Blog - Remarkable Imagery

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October 1, 2024
Aoraki Mount Cook 3 Day Tour

We are constantly on the hunt for the most breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, and our recent tour provided us with some truly remarkable opportunities. Fresh off our 3-day excursion to Aoraki Mount Cook, we were fortunate enough to witness and capture some truly stunning sunsets and sunrises, each one set against the backdrop of the […]

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March 23, 2024
Turning Photos into Artworks

GREAT LANDSCAPES INSPIRE AND STIMULATE MY IMAGINATION. AS A PHOTOGRAPHER, I'VE LEARNED THAT DEFINING AND CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF THAT INSPIRATION IS THE KEY TO MAKING BREATHTAKING IMAGES. It's about harnessing that spark of imagination, understanding the essence of the landscape, and maximising its impact in the final image. This requires identifying powerful elements in […]

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November 24, 2023
Blue Sky Days aren't Everything:

USING CLOUDS TO ENHANCE YOUR LANDSCAPES When it comes to capturing breathtaking landscape photographs, clouds can be a photographer's best friend. These fluffy, ever-changing formations add drama, mood, depth, and visual interest to your shots. Whether they're covering the sky with a thick blanket or scattered like cotton wool, clouds have the power to transform […]

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June 24, 2023
AI helped me capture a Frosty SouthLand

KIWIS KNOW RELATIONS IN SOUTHLAND HAVE BEEN CHILLY OF LATE (ABOVE) Stitched panorama. Vehicles composited from the same shoot. Extra information was added to both sides to widen the aspect ratio. We also encountered spectacularly frosty conditions as we drove through Southland this last weekend on our way from Kingston on the lake to Tairi […]

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January 23, 2023
Riding The Old Man Range

NEW YEAR'S DAY 2023 The Old Man Range is classic Central Otago high country. At this height, nothing grows but ground-hugging moss and crazy-shaped rock tors. The Obelisk is the largest of these. The first day of 2023. On a perfect summer morning, I drove a bunch of friends up the east face of the […]

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August 10, 2022
Every Great Image has a Reason

THERE'S ALWAYS A REASON THAT MOTIVATES US TO SHOOT AN IMAGE These images of Skippers Canyon are all about colour, texture and contrast. (LEFT) Afternoon gold contrasts against icy blue. Dark, craggy rocks tower over quilted hills. The scene is very zoomed in, eliminating other mountains and the sky which would have reduced the scene's […]

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October 15, 2021
The Umbrella Series Launches

INSPIRING NEW WALL ART FROM REMARKABLE IMAGERY We are excited to have just added a new series of creative images for sale. Showcasing our beautiful circular format, this series is shot around Queenstown and the Southern Lakes of New Zealand. It talks about our physical and emotional relationship with nature. A progression from Martin's “Wizards […]

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August 21, 2020
Reflections on Wakatipu's Waters

I HAVE AN ENDURING FASCINATION WITH MOVING WATER ABOVE: I have an enduring fascination with moving water. Ripples, waves, thundering waterfalls, trickling streams, the flow over rocks. Reflections, transparency, distortion, colour, and movement – inspiring creativity. I have shot this scene of Lake Wakatipu more times than I can count. Yet no matter how often […]

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May 5, 2020
Filming Cinematic Falling Water

AFTER HEAVY RAIN, WATER DRAINS FROM THE MOUNTAINS SURROUNDING KINGSTON, TURNING PEACEFUL STREAMS INTO EPIC DISPLAYS OF NATURAL POWER I always have a camera on my morning run, a trail that starts by the lake and climbs 200 metres to a lookout over the town. The track crosses a lovely little stream that tumbles a […]

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April 20, 2020
Tourists Create YouTube Video of Their Tour

THE LAST PHOTOGRAPHERS TO VISIT BEFORE THE PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN WERE WORLD TRAVELLERS, VIDEOGRAPHERS AND BLOGGERS. THEY MADE A FILM OF THEIR TOUR AND POSTED TO THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL It is unusual to have photographers on our tours who are also videographers. Amy and Guy have a unique way of working together. Guy shoots the photographs. […]

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April 16, 2020
Toying With Time

MERGING TIMELAPSE AND SLO-MO TO MAKE A CREATIVE SUNRISE VIDEO ABOVE: Shooting the same scene in timelapse to speed up movement in the sky and in slow motion to smooth the flow of the stream, I have combined both into one piece of video. I love capturing the motion in nature. Time-lapse is great for […]

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April 6, 2020
Our Last Tour - For a While

A FUN DAY WITH A POWER PHOTOGRAPHY COUPLE WHO MADE IT INTO QUEENSTOWN JUST THE DAY BEFORE ALL TRAVELLERS WERE REQUIRED TO SELF-ISOLATE ABOVE: The crazy rock sculptures that characterize the drive up to Duffers Saddle give way, as you drive down toward the Nevis River Valley, to sharp-looking strata and this incredible rock dam, […]

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September 10, 2019
Just over the hill, but oh, so, so far away

THE NEVIS VALLEY, SO CLOSE TO THE TOURIST MECCA OF QUEENSTOWN,IS UNSPOILT NEW ZEALAND HIGH COUNTRY. I’ll take any excuse to head up the winding road from Bannockburn to “the Nevis”. This last week I enjoyed taking Robert from Wellington on a photographic exploration of this amazing region. Just 45 minutes from downtown Queenstown you’re […]

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September 5, 2019
Car Photography is Fun

SOUTH ISLAND LANDSCAPES ARE GREAT FOR VEHICLE PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE: This Mercedes Viano looks great with the Clay Cliffs at Omarama as a backdrop. We love photographing cars and vehicles in our great South Island landscapes. Scenic NZ Limousines gave me the opportunity, just recently week to shoot their vehicles in cool spots between Christchurch and […]

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May 27, 2019
First Sunrise - NZ's most eastern point

THE FIRST PLACE IN THE WORLD TO CATCH THE SUNRISE Getting to East Cape, New Zealand’s most eastern point was a mission. It’s off the beaten track through remote, predominantly Maori Villages and amazing country. A farmer makes his rolling, grassy seaside paddocks available as a campsite. We were one of only three vehicles this […]

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April 18, 2019
The Perfect Beach

REMOTE, LONG, EMPTY, AND STRETCHING AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE Now halfway through our North Island road trip. I’m just now starting to develop a workflow that makes it possible to photograph, video, edit and post regularly. That’s a story in itself. It all came together at Pakiri Beach. A great location on […]

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January 4, 2019
Amazing Performance caught on iPhone Xs

I CAUGHT THIS INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE AS IT HAPPENED IN A BACKLOT AS I WAS REFUELLING

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December 7, 2018
Exploring how to make Painterly Videos with an iPhone

SHOOTING LANDSCAPES IS REWARDING, BUT I WANTED TO FIND A ANOTHER LEVEL OF CREATIVITY. I love making videos in our awesome South Island landscapes, but I’m looking for the next level of creativity. One approach is to use apps that apply painterly effects to clips. I made this video to explore what you can do […]

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November 10, 2018
Where the Wild Thyme Blooms

AN ALWAYS DRAMATIC LANDSCAPE BURSTS INTO AMAZING COLOUR “The Sluicings” at Bannockburn is a historic conservation park. Gold miners arrived in this wilderness in 1862 and began blasting away the hills with heavy cast iron water cannons “monitors”. This activity ceased some forty years later and this became a fruit-growing region. Nowadays the land is […]

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August 18, 2018
The Unfathomable Lake Wakatipu

A PHOTOGRAPHER ALWAYS HAS A CAMERA AT HAND ABOVE: A storm coming up the lake from the south just as the sun is setting. Living in Kingston, at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu means that every time I head into town for work or to do the weekly shop could be an amazing photo […]

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June 23, 2018
A Foggy Day

EARLY MORNING FROST BLANKETS THE WAKATIPU BASIN ABOVE: Breaking through the cloud the road snakes up the mountain to the skifield and to the saddle of the infamous Skippers Canyon Road The lower slopes of Coronet Peak are covered in strange ridges and hills, which look amazing in the mornings and afternoons, their forms accentuated […]

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June 18, 2018
Winter Wilderness - Mavora Lakes

IT MIGHT BE FREEZING OUTSIDE, BUT WITH OUR CARAVAN WE CAN GO ANYWHERE ABOVE: We headed off on a Queen’s Birthday long weekend to explore the splendour of Southland’s Mavora Lakes.

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June 5, 2018
The Best Days of Winter

WINTER IN NEW ZEALAND IS A SPECIAL TIME ABOVE: This is the time of year to don coats, hats, and gloves; to go out and capture the beauty of the mountains. Winter is why I moved here. Growing up in arid South Australia, I always yearned for mountains, snow, and the colder extremes. This winter […]

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February 22, 2018
Riding Skippers

SKIPPERS CANYON IS AN EPIC PLACE TO PRACTICE MAKING VIDEO ABOVE: Multi talented and helpful Stephen did the hard work riding and walking back up the Skippers Canyon Bike Trail for the shots to make this video. Since the arrival of my flying camera, my Phantom 3 quadcopter, my whole focus has been on developing […]

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February 13, 2018
Adventures in Aerial Video

ABOVE: This latest video was shot in Skippers Canyon, the epic drive just out of Queenstown. A nail biting journey through rugged, spectacular landscapes, back to a time when men toiled in a harsh wilderness to extract fortunes from a wild, blue alpine river. This is my first video that begins to demonstrate my landscape […]

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December 28, 2017
Up, Up and Away!

This year, the best Christmas present ever appeared under the tree! I have long looked forward to the amazing points of view available with a drone. This is my first video with my new Phantom 3, filmed in 4K. I love this epic view of Lake Wakatipu from the hill above Kingston. It’s going to […]

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December 17, 2017
Compliments of the Season

ABOVE: The background for this message is a panorama of Lake Wakatipu, the South Island of New Zealand, at the Devils Staircase, a ridge of rock that descends from the Hector Range, reaching bony fingers into the lake, making this it’s narrowest point. The morning fog made this image impossible to stitch automatically, so the […]

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December 14, 2017
Impressions of Gold and Yellow

It’s Spring. I’m looking for new ways of capturing impressions of all that colour ABOVE: This image is a stitched panorama, made up of images shot with a slow shutter to capture the plants moving in the wind. I used a very cool software called Trimaginator to generate polygon patterns from the image and then […]

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July 21, 2017
Another Great Season in Queenstown

Our landscapes are all the more spectacular because they’re always changing. ABOVE: Patterns of melting snow on a remote sheep station in the Lower Nevis with the Remarkables range as a backdrop. One of the most common questions people ask when they have booked a photography tour is what happens if it rains. The answer […]

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June 14, 2017
Animated Images

Captured this gorgeous cloud bank on the Nevis road, near Duffer’s Saddle. Playing around with animating photos using Plotagraph software.

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March 18, 2017
Baby, It's Cold and Wet Outside

AS PHOTOGRAPHERS, WE EMBRACE THE WEATHER BECAUSE IT MAKES FOR SOME OF OUR BEST IMAGES. ABOVE: Two old boats, laid up at Bluff, New Zealand’s southernmost port. I sheltered under a bush for almost four hours to get this shot, as rain squall after squall blew over this scene. I was captivated by the play […]

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November 13, 2016
The "Roof" of the Wakatipu

QUEENSTOWN OFFERS SO MUCH MORE THAN PICTURE POSTCARD VIEWS OF MOUNTAINS AND LAKES. ABOVE: The Eyre Mountains and upper reaches of The Mataura River caught in the glow as light breaks through heavy clouds, seen from the Garston end of the Nevis Road. Spring in Queenstown and the Southern Lakes, means never knowing what weather […]

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October 21, 2016
Weather is the Photographer's Friend

MOST PEOPLE HOPE FOR FINE WEATHER AND CLEAR BLUE SKIES WHEN THEY VISIT QUEENSTOWN AND THE SOUTHERN LAKES OF NEW ZEALAND ABOVE: Well into November, the ski fields have been closed for a month and spring is in the air. Anything possible in Queenstown and after weeks of warm weather a winter blast gave us […]

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September 30, 2016
High Plain Driftin'

WHEN WE ARE NOT RUNNING PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS AROUND QUEENSTOWN WE LIKE TO EXPLORE FURTHER AFIELD. THE MANIATOTO PLAIN IS THE ROMANTIC HEART OF CENTRAL OTAGO. ABOVE: Falls Creek Dam is for me the embodiment of Graham Sydney’s vision of the Maniatoto. Tiny, lonely shelters and relics of the pioneers’ existence in this sparse vastness, dwarfed […]

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September 9, 2016
Winter is Back

IN QUEENSTOWN AND THE SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND, IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE WEATHER. A WINTER BLAST CREATES NEW CONTRASTS, TEXTURES AND COLOUR COMBINATIONS ABOVE: A light dusting of snow over ploughed fields, morning glow through low clouds, caught with 10mm wide angle to create some dramatic perspective, and you have a magical scene. Here […]

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August 5, 2016
Photographer's Block

SOMETIMES, AS CREATIVE PEOPLE, WE FIND THAT THE APPROACHES AND TECHNIQUES THAT ONCE GAVE US EXCITING RESULTS AND INSPIRED US, HAVE BECOME HABITS THAT NOW LIMIT US. ABOVE: Shot with a 10-20mm wide angle, this image shows the dramatic effect of capturing the very close and the distance together. Here, dramatic foreground detail catches the […]

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July 19, 2016
Glenorchy - Photographer's Weather

Recent tours to Glenorchy and beyond to paradise and Kinloch just go to show that the most uncomfortable and inhospitable days can give you the best conditions for landscapes with atmosphere and action. Light is soft, clouds add drama; water is on the move and mist and rain increase the mood. The day these images […]

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July 8, 2016
Into the wild - Skippers Canyon

It may well be the warmest start to winter for many years, but you wouldn’t know it in Skippers Canyon. It’s 15 minutes drive from bustling Queenstown but it’s a wild and forbidding world where the forces of nature are writ large. Accessed by a narrow road – not for the faint hearted – that […]

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December 15, 2015
Blue Shade - Eyre Mountains, Lake Wakatipu

On the bright, clear days of summer – in the afternoon, as the sun lowers behind the mountains they fall into a shade of dark, soft blue, bluffs and valleys just visible. It took 20 images stitched together to make this panorama that captures the extraordinary light.

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November 27, 2015
Colours of Spring - Stage 4

Spring in Queenstown and the Wakatipu has to be the most exciting season. As the world awakes from it’s winter sleep, Spring is a celebration of new life. In this series of posts, I have talked about the distinct stages that create a sense of growth, change and evolution. The first signs as daytime temperatures […]

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November 16, 2015
Pray for Humanity

We are focussed right now on the horror and sadness of the events that unfolded in Paris this weekend. Let us also remember that this is the latest chapter in a campaign to destroy civilisation. Only a week ago, 44 people were killed in twin bombings in Beirut. Before that, a Russian airliner – bombed […]

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November 6, 2015
Colours of Spring - Stage 2

Spring in Queenstown and the Wakatipu has to be the most exciting season. As the world awakes from it’s winter sleep, Spring is a celebration of new life. In my last post I talked about the distinct stages that create a sense of growth, change and evolution. The first signs as daytime temperatures lose some […]

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October 30, 2015
Colours of Spring - Stage 1

Spring in Queenstown and the Wakatipu is always the most joyous season. The excitement of seeing the mountains covered in their white blanket has faded and cosiness of evenings by the fire has become a yearning for bright blue skies, warm sun and lengthening days. Snow hasn’t fallen for a few weeks, minimum temperatures are […]

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October 12, 2015
Keys to Composition - Contrast

Contrasts abound in this image. The rounded, sharp edged pattern of shapes in the frangipani flowers contrast the soft, more geometric pattern of the branches. The flowers are rich warm, reds and orange, while the background is cool, blue green. Note that the patterns in the image are also complimentary and tie everything together. In […]

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October 10, 2015
In Them Thar' Hills

The history of gold mining in and around Queenstown and the Central Otago goldfish adds a fascinating, intriguing and sobering dimension to the rugged beauty of this region. The hunger for gold tamed this pristine wilderness of jagged peaks, crystal blue lakes, deep, green forests and windblown alpine plains. The men who came here in […]

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September 24, 2015
Southern Lights Over Kingston Village

We all know Queenstown Lakes abounds with incredible landscapes and impressive views – during the day. In the golden hours of early morning and dusk when hues of orange, pink and magenta bathe the mountains and lakes the effect is even more memorable. This year though, the night sky has been the star. With the […]

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September 8, 2015
Composition Rules!

This scene captured my attention on the Crown Range Road, near Queenstown. It was the perfect triangle shape of the hill and the soft winter sunlight behind it. These elements alone wouldn’t capture the viewer in a photo, so I used other elements to draw the eye in and take it there. A single sheep […]

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September 6, 2015
Same, same, but different

Queenstown Lakes and The Wakatipu is famous for it’s concentration of amazing landscapes. For me it’s a blessing to be in a position to explore and discover new corners of the region as much as I do.Much of life, however, is spent on the mundane activities of day to day existence. Walking the dog, gardening, […]

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August 13, 2015
An Historic Discovery

One of the things that fascinates me about the Wakatipu is how the region had been such a pristine wilderness of unspoilt lakes, rivers and mountains since glaciers carved them out ten thousand years ago. Small parties of Maori passed through, en-route to the mountains in the west, in search of precious pounamu (Jade), with […]

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July 15, 2015
Honoured

It’s great to have your work recognized by others; even more so when it’s by experts in the field. D-Photo magazine is New Zealand’s premier source of photography information, inspiration, and celebration. Every July the D-Photo calls for entries in the largest photography contest of its kind in the country. The Sigma D-Photo Amateur Photographer […]

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August 4, 2014
HDR & Panoramas

This post is about a small, inexpensive plugin for Lightroom that makes my life so much easier. Since discovering the possibilities offered by HDR (high dynamic range) techniques, I’ve incorporated them into most of my landscape work. I work very much in the (digital) darkroom and for me photography is about collecting the visual material […]

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July 17, 2014
Photography tours - Sharing the passion

I’m on the committee of the fabulous Queenstown photography club. We had a request for someone interested in taking a photography enthusiast from Queensland, Australia on a guided photography tour while she was in Queenstown for a conference. I put up my hand. This would be the first client for my new venture into guided […]

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March 14, 2014
Impressionism - Making Images in Your Own Vision

I thought I would share how photography for me is about capturing a vision – or the essence of what enthrals me about a scene. It’s not always as easy as composing a shot and tweaking some settings in Photoshop or Lightroom. A wealth of software for processing photos puts amazing power into our hands. […]

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February 7, 2014
Remarkable Imagery Shoots A Remarkable Project

Remarkable Imagery recently spent a long day tramping and photographing a spectacular alpine landscape in the Slate Range, south of Queenstown, above the hamlet of Garston. Welcome Rock Trails is the brave project of Tom O’Brien, a fourth generation station owner who is opening up this huge expanse of hills and valleys, tussock and tors, […]

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December 5, 2013
It's Remarkable

Lone Pine Cloudscape This tree on the road from Kingston to Queenstown is a favourite of mine. The stark sculptural form is a reminder of the powerful natural forces that sweep through this valley. Nurtured by rain and fertile soil; lashed by winds and burnt by snow and blazing sun, it stands – sentinel – […]

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