Murray Neill: Photography

New Neighbors

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:16:35 GMT

Spotted for the first time this morning, I got to snap a picture of two of the three new kids on the block. Their parents moved into the little pond behind my house a few weeks ago.

The Old Orchard

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:06 GMT

This morning...

...and exactly seven weeks ago.

Teal Valley River in Spring

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:39:26 GMT

The West and the East (last night & this morning)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:35:30 GMT

KAP over Nelson's new skate park

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:18:29 GMT

It's been age since I've been able to get out and do some kite aerial photography. I was feeling a little rusty, but once the kite and camera were in the air.... well, it's like riding a bike really.

Started last summer, they recently finished building a skate park in Neale Park (Nelson's premiere kite flying ground and home of the Nelson Kite Festival). In my some of my photos of the last kite festival you can see the beginnings of the park in the background. To get back into some KAP after quite a break I decided that this would make a good location for a shoot. Late in the afternoon with nice long shadows and a strong gusty south-west wind, I launched my little 16 square foot flow-form with two long fuzzy tails. The tails were needed to give the kite some stability in the bumpy conditions up there. It took a lot of patience to get any steady shots.

Even though I got a few 'keepers' that I'm happy with I feel like there's plenty more good photos in this subject. Lucky they built it in such a good kite flying spot. I'll probably revisit it sometime over summer.

Kaycee

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:10:10 GMT

Yesterday, at around 5am, Kaycee passed away. Her 17 year old body just gave up on her, after a 48 hour struggle which just happened to coincide with a 15-year storm and a 48 hour long power outage. We have the power back on now but she is gone. I buried her under the trees on the other side of the creek just a stones-throw from the house.

She was my best friend. I can't say much more about her than that.... perhaps those that knew her will understand why.

One day I'll get a photo of a fantail in flight..... I will.

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:24:49 GMT

This little fellow spent most of yesterday afternoon feeding on tiny flying insects down by the river in front of my house. He would perch of the same dead branch bent out over the water, watching and waiting for his prey. Occasionally he would dart off and pluck an insect, almost to small to detect with human eyes, from the air in mid flight. Fantails are incredible aviators and almost impossible to photograph in the air. Because of their speed, agility, and unpredictable flight paths, I've taken thousands of photos of empty airspace trying. I clicked off ninety frames within a matter of minutes trying with this one. One day I'll fluke it.

Fifeshire Rock - early morning

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:27:10 GMT

The Haven at half-tide

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:05:30 GMT

The Blue Bluiding By the Boat-builders

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:19:15 GMT

I've joined a new photographer forum recently. The Digital Rebels Yahoo group is pretty cool if you can keep up with them. Just a bunch of photographers who aren't up themselves and enjoy the hell out of taking pictures. Anyway they have regular assignments where a theme is posted and members are invited to post an image to suit. The image must be taken with the two weeks after the theme is posted (so there's no delving into the archive for entries). Each theme has a two week window and there is a new one posted every single week, so they overlap. The last two assignments have been "Reflection" and "Blue". I managed to satisfy both themes in one shoot on Friday. I stopped by this blue building by the boat-builders (which looks like it was once a church) to see if I could make it look interesting in a photo....

The shot above was my entry into the "Blue" assignment gallery. It's an HDR image, meaning its made up of three shots of the same scene exposed differently so I could get the bright sky and the building in shadow both clearly visible. I've never really tried HDR before.

This one I submitted to the "Reflection" assignment gallery.

Sunny Sunday Morning

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:57:02 GMT

Kaycee enjoying the first sun we've seen here in a few days this morning.

Evergreen

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:50:38 GMT

Xtracycle Cleaning Day

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:29:14 GMT

I've been meaning to clean my bike for weeks now. In fact it hasn't been properly cleaned since I got back from my East Cape trip. A clean bike is a healthy bike. There just hasn't been any fine days on the weekends for a while, and it's not nice cleaning it when its already cold and wet outside. Anyway... yesterday I got around to it, and as usual I took some photos of my steed.

haze

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:21:20 GMT

Snow on the Whangamoas

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:45:47 GMT

This shot is taken from my backyard using a 300mm lens. The snow is on the Whangamoa Ranges. Maybe once a year it gets a slight dusting of snow if anything. This is the thickest and lowest I've seen it snow since I've lived here (more than a decade). No wonder that breeze outside is cold!

The Chateau Tongariru's view

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:46:01 GMT

From the front balcony of the Chateau Tongariru the view was quite spectacular on Sunday afternoon, once the snow cloud had lifted.

Kite flying at the Chateau

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:37:41 GMT

This weekend I was at The Mount Ruapehu Bayview Chateau Tongariro (the Chateau for short) to celebrate the 40th birthday of a friend. I flew my Quantum trick kite on the golf course on Saturday after the biggest overnight dump of snow since 1992 on Friday night.

Making Kiwifruit Jam

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:40:11 GMT

Halfway home

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:48:05 GMT

Nelson pre-dawn

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:13:46 GMT

231 Bike Parking

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:03:57 GMT

The Boathouse

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:27:05 GMT

This evening by the Boathouse on Rocks Road.

Sunday afternoon Settlers world

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 06:13:03 GMT

My little empire in this afternoons settlers games.

Moon the Goat

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:33:01 GMT

Moon is my neighbour's goat. She regularly breaks her chain and comes to visit me. She showed up late last night but then disappeared into the darkness determined to spend the night free. This morning she was right where I last saw her, on my front doorstep nibbling at my grapevine. Shortly after this photo she invited herself inside and strolled right through my front door, to see if there was anything edible on my couch. Understandably Kaycee did not approve and a stand-off ensued, between my little, heroic dog and a horned goat, about ten times her size. I decided it was time Moon was escorted home, but once she realised what I was trying to do, she took off and stayed at arms length, baaaing at me gently as if to say "please don't send me home".

I've just got her back onto her chain after about an hour of regaining her confidence with a cabbage.

He Tuna - New Zealand freshwater eel

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:17:42 GMT

This guy lives in the river that passes my house. It is also my water supply. This afternoon I was cleaning out the fridge and had a couple of eggs that had been in there a little long. I took them down to the river and broke them on the rocks in the shallow water. Within minutes three eels were there excitedly cruising around the pool like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Its nice to know they are around, keeping the river clean.