NZPhotographer Issue 11, Sept 2018

ISSUE 11, September 2018

INTERVIEW

WITH MARK GEE

WE ARE ONE

NZP PHOTO COMPETITION

ANNOUNCEMENT

BEHIND THE SHOT

WITH MIKE MACKINVEN

HOW TO CAPTURE:

COASTAL SUNRISES

WITH RICHARD YOUNG

PLAYING WITH FIRE

WIRE WOOL SPINNING

WITH RAY SALISBURY

September 2018

WELCOME TO ISSUE 11 OF

NZ PHOTOGRAPHER MAGAZINE

HELLO EVERYONE,

You'll be seeing starts in this

issue as we look up at the

night sky for inspiration!

We have interviewed worldrenowned

photographer

Mark Gee, he of Full Moon

Silhouette fame. Local legend

Ray Salisbury has been playing

with fire and walks us through

wire wool spinning step-bystep,

and then, in Behind

The Shot we head back to

that famous NZ location to

learn how Mike of Mack

Photography captured the

Milky Way over the Wanaka

Tree. Leaving the stars behind

and looking out to sea,

Richard reminds us to always look behind when shooting coastal

sunrises and sunsets and Brendon Gilchrist recounts his shipwreck

adventure.

This issue is also full of opportunity for you to get involved and win

some outstanding prizes... We have teamed up with Wellington

Botanical Garden as they celebrate 150 years with an exciting

competition that runs for a year. Plus, NZP celebrates its 1 year

relaunch next month and to celebrate, we're running a special

competition that covers 4 categories with 4 prizes to be won, judged

by local and international judges. Turn to page 35 to meet the

judges and learn all about it.

Emily Goodwin

Editor NZ Photographer

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS

Brendon Gilchrist

Brendon is the man behind ESB

Photography. He treks from sea to

mountain, and back again, capturing

the uniqueness of New Zealand’s

unforgiving landscape.

Richard Young

Richard is an award-winning

landscape and wildlife photographer

who teaches photography workshops

and runs photography tours. He is the

founder of New Zealand Photography

Workshops.

General Info:

NZPhotographer Issue 11

September 2018

Cover Photo

by Mark Gee

www.theartofnight.com

Night On The Ridge

Publisher:

Excio Group

Website:

www.excio.io/nzphotographer

Group Director:

Ana Lyubich

ana@excio.io

Editor:

Emily Goodwin

Graphic Design:

Maksim Topyrkin

Advertising Enquiries:

Phone 04 889 29 25

or Email hello@excio.io

nzphotographer nzp_magazine nzp@excio.io

any form is forbidden without prior consent of the publisher.

Disclaimer:

Opinions of contributing authors do not necessarily reflect the

opinion of the magazine.

2 NZPhotographer September 2018 3

CONTENTS

INTERVIEW

WITH MARK GEE

INTERVIEW WITH MARK GEE

OF THE ART OF NIGHT

HOW TO CAPTURE: COASTAL SUNRISES & SUNSETS

with Richard Young

17 SHIPWRECKED

by Brendon Gilchrist

WELLINGTON BOTANICAL

GARDEN COMPETITION

PLAYING WITH FIRE

WIRE WOOL SPINNING TUTORIAL

by Ray Salisbury

BEHIND THE SHOT

with Mike MacKinven

WE ARE ONE COMPETITION

BEST READERS' SUBMISSIONS

THIS MONTH

SHIPWRECKED

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER

MARK

100 SENSOR

HOW TO CAPTURE: COASTAL

SUNRISES AND SUNSETS

Playing with Fire

WIRE WOOL SPINNING

TUTORIAL

The search for uncompromising photography and videography performance is over. The

Nikon D850 sets remarkable standards of quality with an impressive 45.7 effective megapixels.

Capture the most awe-inspiring images and produce phenomenal 8K UHD time-lapse movies.

Create epic film masterpieces in full-frame 4K UHD with NIKKOR wide-angle lenses, or prolong

exquisite moments with its 120p/100p Full HD slow-motion recording.

Purchase from an Authorised Nikon New Zealand Retailer to receive an Extended Two Year Local Warranty.

www.Nikon.co.nz

September 2018

Interview with

Mark Gee of

The Art of Night

CAMPING UNDER THE STARS

F2.8, 30s, ISO3200

HI MARK, WOULD YOU CARE TO INTRODUCE

YOURSELF TO OUR READERS?

I’m Mark Gee (Gee pronounced as the letter G) and these

days I class myself as a photographer and filmmaker.

I’m currently based in Wellington, but New Zealand

isn’t my country of origin. I was born and grew up

on the east coast of Australia. I found my love of

photography aged about 14. My uncle dabbled in

photography and took me to an auction to buy my

first camera, which was a Canon film camera. I did

photography as a subject at school and even had my

own darkroom set up at home.

After leaving school, I studied graphic design and

worked at various places, from an architectural office

to a magazine publisher and even a signwriting shop.

I became interested in 3D animation and set my sights

on a career in the film and television industry. I landed

my first job in the industry working on a television series

and also TV commercials and within a few years, I got

the opportunity to come to New Zealand to work on

Lord of the Rings at Weta Digital.

This was certainly the start of something special, and

15 years on, New Zealand is now home. Coming to

New Zealand inspired me to explore my photography

more, which now is a big part of my life.

6 NZPhotographer

I run a few workshops throughout the year. They range

from The Art of Night Wellington meet up which around

1000 people attended last year, to multi-day workshops

for up to 10 people. I also do workshops overseas

including the now legendary PhotoPills Camp on the

island of Menorca in Spain. Most of the workshops focus

on astrophotography, but I also do some workshops

with other photographers which are multi-disciplined.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY SPECIFICALLY?

It wasn’t until I came to Wellington in 2003 and went

and visited Castlepoint for the first time. It was one of

those perfectly crisp and clear winter nights, I went

outside to put the rubbish out and looked up. I had

never seen so many stars in my life, and it was the first

time I had ever seen the Milky Way with my own eyes.

I ran back inside, grabbed my camera and tripod,

and with no real knowledge of how to take a photo

of the night sky, I pointed the camera up and took

a shot. The photo itself was really disappointing, as

I could see more stars with my own eyes than what

was in the photo itself! But that was the night when my

passion for astrophotography was ignited and things

have only improved from there!

GALACTIC FLOW

F4, 30s, ISO6400

VALLEY OF STARS

F2.8, 30s, ISO6400

HEAVENS ABOVE PALLISER

F2.8, 30s, ISO6400

YOU’VE WON TOO MANY PHOTOGRAPHY

AWARDS AND COMPETITIONS FOR US TO

NAME… WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST

ACHIEVEMENT?

My proudest achievement would have to be

Astronomy Photographer of the Year in 2013. Not

only did I win the People and Space and the Earth

and Space categories, but I also won the Astronomy

Photographer of the Year overall. And within the

10 year history of the awards, that has never been

done again. I never expected anything like that, so

you can imagine my excitement when I did find out

I had won! My only regret was I didn’t go to London

for the awards, but I was well represented there by

my sister.

WHAT EQUIPMENT ARE YOU SHOOTING

WITH?

I’ve just recently switched from Canon to Nikon and

am really loving the new gear. I’m currently shooting

with a Nikon D850 and my favorite astro lens is the

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR CAREER IN THE

FILM INDUSTRY…

I’ve been working in the visual effects side of the film

industry for over 20 years now, and for 15 of those

years, I’ve been at Weta Digital in Wellington. My

current role is a Visual Effects Supervisor, so I work

with the artists and other supervisors to deliver the

director’s vision for the film. It can be demanding

work, but also very rewarding once you get to see

the final product on the big screen.

WHERE’S YOUR FAVOURITE SPOT IN NZ?

I’ve got a few favourite spots, especially on the

South Island where the skies are dark and the

landscape spectacular. But I would have to say

the one place for me would have to be Cape

Palliser in the Wairarapa. It is the first real dark sky

location I shot at, and I love going there and finding

new interesting compositions. The Cape Palliser

Lighthouse is always great to shoot against the night

sky too.

GUIDING LIGHT TO THE STARS

F4, 30s, ISO6400

UNIVERSAL SCALE

F4, 30s, ISO6400

WANUI NIGHTS

F2.8, 25s, ISO6400

UNIVERSAL BONDING

F3.2, 30s, ISO3200

WHAT TIPS CAN YOU SHARE WITH OUR

READERS FOR SHOOTING ASTRO?

Always plan your astrophotography shots well

in advance and do the location scouting in the

daytime. Use planning apps so you know exactly

where the Milky Way will be in the sky at the planned

location - I personally use an app called Photopills

which is like the swiss army knife of astrophotography

planning.

When you do get to your location at night, make sure

you allow yourself plenty of time to set up and frame

the shot. I usually arrive at least an hour before I plan

to start shooting.

Focusing is one of the hardest things to get right in

astrophotography. I use the live view function on my

camera and then find the brightest star in the night

sky and try to get it towards the centre of your LCD

screen. Once you’ve done that, make sure you are in

manual focus. Magnify your live view screen as large

as it goes (usually 10x) and rotate your focus ring until

the star looks sharp. Take a photo and then zoom in

on the image to check the sharpness. Hopefully your

stars will be in focus and you are now good to go.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?

I’m starting to work on a few personal projects which

I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, so I’m

cutting down on the workshops, public speaking and

travelling so I can get back to doing my own thing. I

enjoy doing all of those other things but want to get

back to where it all started for me, and just go out

and shoot for myself for the time being.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE?

www.instagram.com/theartofnight

www.facebook.com/theartofnight

www.theartofnight.com

DO YOU HAVE A SINGLE FAVOURITE IMAGE?

My favourite changes all the time, but my all time

sentimental favorite would be the one I shot of my son

and I looking up at the Milky Way in Kaikoura three

years ago. I called the image Universal Bonding. It was

taken on the last night of a week long road trip my

son and I did on the South Island – We try to go on an

annual road trip each year to explore new locations

and photo opportunities. I’d been trying for over a

year to get him to pose and stand still with me long

enough for the 30 second exposure, and on this night

he finally did. It was the perfect moment for the end

of an amazing trip.

TELL US ABOUT THE FAMOUS FULL MOON

SILHOUETTES...

I always like to try and come up with fresh ideas and

the Full Moon Silhouettes (which you can see here)

was one of those. It took me a year to capture the

moonrise as I had envisaged it, but it was all worth the

many frustrating failed attempts.

14 NZPhotographer

The night I finally pulled it off was a perfect evening

with not one breath of wind, which doesn’t happen

often in Wellington! I was in a park 2.1km away from

the people on the Mount Victoria Lookout and I didn’t

know if I had lined up the shot correctly, but as I hit the

record button on my camera and the moon began

to rise, everything fell into place better than I ever

expected.

At that point, I knew I had captured something cool,

but I had no idea of the impact it would eventually

have on people... until it went viral. That was totally

unexpected and quite overwhelming, I was getting

hundreds of emails a day from people all over the

world sharing their experience of watching the

moonrise as well as media interview requests and

even academics offering their expert opinions.

That video gave me lots of opportunities - It got my

name out there and my astrophotography noticed.

I had the opportunity to travel and run workshops

around the world, as well as doing various media and

public speaking engagements, and of course, my

TedX talk which was an amazing experience on its

own!

MOON SILHOUETTES

F9, 1/125s, ISO400

September 2018

HOW TO CAPTURE: COASTAL SUNRISES AND SUNSETS

Coastal photography tips with Richard Young

SHIPWRECKED

by Brendon Gilchrist

Sunrise, Abel Tasman National Park

FIND A SUBJECT:

Coastal shots are often largely made up of sky

and water, but they also need a focal point to

help draw in the eye of the viewer. This could be

some foreground detail like a rock in the sea or a

landscape feature such as a distant headland. Make

sure the subject fills your shot so you don’t leave the

viewer lost and looking around for it.

LOOK AROUND YOU:

As the sun slips over the horizon, it casts a beautiful

golden light across the beach. Whilst everyone else

is busy looking at the sun and shooting that scene,

take a moment to look around, the scene behind you

might be gorgeous too.

CAPTURE THE WAVES:

Waves present a great opportunity to add a creative

element. Experiment with different shutter speeds to

either freeze or capture the movement of the waves.

To freeze the waves and capture them as they break,

use a fast shutter speed, ideally faster than 1/500sec.

To blur the waves and capture their movement, use

an exposure of 1 second or longer.

ADD SOME SKY:

F8, 30s, ISO 100, 24mm

One advantage of being on the beach at sunset or

sunrise is that the horizon out to sea gives you a lot of

sky. If you have interesting clouds, use a wide-angle

lens and place your horizon lower in the photograph

to capture more of the sky.

CAPTURE SOME OF THE COUNTRY'S BEST COASTAL LANDSCAPES ON A 4-DAY GOLDEN BAY PHOTO

TOUR: 27TH - 30TH SEPTEMBER WITH NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS

always felt like I wanted to shoot a shipwreck.

But with no shipwrecks nearby I pushed it to the

back of my mind. A few months later one of

the world’s oldest schooner’s beached itself not far

from Christchurch.

It is hard to describe what I felt when I was scrolling

through my Facebook feed and saw that the MV

Tuhoe had beached itself near the head of the

Waimakariri River. I could not believe that it had

happened!

This 97 foot double masted auxiliary schooner,

constructed of triple skin kauri, was built in

Auckland in 1919 by George Nicol. Her Maori name

meaning ‘the children of the mist’.

I saw this as an opportunity not just for

photography, but to document the resting place of

a piece of history but I only had 1 night in which to

do it.

After a day of work followed by a basketball

commitment at night, I drove to the nearest car

park and walked the 40 min along the beach in the

dark. It felt like forever, as if the beach would never

end. Was I walking through portals and coming

back to the same piece of driftwood? Maybe I

was? Off in the distance, I could see a shape but

it was still far away. I keep walking, enjoying the

sound of the crashing waves, hoping I would not

step on a sleeping seal.

The further I walked the more the shape resembled

a boat – I felt a sense of relief, I was nearly there. It

was around 10.30pm by this time and I didn’t know

when the moon was going to rise and also had

no idea that it was a full moon at this point – Not

conditions I would have chosen to shoot in if given

a different option.

As I continued walking I could see the glow getting

stronger on the horizon and thought “oh no, you

got to be kidding. I have only a few minutes before

the moon rises.” If you have never sat and watched

the moon rise you won’t realise how fast it moves. I

quickly put my camera bag down, looked at what I

had to work with and got my camera out and onto

the tripod as fast as possible. It’s these moments

when you need be creative in an instance – I

needed to capture the emotions of this boat as fast

as possible.

I managed to get 3 great compositions before the

moon got too high and bright. The reflections in

the sand and the moon rising to the side, this its last

night alive... I was privileged to stand there alone,

shivering cold, capturing the moment.

I set up my time lapse after I had taken the stills

and stepped aside to let the camera do all the

work. Over the next hour and a half, I watched the

moon rising and the stars rotating. These moments

of waiting, of being cold, of being entirely alone,

are also some of the most inspiring. I was witnessing

the last night that this boat got to see on this earth,

September 2018

sailing no more, just resting upon the land where

it was once built. Being alone and in awe in these

times is challenging but rewarding, the solitude is

great but company, someone to share the moment

with, is better. I believe everything has beauty even

if many do not see it. If you look past the tragedy

that has happened you will see something new. It

may even help you as a photographer to capture

something that has an ending and will never be

seen again.

After my time lapse had finished I took a quick selfie

beside the boat then, after packing up, struggling

to put my gear in my bag as I was shivering so

much, I headed off into the darkness, back along

the beach on the 4km walk back to the carpark. It

was well after midnight and I had work at 7am but

my thoughts were this; I have photos that no one

else has. I have captured something I wanted to

shoot. I enjoyed my day. There is not much more I

could have asked for.

The next day I saw photos of The Tuhoe being

pulled apart with a digger. There was nothing that

could be done to save the boat as it was too far

up the beach and there was no way to pull it back

into the ocean, the stern having twisted from every

wave and tidal change but it was so sad to see

something so rich in history being destroyed.

3 TIPS FOR SHOOTING A TRAGEDY

• Respect the moment for what it is.

• If you know the history of the subject you are

shooting, this will help you to capture the emotions.

• Don’t question ‘should I go out with the camera?’

Do it as soon as you can because time is of the

essense – The opportunity could be gone before

you know it.

18 NZPhotographer September 2018 19

Celebrating 150 Years of

Wellington Botanical Garden

On 3rd September the formal establishment of the Wellington Botanic Garden

turns 150 years old and NZP readers are invited to participate in the special photo

competition that runs through the year.

David Sole, the Manager of Wellington Garden tells us more about the history of

the garden and the photo competition.

FRESH SHOOTS

PHOTO COMPETITION

ENTER

Wellington Botanic Garden is fondly regarded as ‘our

garden’ by the residents of Wellington and enjoyed

every year by tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

The origins of the garden, and its inclusion on the

Wellington Town Belt, dates from the planning for the

city in the period 1839-44 but the formal process for the

establishment of the garden did not begin until 1868.

The legacy of Sir James Hector, the botanic garden’s

first director, is today revisited as we establish

education programmes in the newly developed

Discovery Garden Te Kaapuia O Te Waouku.

We are returning to science and beginning to

carefully reconsider the role of our collections in

supporting education, science, and conservation –

how we contribute to the local regional, national,

and international roles of botanic gardens in plant

conservation in the face of climate change and

the alarming worldwide loss of plant species due to

human activity.

The garden still continues to be a place of refuge

and respite from the pressures of the city and ever

increasing social pressures of urban intensification.

People can find calm and tranquility and immerse

themselves in a landscape that is safe, soothing, and

satisfying.

It is a place where individuals and families and friends

can come together and enjoy the flowers, the events,

and the diversity of seasons; where they can enjoy the

wondrousness of plants and their contribution to our world.

The ‘Fresh Shoots’ photo competition will provide

inspiring opportunities for amateur and pro

photographers to capture the garden, its people, the

wildlife, its dramatic landscape and, fundamentally,

the beauty of the plants.

With four separate competitions taking place over

the year, photographers are encouraged to capture

seasonal aspects of life at the gardens. A panel

of expert judges will select the winners from four

categories; People, Nature, Events, and Creative with

both senior and junior (photographers ages 14-18

years) winners.

We look forward to seeing your photos!

We’re inviting photographers to highlight all the wonderful things that make the Wellington

Botanic Garden much more than a garden, while encouraging photographers to focus on

the garden season by season.

For prizes and full Terms & Conditions see: www.excio.io/freshshoots

The competition is split into four quarterly competitions based on each of the four seasons:

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

1 September -

14 December 2018

15 December -

22 March 2019

NZPhotographer Issue 11, Sept 2018

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