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2015 Issue 5June

Viewfinder is the official Publication of the Christchurch Photographic SocietyPO Box 1789 Christchurch Mail Centre Christchurch 8140President: Bruce Jensen president@cpsnz.com Please submit articles for publication by the 22nd of the month to Belinda Carter viewfinder@cpsnz.com

If you are interested in finding out more about CPS, you are welcome to attend our weekly meetings held on Wednesday nights at 8 pm at the Riccarton Community Church 44 Eliza-beth Street, Riccarton.

Our website www.cpsnz.com contains a complete list of Offic-ers, programme details, field trips, competitions and previous issues of Viewfinder available to download in PDF format.

Highlights of the PSNZ conventionDuly honoured

The following CPS members have received their PSNZ Honours. Those who could make the banquet at the convention received their awards then. Licentiate (LPSNZ): • Kevin MacMillan • Andrew ThomsonAssociate (APSNZ) (prints): • Gavin James • Anita KirkpatrickFellowship (FPSNZ):• Ann Bastion Small copies of Gavin, Ann and Anita's sets are avail-able to view on page 5 and 6, mainly as a guide to the variety of subject matter and treatment. A photo of Ann receiving her fellowhip is also on page 5.

Interclub contestsCPS came first in the Wilt-shire (projected images) competition and third equal in the Bledisloe (projected images). Images were select-ed by Ron Willlems and in-cluded photographs by Ron Willems, Frank Green, Ann Bastion, JK Kueh, Jo Curtis, Anita Kirkpatrick, Sebastian Krebs and Newell Grenfell.

By Diana AndrewsCarolyn Elcock and I drove up to the 2015 Convention in Tauranga in late April/early May and found it a really well run, inspir-ing conference.There were many choices for speakers and workshops and we enjoyed them all.We had an early morning shoot at the racing stables, watching the horses being groomed, exercised on the field and then hosed down afterwards.Julianne Kost, Adobe's ambas-sador from Texas was extremely well received, inspiring and entertaining. Christian Fletcher from UK showed us fascinating photos

from his tutoring workshops from the UK, its outer islands, Tuscany and Scandinavia.The field trip by boat to the volcanic White Island was well worth the money and a privilege to walk on such a fascinating landscape.Ann Bastion and Annette Preen came up to the banquet, Stuart Clook came to hear Julianne Kost speak, Trevor White and Helen came for the Convention and Ron and Joy Willems and Newell and Jacquie Grenfell were present.Ron Willems was presented with a Medal for Service for PSNZ and 4 nations Certificate of Merit. He also received an honorary mem-bership of PSNZ. See page 5.

Here's another one for your collection. Murry Cave, right, presents Ron Willems with one of several awards at the

PSNZ national convention in Tauranga. Photo: Jay Drew.

 

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Club news and views

of the CPS website under Competi-tion Entry/MDC.

• You will probably need to think about and plan your strategy, and then put it into action.

• You have until the end of the month to get your submission uploaded to the CPS website.

• Results for the June competition will be shown on Wednesday July 29th.

• If you’re lucky or expert enough, you’ll get a prize donated by J Tech Computer Systems. To receive the prize you must be at CPS on the night.

• Why not give it a go! The subject for June is “Hands”. You never know, your Digital Challenge image might be a winner.

President’s Column

Bruce Jensen

New members, and even some of our older members may not be aware of the Monthly Digital Challenge, which has been run by CPS for a number of years. It’s a way to practise new skills and techniques and to get your creative juices flowing and also of course, it provides a great excuse to get out with your camera.It was introduced by Dave Slaten and Fergus Campbell, and has proved to be a popular and fun club activity.Here’s how it works…• It’s basically a set subject ac-

tivity, decided for its poten-tial for fun.

• The subject for each month is posted on the members area

Committee members on leaveTo enable committee members time off, to travel, take photographs and for family or personal rea-sons a roster has been drawn up. But there is also a need for more people to join in and spread the workload. More people need to volunteer for com-mittee work. This is particularly urgent for cover for secretary Nelson Boustead, who produces the weekly TWIF, writes the minutes, handles the corre-spondence and does a lot of the backroom work to keep the club humming. Source: commmittee minutes.

Ghosts and graveyardsThere weren't any "ghosts" in the graveyard in St Peter's graveyard, except perhaps Diana moving through someone else's long exposure on May 27. The church hall was off limits so 14 members turned up, well wrapped against the cold and took photos of passing cars, street lights and shop frontages. The church graveyard offered some interesting shots, es-pecially when lit up by passing cars. Long exposure times were needed and lanterns and torches proved useful extra sources of light.

The New Zealand Camera book is now being distrib-uted to those with individual PSNZ memberships but anyone else can pony up with $ 40 (+delivery charge) and get a 160 page coffee table book, showcasing work by some of New Zealand's best photographers. In an article in PSNZ Cameratalk Paul Willyams described the process the small team went through to whittle 900 images down to 300 and then make tough choices to remove any who had more than one photo chosen or whose images did not fit with others. For future reference, he advised submitters against using borders, to send in photos of different subjects, and to print digital images out to see what they will look like in print. It goes without saying the images need to be technically spot on and have the wow factor.

PSNZ showcase

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Club notices and news

This month

Help wanted

Up ahead

This club runs on volunteers.Don’t leave the organisation to other people.

Photojournalism in JuneFrank Green is running two tutorials on photo journalism on June 3 and 17, in conjunction with the field trip organised for June 7. Photojournalism is about telling stories with a photograph, or a series of them, for use in a magazine or newspaper or to enter in PJ competitions organised by other PSNZ clubs. Post processing is limited when it comes to PJ images, perhaps cropping and sharpening, no HDR.

Travel photographyNature photographer, tramper and birder Kath Varcoe is giving a talk on travel photography, with particular focus on northern hemisphere bears on June 17. She is a member of an online travel

Landscape photographyWith the landscape salon in July it is timely for a focus on landscape photography during tutorial sessions. The first session on July 1 covers useful equipment, composing images on site, lighting and how to simplify complex subject material.

Paul Daly rescheduledPaul Daly's postponed talk will be given on July 8. Some of our members know him as a tutor on the photography course at Hagley College.

Laurie Thomas landscape salonThe salon is being held on July 15 with members of other clubs invited to attend, so a supper is also on the menu. An AV of the winning images will be played and trophies/medals presented to winners if they are present. The New Zealand landscape competition, commemorating a former member, attracts (digital-only) entries from all over New Zealand. The salon is being judged by West Coast-based photographers Elizabeth Passuello, John Reid and Peter Robertson.

Winter schoolThe Laurie Thomas winter school is being held up at Flock Hill near Porters Pass from July 31- Au-gust 2. Entries to this, and to the associated salon have closed.

Matting photographic printsFewer people are entering prints into competi-

tion, partly because of the cost and not knowing how to mount photos so the CPS committee hopes by showing people how to matte their own pho-tographs, more might do so. A session has been scheduled for July 29.

Feedback on setsSets of photographs are required when applying for PSNZ honours. Ian Walls, FPSNZ has organ-ised someone from outside the club to give feed-back on those who submit sets of 6-9 print images on June 17, when Ian will be at the club. The feed-back session has been scheduled for July 29.

community called Safarious, which encourages members to post photos, video, journals related to travel and provides page layouts to show them off to their best advantage.

Member presentations Erik Norder, Renier Figuracion and Keith Sycamore talk about their photographs and photography on June 10 at 8pm.

Monthly digital challengeFor this month the challenge is to produce a digital image on the theme of Hands. Quite a rich area for photography. When you start going beyond the everyday - palmistry is the art of reading hands and hands are used in signing for the deaf. Then there are idioms, such as " I've have to hand it to him" etc.There's a whole language of symbolism, legends and folklore surrounding hands offering inspiration and stories for writers, artists and photographers.

Help required to prepare salon AV We need someone who would like to put the Lau-rie Thomas Landscape competition DVD of re-sults with music together for presentation (will be around 100 images). The work needs to be carried out during the last two weeks in June. If have AV skills/ suitable software and you can help please email carolyn@fusiontrust.co.nz.

Committee vacancies• One person to compile the weekly TWIF

emails (for 3 months while secretary overseas)• One person to take minutes (three meetings),

handle correspondence and other duties• Two more committee members (ongoing)

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Field trips and photowalks

October 16-18 This is the last (currently sched-uled) weekend trip for the year. We'll be doing a Friday even-ing - Sunday afternoon trip to Oamaru and Moeraki, details to be confirmed over the coming weeks. Plenty of opportunities to explore Steampunk, white lime-stone buildings and Victoriana in Oamaru, the Moeraki boulders and of course the sealife of the coastline, especially the pen-guins. Dates have been changed from the originally published ones so we don't clash with the Southern Regionals in Gore in early October. Expressions of interest are now invited so James Gibson can start looking for suit-able accommodation. (Updated details provided on CPS face-book page).

Sebastien Krebs led a field trip to Castle Hill on May 16 for some night photogra-phy. It proved an intensive and very informative week-end. After a rainy Friday sunset, it was back to the accommodation in Castle Hill village for a gourmet pot-luck dinner. Seb ran us all through the basics of night photog-raphy including camera settings, how to focus in the pitch dark and some great grounding in how to look for a successful image (planning really is key). We then all settled in for an early night and were up for photos at 4.30am. The cloud did not play ball but it gave us a great opportu-

June 7This field trip is mainly about the A428 steam train, old railway stations, large rocks and people. The train runs monthly on Sun-days between Glenmark Station (Waipara) and Waikari via Weka Pass for $15 each way. The train stops at one point mid-journey, disgorges passengers, backs up and steams towards photogra-phers. Meet at 9:30am at 32a Prestons Rd to drive in convoy or catch the first train at Glen-mark Station at 11.30 am, arriving at Waikari at 12.15pm. Time for a quick lunch as the return journey departs at 1pm. There's another run from Glenmark to Waikari leaving at 2pm, arriving back in Glenmark at 3.45pm. Or chase the trains instead, for the cost of petrol. Stay on for sunset at 5pm.

July 3-5Contact: andrews.diana@xtra.co.nz or 021 288 6877Annual mid-winter field trip to mid-Canterbury lakes in the mountains: Lake Heron, Maori Lakes, Lake Emily, Lake Camp and Lake Clearwater. Take pho-tos of sunrises and sunsets and maybe catch some icicles. There's bunkroom accommodation for 10 at Castle Ridge station and other places at the lakes. BYO food, camera gear and warm clothing. Friday to Sunday or just come for the day. Two hours drive from Christchurch. Some driving on gravel, but nothing a standard car can't handle. Come for a fun, photographic week-end. Alternative accommoda-tion at Lake Clearwater includes baches, holiday homes etc.

nity to practise the tech-niques we discussed and then have a quick play with light painting. Later that day, while one group took off in search of fungi, the remainder dis-cussed advanced panorama techniques and then head-ed off to catch the sunset at Cave Stream and take some night shots around the village (including a bit of a dunking in the stream for James whilst playing with wire wool). The second night was cloudless and gave us a great opportunity to re-try the first night's shots, with a bit more success in and around the village, light painting on the rocks and the odd panorama.James Gibson

Weka Pass by train Frostie Freezies Weekend in Oamaru

The Castle Hill rocks on the way to Arthur's Pass offer a marvellous view of one arm of our galaxy, the Milky Way while the cave at Cave Stream is a good place to try painting with light on a rainy night, or fire if you can know how to handle it.

Castle Hill at night

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Sets apart: PSNZ honoursThese sets, from Ann Bastion (top), Gavin James and Anita Kirkpatrick (page 6) reveals the breadth of subject matter and treatment CPS members are specialising in. These images are best viewed on CPS facebook) or buttonhole these photographers if you have any questions. Anita is now back living in Ireland.

Newell Grenfell wrote this proposal, for a PSNZ service award for Ron Willems, later endorsed by Ron Parry and Lynn Clayton.

Subsequently, the PSNZ Board recommended to the Council that Ron Willems be given an

honorary life membership, which was presented at the convention in Tauranga in early May.

Ron Willems is one of the most success-ful photographers in Australasia. He is a rare double Fellow of The Photographic Society of New Zealand (FPSNZ) and Australian Photographic Society (FAPS).He has won the Robinson Cup for best projected image in the PSNZ National Salon a record six times.His service to photography is also consid-erable, and yet to be formally recognised.In 1992, he produced ‘The Willems Report’, on a possible restructuring of PSNZ. One outcome was the important addition to PSNZ photographic honours of the popular Licentiate distinction (LP-SNZ).Ron has assisted many photographers to apply successfully for PSNZ photograph-ic distinctions and has, himself, served on the Honours Board. He has authored PSNZ help sheets.He is an enthusiastic and patient teacher and never hesitates to respond to those who seek advice.He is a prolific lecturer - both in New Zealand and overseas. He has spoken at national conventions, regionals and countless clubs. He regularly conducts photographic seminars and workshops on a voluntary basis. Many of these have raised money for the organising clubs.He is in great demand as a photographic judge, well qualified to assess both prints and projected images.Ron has served in almost every admin-istrative position in the Christchurch Photographic Society (CPS) ~ including treasurer, newsletter editor, competition secretary, grading and selection commit-tee member, vice-president and president.He was made an Honorary Life Member of CPS in 2009.

Life membership

Ann Bastion receiving her fellowship (FPSNZ) from patron John Boyd during at the PSNZ national conven-

tion in Tauranga in early May. Photo: Jay Drew.

 

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Anita J KirkpatrickArtist's statementJe suis Charlie 12

On 7 January 2015, two gunmen forced their way into the offices of French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Twelve people, including the editor-in-chief and one lady, were killed. Following the situation, the phrase Je suis Charlie, French for ‘I am Charlie’, was coined, recognising freedom of speech and support for those affected by the tragedy. These images are my reaction to the tragedy.I have learnt French at school, I have travelled in France, I have worked in France, I have lived in France, I have photo-graphed France, I consider myself to be an artist. I shared a connection with these people through art. I felt motivated to create an original tribute to them. I merged their creative tools with mine.

Je suis Charlie 12Image 1 Arbres de vie trees of LifeImage 2 vie cachée hidden lifeImage 3 assassiné murderImage 4 balles de plomb lead bulletsImage 5 une seule femme only one womanImage 6 reposent en paix rest in peaceImage 7 la Tour Eiffel the Eiffel TowerImage 8 le corps the bodyImage 9 liberté d'exoression freedom of speechImage 10 la France FranceImage 11 solidarité solidarityImage 12 les Bleus the Blues

This set of work was triggered by one image cre-ated for my blipfoto on 9 January 2015: www.po-laroidblipfoto.com/entry/2000378752034409615. It was in memory of the people killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in France. I started to think about the connection between lead pencils and lead bullets. As I was sharpening pencils to get pieces of lead to photograph, I no-ticed that some sharpenings came off the pencil in circles. The work evolved from that humble begin-ning. I lost the mojo after a week or so but found inspiration again to see if I could make it into an A-set. I had the existing photos printed to 6x4 inches and that made it easier to push them around, placing them in various sequences and looking for ‘miss-ing’ images. Images that would fill in the gaps in the storyboard I had put together. All the images comprise of 12 pieces (except for the flag). Once the images were decided upon, I rephotographed some of them to get the continuity I wanted, such as an-

gle of view, depth of field and to tidy up bits that bothered me. All this work was done on my kitchen drainer with natural light from behind, a reflector in front of me, and the background was a large piece of card. It was all set on a tray and as kitchens are, it couldn’t stay out there, so it was back and forth as I got time to work on it. All images were taken to black and white to get rid of the variation in natural light. All detail was brought forward in colour. The border was added to resemble the border of a cartoon and the writing to both title the image and look like a signature. I would like to sincerely acknowledge the support and advice of Ian Walls, Ferg Campbell, Sebastien Krebs and Kevin Macmillan for their contribution to the success of this Honours set. Ian was my main man and he liaised with Ferg, Sebastien improved my rusty French, and Kevin helped with layout in the initial stages.

Anita Kirkpatrick describes the process she went through to produce the images that earnt her an APSNZ.

A set triggered by one image

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Brief Snapshots

Other clubs and events

Pinhole photography in OxfordIf you are at a loose end or happen to be in Oxford on June 6, Ryan McCauley is running a workshop on pinhole photography, where you get to turn old tin cans into cameras and take photos. Dan-gerously old-fashioned, requires photo paper and developing. Costs $55 plus $25 for materials. Ryan is also holding an exhibition of his pinhole photog-raphy. with the title YARD, at the Arts in Oxford gallery until June 7. Visit www.artsinoxford.co.nz for more information.

Photoforum marks 40 yearsPhotoforum, founded in 1973 helped photogra-phers gain recognition for photography as an art form. Their magazine, known these days as Mo-Mento, has included images by Anne Noble, Robin Morrison and others. An exhibition, called His-tory in the Taking, being held at the City Gallery in Wellington until June 14, also forms a kind of social history of New Zealand since the 1970s. Pho-toforum stills exist as a not for profit society with website, facebook and publications.

Advanced LightroomJohn Foster is running a two day workshop on Lightroom, aimed at those with some experience of the software (not for beginners) at Papanui High School on June 20 and 21. Fee: $123. Contact the school for further information. The school also runs other photography-related classes during term time evenings or at weekends.

National Geographic CompetitionCategories include travel portraits, outdoor scenes, sense of place and spontaneous moments. There are no limits to the numbers of photos that can be entered but they need to be digital files, taken within two years before the entry date and meet a number of other strict requirements. The deadline is midday on June 30, EST. Top prize is a place on an expedition to Costa Rica and Panama Canal. For more information visit travel.nationalgeo-graphic.com

Competition includes timelapseThe 2015 New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year, which closes on July 15, also includes a timelapse category for multiple images. So charge your intervalometer and win public notoriety and industry backslaps.

National Geographic iconsFifty of the National Geographic's top images, going back some decades, are on display at the Expressions Gallery in Upper Hutt until July 26.

Maja Moritz running workshopsMaja is running her small (four people or fewer) courses on Thursday evenings (theory) and Satur-day afternoons (practical) in June and July, cover-ing the basics (exposure, aperture, shutter speed etc). A workshop on photo creativity is planned for September. For more information visit majamoritz.photoshelter.com

Plan ahead for Southern RegionalAs we head into winter, now's a good time to an-ticipate the spring flowers and warmer weather in early October. The Gore camera club is hosting the Southern Regional at the Heartland Hotel from Oc-tober 2-4. They've rounded up the speakers (Scott Fowler, Roger Wandless and Keith Tyree) and hooked some good deals on accommodation (from high school hostel to upmarket motels). There's a salon - more about that in a later Viewfinder. Field trips have been arranged to the ice rink, Hokonui pioneer village and an aviation museum. Good excuse to stay a day or too longer - the Catlins are nearby. The fee to attend: $195 per person, payable online. Check out the website gosouthernregional.weebly.com for the main details and their face-book page for any updates. The following week-end CPS has a field trip to Oamaru, so plenty of time to take the long way home.

Tauranga holding AV salonEntries close on June 10 for the Tauranga AV salon. There are four categories: theme, documentary, mu-sic poetry and song, and fusion. The latter category combines stills and video. For more information and for samples of fusion visit taurangaphoto.org.nz

Trenna Packer SalverThis is an interclub competition hosted by the Na-ture Photographic Society. CPS will choose images to represent the club (before June 19) for a presenta-tion a month later at St Christopher's in Avonhead.

Creative Focus competitionPukekohe-Franklin Camera Club is running its Creative Focus competition again this year. There are four sections: create focus, beautiful blur, colour harmony and mirror image. The competi-tion closes on August 9. For more information visit www.pfcc.co.nz.

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Natural History Projected Image #1Judge: Ron McKie

AcceptedGavin James Wandering Albatross

Jou Khiang Kueh Australian crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)

John ThorntonBlue Fungi, Entoloma hochstetteri

Geoff ElmslyBuller's Mollymawk Thalassarche bullleri bulleri

Jo CurtisCHORUS CICADA (Amphipsalta zelandica)

Sandra Hobbs Circumhorizontal arc

Alan MooreDanaus plexippus (Monarch Butterfly)

Stephen Laird Egretta novaehollandiae. White-faced heron

James GibsonEntoloma hochstetteri (Blue mushroom)

Clive Collins Excited Bellbirds

Helen McLeod Female New Zealand sealionTrish Brown Gannet pair and juvenile

Bevan Tulett Hungry chicks, Southern Black-backed Gull

Annette Preen Loxodonta africana

Paul Willyams Mandrill

Barry DenchNew Zealand robin, Petroica australis

Newell Grenfell Old Saltwater Crocodile head detail

Peter Curtis Pate - Schefflera digitata

Les Armon Porphyrio porphyrio

Annette Preen Red billed gulls mating

Michael Molloy Robin

Renier Figuracion Song Thrush

Peter CurtisSouth Island Robin - Petroica australis australis

Gavin James Southern Giant Petrel- head detail

Pol Syrett Sumatran tiger at Orana Park

Stephen LairdTadorna variegata. Paradise shelduck in flight

Honours

Nataliia KrupkaDamselfly (Ischnura heterosticta)

Ann Bastion Ice formation on foliage in Arthurs Pass 2

Nelson Boustead Notamphisopus male captur-ing female

Ron Willems Saguaro Cactus detail

Bevan TulettWandering Albatross Diomedea antipodensis gib-soni

Nataliia Krupka's Damselfly, top, Bevan Tullet's Wandering Albatross and Ron Willems' Sa-

guaro Cactus detail were among the top images in Nature Projected Image #1.

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Open Print #2Judge: Scott Fowler

AcceptedCarolyn Elcock Tui #1

Christopher Lagria Sea Prints

Annette Preen Cosmos

Paul Furborough Lost in the city

Ann Bastion White feathers

Alistair Phillips Give me life

Alistair Phillips Life lines

James Gibson Becalmed

Clive Collins The appeal

Paul Willyams Lost or left

Jou Khiang Kueh Fallen stars on Motukeikei Rocks

Helen McLeod Dancing LightsSandra Hobbs Otematata river from above

John Suckling Making snow

Ann Bastion After the burnoff

Gavin James Barbarossa the Piper

Stuart Clook Cleddau River Chasm

Clive Collins Twin flyover

Sebastien Krebs Dusk lustre

HonoursJames Gibson Grey Buzzard Eagle

John Suckling Abstract 2

Helen McLeod The beauty in the brokenStuart Clook Best in Show

Winter's Willow

James Gibson's Grey Buzzard Eagle comes in for the kill (left) and from top Stuart Clook's Winter Willow was best in show. Helen McLeod found Beauty in the Broken while John Suckling found some-thing a bit different and called it Abstract 2. All four images received honours.

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Open Projected Image #3Judge: Anna Mandeno

AcceptedPaul Willyams LaurenAlistair Phillips Brilliance in the back streetsAndrew Thomson GrinTrevor White Wreck of the WaverleyAnn Bastion Stepping stones to beyondAnnette Preen Poppy bubblesRenier Figuracion Catch meMaxine Cooper Tail feathersTsumuki Taniguchi Steve JelleySandra Hobbs Lake Mahinapua at sunriseHelen McLeod Washed upNola Sumner Keep it steadyCarolyn Jenson The sky is the limitPam Cumming In loving lemoryClive Collins Bumble bee heavenBarbara Burry Crashing wavesKeith Sycamore Kaikoura's rugged coastlineJames Gibson Shadow flightClare Roberts Beach bachAnita Kirkpatrick Doorway to yesteryearTracey Weir In a dark placeGavin James Holi man

Sebastien Krebs Sunset at the Brighton Pier #2

Martyn Cook Sunrise over Boulder BayPatti Madsen Anomaly

HonoursNewell Grenfell Blind penny whistle blowerNataliia Krupka Cabbage white butterflyDawn Kirk Into infinityRobbie Barratt I am who I amRichard Cooper Birdlings FlatErik Norder The fig thiefAlan Moore Best in Show Hippeastrum

Allan Moore's Hippeastrum (top) won best in show. Robbie Barratt's I am what I am, Patti Madsen's Anomaly, Erik Norder's Fig Thief and Martyn Cook's Sunrise over Boulder Bay.

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C grade print #1Judge: Paul Daly

Commended

Helen McLeod Pier in storm surge

Les Armon Jetski racer

Helen McLeod Corporate punishment

C grade projected image #1Paul Daly

Commended

Irene Ferguson White Faced Heron 2 - Ma-tuku Moana

Christopher Lagria Against all odds

Andrew Millar Sunset at Lake Ellesmere

Renier Figuracion Fishing boat

Clifford Read Woman about town

Steven Carpinter Karyn 3

Peter Curtis Hosed off

Irene Ferguson White Faced Heron 1 - Ma-tuku Moana

Kelvin Aird Whose rose is this anyway?

Stephen Laird Ducks in a row

Highly commended

Helen McLeod Ghost Ship

Christopher Lagria Heathcote River Reflection of Port Hills

Barry Dench Red Billed Gull- having a juicy morsel

Steven Carpinter Karyn 1

Helen McLeod Autumn Tree

Helen McLeod's Corpo-rate Punishment (top), Les Armon's Jetski racer and Helen's Pier in storm surge were commended in the C grade print competi-tion. Christopher Lagria's Heathcote Reflection of the Port Hills and Helen McLeod's Autumn Tree were highly commended projected images.

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Tips, tricks and gadgetsThis collection covers tips and tricks that photographers might find handy. It’s a grab-bag for items

on taking photos, using computer software, webpages with useful information, apps for smart-phones and any other clever devices that come out of Apple or Google. Contributions welcome.

A different way to take photosCOVR is a case with a prism lens that slides over the top of an iPhone camera lens and lets the shooter snap photos of friends, family or city-scapes, while appearing to be checking messages. And if you want to avoid sneaky photographers, watch out for smartphones with appendages. They probably aren’t twittering. It's still in kickstarter fundraising mode but likely to cost above $100 when on sale. More information: covrphoto.com

(De) haze those imagesThere’s a lightroom feature in beta testing at the mo-ment called Dehaze that removes haze from images, if you want that to happen - with some pictures the haze is what makes them eg: West Coast images. You can even add haze to images that don’t have it.

Dragon telephoto arrayThe University of Toronto has put together 10 Canon 400mm f2 8L IS II lenses in an array that mimics a dragonfly’s compound eye - hence the name. The array is used for astrophotography, with the overlap between the lenses helping when it comes to dealing with light interferences. www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/instrumentation/dragonfly

Walk on (photographed) waterPhotos can take up a whole wall, and now they can take up the floor as well, which could mean walk-ing on water if you have a high enough resolution picture of a seascape and cash to spare when reno-vating the bathroom. Glamour Decor Australia, a German franchise based in Sydney, has been install-

ing 3D effect floors for more than two years. It can be applied to just about any type of surface and costs around $350 per square metre. Some of those images of steep cliff faces are a bit hard to handle if you don’t like heights. Check out: glamourdecor.com.au/sk_portfolio/3d-effects-floors

Stacking teleconvertersFrom the experimental files of petapixel.com: Take a Sony A6000, add five teleconverters that magnify the power of the Canon 200mm lens and you have got a 9600mm lens. However, the more teleconverters are added, the less stable it becomes and the images lose contrast, but I guess someone always has to try these things out to see if they can be done or not.

DIY virtual reality with CardboardYou can make your own virtual reality set, with a cardboard template and two biconvex lenses. Slot in a smartphone containing Google’s cardboard app, from Google play or Apple's app store, or wait until later in the year when Viewmaster gets on board. There are already some cardboard viewers you can purchase online for under $30 and put together. A simple cardboard case, perhaps from dodo, will turn your smartphone into a stereo viewer similar to the ones Viewmaster used to make, with those circular discs containing multiple images. You could prob-ably even adapt one of those old-fashioned stereo viewers from earlier in the 20th century. This is for those of us who cannot afford an Oculus Rift, a far more expensive, immersive virtual reality device/experience. Visit: www.google.com/get/cardboard

Flickr upgrades space Facing competition, Flickr now offers 1 terabyte of space free and makes it easier to find and upload photos from your computer, manage photos and browse them. Share between desktop and smart-phones. Visit: www.flickr.comGoogle photos app Google now offers photographers unlimited online storage for your terabytes or petabytes worth of photos. This time Google's product is standalone, has unlimited storage space, useful tools for editing and managing the photos in their original resolu-tions and is accessible anywhere with internet access. The only trouble is the time, and the ISP

costs to upload all those photos. No need to tag or label the photos or put them in albums as a simple search will retrieve them. Other features include making collages, animations and movies. Photos can be shared across other services such as Twitter. Available for Android, iPhones/iPads and on the web. Visit: photos.google.comSherish for desktop and mobileSherish let’s you bring together photos on different websites to share with others, on a desktop com-puter or mobile. Use the photos in their original resolutions, add audio messages, turn into gifts etc. Sherish offers nlimited space but charges a small monthly sub. Visit: www.sherish.com

Online storage/display for photographs