Brian's place - Photography

Brian's place

Photography

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Photography

I am a keen amateur photographer (which doesn't mean I am a good one!), I finally took the leap into digital SLR in 2006 with the purchase of a (very) second hand Canon 300D. In 2007 that was upgraded to a 400D, and then a 350D purchased as spare body. Eventually they were all traded for a lovely 40D. Lenses I have used are the OK-ish kit lens and the Canon 17-85IS, the 75-300IS which was replaced with the 70-300 IS (a much better lens). I've recently "upgraded" the 17-85 to an 18-200 and 17-40 L series. Last year I moved to a 7D (really notice the difference to the 40D in terms of image quality) and a 100-400 L Series for my airshow lens.

I am generally a bit shy of taking photos of people, but I LOVE night scenes. This explains the choice of Canon for the CMOS sensors, the only dSLR's with them at the time. I'm no Canon freak but I do like my 7D. Prior cameras have been the Ricoh KR-10, Canon 500n, Nikon 5700, and the Canon S2 IS (a handy little traveller). My collectables are the range of Asahi Pentax cameras, from the original Asahiflex through to the Pentax MX/ME super era.

Anyway, on to the photos. The type of camera doesn't have a lot to do with the photos (to explain: When tasting fine food, you'd never think of the type of oven the cook used, right?) so don't blame these photos on Canon or Nikon! I will create sub pages at some point, but in the meantime here is a random selection.

Note: I retain Copyright on all of my photographs. Please contact me - me@brians-place.com.nospam (remove the ".nospam") if you wish to use them in any way.

First shot, not exactly well focused but quite dramatic. This is Red 2, a member of the RNZAF Red Checkers aerobatic team hitting the prop wash of the preceding aircraft whilst on *very* short finals. He was maintaining good separation, I think it was just plain bad luck!

He or she did all the right things, you can see from the deflection of the nose wheel that he has plenty of right rudder applied to try and pick up the wing. The next few photos in the sequence shows his tail plane even closer to the runway, then climbing away safely, An awesome display of flying!

Kaiapoi river at night, looking from the wharf towards the main road.

Kaiapoi shops on a late winter's evening.

Cathedral and Chalice - one of the few photos that I have sold, taken on my old Nikon 5700 and printed as a giclee (canvas).

Bridge of Rememberance, Christchurch, New Zealand

I like the bridges in Christchurch, and the way they are lit at night. It really is a beautiful city. This is the bridge of Remembrance on Cashel Street.

Here's a tram heading up Worcester Street, with Christchurch Cathedral in the background.

Yes I do venture out in day light - when necessary. ANZ Chambers on Lichfield Street, Christchurch. I like the seagull!

Waitangi day in Kaiapoi, February 2008.

Kaiapoi sunset, January 2007

Waimakariri motorway bridge

MV Tuhoe, Kaiapoi. Note the George Troup designed former railway station in the background.

Methodist Church, Kaiapoi

This is the same George Troup-designed former railway station now used as the Kaiapoi Information centre.

I'm proud to say that this building wouldn't exist if it wasn't for my intervention. I wasn't involved in the restoration, the people that did it made a remarkable job.

Another angle on the bridge of Remembrance.

The Arts Centre in Christchurch.

Lake Clearwater and the view to the Southern Alps. A beautiful, cold, dawn!

Lake Clearwater and the twin peaks of... something. Or other.

Lake Clearwater settlement.

Lake Camp, about 200 metres away from Lake Clearwater. These used to be known as Lake Tripp and Howard Lake for some reason.

Here's Jb1236 belting through Hornby at a decent rate of knots, on a frosty August morning. It sounded even better! I must edit the chimney out and clean this image up, one day.

Same location, same loco, same day, 11 seconds later.

Cass Station gets a visitor or three. Note to self: crop this better.

This was taken from a Helicopter, about 500 feet over Mount Cass looking to the North West. Hard to see in this small version, but there are some nice lighting effects on the valley floors.

Lake Clearwater and my three Monkeys, See no evil, Hear no evil, and Say no evil