Today’s post on picking the right camera lens and photography accessories is a part of my series of photography tips. Whilst every article can be read on its own, I’d recommend you give the others a look through to have a more complete understanding of various photography topics, so you can start taking better photos. Today I’m going to cover the subject of photography … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2010
The Coromandel Peninsula
The Coromandel Peninsula is not a place for people who suffer motion sickness. In particular, motion sickness of the car based variety. This is a place where the roads are windy. Seriously windy. And steep. And often, a surface that is just dirt with a sprinkling of gravel. In some places in fact, the road has given up the whole pretence of being a road, and has just fallen … [Read more...]
Mountains, gorges (and hobbits)
Since leaving the rather wonderful scenery of Rotorua behind us, our trip has slowly wended us up the New Zealand north island towards the Coromandel Peninsula. This area is not too dissimilar from your quintessential English countryside, in fact, in some parts, more so. The small town of Cambridge, I am fairly certain, is more English than any part of England could possibly … [Read more...]
Volcanic Rotorua
Holidays are amazing. Even though I’ve technically been on holiday for nearly two years now, the break from the admittedly not too stressful job I’ve been working at for the last month or so certainly felt like a holiday. A change of scenery, new stuff, being on the road again. So it was with seriously high spirits that we headed North in Bernie, all ready to see and … [Read more...]
The Raurimu Spiral
When you are asked to think of amazing engineering marvels across the world, I guess a few likely suspects will pop into your head. Maybe the Pyramids, or the Great Wall of China, or the Golden Gate bridge, or one of the countless viaducts and aqueducts that the Romans left scattered all over the place. I expect the list goes on. Humans are a pretty clever species after … [Read more...]
The Pillars of Hercules
The Tongariro National Park and it’s surroundings, I am starting to realise, are a little bit like Venice. Full of canals and gondolas. No wait. Well, actually there are some canals, but that’s not my point. My point is that the main parts of it, and in particular the Alpine Crossing, are incredibly full of people, whereas if you step away from the main avenues and … [Read more...]
The Tongariro Holiday Park
Home, so the saying goes, is where the heart is. Which, given that my heart is located somewhere inside my chest cavity, would suggest that home is wherever I am. Currently however, and for at least the foreseeable future, home is at the Tongariro Holiday Park, so I figured I would tell you a bit about that. Well, actually, I was informed by those folks who brought me into the … [Read more...]
Taranaki Falls
The Tongariro National Park, which I am living beside, is largely famous (and a dual World Heritage site) because of the three rather awesome giant mountains that sit within it. But an 80,000 hectare park is always going to have more to offer than “just” three towering mountains. And so we went for a walk from the confusingly pronounced Whakapapa (faka-papa) village, to the … [Read more...]
Polarising Filters in Photography
Today in my ongoing series of photography tips, which have thus far covered depth of field and composition amongst other topics, I will be looking at the subject of polarising filters, and why you would want to use a polarising filter as a photographer. Hopefully you will find something in this post that helps you to improve your photography, or gives you some ideas that may … [Read more...]
A Guide to the Tongariro Crossing and Climbing Mount Doom
Ok, so I know it’s not really called Mount Doom. Hardy hobbits did not trudge many miles bearing the one ring of power and throw it into the fires of this mountain, which dominates the landscape here for miles around. Yes, it’s real name is a Maori word: Ngauruhoe (pronounced, from what I can tell, Nara-ho-ee). But still, you can’t help but peer at it, knowing that … [Read more...]