David St George Photography: photojournalistic wedding and business event photographer: June 2008

Boat House in Blue

1 - an abstract composition borrowed from the boat houses along Wellington's waterfront

Island Bay to Redrocks (Part 3)

1 - This is my 900th blog post

Island Bay to Redrocks (Part 2)

Island Bay to Redrocks (Part 1)

1 - Saturday featured a walk from Island Bay to the Seal colony (map)

2 - Owhiro Bay

5 - my shadow bears a striking resemblance to Jar Jar Binks

1 - A somewhat Ansel Adams-ish interpretation on this scene along the Redrocks coastal walk. Post-processing included three layers for high dynamic range, plus a dual layer black and white conversion with red filtration.

Camera Hardware - How I Roll

1 - I'm a Nikon guy, but it was more by accident than design as Nikon offered a vastly superior kit lens with the old Nikon D70 (my first DSLR) compared to the flimsy little blurry plastic thing attached to the Canon 300d. I would quite happily shoot Canon tomorrow if required, and I have particular respect for the 40D, 5d, 1d, and 1ds series; as well as the range of Canon 'L' lenses. I do a lot of telephoto work, so I decided to stick with the DX cropped sensor format for at least the next year or so.

So, this is what I use:

Nikon D300 w/ Nikon MB-D10 battery pack (looks like this)

Lenses:

Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX HSM (rectilinear ultra-wideangle)
Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 (the old kit lens, hardly ever used now I have the Sigma)
Nikon 50mm f1.8 (standard lens, cheap, sharp, and bright with hard edged bokeh)
Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR (macro lens, but more often used for portraits)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR (words cannot describe this lens)
Sigma 100-300mm f4 EX (monster, requires a monopod for best handling)

Soon to be sold:
Tamron 90mm f2.8 (great macro lens, currently in reserve)
Nikon D200 body (only 80,000 shots...)

...my gear is perfect for what I do, but if I won lotto I'd consider:
Nikon 200-400mm f4 VR
Nikon 200mm f2 VR
Zeiss 85mm f1.4
Nikon 10.5mm f2.8 fisheye
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 (attached to a D3)
...and maybe a Canon body for the mighty 85mm f1.2

I've been getting quite a few 'what should I buy?' questions lately. If you want a DSLR for capturing memories, get a Nikon D60 or a Canon 450d with cheap 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses. If you're serious about photography as an artform, get a 2nd hand Canon 5d, 20d, or 30d, or Nikon D200, and a 50mm f1.4 lens and just get into it.

The Advantages of Winter

The Nightingale and The Rose (but no Nightingale)

1 - From a short story by Oscar Wilde:

"So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.
And the marvellous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.
But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.
Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.
'Look, look!' cried the Tree, 'the rose is finished now;' but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.
And at noon the Student opened his window and looked out.
'Why, what a wonderful piece of luck! he cried; 'here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name;' and he leaned down and plucked it."

2 - "Then he put on his hat, and ran up to the Professor's house with the rose in his hand.
The daughter of the Professor was sitting in the doorway winding blue silk on a reel, and her little dog was lying at her feet.
'You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose,' cried the Student. Here is the reddest rose in all the world. You will wear it to-night next your heart, and as we dance together it will tell you how I love you.'
But the girl frowned.
'I am afraid it will not go with my dress,' she answered; 'and, besides, the Chamberlain's nephew has sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers.'
'Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful,' said the Student angrily; and he threw the rose into the street, where it fell into the gutter, and a cart-wheel went over it.
'Ungrateful!' said the girl. 'I tell you what, you are very rude; and, after all, who are you? Only a Student. Why, I don't believe you have even got silver buckles to your shoes as the Chamberlain's nephew has;' and she got up from her chair and went into the house.
'What a silly thing Love is,' said the Student as he walked away. 'It is not half as useful as Logic, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling one of things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics.'
So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read."

Spikes

1 - narrow depth of field courtesy of the 105mm lens

Ferraris @ Shell World of Performance

1 - Ferrari F355

2 - Replica of Ferrari's F1 machine

Chains and Shackles and Things

1 - "A solitary, unused to speaking of what he sees and feels, has mental experiences which are at once more intense and less articulate than those of the gregarious man. They are sluggish, yet more wayward, and never without a melancholy tinge. Sights and impressions which others brush aside with a glance, a light comment, a smile, occupy him more than their due; they sink silently in, they take on meaning, they become experience, emotion, adventure. Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous, to poetry." ~Thomas Mann

New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team

1 - The 2008 selections for the All Blacks stopped off at Wellington's Queens Wharf for an autograph signing session... I don't follow Rugby, so any help putting names to faces would be much appreciated! (Particular thanks to Hadyn of Wellingtonista fame for providing a bunch of names).