Up 233 moonlit steps, Back Beach, Taranaki. 10.07 pm, 27 March 2013
To Barney’s pulpit rock I climb / Where the sea aisles burn cold / In fires of no return / And maned breakers praise / The death hour of the sun.
James K. Baxter, In fires of no return
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11
Perfect evening, Ngamotu Rd, New Plymouth. 10.17 – 10.21pm, 25 March 2013
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow / Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, / You cannot say, or guess, for you know only / A heap of broken images – T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
85mm; ISO 500. 4 minutes at f16
Illumination, Ngamotu Rd, New Plymouth. 9.51 pm, 25 March 2013
You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head. - Marge Simpson
50mm; ISO 2000. 2 seconds at f5.6. Sodium vapour light balance
Just the ash, Taranaki. 11.12 pm, 27 February 2013
If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. - Leonard Cohen
50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11
Moonlit mudra, Golden Bay. 10.54 pm, 7 February 2009
Let us live most happily, possessing nothing; let us feed on joy, like the radiant gods. - The Buddha
24mm; ISO 200. 60 seconds at f2
Whither Michael Smither? Waiwhakaiho River at Alfred Rd. 10.56 pm, 27 February 2013
In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality. - Alfred Stieglitz
85mm; ISO 2000. 25 seconds at f8. Incandescent
Rising moon on Razorback, Taranaki. 9.14 pm, 27 February 2013
All of us must indulge in a few small follies if we are to make reality bearable. – Marcel Proust
28mm; ISO 2500. 30 seconds at f11. Flash
Moonlit minutes at Morere, East Coast. 10.31 – 10.41 pm, 25 January 2013
Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities. - Dalai Lama
28mm; ISO 2000. 629.4 secs (10.5 minutes) at f11
Nelson twilight under rising moon. 9.50 pm, 28 November 2012
85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16
Maitai moonlight, Nelson. 10.08 pm, 28 November 2012
My meditations, my musings are never more enchanting than when I am able to forget myself. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
NEWS: My 2013 Night Visions calendar has now sold out. The NIGHT VISIONS book is still available direct, at $40 post-free (signed copies, with 4 x greeting cards as a bonus). The book has had some favourable notices: “A unique, often eerie, new perspective” (D-Photo magazine); “Enchanting” (Nelson Mail); also in North & South magazine (November issue: “a bewitching mix of rural and urban landscapes”).
85mm; ISO 2000. 5 seconds at f8. Flash
Coming ashore at Cable Bay, Nelson. 7.36 pm, 6 May 2012
All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. - Leo Tolstoy
85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f6.3
Echoes in Frankleigh Park, New Plymouth. 10.42 pm, 30 October 2012
I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored.
― Bill Bryson, Lost Continent: Travels In Small-Town America
85mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance
Still round the corner, New Plymouth. 10.49 pm, 30 October 2012
Still round the corner there may wait / A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by / A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run / West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
85mm; ISO 2000. 20 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance
The mother ship is obviously poised. 9.20 pm, 26 October 2012
For the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God’s will, and with equal joy they would lift a Lazarus in his rags to Abraham’s bosom, or be a chariot of fire to carry an Elijah home. - John Newton
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f13
Beam before landing, Taranaki. 9 pm, 26 October 2012
Miracles occur, / If you dare to call those spasmodic / Tricks of radiance miracles. / The wait’s begun again, / The long wait for the angel, / For that rare, random descent.
- Sylvia Plath
50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f9. Incandescent light balance
Cable Bay moonlight, Nelson. 7.55 pm, 6 May 2012
Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together. – Vincent van Gogh (attrib)
85mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f11
“Things nobody would see” – by moonlight. 9.46 pm, 31 August 2012
I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.
85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8
Moonlit gums, Leamington, Cambridge. 9.36 pm, 31 August 2012
Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life? - Mary Oliver
85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f6.3
Almost spring, Westown, New Plymouth. 7.54 pm, 29 August 2012
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. - Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
85mm; ISO 1000. 30 seconds at f11. Sodium vapour light balance
Moonlight in May, Cheviot, North Canterbury. 9.03 – 9.06 pm, 2 May 2012
There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy. - Joyce Grenfell
28mm; ISO 2000. 192 seconds (over 3 mins) at f11
Evening fellowship, Waiuku country. 10.33 pm, 28 July 2012
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. - Mark Twain
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8
Desolation Row, Waiuku country. 9.18 pm, 28 July 2012
And the only sound that’s left / After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up / On Desolation Row. - Bob Dylan
28mm; ISO 2000. 68 seconds at f8
Joyful John escapes the city, South Auckland. 8.15 pm, 28 July 2012
Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away - Robert M. Hutchins
28mm; ISO 2000. 20 seconds at f5.6
Winter in Waiuku country, South Auckland. 11.51 pm, 28 July 2012
Nothing is ever the same twice because everything is always gone forever, and yet each moment has infinite photographic possibilities. – Michael Kenna
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6
Full moon, Back Beach, New Plymouth. 9.31 pm, 20 March 2011
Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. - Samuel Johnston
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8. Flash
From our balcony, after midnight. 12.04 am, 6 May 2012
[Only the camera can express] the full majesty of the moment. - Paul Leopold Rosenfeld
Looking down on the tops of the persimmon. You can only do this on a very still night, as the slightest breeze blurs the detail. However, to get a really creative blur, you need a gusty evening – nothing in-between is very satisfying. An aperture of f16 is the smallest on my telephoto lens; at close range the depth of field is minimal even at this setting. The light is a mixture of moonlight and ambient city light. The cool tones of the background roof show mainly moonlight (it is leeward of city light), while the warmer leafage shows it was more exposed to the street lighting.
85mm, ISO 2000. 108 seconds at f16. Sodium vapor lamp light balance
Persimmon by moonlight, Nelson. 1.14 am, 6 May 2012
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report. - Paul Simon (The Only Living Boy in New York)
Still lifes by moonlight are formidable propositions because of the problems in seeing what you have, particularly with close framing and the shallow depth of field of a mild telephoto. This scene was by our front door in Nelson. The background light is mainly moonlight, with some city fill. Persimmon trees loose their leaves with surprising speed – one windy night soon after did the trick! But now we are back in the North Island, in New Plymouth.
85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f3.2
Night view over Westhaven Inlet. 9.50 pm, 3 June 2012
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
- Vincent van Gogh
28mm; ISO 2000. 66 seconds at f10
Return after dark from Turtle Cove, Golden Bay. 8.18 pm, 2 June 2012
At their best, photographs as symbols not only serve to help illuminate some of the darkness of the unknown, they also serve to lessen the fears that too often accompany the journeys from the known to the unknown. – Wynn Bullock
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11
High tide by moonlight, Turtle Cove, Golden Bay. 7.35 pm, 2 June 2012
The night has vast potential for creativity. – Michael Kenna
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11
Daylight is too easy. 8.06 pm, 2 June 2012
Daylight is too easy. What I want is difficult – the atmosphere of lamps and moonlight. – Edgar Degas
28mm; ISO 2500. 30 seconds at f11
Long exposure from Turtle Cove, Golden Bay. 6.09 pm, 3 June 2012
Ah the moon’s too bright, the chain’s too tight, the beast won’t go to sleep…
- Leonard Cohen (I’m Your Man)
85mm; ISO 500. 294 seconds (5 mins) at f16
Seeking love at Kurow. 10.26 pm, 30 April 2012
Seeking love keeps you from the awareness that you already are it. - Byron Katie
28mm; ISO 2000. 30 secs at f5.6. Mercury vapour light balance.
Sinking moon, Arrowtown, Central Otago. 7.04 pm, 28 April 2012
If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good. - Dr Suess
28mm, ISO 2000. 15 secs at f8. Col balance 2500 deg K.
Suva Capetown by the stars, Kaiteriteri, Nelson, 8.09 pm, 4 April 2012
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. – Ursula K. Le Guin
85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f7.1. Flash
After dark at Marahau, Abel Tasman coast. 9.48 pm, 3 April 2012
The future is just going to be a vast, conforming ‘suburb of the soul’. - J.G. Ballard, 1982
28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f9. Light balance 5000 deg K
On the way to Breaker Bay, Kaiteriteri. 8.37 pm, 4 April 2012
Live courageously, and produce. - Vincent van Gogh
28mm, ISO 2000. 3 secs at f8. Sodium vapour light balance
The truth more plausible, from Kaiteriteri. 9.06 pm, 4 April 2012
To make the truth more plausible, it is absolutely necessary to mix a bit of falsehood with it. - Dostoevsky
Staying three nights this week at Marahau, gateway to Abel Tasman National Park (Nelson), we had lovely evenings “to behold the waxing moon”. At Kaka Pa Point we discovered an easy path down to a sandy cove, Breaker Bay, above which a street light shines.
My attempt to reduce the overwhelming orange of the lamp was not successful, but produced this unusual image, featuring distant Adele Island (Motuarero-nui). Efforts to incorporate more colour in my night photography was aided by the golden sand here, plus the intensified blues from the light balance.
85mm, ISO 1250. 30 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance
Full moon at Back Beach: Night for day. 11.26 pm, 20 March 2011
The world to me is a dream and the people in it are sleepers. I have known a few instances of intensity but that is all. – Katherine Mansfield
28mm, ISO 2000. 6 secs at f2.8
Moonlit peace of mind, Waimarama. 9.01 pm, 23 September 2010
I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace. - Helen Keller
85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f16
The bluffs at moonset, Gilbert's Beach. 10.55 pm, 12 March 2011
If only I could stand on a street corner with my hat in my hand, and get people to throw their wasted time into it! - Bernard Berenson, U.S. art critic
Taken last year at Te Hapu, Golden Bay and recalled by our more recent stay. Moonset before midnight always means a crescent moon, a simple fact of celestial mechanics. Without a prolonged exposure I had not thought it possible to get such a landscape by a slender moon, especially one so low on the horizon.
I like the warmth of light, fence shadow (right hand corner) and the veil of stars, more prominent than they would be under a full moon.
28mm, ISO 3200. 30 secs at f2.8. Torchlight
The right moment, Te Hapu. 1.10 am, 9 February 2012
Blend a little foolishness with your wisdom: it’s nice to be silly at the right moment. - Horace
28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Flash
The best relationship, at night. 10.17pm, 8 February 2012
Health is the greatest gift; Contentment the greatest wealth; Faithfulness the best relationship. - Buddha
28mm, ISO 2000. 123 secs at f22. Flash
Moonlit moment, Golden Bay. 11.04pm, 7 February 2012
What’s gone and what’s past help, should be past grief. - William Shakespeare
50mm, ISO 2000. 2.5 secs at f4
Gypsy hymns & moonlight swims, Golden Bay. 9.52pm, 7 February 2012
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims, into your eyes when the moonlight swims, and your matchbook songs and gypsy hymns: Who among them would try to impress you? - Bob Dylan (Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands)
85mm, ISO 2000. 5 secs at f11
Front country, Te Hapu, by moonlight. 10.11pm, 7 February 2012
… all our senses will be purified, and there will be nothing to criticize and no unhappy memories. - Srila Narayana Maharaja
28mm, ISO 2000. 2.5 secs at f2.8
Ukelele evening, Golden Bay. 11.07pm, 6 February 2012
When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands. - Gandhi
50mm, ISO 2000. 15 secs at f11
A fool sees a tree, by moonlight. 11.49pm, 10 January 2012
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. – William Blake
28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f13. Flash
Summer’s night, Westhaven Inlet. 11.17pm, 10 January 2012
Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change. - Katherine Mansfield
50mm, ISO 2000. 170 secs at f22. Flash.
Road less travelled, by the full moon. 10.42pm, 9 January 2012
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St Augustine
28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f11
