For those in Christchurch, I have an exhibition up at the 'Green Room'
cafe in Addington (39 Princess St, Addington). The images on display
are a small selection of images from my 'Wild Aotearoa' collection which
will be exhibited in 2013. If you get the chance, go and have a look,
hopefully it will be open Monday - Friday for most of January!
A few months ago I made a Blurb book using the new Lightroom 4 for my grandpa's birthday. My grandpa is my number one fan, and takes a great interest in my photography and has always been a great influence and friend to me! Click on the link below to view my book 'Wild Aotearoa'... Its free :)
What is it that drives or motivates you to pick up your camera? Is it the anticipation of capturing that 'perfect shot', is it your club's next competition, is it a way of expressing yourself or an outlet for your creativity, is it a way of documenting and sharing your interests, experiences and everyday life or is it all of the above? There are many reasons we pick up our cameras and it is a question that I constantly ask myself.
My photography has always been an extension of my passion for nature and in particular wildlife, and my motivation to understand and learn more about wildlife keeps me behind the lens. This is something I always remind myself of as I feel that sometimes we can put unneeded pressure on ourselves to capture that perfect image, something out of the ordinary, something different, something 'sellable', and this added pressure can take the joy out of our photography. Often our biggest pressures can come from ourselves... where we can get discouraged if we don't come back with the images we envisaged or lived up to our expectations. I believe that often our best photography is created when we are enjoying ourselves and following our passions, this is when we can be our most creative!
What's is your passion? What excites you? I believe that if we incorporate our interests and passions into our photography it shows... Our love for our subject will shine through! If we photograph what we are passionate about we will be more motivated to get behind the camera and freely pour our time into capturing our subjects the best we can. It is often said that the best photographers are passionate ones... it certainly makes it easier to get out of bed early on cold winters mornings!
Tomorrow I head for Australia, a chance to catch up with the family over the Christmas and new year period, something I'm really looking forward to! This will also give me the opportunity to get behind my camera and just enjoy photography for the love of it! No pressures or expectations... watch out Australian birds!!! Keep an eye out for some new images to come!
I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a great new year!!! I hope that all you photographers out there follow your passions and have a fantastic time making pictures in 2013... most importantly have fun!!!
UPDATE:
In July this year the Nature Photography Society of New Zealand hosted the 2012 Trenna Packer Salver competition once again. This year the competition was open to all photography clubs and societies in New Zealand. It was great to recieve this year's 'champion image' for my 'Hooker Sea Lions - Phocarctos hookeri - sparring' image (shown below)! What an honour :)
In September this year I led a trip for the Nature Photography Society of New Zealand (www.naturephotography.org.nz) to Kaikoura. We had a fantastic time photographing dolphins, albatross, seals and of course birds :) Here are a couple of images of one of my favourite NZ birds, the reef heron (Egretta sacra) photographed on the Kaikoura Peninsula.
Above: Friend, Keith Walter photographs a Kaikoura sunrise
Thanks for stopping by!
