Black Swan

Just not cuddly.

Young gannets

A couple of young gannets nearly ready to fly. They look like gannets in size and shape, though they are speckled. Quite strong, they spend a lot of time stretching and flapping their wings in preparation for the big leap. And it’s an all or nothing shot – one try is all they get. Fly

Return to Muriwai

It’s getting close to the end of the gannet’s season in beautiful New Zealand. They spend the summer here, but care not for our cold wet and blustery winters – they head over to Australia and indulge in their tropical winters. But they’ll be back in the spring to mate and lay eggs and nurture

Basking cormorant

I do hope I’m not becoming a bit of a bore with all this bird photography… I blame it on the 70-200mm lens. Yeah, I always liked photographing them, but they were always small in the frame and you couldn’t really see all the detail in their feathers. But now… I am fascinated… my camera

Joyful

  Another snap from the pride parade… amazing how quickly things fade and memories begin to soften…

Final Stretch

It’s a technicolour sport and on a sunny day, almost blindingly so… but nothing more technicolour than those brief seconds of the actual race when everything seems just a little bit more alive…

Before the race

I’ve always liked ‘spying’ on performers before they go on, before they become who they are when they are doing that thing that they can do – and we can’t… These two jockeys were hanging out before mounting their horses, grabbing a quick smoke. Looking a bit tough, and a bit dangerous…  

The Year of the Snake

Don’t usually post photos of the Lantern Festival here in Auckland. I always go and always bring my gear, but when I get home, the photos just don’t wow me – so this year I set out to get some different photos, something you don’t see all the time… I think I managed it a

Summer faces

Is it the wigs and hats? I love these shots from the Pride Parade the other day… the sheer brilliance of all the colour and the vibrancy and the energy… here’s a few more… Not sure why I avoid doing portraits…

Hello…

  Don’t remember taking this one. Sometimes I think I’ve got an inner robot photographer on board, who grabs interesting shots I might have missed – like this one… Not sure why, but I just love the lovely softness of the background and the sharpness of the hair in the foreground… something innocent about it…