Te Hapu is a wonderful farmstay in far Golden Bay – on the West Coast in fact, after a drive down fabulous Westhaven Inlet.  The farm is a rugged 1,000 acres of limestone, and its scenic highlights include what must be one of the best private beaches in the country, Gilbert’s Beach, with its encircling […]

Another sample from my 2018 New Zealand calendar, this one is for May 2018. The holiday park at Kurow was decidedly off-season on the cold autumn night that we stayed there. A bitter, blustery wind was blowing but I coated up and left our snug cabin with tripod and gear, determined to make use of […]

1116 Rivulet of time: Dreams of a small figure. This uncommon scene is a reprise on my earlier visit, also in May (2009), with the Holy Virgin. Although we’d had some rain before this secular occasion, my obliging figurine held her position well on the edge of the abyss, and so my only task was […]

3409 Bold sentry, Paritutu, New Plymouth. 11.34pm, 21 July 2013 I admit to some anxiety parading a mannequin in a public place late at night, being too old for the art student look, so I was relieved to have this popular venue to myself for the duration. The torso was a gift from my daughter, […]

2727 Wet evening, Whangarei Harbour. 5.24pm, 25 May 2013 On a sodden summer’s day here in Taranaki I’ve been looking through my yearly folders for fitting material. This high-tide scene from Mcleod’s Bay, on the northern shores of Whangarei Harbour, takes in the blue of twilight and the clean, bright highlights of torchlight. I was aiming […]

The true art of memory is the art of attention.  –  Samuel Johnson 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

 Earth laughs in flowers.  –  Ralph W. Emerson 85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16. Incandescent light balance

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize that prisoner was you.  –  Lewis B. Smedes 85mm; ISO 500. 15 seconds at f16. Incandescent light balance

Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.  –  John Petit-Senn 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11. Incandescent light balance

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

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

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

Artists are born kneeling; they fight to stand. Critics, by nature of the judgement seat, are born sitting.  –  Hortense Calisher (US novelist) [adapted] 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8

 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

 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

         Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.  –  Arthur Schopenhauer 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8  

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.  –  Emily Dickinson 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f4  

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 […]

Fun with a torch in motion; colour temperature, cloudy skies, late moons

The female form revealed on film; a summery advent of moon rays

Moving cloud and torchlight add drama; an unusual high contrast film