Nikon D700

Roadside view 4: Dovedale in the rain

Roadside view 4: Dovedale in the rain

Once again I post a pic that I’m not completely satisfied with. Teachable moments I believe they are called. Coming down from the Neudorf Saddle in the rain we saw a large gaggle of geese, an uncommon sight in our region. Unsurprisingly, they wandered away from me as I struggled at the fenceline, crouching without […]

Memento mori 9: In loving memory

Memento mori 9: In loving memory

The cemetery at Mokau (in the southwest Waikato) occupies a hilltop terrace and gives good views in all directions. The house far across the valley seems relatively close with the compressed perspective of a long telephoto. Depth of focus here is enhanced by the tiny aperture, only available at the far end of the zoom. […]

Moonlight on Otaraoa Rd, Taranaki

Moonlight on Otaraoa Rd, Taranaki

I was delighted to see cows in this paddock, unoccupied on my earlier visits to this quiet locality in north Taranaki. The cows were grazing in the moonlight but at a suitably languid pace, so the ten second exposure managed to  capture their essence. The gentle slope is on the other side of the road […]

Memento mori at Motunui, Taranaki

Memento mori at Motunui, Taranaki

Across from the huge petro plant at Motunui, north Taranaki, is Waipapa cemetery, a Maori urupa dating from 1923. The cemetery is unusual in having a surrounding wall and a gateway, while its monuments present an awesome contrast with the industrial silos on the other side of Otaraoa Rd, to the northeast. However, most of […]

Memento mori 7: Angel at Kopuatama

Memento mori 7: Angel at Kopuatama

Among the seraphim at Stratford’s main cemetery, this one reigns supreme. Close to the entrance, she stands very tall, although size can’t be all that matters in the angelic hierarchy. However high they loom, angels all have their price, and this was a dear one. Aeronautical lift is even more challenging for angels than it […]

Waimea Inlet, full moon

Waimea Inlet, full moon

A view of Nelson’s southern suburbs at low tide, from the cycle trail near Best Island. A haze of wood smoke lies over the city, as does the light trail from a plane. The whitest lights are those of the airport runway. The distant hills mark successive earthquake upthrusts over several million years. The inlet […]

Fennel flowers with moonrise

Fennel flowers with moonrise

Sometimes the full moon keeps me waiting. Its predicted peep over the horizon lags, for example, because a range of hills blocks the view. Anticipation! Which hill will the moon rise over? What pictorial elements should I line up for a creative memento of this exciting occasion?? Yes there are apps to tell me such […]

Modest Epiphanies 2: Bovine bliss

Modest Epiphanies 2: Bovine bliss

These two beasts-and-a-nose were the outliers of a contented herd, all having a lunch break to chew things over. A great gem set in the heart of Auckland, Cornwall Park is the extensive green space which surrounds the old volcanic cone of One Tree Hill / Maungakiekie.  It’s a good place to pause when you […]

Modest Epiphanies: New project

Modest Epiphanies: New project

New Zealand’s varied landscapes must be world-famous because now they are talked of by the mainland Chinese, not just wealthy HKers or Singaporeans. A busload of Chinese tourists joined the 40 cars already parked at the Kaikoura road-end, out on the peninsula. The changes to be seen here surprised me, and I am not referring […]

Moonrise with white herons

Moonrise with white herons

I have not seen three of these lovely birds together before, but one of them obliged me by holding its pose mid-reflection. Although this was an obvious job for a good telephoto,  my long lens was unfortunately out of commission.  A photo of this nature – a rapidly rising moon, feeding birds – usually requires […]

Cob cottage in the Moutere, by moonlight

Cob cottage in the Moutere, by moonlight

Here I am, gazing at the moon in the Nelson countryside, beside a cob cottage built in the 1850s. The cottage is a restored one, complete with a thatched roof, on George Harvey Rd, Upper Moutere; it’s available for public visit.  All I lacked for this occasion was a rocking chair and a cob-pipe of […]

All quiet at the marae, by moonlight

All quiet at the marae, by moonlight

The Whakatu marae sits on 10 hectares of reclaimed estuary next to Founders Park, in the city. It is hub to six iwi: Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia, Te Runanga o Toarangatira, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama and Te Atiawa. I took this scene because the entrance-way nicely mirrored the meeting house profile; the roofline vents also added […]

Roadside view 3: All the king’s horses

Roadside view 3: All the king’s horses

Rear views are not usually the most appealing with animals, I realised some time ago, but this angle was more interesting than most such. A conversation with the owner established that these were miniature horses, not the Shetland ponies we first thought them to be. Although my caption is sardonic these sturdy steeds must have […]

Memento mori 6: Love at Mokau

Memento mori 6: Love at Mokau

These cherubim fronting for love caught my eye in a cemetery-with-views on a Mokau hilltop. Having recently purchased a Nikon zoom lens (70-300mm) I was putting it through the paces, late one winter’s afternoon at this small community on the west coast of the North Island. Using the tripod to allow slow shutter speeds, I […]

Memento mori 5: Odd neighbours

Memento mori 5: Odd neighbours

Odd neighbours at Greymouth. 6.37pm, 10 April 2018 The neighbourhood of New Zealand cemeteries can be quite quirky, especially in the larger cities, but even in Greymouth a cross can have an industrial background. Land bordering cemeteries is less desired for housing, so perhaps becomes more affordable for industry, or other purposes.  The cross is […]

Roadside view 2: Dark satanic mill

Roadside view 2: Dark satanic mill

As a magnificent blot on the landscape the steel mill at Waiuku, south of Auckland, is very impressive. In this shot its dreariness is stylised by layering, using the line of pines it is seen through. Another example of a “look-through” composition, this is one I was definitely searching for. Here the main feature seems […]

Roadside view 1 (Work in progress)

Roadside view 1 (Work in progress)

This moonlit scene in Garden Valley Rd, near Brightwater, demonstrates a work in progress in night photography. It does not meet my own standards for a successful image, but it has some teaching points, so I publish it for that reason. A good composition can offer a “look-through” sense of depth, when the elements are […]

Memento mori 4: Amongst the leaves

Memento mori 4: Amongst the leaves

Amongst the leaves, Te Henui Cemetery.  3.06 pm, 2 April 2018 A supplicant cherub amongst fallen leaves – these being a common metaphor for poignant memory and les temps perdus. This simple image again makes use of contrasting blank spaces, as I have resisted the urge to crop it at top and left.  The limited […]

Memento mori 3: Sadly missed

Memento mori 3: Sadly missed

Sadly missed, Picton cemetery. 11.59 a.m, 14 April 2018 A striking cameo, illustrating colour composition. The two elements of the composition have been widely spaced, but there is just enough line and texture to hold the frame together. The simplicity of the image owes everything to the uncommon colour of the plastic flowers. As for the […]

Unexpected illumination in New Plymouth

Unexpected illumination in New Plymouth

A Good Friday illumination, though not an epiphany,  from an unexpected source. A subdivision being so close to where I was staying, it was a simple matter to put on gumboots and shoulder tripod for the short walk to the hilltop, where a house was under construction.  As building sites are prone to pilfering I […]

Memento mori 2: Kettle angel child

Memento mori 2: Kettle angel child

Rarely have I taken such a strange, otherworldly scene such as this. The funereal gold, grey and alabaster are relieved only by the faint sunset and the industrial background. In using flash I could easily have hand-held the shot; instead I struggled to compose on a tripod (already set up for long exposure possibilities). Flash […]

Memento mori 1: Angel at sunset

Memento mori 1: Angel at sunset

I have begun a new project: a series of cameos from New Zealand cemeteries, taken by day and night, styled under the Latin term above. No longer a common phrase, memento mori  translates to “Remember that you have to die”, meant as a reflection on our inevitable mortality. Cemeteries, and particularly older ones, are sanitised theme […]

Autumnal equine moonlight

Autumnal equine moonlight

An unusual evening this, as having driven up Garden Valley (30 minutes from Nelson) for the very first time to note the lie of the land, we came back only when the moon had cleared the hills. We were looking for miniature horses, but, sadly, on nightfall the dozen in the next paddock had retired […]

Cumulus wonder in Taranaki

Cumulus wonder in Taranaki

My visit to Taranaki last month offered no new opportunities for creative photography, but I have just re-discovered this unusual image, taken with a telephoto in our back garden (then) in Westown, New Plymouth one early spring. A power cable  mars the lower portion (too hard to retouch!) but the main interest is the sense […]

Clouds over the Hokitika River

Clouds over the Hokitika River

This is the very first frame from a simple composition, one that I was subsequently unable to improve on.  It is taken from Arthurstown, on the opposite side of the river, where protection works give an unobstructed viewpoint. Cumulus clouds by the full moon are appealing but are not that common; the main problem in […]

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Barney Brewster – NZ Landscape Photographer

Based in Nelson, Barney loves to capture the New Zealand landscape, mostly through long exposures at dusk or after dark.

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