Nelson street races 2015
Here are some of the images from the 25th Port Nelson Street Races, January 2015.
Fun with a chair
Our local camera club had an unusual competition recently. Members were asked to pay $5 for an old chair, take it away and over the next four months do something creative with it, something involving photography. The entries were great. Showing wonderful patience, one member had managed to get a couple of dozen portraits of dogs sitting on her chair (or jumping off it). Another bought an old china dinner set, smashed it up and carefully transformed her chair into a mosaic. The winner took her chair to Christchurch, where she photographed it amid the scenes of ruin and recovery. The prints were displayed attached to the chair, by now transformed and distorted to reflect the impacts of the earthquake. A very moving and well-deserved winner.
I took my chair for some trips, beginning locally and moving out to my favorite places around Nelson. Here are the results:
Farewell Pohutukawa
Sometimes we have to make tough decisions. After a lot of thought (and quite a lot of money spent), we finally came to the conclusion that our beloved Pohutukawa tree would have to go. Here’s what I’m talking about. This photo was taken several years ago when we were still trying to find a way to keep it, a 15 year project involving “lifting’ the foliage:
Night out in Nelson
A few weeks back the Nelson Camera Club had a field trip, led by member Daniel W. The idea was to learn about night sky photography. Initially, fairly thick clouds blocked our view. Rather than go home early, we stopped off at a (fireproof) location and played with some light painting. Sandra J showed us what can be done with steel wool and matches (more on that later in this post.
Eventually however the sky cleared up and we headed off to the Boulder Bank. My best effort was very satisfying:
That was taken with a DX lens, the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, on a full frame Nikon D700. You see see a bit of distortion towards the edges, but otherwise it’s fairly sharp.
Light Nelson 2014
Time for some cheerful stuff, amidst a rather damp and dark winter. The ‘Light Nelson’ festival was held this last weekend, in Queen’s Gardens. The first two public evenings were fairly wet. We visited briefly on Saturday night, before going to see “Kiss the Fish” at the Theatre Royal. There was a light drizzle and masses of people. I heard there was 7000 visitors that evening (hard to believe but might be true – it was jam packed).
But last night I went back again with my camera and tripod. No rain, but lots of people so patience was required. At times it felt like rush hour in Tokyo. I hope these shots give you a feel for the show. First one to grab attention:
Danny Boulton, 2 June 1951 – 23 June 2014
Even when we think we know someone, we usually glimpse only a small part of their life. I was at a funeral this morning when that was brought home to me yet again. Danny Boulton, of French Pass, died on 23 June. He had survived for more than a decade after being operated on for prostate cancer.
Founders Book Fair 2014
Last weekend marked the end of the annual Founders Book Fair. It was very popular again this year, as you can see from the wonderful time-lapse video prepared by well-known Nelson photography Tim Cuff and posted on YouTube here.
As usual, I was on duty for a couple of the 9 days that it runs now. I was given a fluoro jacket and asked to guard a fire exit, to ensure people didn’t try to escape without paying for their selection. It was in the children’s section, nest to a table of Enid Blyton books. After four hours of that I was rather sick of Enid Blyton.
Kite surfing in the Cut
Here’s another post in the series ‘ views from our front door’. I’ve been watching the national championships for the Laser class. The other day all yacht racing was cancelled due to high winds. The wind speed in the Bay hovered around 30 knots all day, with gusts up to 40 kn. But one brave kite surfer was out there.
