Malcolm and Yvette

Well, it has now been done.
We have a large bridge in this town, it crosses the biggest river in New Zealand, the Clutha. However, it has not always been here. Before 1956, I think it was, the river was crossed using a single lane swing bridge, with piers made from schist, the local rock. These piers still stand in the river.
For some years I have wanted to stand a bride and her new husband on one of these old piers to take a photo. Malcolm and Yvette jumped at the chance to do something a bit different, as she knew she would not be wearing a big white dress, and they thought with a bit of help from their friends, they would be able to do it. It all depended on how high the river would be. Up a bit would be an advantage, too low would be problem, but solvable. In the end, getting there was relatively easy.
So I took some photos like this one, then rushed around to the other side, put on a longer lens, and took more photos looking through both piers.
I was quite pleased with the results, though now I have done it, I can think of all the things I should have done. Never mind. I can save these for the future.
I also must have a look at it when the sun is fully on it, as I am not sure we would have got the same results in full sun.
Thank you Malcolm and Yvette for having a go. It was good fun. In fact the whole day was good fun.

Old Photos

One of the projects I have been working on over the last few weeks, is the re-photographing of the old photos at the Roxburgh Rugby Club. One of the members, John McKinnel, has been collecting old photos from around the district for some time. The above photo, taken originally in 1890, remains in very good condition. John has put together a team of 'middle aged' former players to name all the people in the photos, and to a large degree they have done well. In some of this countries smaller communities, there is always some relation left who knows who was in his father's or grandfather's team.
If you have any photos from the Coal Creek, Millers Flat, Roxburgh or Ettrick Rugby Clubs of the past, contact me and I will put you onto John.
As someone pointed out, many times the old team photo is the only image in existence of many of these young men.

Vineyard workers

Last Saturday I was out on a vineyard waiting for the cloud to shift off a mountain top I was trying to photograph. This group of people came over the hill and started working on the vines. I did not know who they were or what they were doing, as the vines have no leaves out yet, and whatever they were doing did not seem to involve the vines. They walked about in some sort of pattern, but it seemed to have no sense to it.
I went back again on Sunday when there was no cloud, and got the photo I wanted. Today I dropped the CD in to the vineyard, and had a talk to the manager. It seems that these people were members of the Dunstan Arm Rowing Club, and they were 'dropping the wires'. It was explained to me that before the vines start growing in spring, all the wires are hooked lower down the post, and as the grapes grow, the wires are raised to keep up. This saves the leaves and stems being broken, and means the grapes will grow within the confines of the wire, so they don't spread out everywhere, and it is easier for harvesting later.
This vineyard is one of the bigger ones around here, and a lot of this sort of work is done by groups who want to raise funds for trips etc.
None of this is relevant to the photo really. It's just that it reminded me of the patterns that Peter Peryer sees when he takes photos, there is sort of a pattern but then it is broken up in some way.
Maybe I should have cropped it down a bit, so that it just had the lines and the people, rather than any 'ends', but then it might have lost some of it's scale.
I should be careful, I might be starting to get a bit artistic.

'Food, Glorious Food'

This group of workhouse orphans set the very high standard for the Alexandra Musical Society's production of 'Oliver!'. They were very well behaved, and all seemed to enjoy doing the show. And to me some of them seemed quite young. Oliver was played by two children, who took turns night about. A good idea I suppose, as it is a big part. Both Sam Harris and Lauren Ross did it well.

Bill Sykes

It is hard to believe that a year ago I had some photos on this blog from the Alexandra Musical Society's production 'Bye Bye Birdie'. This year the Society is doing "Oliver!", and once again I was asked to do the photos for the program.
This year's show was produced by Bruce Martin. He comes here every second year to do a show, and is very much appreciated by the Society, as he is a very clever producer. And good to deal with, as far as the photographer goes.
The above photo is of local baritone Barry Gibbons, who played a particularly nasty Bill Sykes. Barry has done professional theatre in the past, and it showed in his performance.
"Oliver!" would not be the show it is without the children, all asking for more, so I will post a photo of some of them next.

Patrick's photo

I have so much material to put on here, but never seem to find the time.
I am no teacher. But our youngest, 14 year old Patrick, took this photo recently, and I must say he has got it right. I was trying to show him how to get the speeding car sharp, while having the back ground blurred, giving the impression of speed. One of the great things about digital is that you can do it over and over again, until you get it right. But this was only his 10th attempt, and was considerably better than any of mine.