My reason for the trip south (which gave the images in the last two posts) was to attend a photographic convention in Dunedin. This was great. I have a low tolerance for lousy, long-winded speakers. But the three presentations at this meeting were a real treat. For me the highlight was an inspiring talk by Jane Trotter, on abstract photography. She explained how she produced her beautiful images, in camera and all of them taken indoors in her own home. You can find some of her images here, and here. I’ll come back to the other speakers later.
The main attraction for me was a field trip, where locals were to take us on a tour of the Otago Peninsular, showing off their favourite places. For example, this windy beach on the southern coast of the peninsular (here) :
It was a good day for the gulls:
The next stop was up on a high cliff, the Boulder Beach Conservation Area:
The plan was to take advantage of the evening light and a glorious sunset by positioning ourselves in good time on a suitable lookout. Alas, the weather foiled that idea. Mist and cloud rolled in, flattening the light and removing any chance of a sunset. But we tried:
As the light fell, the real action was in the sky:
The final stop gave us a view across the harbour to Dunedin:
Back to the presentations. Craig Mackenzie spoke for more than an hour on his journey in wildlife photography. What came through loud and clear was the amount of sheer hard work required. He doesn’t get his wonderful images by accident or good luck. You can see some of his images here and here.
Graham Dainty spoke on “Fine Art Landscape Photography”. His theme was Fiordland, how to get an image that captured its essence. More hard work here: finding ways to get to this very inaccessible region, moving around in this difficult terrain, coping with the weather, none of it was easy. More of his work here.
So Dunedin certainly lived up to my expectations.