jojo

a retrospective portrait from the photography course. The portrait was taken as part of an assignment to help us with working together as a group. We were a group of 4 women.  I was given the job of being the assistant/stylist, which wasn't hard. Jojo, our model was a natural and directed herself which was very helpful considering that the 'photographers' weren't too confident giving direction. I managed to get a few shots in between.

playground

 

The Point England Reserve playground has to be one of the most 'interestingly' designed playgrounds I've ever seen. Most of the local playgrounds consist of heavy duty plastic, stainless steel and wooden structures. This looks like something that came from outer space. Still the function is the same... Miss7 loved playing on it.

Point England Road reserve

 

This afternoon Miss7 and I took a detour from our usual drive home from school to take a look around Point England Road reserve. We hadn't been there in a while and I'd promised Miss7 we would go to a park this week. Although it was very sunny, the air was cool and brisk. This reserve is part of the Point to Point Walkway which takes a good 3-4 hours from start to finish. You'll probably see more photos of this walkway as I want to have a really good look around over the next few weeks. I'm considering hosting a photography meetup for a local group and this could be an ok site.

backyard

Feeling a little uninspired photography wise, so I headed to our backyard and caught our son, Mr15 coming back from his dental appointment with some delicious goodies in his carry bag. Tsk tsk...

night lights

It's Saturday night and I was down in Panmure with my older daughter taking pictures of the trees with fairy lights. Time to get creative!

damaged boat

Here's a close up of the damage to the boat that is leaning against the jetty at the Panmure Wharf. You'll see it in a couple of the posts that I put up about the wharf earlier this week. A local who was walking his dog at the time came over and told me that the boat had been abandoned as the owner didn't have the money to get it repaired. He also told me about how a woman had driven her car off the jetty a year ago and drowned.

NZ dotterel

a retrospective photo of a NZ dotterel (or tuturiwhatu) found only in New Zealand. It was once quite common but with the destruction of its habitat and the introduction of predators, its numbers have dwindled to around 1700 making it an endangered species. There's a number of them living in the sand dunes in Kennedy Bay and can often be seen scurrying about when the tide is out.

Panmure Wharf again

 

 
These photos were also taken yesterday at the Panmure Wharf. The Tamaki River which is where the wharf is based is rich in history. On a quiet morning there, it's easy to imagine the steamers en route to the Coromandel and Thames gold fields calling in. I'm realizing more and more how many great photographic opportunities there are close to me. On my list is the Waipuna Basin, Mt Wellington, Pt England to name a few.

Panmure Wharf

This morning I took the opportunity to get down to the Panmure Wharf, have a look around and take some photos. This place is very close to where I live yet I hadn't been down there before. The light was good and there was plenty of activity on the water. The Panmure Yacht club is close by as well as rowing clubrooms too. Hope to get back soon to take some pictures of the boaties and rowers in action.

reflected

A retrospective photo of the Uxbridge Community Centre, Howick reflected in an outdoor street light. In case you're wondering, those blackish spots are dead bugs inside the glass light cover.

retro furniture

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours taking photos of retro furniture for our online store, RETROVISION. Since we launched the store last year, I've been working steadily to improve my photography skills - this is part of the reason why I went on the photography course. I can happily report that I am improving and starting to come to grips with indoor lighting.

the corridor

today's photo is of a long corridor at our youngest daughters school. It's on the first floor and runs almost the length of the building. In the afternoon, it is hot with very bright sunshine. I underexposed this shot to get some colour back into the image. I had to navigate a number of photo bombing students who insisted on passing back and forth just to get in the photo.

fides servanda est

 

means "The Faith Must Be kept"

Whenever I pickup our youngest daughter from Art class, I pause to admire this large picture window with the Saint Kentigern celtic cross. I'm always intrigued by how changes in light can render the mood of something to change dramatically.

machinery

with major roadworks underway in various parts of Panmure, there are lots of heavy duty machinery in use. These machines were parked up behind the Panmure Stone Cottage. I wanted to capture the contrast of a historical building built in 1854/55 vs the might & power of the machinery which could demolish it within minutes.

australasian magpie

this magpie took it upon itself to check me out when I was taking photos on the weekend. It flew low criss-crossing in front of me before landing on a concrete berm. I managed to capture this shot of the magpie before it took flight.

loombs hotel

this 2 storey wooden building at 8 Kings Road, Panmure built in 1862 was known as the Loombs Hotel (it's also been called the Panmure Inn, The Panmure Hotel and the Duke of Edinburgh Panmure Hotel). It has stood in it's dilapidated state for a long time now with the windows boarded up to deter vandalism. Earlier this year, the property was sold at auction - I wonder whether the Loombs Hotel will stay or be demolished?

panmure

is about 11km from the CBD and has one of the most notorious roundabouts in Auckland. When we first moved to Panmure, I would drive a long circuitous route home to avoid the roundabout if I could. It's due to be replaced by a "super-intersection" as part of the major transport development AMETI (Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative) soon. I've read that the plan is to relocate the iconic Panmure sign and I sincerely hope this happens.

former quarry

The Stonefields urban housing development is built in the former Winstones Mt Wellington quarry. It's an interesting location to view the merging of modern design with the features of the old quarry. The blue rock and stone walls feature predominantly here. It's estimated that in its time the quarry produced around 18,000,000 cubic metres of excavated rock. 

stonefields

 

 

 

Stonefields is a 5 minute drive from Panmure where I live. It's a new urban village set on approx. 110 hectacres with 2500 dwellings to house around 6500 people (although I think it's probably more residents than that.) Of more interest is the fact that this development is built on what was once known as the Winstone Quarry as well as historical Maori occupation site. It's such a complete contrast to Panmure in every way - that I thought it might be worthy of exploring this over the next few days in photos...  

purple and black

A retrospective image from my files, taken in March at the Uxbridge Centre in Howick. Over the 8 weeks of the photography course I realized that I didn't quite see things the way that the others in the class did - this photo is an example of that. Most of the Abstract work submitted for evaluation was of macro plant and animal life whereas I submitted this which is essentially a cropped shot of a painted cows backside.