Bird Photography. The Dance of the Gulls

Step By Step

Go down to the Rotorua Lakefront in the morning  after the sun has risen or one hour before dusk.

Take at least two loaves of cheap  bread,

                   your  DSLR camera, a tripod, a 50 mm prime lens or a 50mm  macro lens

                         Set it on aperture priority, iso 200, low f-stop  (f5) so the lens shoots quickly           
              Camera on a tripod and don't forget to turn off image stablisation

Put your camera on burst mode (continuous shooting)

                                               
                                                                       And shoot  away

                    Take hundreds of shots try to get the sun to be at a 90 degree angle to your target

                                          Instruct your husband or designated bread feeder

 To break the bread up into smallish hunks

To throw them high up into the air

 And to be fearless

 about the potential for a Kamikazi gull

 to crash into your face

because the most important thing in a photographer's life  is

to one day get that shot of gold.

In the words of Brian Peterson..." Just keep shooting"

Creative Quote of the day .

For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.”

Richard Bach from Jonathon Livingston Sea Gull

Photographing Vintage at the Tirau Museum

I went with my photographic mates Diana and Joni  and her two boys to the Tirau Museum last Thursday to take shots of old stuff.
I love the texture of old items and the  patina of age.
Here are some of my favourite shots.



Be warned; if you don't like creepy, crawly , spooky things don't read on...


..

                                             The Nomad Photographers outside the Tirau  Museum

                               Diana shoots the Tirau museum owner Jeff.

                          Old hut outside the entrance to the Tirau Museum

                        Old door decaying at the back of the Honey House next to the Tirau Museum

                                Old wheel outside the Honey House at the Tirau Museum

                                            Dead, old Tarantula at the Tirau Museum

                                                   Exotic ( dead)  moths at the Tirau Museum

                                        Beautiful Butterflies at the Tirau Museum

                                            Cute, little stuffed bat with glass eyes at the Tirau Museum

                                      
               Vintage dolls looking tortured on top of a beautiful hand crafted quilt at the Tirau Museum

                                     Vintage Maid (amputee) with some sort of fan  at the Tirau Museum

                    Dolls  (amputees) close up and georgeous quilt at the Tirau Museum

                                 
                                          Bride  and pictures of ancestors at  the Tirau Museum

                                                    Ghost bride at the Tirau Museum

                                    Ghost Maid at the Tirau Museum

              Vintage typography on good old fashioned pine boxes at the Tirau Museum

                                            Old petrol pump, Tirau Museum

                                          
                                      Vintage tobacco poster, Tirau Museum

                  Vintage labels and stickers, Tirau Museum

              Vintage cans and poster, Tirau Museum

                                                    Taxidermy section, Tirau Museum

         Old Beehives, Tirau Museum Garden

                                     Fuschia, Tirau Museum Garden

                            Ornamental Grape Leaves, Tirau Museum Garden

                                       Ornamental Grape Leaves 2, Tirau Museum Garden

                                            Ornamental Grape leaf  Tirau museum garden

  Owner of the Tirau Museum Jeff, will give you a quick tour, then leave you to explore all the treasures at your leisure.

There's something for everyone.
You can take your lunch and have a picnic at his tables in his beautiful garden.
The place is great for the whole family.
Price is $5.00 per person or $11.00 per family, any size.
 He also sells honey and walnuts.
Don't forget to sign the visitors book.

 If you go message me and tell me what you thought.
 The guy is a living treasure and a  real artist, he has a deft eye for composition.
When I told him he was an artist he just beamed and said he was off to tell his wife.
It's great to appreciate the creativity in others.

You can find me on facebook under Janet Keen Artist/Teacher.
www.jkeen.net

Creative Quote of the Day.
We are born at a given moment, in a given place and  like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.
Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.
Carl Jung

Haiku workshop with Sandra Simpson at Waikato University in Hamilton

 A couple of weekends ago I went over for a day to Hamilton to attend a workshop on haiku and it was one of the most enjoyable  poetry writing workshops I've  been to in my twenty four year history of attending writing workshops.

The tutor, Sandra Simpson was knowledgable, affirming  and helpful.
She ran a class with  just the right amount of talking and class participation.
She had great notes and the room was well lit and comfortable.
The other 16 or so other Hamilton people who attended were friendly and interesting, at least two of the class members I will  be seeing  again at the up and coming haiku festival in July.

The food  prepared by Nyree Sherlock, course co-ordinator was healthy, tasty and attractive.
The price was excellent, only $65.00 and if Sandra  ran another course  on any sort of writing  I would  attend it.
 I finished the course wanting more and itching to write haiku
 I bought Sandra's haiku book called Breath, Ive read it twice already and will be dipping back into it in the weeks to come..
Here are some photos and I will also sprinkle some haiku on this post, most of which will need to be edited.

Sandra started  her workshop with a history of various prominent Japanese haiku masters.
Matsuo Basho

the old pond
a frog jumps in-
the sound of water

This haiku  illustrates the technique of  comparison.
felling a tree
and gazing at the cut end-
tonights moon.

Mine would be (with  accompanying apple picking shots to follow).

apple picking
the first bite-
 new found friends

apple picking-
the last bite-
long  time friends


apple picking
the earwig bite-
false friends

apple picking
the wasp bite-
competitive friends

half ripe apples-
aquaintances

last years apples
withering on the tree-
neglected friends


apple pie
fresh out of the oven-
close friends

golden  apples
sitting on a mantlepiece
good  clients

toffee apple
sitting on a plate-
the  husband

Set yourself a photographic assignment while on holiday...

One of my goals for my Ohiwa holiday escape in April was to attain the perfect Toitoi shot.

The Toitoi this time of the year in this area are so frothy and creamy /white that they make you feel like eating them.

These four are my best attempts so far.

But it's such an enticing subject thatI I am keeping on with the quest, so any Toitoi  I pass while driving around the countryside surrounding Rotorua is fair game.


Creatvity Quotes
“Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower”

The first principle of success is desire - knowing what you want. Desire is the planting of your seed.”

Napolean Hill.

Impressionist Photography

          I went on holiday to Ohiwa Harbour a week ago. Holidays are great for aiding creativity.
          Below are my impressions of one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand.
           Enjoy.

      These shots were taken out of a moving car on dusk

        Don't worry I was not driving.

       I love the way the trees shatter during the car movement.

     The ghostly images to me are more interesting than a realistic landscape.

    With my photography I prefer to dwell in the land of the unknown or the imaginary.

    This one looks moody and  like a storm was coming , yet it was taken  on a perfect Autumn evening

   The beautiful, smooth flowing expanse of water

     like liquid gold

     It could almost be a moonscape.

If you want to try this you need a co-operative driver, my  husband is always accommodating and even offers to stop the car occasionally.
I used a 50 mm prime lens on aperture 4 and in some cases left it under exposed by one stop.

It's best to do it in the golden hour around sunset.
Early morning is good as well.

 Creativity Quotes of the day
Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.

Henri Matisse


Impressionism; it is the birth of Light in painting.
Robert Delaunay