...Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a trifle, not a jelly or fruit trifle but a whisky one. I am still a bit of a novice in the trifle making stakes, but my mother makes a great one, and Grandma used to make one that would make you hair stand on end!
Grandma and my Aunt Polly were teetotallers "not a drop of alcohol shall pass my lips" but at trifle making time they could be found in the kitchen whisky bottle in hand, with much tasting along the way to make sure the trifle was strongly flavoured enough.

Anyway here's a basic recipe for whisky trifle, the way our family does it anyway. All quantities are approximate :-)

Take one basic sponge cake (I use the size you make in a rectangular sponge roll tin) and cut it in half and sandwich it together with a generous layer of raspberry jam.
Cut it into cubes and place in bowl.
In a jug dissolve about 2 tbsp sugar with about 1 -1 1/2 cups of hot water, add a generous quantity of whisky; I don't measure this but add enough to get a decent flavour (probably half a cup or more) the flavour does develop on standing but you should be able to taste the whisky at this stage!
Pour this over the sponge, you need to get the sponge really wet, this is the secret of a good trifle.
Make 2 cups of custard -(I use 2 tbsp of custard powder and 2 tbsp sugar and 2cups milk), but you could use real egg custard or bought custard.
Pour this over the sponge. Refrigerate when cold.
You probably could eat it the same day but I find it better the next when the flavour has developed.
Serve with whipped cream.
A little tip! The trifle at the bottom of the bowl has the best flavour!!

Recognise this?

2008-12-05T00:40:00.001-08:00

Recognise this?
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Earlier in the year I was approached by an Indie Seattle band The Soft Hills who wanted to use my artwork on their forthcoming debut EP.Naturally I was happy to oblige and after many emails they decided on the artwork you see here.

The original photo was one I had entered in a Man Ray contest with Paul Grand's French finca being the starting image but transported to a NZ landscape with added phone box :-)

The inside of the EP also features one of my images

The package containing my copies of the CDs arrived today and opening it was like opening a surprise Xmas present. I think it's come out beautifully and the music is great too!
You can see Garrett and the rest of the group in action Here

Lush

2008-11-16T01:51:00.001-08:00

Lush
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I finally managed to finish my first film from the BBF camera, I'd left the mask out this time so couldn't wait to see what photos with sprocket hole edges would look like.
Because developing labs aren't can't usually print films exposed this way, I used the develop only option at my lab and the resulting developed film, hadn't been cut into the usual strips but arrived rolled up in the film canister, so first I had to cut it into manageable lengths -not easy when there wasn't the usual gap between negatives.
Next step was the scanning -my scanner a Canon 8400f scans both 35 mm and 120 film but it's not set up to scan 35mm with the sprocket edges. So I decided to make my own mask out of cardboard which would fit inside the 120 film adapter. I used a double layer of card with a hole in the middle just a little bit smaller than the size of the negative. That was the easy bit....when I went to put my negative strip between the two cardboard layers I discovered it was extremely tricky to get the edges straight without the film popping out of the mask, things weren't helped by the fact that the film kept curling up.
I finally got the negative sort of straight and onto the scanner and after much messing with scanner settings to get the colour right got the negative strip scanned. Naturally after all the handling the negatives had had the resulting photos were covered with dust spots, I guess I could call it added texture :-) but I can see I'll have to spend hours removing dust spots.
So far I've scanned around 8 negatives out of my 24 exposure film so I've got hours of *fun* ahead of me still. I like the result though but unless I figure out a better and quicker way of doing the scanning I won't be taking too many films with sprocket edges.

The accompanying photo is of a Gunnera plant -they are huge lush looking plants that look a little like a giant version of rhubarb.

Another new toy!!

2008-10-09T01:39:00.001-07:00

Another new toy!!
Originally uploaded by borealnz

My BBF camera finally arrived yesterday along with the photos I took when I was trialing it back in June (I wrote about it Here). It was wonderful to relive the week I had the camera through the photos I took. There are plenty of boring ones but there are some that I like -a surprisingly sharp one of a fence post is one of my favourites -I say surprisingly sharp because estimating distances for focus isn't one of my strong points. I now know that landscapes with a large amount of sky don't really work and that simple graphic subjects are the best. Considering I hadn't been a film camera user for several years I am surprised at how well the photos turned out.

The camera came in a clear plastic dome and I see from the instruction booklet it's referred to as a "birdcage" and you have to "set the camera free" before you can use it.
I can't wait to get the camera loaded with film so I can try it out the different masking options, it's so much fun to use!

The BBF page at Superheadz has more information on the camera and their gallery features a few of the photos I took.

Dandelion

2008-10-02T00:48:00.001-07:00

Dandelion
Originally uploaded by borealnz

No this isn’t going to be a blog entry about the virtues of dandelions or recipes for dandelion wine and salad but a story of my own special dandelion.
Years ago when I was at high school, we were studying plant biology and reproduction and this included growing plants from seeds and cuttings. You probably all know how easily they grow from small pieces of root, well this is what I did and it grew beautifully into a very handsome dandelion plant.Rather than throw away my plant at the end of the year I took it home and grew it like a pot-plant and it thrived on the attention as you can imagine. It even came with me when I started a new job in a different city and was staying at the YWCA. Visitors to my room were always puzzled as to why I had a dandelion in a pot on my windowsill –they probably thought I was slightly strange! Eventually though it succumbed to drought, the fate of many of my pot plants:-) I've always had a soft spot for these weeds since then.

Organ pipes

2008-09-29T00:51:00.001-07:00

Organ pipes
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Yesterday afternoon we decided to walk up to this local rock formation known as the Organ pipes.

The track is only a short distance from town but we haven't been for ages, not since the kids were little anyway and when I was walking up I remembered exactly why we don't go often, it's so steep!! The first part of the track is wooden steps and then there are rock steps , and after the initial very steep part it flattens out somewhat, well flatten isn't really the right word, I should say it got less steep.

The organ pipes when we got there aren't nearly as impressive as they used to be as there have been rock-falls (earthquake caused perhaps). The area is the site of a long extinct volcano and these basalt columns are the result of what is known as columnar jointing -something to do with the lava cooling at different rates and then cracking. Some of the columns are almost perfect hexagon in shape.

The track we were on continues right up to the top of Mt Cargill -the mountain that overlooks Dunedin. On our way back to the carpark we were passed by two obviously very fit guys running up -it made me feel exhausted just seeing them.

Sentries

2008-09-15T01:03:00.001-07:00

Sentries
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Just north of Dunedin at Purakanui is the site of a Maori pa or fortified village known as Mapoutahi. The pa was sited on a small jutting peninsula just to the north of the Purakanui inlet. It has steep cliffs on all the seaward sides and is only accessible by a steep narrow track less than a metre wide which made it very easy to defend.

In the 18th century this lovely place was the site of a massacre. A chief named Taoka or Taonga came south from Timaru looking for revenge after the death of his son. They first laid siege (for 12 months) to Karitane pa, a few kilometres to the north but didn't gain entrance, so they turned their attentions to Mapoutahi, where after a siege of about 10 days Taoka and his warriors finally gained entrance and 250 people were killed, only one or two escaped by throwing themselves into the sea.

Today it is a peaceful place with a panoramic view of the area with little to remind you of bloodshed that occurred there.

Read the full story of the massacre Here

Dry weather track

2008-09-09T03:25:00.001-07:00

Dry weather track
Originally uploaded by borealnz

This "track" leads to the Fraser Dam, an irrigation dam high in the hills near Alexandra in Central Otago. I haven't been there for years but when I was a child we would go there on occasion fishing. The trout in the dam had the reputation of being sneaky. Instead of putting your worm on the hook letting the fish catch themselves -the lazy method we used in the other dams we visited, with these fish you had to hold your rod waiting for the bite.

One of my earlier childhood memories was visiting this dam with my grandparents in their huge car -a vauxhall or dodge or something, it was curved and green and built like a tank. Probably the reason I remember this particular trip was that excursions like this with my grandparents and especially in their car were relatively rare, or maybe it was the lollies that we were given along the way. It's funny how you remember small snippets of time; in this case I remember grandma reaching from the front seat with a lolly, probably a barley sugar and I even remember unwrapping it and putting the paper in the ashtray in the back of the seat, this all happened somewhere near where I took this photo.

I doubt if my grandfathers' car would have made it to the dam these days, the road was fairly rough in places and I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be there when it was wet. The dam, when we got there was very low, but since it's not fishing season it didn't matter. We did find a walking track to a historic site with the intriguing name of Shek Harn further up the valley above the dam and will go back to explore when we have more time.

Spring

2008-09-01T01:49:00.001-07:00

Beaded
Originally uploaded by borealnz

After a long damp winter spring has arrived here at last, or at least the calendar says it has. Our mornings are getting lighter and it's only a month until daylight saving starts again.The garden is finally getting dry enough to work, though the rain forecast over the next couple of days will set things back again.

These muscari or what I've always called match heads or grape hyacinths are among the first spring flowers in my garden, they form large clumps and their long straggly grass-like foliage can be a nuisance but their wonderful blue colour more than makes up for any shortcomings. I love their triangular shape and the spiralling pattern of the florets up the stem. They always look like miniature blue trees to me.

I've never particularly noticed their fragrance but they are supposed to smell of wet starch or plums depending on what reference you read, and have been used in the past to flavour rhubarb pies; not something I would be keen to try. The bulbs are poisonous.

Long Beach

2008-08-25T01:16:00.001-07:00

Long Beach
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Walking on the beach is one of my favourite things to do. It doesn't matter how many times you go it's always different and always beautiful even when the weather is less than perfect. My dream house would be a short distance from the beach so I could walk there every day.

This is Long Beach a long flat beach near the entrance to Otago Harbour, it's apparently a very safe beach for swimming, it's also a known place for rock climbing. Being winter and a weekday the beach was deserted when we were there this afternoon. There was evidence of the high seas that we have had recently as there was much erosion on the edge of the dunes.

It was on this beach (I think) that a child found a large lump of ambergris washed up a few years back. Ambergris is an excretion of the stomach of sperm whales -it's highly prized and used in perfumery and can be worth big money. Unfortunately we didn't find any.

Resting place

2008-08-19T02:07:00.001-07:00

Resting place
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Last week when we finally had a sunny morning I walked to one of my favourite Dunedin places, the Northern Cemetery.

There had been a frost that morning and it was still frosty in the shade when I got there, but the sun was shining and the light was wonderful. Apart from a couple of council workers pruning roses I was the only person there and it was very peaceful.

It's a fairly wild and untamed place with many trees and shrubs, it used to be even wilder but in the past twenty or so years much work has been done in tidying it and removing the vegetation which was damaging graves. Unfortunately there has been a lot of damage done by pests of the human variety -I wonder what satisfaction people get out of toppling and smashing headstones.

My favourite time to visit is in early summer when the old roses are in flower. Cemeteries and old roses are a perfect match. Roll on summer :-)

Marmalade

2008-08-13T00:29:00.001-07:00

Marmalade
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I made a batch of my favourite marmalade this morning.
The recipe for anyone interested

Marmalade
1.5 kg citrus fruit (I used a mixture of grapefruit, oranges and lemons
8 cups water
12 cups sugar

Wash fruit, cut finely or process in food processor, add water and boil until skin is soft.
Add sugar and dissolve, making sure all the sugar is dissolved before the mixture reaches boiling point again.
Boil until setting point is reached.
Bottle. (makes about 12 jars)

The mix of fruit should include either lemons or be cooked with a little citric or tartaric acid.

At this time of the year when citrus fruit is plentiful and cheap I often make a batch and freeze the pulp so in summer when I need to make a few jars all I have to do is add sugar to the melted pulp and cook till set.

The hive

2008-08-11T01:11:00.001-07:00

The hive
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I am a bee-keepers daughter, so I've grown up knowing and liking bees, from a distance anyway as I am or at least was allergic to their stings as were my mother and sister. Apparently this is quite common in bee-keepers families as I think you become sensitised from the bee venom and pollen brought in on the clothing of the bee-keeper.

One of the highlights of the bee season was the arrival of the new Queens. They would arrive by mail from somewhere up north in a package marked "Live Bees" each in their own little wooden box with sugar or something similar for food. I'm sure the post office handled these packages with great care! These queens, which had been bred for quietness and productivity were added to hives which were ailing or where the queen had died and added new blood to the colony.

Triffids

2008-08-07T02:35:00.001-07:00

Triffids
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I've never really liked these plants, although their form is quite striking they seem to have an air of menace -I've always thought of them as Triffids. Once one arrived uninvited in my garden, it seemed to spring up overnight, it didn't stay for long!

They are actually a variety of echium, I'm not sure of the exact botanical name but they are a fairly common sight in some areas here, growing in thickets and putting up statuesque blue flower stalks and later the seedheads you see in this photo.

It was sunny here today , the first really sunny and mild day for what feels like weeks and what a difference it made!

Kiwi

2008-08-06T01:09:00.001-07:00

Kiwi bokeh
Originally uploaded by borealnz

At this time of the year here in NZ, Kiwifruit are cheap and plentiful in our shops and I usually come home with a large bag full. Our family prefers the golden variety which you can see in the photo, the skin is thinner and less hairy and the flesh is sweeter and I think has a nicer texture.

They are a far cry from the kiwifruit which my parents attempted to grow in Central Otago where growing fruit like this was very marginal in the first place due to the harsh winters. The plants grew on the inside north facing wall of an old roofless glasshouse, initially there was one vine which was a female and as you need a pollinator there were no fruit. A male was duly planted and we were finally able to harvest several small, tough, very acidic kiwifruit (which we knew as Chinese Gooseberries back then) depending on how frost free the season was of course.

The family farm has been sold but I am willing to bet that those Kiwi vines are still thriving and putting out a thicket of new growth every year and maybe even producing the occasional fruit.

Enfold

2008-08-03T00:43:00.001-07:00

Enfold
Originally uploaded by borealnz

It's not often I have flowers from a florist in the house but this one is, it was part of a wedding anniversary bunch which I usually have to drop hints about as he's not very good at remembering things like that. The bunch has lasted remarkably well and there may still be a few more photos from it as the flowers fade.

The photo started off as a perfectly nice macro of a yellow chrysanthemum but me being me, I can't leave things alone so after much fiddling with colours and curves and things and trying many textures this is what you get, with an added dictionary definition because I haven't done one for weeks.

After yesterdays welcome bit of blue sky and fleeting sunshine it's been grey here again although the rain has stayed away thank-goodness.

Path to the sea

2008-08-01T03:09:00.001-07:00

Path to the sea
Originally uploaded by borealnz

Since it's so wet here at the moment -I don't think we've even seen any blue sky for well over a week, I did some archive surfing to find a slightly warmer landscape.
This was taken at the mouth of the estuary at Waldronville, a small seaside suburb just south of Dunedin. Waldronville is known for it's quirky street names, they are nearly all named after aircraft so you have a Friendship Drive, Vulcan Road, and a Vampire Road for example.
The beach is a long flat one and we walked north towards the rocky point that's Blackhead accompanied by the noise of gunfire!! The Dunedin pistol and smallbore rifle club is just over the dunes and it sounded like there was a running battle going on. The beach here is not suitable for swimming as there is a wastewater outfall but further north at the Blackhead end of the beach is popular with surfers.

Looks a lot like Christmas

2008-07-30T04:23:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-29T00:53:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-07-25T00:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-24T20:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-22T15:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-21T20:55:00.001-07:00

...
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

2008-07-21T01:55:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-21T01:43:00.001-07:00

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.

Mavora Lake

2007-01-10T00:18:00.001-08:00

Mavora Lake
Originally uploaded by borealnz.

This was taken at the head of the north Mavora Lake in Northern Southland, it is such a beautiful place. I would love to go back when there is snow on these mountains.

Moeraki Lighthouse

2006-07-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

Moeraki Lighthouse
Originally uploaded by borealnz.

We were in Moeraki a couple of weekends ago and had lunch at the wonderful "Fleur's Place" restaurant, a restaurant that you would hardly know was there. It is in a converted boatshed right on the harbour edge and right beside the wharf where the local fishing boats unload their catch. The food there is superb, naturally they specialize in seafood and they have a great reputation and are very popular. Our seafood chowder was delicious and sometime we are going back to sample their dinner menu.
After our lunch we decided to visit the Moeraki lighthouse, I could vaguely remember visiting it as a child but my husband had never been there. It is a beautiful little wooden lighhouse perrched on the hill above the Moeraki peninsula, beside it is a penguin sancutary. Naturally there was a wonderful view from the lighthouse up and down the coast. We walked down the hill towards the site of the original Maori pa but didn't go right down to the sea as it was cold and we were jacket-less, but it seemed a perfect place for a pa (fortified village) as the sea approaches were rugged and difficult and the peninsula was fairly narrow and easily defended on the landward side. I wonder what they did for water though -a spring probably. There is not much sign of anything having been there now though apart from some slight terracing of the hillside.

Broken

2006-07-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Broken
Originally uploaded by borealnz.

My first post at this attempt to keep a photo blog. It will hopefully just be a record of my doings via photos.

Over the weekend my husband and I visited Alexandra in Central Otago. Yesterday morning we went for a walk along the rail-trail; the rail trail used to be the main Central Otago railway line but a few years ago it was closed and subsequently turned into a cycle walking track. It is very popular especially in summer as the gradient is gentle and it goes through some very spectacular scenery. Our walk yesterday took us over the Manuherikia bridge and a short way along the track. Naturally I had my camera but it was very overcast and dull so things weren't very inspiring photography wise. I did spot this "Old Man's Beard" vine growing beside the track and snapped a pic but it wasn't till I opened the file on the computer that I discovered the broken branch.