| Year joined DPS | 2003 |
| Signification positions held in DPS | President, Treasurer, Councillor, Festival Co-Ordinator, Natex Co-Ordinator |
| Current camera | Nikon 750 |
| Favourite camera you have ever used/had | Nikon 750 |
| Which do you prefer: Film or Digital? | Digital |
| And why? | Have never got into developing and my serious interest in photography has only really developed since the advent of digital |
| Which do you prefer: Print or Projected? | |
| And why? | Nothing like holding a good print in your hand. I like digital also but print is more permanent and a quick ready reference |
| How did you get into photography? | Did quite a bit in the old days of youth – mainly centered around family and youth Forest and Bird Activities. Later at end of school days in Tonga I did the Tourist type photos in slides and a little later the camera died and I did not replace it as Robin did most of the family photography.
John Hart ran a series of lectures through DPS one of which I attended was made welcome, the bug regenerated I bought a camera and the rest is history |
| What is your most memorable moment from your time at DPS so far? | Being awarded a Life Membership at the 125th celebration |
| What keeps you inspired with your photography? | Watching the crop of excellent photographers we presently have in the club and trying to learn from them how I can effectively capture the things I want to. I want the end result to match my vision which I find very difficult to do but have lotsa fun trying |
| Do you have a particular theme that would summarise your photographs? | Water, Landscape, Buildings, lowlight and backlight |
| Where is the best place that you have been to take photos? | Milford Road and Sound |
| What piece of equipment could you not do without in your camera bag? | Lens hoods |
| Do you have any advice for your fellow photographers? | Follow your vision and don’t give up |
| Do you have any favourite photography related websites or web resources that you’d like to share with other members? | DPS (Digital Photography School) Cambridge in Colour |
| Any other comments? | I enjoy my membership of DPS and by participating, listening and looking, learn much which then challenges me to put into practice |
Photography
DPS – Routeburn Field Trip July 2016
Participants: Craig McKenzie, Glenn Symon, David Steer, Jenny Longstaff
Article written by Jenny
Hooray! End of the working week and let’s get outta here! Arrived at Sylvan campsite (60+km beyond Glenorchy) by about 10.30pm and erected our tents under the trees to keep out of the hoar frost zone. Seemed to be several other campers tucked away too, plus deer. Hot cuppa brewed and so to bed, snugly tucked up in several layers and sleeping with camera to keep battery warm (I only had the one battery, unlike Craig who had 10!).
rosy-fingered dawn / beckons early riser / cupping a tin mug
Caterer Craig’s cordon bleu fare provided nourishment then off to the start of the Routeburn Track. The guys were lugging their tramping packs, camera bags and tripods, signalling a serious photographic expedition, while my camera gear is a small point and shoot waterproof camera (not that I have ever used it underwater, but on a South Island tramping trip you never know!!). I was on the trip mainly for the tramping and was delighted to discover that it triggered some poetic notebook scribblings, as you shall see interspersed in this account.
green therapy / nature’s healing touch / in the balm of your land
The track itself and bridge crossings are very well constructed, the Routeburn Track being designated a Great Walk. Our destination for Saturday night was the Routeburn Falls hut, (capacity 48), so with plenty of time to get there and only 8 or so km to walk, we could dawdle beside the picturesque river, photographing the beech forest, ferns, waterfalls, mossy rocks and other forest details, with some kakariki, south island robins, tom tits and riflemen for company.
inquisitive visitors / tiny bush birds / strut their fluff
We took a lunch break at an old landslip site which afforded great views across to the Humboldt Mountains, then eventually we arrived at the Falls Hut, dumped our things then out again to explore the Falls area, rich pickings for compositions of rocks and water, foliage, mountain scenery and atmospherics. The weather was holding well, so I continued along the track until I could get a view of Lake Harris.
focused photographer / captures panorama / exposure on the summit
The evening was spent consuming Chef Craig’s candle-lit dinner and huddling over a reluctant wood burner. (The next morning he discovered the water tank and the coal shed.) We had chatted to some other trampers on the track, but the only other people staying at the hut were two young Invercargill women. Tough kiwis go winter tramping!
crumbling erosion / swirling tannin waters / dunking gingernuts
And then it rained all night. A deluge. No point getting up early. Later in the morning in typically fickle style it cleared and we ventured out at 11-ish, spending time checking out the waterfalls, gushing most spectacularly, before we descended to the lower valley for other riverside photo stops, with a lunch break at the Routeburn Flats hut.
raging river / chuting the rapids / canyon clefts
The rain had woken up all the tiny lichens and mosses and had turned the river and side streams into torrents, but we were relatively dry on our hike out.
washed clean / forest greens gleam / radiant after rain
It was a pretty good outing for photographic variety, from wide angle vista to macro minutiae, and best part on a tramping excursion with fellow photographers is that they don’t pick on you to keep up! Back at the vehicle it was good to shed our packs and get out of our boots, then we did a side trip to photograph ‘the Paradise tree’. A great weekend away, proving that you can cram a lot into a short space of time, creating memorable moments.
tongues hanging out / waiting by back door / muddy hiking boots
Enter Now: Spring Print Exhibition
A gentle reminder about the upcoming Spring Print Exhibition.
Closing date for entries: Monday 8th August 2016 (at our meeting)
Members can submit up to six entries in each of the Open and Natural History Sections. More details.
We will be exhibiting the selected images at the Dunedin Community gallery, so this is a great opportunity to get your work on display to the public. John Hart will be selecting images for the Open section and Paul Sorrel selecting for the Natural History section.
John Casey has organised a good deal with the Framing Factory in South Dunedin if you need to purchase new mats and foam core backing. Contact John or Laurie by 25th July to order your mats.
The Dunedin Junior Photography Exhibition
Entries are now open for the The Dunedin Junior Photography Exhibition.
Open to Secondary School students in the Dunedin area, the Exhibition will be displayed alongside the Spring Print Exhibition at the Dunedin Community Gallery between the 29th and 31st of August.
Please share the links below, or the blog post itself, to anyone you know who may be interested in entering.
Entry and information: https://dps.org.nz/tdjpe/
Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/tdjpe/
Guest Speaker: Rod Morris
Meeting: Monday June 27th
Rod Morris, who is a well known and award-winning natural history filmmaker, author and photographer, was the guest speaker on Monday night. His talk titled ‘ Pinch of Salt – Seashore macro photography’ was based around his most recent work, producing a field guide to the New Zealand seashore, in conjunction with Sally Carson from the Portobello Marine Science laboratory.
Accompanying his talk, were many photographs of the wonderful and weird sea life that inhabit our shores. There is, in fact, a huge variety of life in the sea that exists and is not that well known. In fact, about 96% of animals live in an aquatic environment; the rest are terrestrial. Rod urged us to go out and explore the inter-tidal environment.
Photographing these animals presents several challenges. First and foremost are two factors that are enemies of the camera – saltwater and sand. Rod recommended placing a finger near the end of one’s camera lens to provide a warning that the camera is getting close to the water surface. Rod also uses a point-and-shoot waterproof camera which can produce some pleasing results (particularly cameras that have a tilted screen). In more sheltered rock pools, it is possible to shoot through the water surface, particularly when using twin flash units.
Another challenge is that many of the animals tend to quickly burrow themselves in the sand if they sense danger. In this case, Rod often took these specimens back to the laboratory and placed a sheet of glass between the animal and the background sand so that it could not burrow. After photographing, he would then return the animal to the sea. He has also used water filters in the laboratory to move sediment and water around the tank, in order to stimulate some activity in the animals (such as barnacles which may close up as a defence mechanism). There are also various tidal rhythms that can influence the behaviour of the animal so it is important to have a bit of background knowledge of these animals.
Rod’s talk has certainly inspired us to head out to the seashore and explore. We look forward to the publication of his field guide.
Society Competitions
The Dunedin Photographic Society runs three kinds of competition throughout the year.
Print & Projected Image of the Month (Monthly Competitions)– These are an opportunity to submit work for critique. The critique is intended to be constructive and give you suggestions on how to improve and grow as a photographer. It’s amazing how often someone may point out something such as a distracting patch of light that you hadn’t noticed…. now it’s obvious and all you can see!
The varying themes encourage members to try something different and are open to interpretation, ‘open’ means you can submit anything you like. Any degree of processing will be considered. The only subjects which tend to be stricter are Natural History and Photojournalism. These should accurately represent the subject/event.
This is a good place to start showing your work. All images will be commented on. Points are awarded to everyone who submits an image and extra points are awarded for the top three images on the night. Points standings can be found here: Standings.
Successful images from this competition should be considered for the seasonal exhibitions.
Seasonal Exhibitions (Seasonal Exhibitions)– The club runs four seasonal exhibitions Spring and Autumn Print, and Winter and Summer Projected Image. You can enter up to 6 images in each of the the Open and Natural History sections (note: the seasons are just to indicate the time of the year the exhibition is held – it is not a restriction on the type of image you can enter). The images entered are submitted to accredited judges or ‘experts’ for appraisal. The purpose of these is to produce an exhibition of quality work, and therefore not all images will be accepted. The judges are directed to accept a percentage of the images submitted and will provide comment on only those that have been accepted.
While it can be disappointing not to have images accepted, it is important to realise that judging can be subjective; an image accepted by one judge may have been rejected by another.
Successful images from the seasonal exhibitions should be considered for the Festival.
Dunedin Festival of Photography (Festival)– The Festival is run once a year by the Society and is open to any NZ resident or society member to enter. This competition attracts a large number of entrants including those with photographic honours and professional photographers, and as such the standard is high. Acceptance into the festival should be seen as an impressive achievement and a stepping stone to the PSNZ Regional or National exhibitions. These images are not critiqued but are displayed in a local gallery for a week where they can be viewed by the public.
For new members, entering your images for the first time is always the hardest. You do need to have a bit of a thick skin, but positive feedback feels good and shows you a way forward. So don’t be shy, start entering now.
Dunedin Photographic Society 