NZPhotographer Issue 27, January 2020

Brought to you by 

ISSUE 27, January 2020 

INTERVIEW WITH 

LYNN FOTHERGILL 

EXPLORING MYANMAR 

WITH LYN ALVES 

January 2020 1

WELCOME TO ISSUE 27 OF 

NZ PHOTOGRAPHER MAGAZINE 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

EVERYONE! 

A new year, a new decade, 

and a new edition of New 

Zealand Photographer 

magazine are all here to 

inspire you to do great things 

– Are you ready?! 

We're keeping the focus on 

travel in this edition since 

there are so many of you with 

stunning travel photos and 

inspirational stories to tell – This 

month's interviews and articles 

taking us to China and Hong 

Kong as well as to Myanmar 

and Canada before we head 

back home to explore more 

of New Zealand's natural 

beauty. 

Richard, Ana, and guest contributor Milan Maric also write about 

improving your photography (and videography), encouraging you 

to pause, to think, and to play with ideas outside of the box. Your 

photography can shoot up to the next level simply by listening to 

your heart and connecting with your subject in ways that you've 

never done before. 

Emily Goodwin 

Editor NZ Photographer 

General Info: 

NZPhotographer Issue 27 

January 2020 

Cover Photo 

Cormorant Fisherman, 

Lynn Fothergill 

Publisher: 

Excio Group 

Website: 

www.excio.io/nzphotographer 

Group Director: 

Ana Lyubich 

Editor: 

Emily Goodwin 

Graphic Design: 

Maksim Topyrkin 

Advertising Enquiries: 

Email hello@excio.io 

2 

NZPhotographer

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS 

Brendon Gilchrist 

Brendon is the man 

behind ESB Photography. 

He is an avid tramper 

who treks from sea to 

mountain, and back 

again, capturing the 

uniqueness of New 

Zealand’s unforgiving 

landscape. 

Ana Lyubich 

Co-founder of Excio, Ana's 

photography journey 

started many years ago 

with one of the first Kodak 

film cameras. She loves 

exploring the unseen 

macro world and capturing 

genuine people's emotions. 

Richard Young 

Richard is an awardwinning 

landscape and 

wildlife photographer who 

teaches photography 

workshops and runs 

photography tours. He 

is the founder of New 

Zealand Photography 

Workshops. 

nzphotographer nzp_magazine nzp@excio.io 

© 2020 NZPhotographer Magazine 

All rights reserved. Reproduction of any material appearing in this magazine in 

any form is forbidden without prior consent of the publisher. 

Disclaimer: 

Opinions of contributing authors do not necessarily reflect the 

opinion of the magazine. 

January 2020 

3

CONTENTS 

INTERVIEW 

WITH LYNN FOTHERGILL 

14 

BEHIND THE SHOT 

WITH JANICE MCKENNA 

6 

10 

14 

33 

38 

44 

46 

50 

55 

BEHIND THE SHOT 

with Janice McKenna 

WYE CREEK 

by Brendon Gilchrist 

INTERVIEW WITH LYNN FOTHERGILL 

OF SERENDIPITY PHOTOGRAPHY 

MOVIEMAKING WITH A SMARTPHONE 

by Milan Maric aka Markuza 


with Lyn Alves 

THE ONE AND ONLY THING THAT WILL 

MAKE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BETTER 

By Ana Lyubich 

WHAT ARE YOU PHOTOGRAPHING? 

by Richard Young 

PHOTOGRAPHING MY WAY HOME 

by Natalie Clarke 

BEST READERS SUBMISSIONS THIS MONTH 

6 

44 

38 


WITH LYN ALVES 

THE ONE AND ONLY THING 

THAT WILL MAKE YOUR 

PHOTOGRAPHY BETTER 

BY ANA LYUBICH

1 Day Workshops 

Learn how to take full creative control 

and capture your own unique images. 

Different one day options: 

Basic Photography 

Creative Photography 

Long Exposure 

Fine Art Printing 

2 Day Workshops 

Small Group Photography Weekends 

Lightroom Processing 

Tongariro Landscapes 

Kaimai Waterfalls 

Cape Palliser 

BOP Seascapes & Waterfalls 

4 Day Masterclass 

Be inspired with our master class 

workshops, which are designed to be 

educational vacations, where you are 

immersed in a specific area 

of photography. 

Long Exposure - Coromandel. 

Landscapes - Aoraki, Mt Cook. 

Astro - Aoraki, Mt Cook. 

Autumn Colours - Wanaka. 

Wildlife - Otago Peninsular 

Photography Tours 

Taking you to the best locations 

the country has to offer. 

Draw inspiration from capturing 

New Zealand’s most iconic 

landscapes alongside some of 

our more hidden gems. 

20 Day: South Island Highlights 

20 Day: North Island Highlights 

17 Day: Ultimate New Zealand 

12 Day: New Zealand Icons 

15 Day: New Zealand 

Coastal Landscapes 

15 Day: North Island Landscapes 

7 Day: Wild South Island 

7 Day: West Coast Wilderness 

7 Day: South Island Beaches 

& Bays 

7 Day: Volcanic North Island 

7 Day: Northland & Bay of Islands 

4 Day: Fiordland 

www.photographyworkshops.co.nz 

info@photographyworkshops.co.nz 

021 0845 7322

Behind The Shot 

with Janice McKenna 

6 


SOCKEYE SALMON 

F5.6, 1/1600s, IS03200 


JANICE, WHY DON’T YOU INTRODUCE 

YOURSELF TO US… 

I was born in Auckland, but now live and work 

in Wellington. I work in logistics in the courier 

industry. Work is all about attention to detail, 

being on time, and ensuring what we need to 

do every day, happens. Email and spreadsheets 

are my friends. Outside of work I spend my time 

with camera in hand or travelling. I can usually be 

found at Zealandia where I volunteer as part of 

their Storytellers Group, run by Judi Lapsley Miller, 

where we are tasked with capturing the story of 

the valley in words and pictures. Being outside with 

my camera, sometimes sitting for hours waiting for 

one picture, is what I love to do and is very much 

my happy place - It helps me unwind and de-stress 

from my working week. 

HOW AND WHEN DID YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY 

JOURNEY START? 

I have always had a camera around, but had 

never really taken photography seriously. Then in 

2010, I had the opportunity to travel to India twice. 

So I decided to go out and get a good camera 

as I was going to do a trip around Delhi and also 

go to see the Taj Mahal. I purchased a Canon 7D, 

the camera then sat in the corner of the room 

until I visited Zealandia for the first time in late 2011 

but after taking my first pictures of New Zealand’s 

native birds, I was hooked. When I first started, I was 

shooting mainly in P mode and gradually grew 

confident enough to venture to A and M. When 

shooting wildlife, I prefer Aperture Priority mode 

but venture into Manual mode when doing most 

other forms of photography. Bird photography and 

photography in general is, I find, a journey on which 

you will always be learning and continuing to grow 

and improve. It’s a never-ending journey, but an 

enjoyable one! 

WHAT CAMERA AND ACCESSORIES DO YOU 

HAVE NOW? 

I’m still a Canon user, I have a 1DX Mark II and 

an eosR. The 1DX is my go-to for wildlife and bird 

photography, my favourite set-up is this camera 

coupled with a 300mm f2.8L II lens. I also have a 

500mm f4L II lens which I travel with when going 

overseas on trips to shoot wildlife. I use teleconverters 

with both lenses when needed. I’ve used both lenses 

on the R and it works well with the supplied adapter. 

But I tend to use the R more as my (non-wildlife) 

travel camera, coupled with the 24–105mm f4 kit 

lens. When shooting with the 500mm I will generally 

use a tripod and gimbal head. I can hand hold it for 

about 15–20mins before needing to take a break, 

but having it on the tripod is much more stable. 

TELL US THE STORY BEHIND YOUR SOCKEYE 

SALMON PHOTO… 

I have a bucket list of wildlife and birds I would love 

to photograph and each year I try and do a trip 

overseas or around New Zealand to tick something 

off that list. In September 2019, I did a tour with 

David Hemmings to photograph grizzly bears in 

British Columbia, Canada. 

After a pre bear trip of 3 days based at Eagle Bear 

Lodge on Eagle Lake to photograph landscapes, 

we made the 2 hour journey by road to Chilko Lake 

where we would stay to photograph the bears. 

There were long days out on Chilko Lake looking for 

bears and anything else we could find, including 

bald eagles, mergansers, and salmon – lots and lots 

of salmon. We started our days around 6:30am with 

breakfast and were out on the lake from around 

7:30am through till 11:30am when we would break 

for lunch and image downloading time. Then we’d 

go back out on the lake again around 1:30pm 

through till 5:30pm then a short break before dinner 

which was around 6:30pm. 

On the morning I took this salmon photo, we were 

drifting on the calm lake, waiting and watching for 

bears. To pass the time I decided to set the camera 

up and watched as the salmon leapt, trying to 

get a feel for where they were leaping and how 

many leaps they would do. We were about 50 

metres away from where I was focused (500mm + 

1.4 TC), and I just kept scanning the water looking 

for movement, then taking shots in anticipation of 

a leap happening. I normally shoot single frame 

but for this, I switched to high speed continuous. 

I played this game for about 30mins or so getting 

lots of shots of calm water and not much else with 

lots of mumbling about missing shots but also a 

lot of laughter! Each time a salmon jumped I was 

hopeful, but I ended up with just one shot, this 

one. The salmon was caught in the far edge of the 

frame, so the image has been cropped along with 

some basic post-processing to adjust the exposure, 

whites and blacks, a bit of sharpening, and lens 

correction. There is definitely some luck in wildlife 

photography, but if you prepare and are ready, 

you never know what you may capture. 

WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND THE 

CAMERA THAT WE CAN’T SEE? 

We were out on a small flat-bottomed boat that 

had room for 3 photographers, one tour leader 

(David), and one boat guide (Nick). The boat was 

powered by a small outboard motor, as well as an 

electric motor for stealth mode, when wanting to 

go into places the bears hung out at unobtrusively. 

There was plenty of room to use tripods and to 

swing from side to side so no problems in changing 

8 


GRIZZLY BEAR 

F5.6, 1/400s, ISO3200 

direction easily, or having others in your shot. Most 

mornings the lake was relatively calm, so there 

were no issues in shooting with the movement of 

the boat. Even when it was rough on one day, 

it still did not make shooting difficult. Nick was 

excellent in getting us into position to shoot and 

keeping the boat steady. There was a lot of intense 

concentration and watching across the lower lake 

as we cruised up and down on our regular route. 

WHY IS THE SALMON PHOTO SPECIAL TO YOU? 

Our group had talked a lot about getting a shot of 

a salmon. Everyone had their own ideas, but it was 

decided to shoot to the conditions and to shoot 

high speed continuous. I was lucky in being the only 

one on this trip to capture a salmon leaping. When I 

saw it on the back of the camera, I could not 

believe it (jaw-dropping amazed!) and had to wait 

till I downloaded the image to make sure it was 

sharp, and it was. I could not have been happier! 

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT YOUR 

PHOTOGRAPHY? 

Conservation and helping to showcase the work 

being done in this field is a passion. I have been 

very fortunate to go to some amazing places and 

to be tasked with photographing some of our rare 

and endangered species – my highlight was being 

able to photograph the infamous Sirocco Kākāpō. 

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE? 

www.instagram.com/eyemac23 

www.facebook.com/eyemac23 

janicemckenna.myportfolio.com 

albums.excio.io/profile/eyemac 

BEHIND THE SHOT IS PROUDLY 

SUPPORTED BY 


Wye C 

by Brendo 

10 


eek 

n Gilchrist 

F16, 1/8s, ISO100 


The Queenstown area may have some of the best 

views of old glaciated lakes but did you know it 

also has some beautiful short day walks with very 

photogenic waterfalls and cascades? Why not 

come up Wye creek with me for a look at what is on 

offer at this beautiful location… 

I had seen several photos from this stream over the 

years to tempt me to go for a wander to check it out 

for myself. On this day I was coming from Athol, I had 

not enough money to go to Queenstown just yet and 

found a nice little camping ground that was only $10 

a night where I could put my tent up, rest, and edit a 

few photos. 

On my drive up I stopped at Kingston to get a bite to 

eat, a pie and some chips is always a classic road trip 

meal, before heading up the steep track that starts 

off a small car park on the side of the road at Wye 

Creek Bridge. The walk to the intake, a small dam on 

the upper slopes of the Remarkables mountain range, 

starts where the car park is and begins its steep ascent 

very quickly with no warning what so ever. It is tough 

but if you turn around you see some motivation as the 

more you walk the bigger Lake Wakatipu gets with its 

impressive views towards Queenstown as well as the 

other direction to Kingston although this arm is too 

long and you can’t see down to this township. 

To understand the steepness you start the track 

at around 375 meters above sea level and where 

I stopped to take photos was at 700 meters so a 

gain of 325 meters in around 1 hour of walking, that 

is around 5 meters of elevation gain every minute. It 

might not seem like a lot but when you’re walking up 

there with your time-lapse gear, tripod, drink and a bit 

of food it is a bit of a struggle on the body and mind! 

I arrived in a relatively decent time but I was hot, I’d 

brought my cup with me as I always enjoy drinking 

fresh mountain snow and this stream feeds from the 

Wye Creek basin which is a wilderness area. Once I’d 

cooled down a bit I put another layer on as I was 

starting to get cold (the water was very nice to drink, 

by the way) then I set up my time-lapse with the log in 

the waterfall (I thought it a unique composition as one 

day that log won’t be there anymore) and stepped 

away, watching to make sure no splashing water was 

hitting the front element. 

I found a little path that I could scramble up to get 

to the upper part of the stream without entering the 

frame of my camera and had a look around above 

the waterfall. I found it to be quite interesting with 

lots of little cascades coming down making me think 

maybe my 14mm lens would be ideal for these little 

ones as I can get nice and close. 

F16, 1/2s, ISO100 

12 


I headed back down to where my camera was and 

waited there till it was finished which was about 10 

minutes. I generally have a day time-lapse running 

for 30 minutes to get enough movement with time to 

have something interesting in the frame. Once the 

time-lapse was finished, I looked through the photos 

to check it looked good, just in case I had to redo it 

again which 99% of the time I don’t, but sometimes it’s 

impossible. 

Happy with what I’d captured I packed my camera 

up so I could walk up and over to the other cascades 

above the main waterfall and play around with 

different long exposure compositions. I think I may 

have come away with 5 or 6 decent ones from this 

little area. It was quite a good insight into how good 

an ultra-wide lens is for small streams and how you 

can compose streams to look much bigger then they 

are as there is no scale to compare them against. 

I maybe spent 10 minutes messing around up here, 

trying not to slip as the rocks just in the water were 

quite slippery. Composing the images was fun and 

tricky, the water splashing was a bit more extreme up 

here but I managed to get the compositions I wanted. 

Next, I headed back down to get a wider view of the 

Wye Creek Falls, the shot that everyone has and the 

one that I also want. There was only one place to get 

this and that was from the bridge, lucky it was a midweek 

so no one else was around. 

I love shooting waterfalls and this was no exception, 

I felt like it was a successful half-day trip. I’d wanted to 

shoot it for a few years and was happy with the iconic 

shot as well as the extra ‘new’ shots I captured by 

going above the falls plus the nice time-lapse. 

Why, I’d go as far as say that Wye creek is a treat 

waiting to happen! It was more than I expected and 

I’d recommend a meeting with this beautiful mossy 

waterfall to anyone with good mobility and a half day 

to spare in the Queenstown area. 

TIPS FOR SUMMER WATERFALL PHOTOGRAPHY 

• Filters are not always needed so don’t be put off, 

if it is cloudy and you’re in the bush you will not 

need one – 1/6 second is more than enough to get 

that silky effect. 

• Invest in a wireless remote trigger, this will allow 

you the freedom to move around while not having 

to worry about a wire and bumping your camera. 

• Don’t be afraid to get wet feet, a lot of the times 

the best of the best compositions are in the water. 

2020, 1 Day Dates: 

Auckland Workshop 

NZPW Tutor Ken Wright 

29th Feburary, 4th July 

& 24th October 

Wellington Workshop 

NZPW Tutor Richard Young 

2nd Feburary, 31st May 

& 4th October 

Long Exposure Workshop 

This is a one day coastal and long exposure photography workshop at 

Murrys Bay on Aucklands’s North Shore or Wellington’s South Coast. 

On this workshop, you’ll learn how to shoot dramatic and awe-inspiring 

coastal landscapes and make long exposure photographs. 

This is designed as an intermediate-advanced workshop. 

www.photographyworkshops.co.nz 

info@photographyworkshops.co.nz 

021 0845 7322 


Interview with Lynn Fothergill 

of Serendipity Photography 

Photo by Ruth Beale 

LYNN, LET US KNOW A BIT ABOUT YOU! 

I have worked in education my entire working life, and 

have been Deputy Principal at a primary school in 

Manurewa since moving to Auckland from the Bay of 

Plenty in 2006. I love my role mainly because no day 

is ever the same, and I get to be around kids. My goal 

is to have a positive impact on their lives, however 

small that may be. I live with my two Cavalier King 

Charles Spaniel fur-babies Reilly and Halo, the most 

photographed dogs in South Auckland! 

WHEN DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN 

PHOTOGRAPHY AND WHERE HAS THAT 

JOURNEY LED YOU? 

I have always had a keen interest in photography, 

but my journey began in earnest about ten years ago 

when I purchased my first DSLR. I am a voracious 

learner, and with photography this was no different; I 

enrolled in a night school course to learn how to drive 

it, continuing my learning through trial and error and 

YouTube clips in the early days. The greatest learning 

however, which has continued over time, has come 

from being a member of my local camera club, 

Manukau Photographic Society, entering images, and 

listening to the judges’ critiques of my own and others’ 

images, and forming my own opinions about what 

works and what does not. 

One judge encouraged me to enter my photo of 

three monkeys in Bali into external competitions, and it 

immediately won a round of Canon Online in 2013. 

That was such a confidence booster, and since then I 

have continued to push myself to enter competitions, 

with most successes coming from candid portraits 

- mainly children - and street/travel work. 

To be honest, I never think my photography is good 

enough! I am hypercritical of my work and am often 

surprised when other people appreciate it. 

I am a bit of a recidivist studier (see learning above!) 

and in 2017, after gaining my post grad and Masters 

of Education, I decided to do some study for myself, 

and spent the next two years working towards my 

Diploma of Digital Photography through the Southern 

Institute of Technology, graduating in 2018. I also was 

awarded my Licentiate with the PSNZ in 2017. 

Earlier this year I decided to establish a small 

boutique business in response to frequent requests to 

photograph kids and families. It’s a bit of a juggle with 

full time work, and definitely still a work in progress! 

WHY IS PHOTOGRAPHY IMPORTANT TO YOU? 

It spreads joy! Making photos makes me happy and 

sharing them makes others happy! In particular, I get 

immense pleasure from sharing with parents, photos of 

their kids. 

For me, photography provides not only a creative 

outlet, but balance to my busy day-job life. I can get 

lost at my local ponds for a couple of hours chasing the 

perfect spoonbill shot, or following tui at the Botanic 

Gardens. A typical way to unwind after work for me 

is editing a photo or two (let’s face it, we are never 

caught up on the editing!) I have also met some great 

friends through photography, and it’s lead me to travel 

to places I may not have otherwise ventured. 

14 


3 MONKEYS 

UBUD MONKEY FOREST, BALI 

F4.5, 1/100s, ISO400 


WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING WITH? 

I have a Canon 5D Mkiv and my trusty old Canon 6D 

Mk1 as a back-up. On my recent China trip, I actually 

took them both; I know most people are trying to 

travel light these days but currently, I don’t have a 

lightweight option. As an all purpose travel lens, I use 

my 24-105mm f4. But I also took my 70-200mm f2.8 

this trip, as it is my favourite lens. This meant carrying 

a lot of weight up stairs etc, but it was worth it to get 

the compression on the mountains in Zhangjiajie for 

example, and the cormorant fisherman shot which 

is shown on the cover. I also took my 16-35mm f4 to 

make sure I got those epic wide shots. 

WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A CERTAIN 

STYLE OR GRAVITATE TOWARDS 1 GENRE OF 

PHOTOGRAPHY? 

I would like to say no, but when I critique my own 

work I do note I favour clean, balanced images with 

a strongly considered composition, and I usually tell 

my story through a single subject. As far as subjects 

go I definitely favour people, in a range of contexts 

- travel, street, sport, event and candid. But I enjoy 

a range of genre really - I love shooting birds and 

wildlife, and I enjoy dog photography (portraits, 

candid, action, dog shows, agility.) I play with creative 

techniques from time to time, and I am just learning to 

love landscape photography! 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTO OF THE 

CORMORANT FISHERMAN ON THE RIVER LI IN 

YANGSHUO THAT FEATURES ON THE FRONT 

COVER... 

This was the photo I wanted to bring back from China. 

I am so humbled and delighted to see it on the cover. 

To give some background to the subject, the ancient 

art of cormorant fishing dates back centuries. Back in 

the day the fishermen would restrict the bird’s throat 

to prevent them from swallowing the fish, and would 

then bring the bird back to the boat to spit the fish 

up. Though cormorant fishing was once a successful 

industry, its primary use today is to serve the tourism 

industry as sadly, there is no longer a sufficient supply 

of fish in the Li River. 

The shot was taken at sunrise as the fisherman set 

up for his day. I watched as he filled and lit his oil 

lamp, donned his traditional bamboo fibre coat, 

and organised his cormorants. He seemed to have 

a genuine relationship with his birds, and this is what 

I enjoy about this particular frame. Seeing him set 

against the incredible mountains which are mimicked 

by the shape of the birds definitely made this a 

‘money shot’ for me. 

LI RIVER FROM XIANGGONG MOUNTAIN 

F4, 61s, ISO100 

16 


RAFTMAN, LI RIVER 

F6.3, 1/160s, ISO250 

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR TRIP TO CHINA... 

I started my China experience in Guangzhou, 

spending three days there with a friend who works in 

an International school. I found Guangzhou a really 

pleasant city to be in - hot, but interesting in terms 

of culture and history. This was my first experience 

with Chinese markets, and I was both fascinated 

and saddened by what I saw. Fascination came in 

the form of weird and wonderful ingredients at the 

Qingping Medicine market - dried snake, seahorses 

and starfish, and live scorpions! But I was saddened by 

the pet market, litters of puppies in cages, and teeny 

tiny turtles painted with gaudy patterns for sale. 

Interesting Things at Qingping Medicine Market 


SHAMIAN 

F4, 1/500s, ISO100 

I was taken to visit a very western looking quarter of 

the city - Shamian Island. Previously it was the home 

of many foreign consulates and banks. Streets are full 

of churches and buildings of western architectural 

design, and the largely pedestrian streets are lined 

with huge, leafy trees. Scattered throughout the area 

are several bronze statues, depicting life in the area, 

past and present. We visited on a Sunday, a time 

to see people engaged in a wide range of social 

activities - tai chi, singing, practicing dances - at the 

water’s edge. Shamian presents a broad view of 

Guangzhou across the water but unfortunately, I only 

took a 360 degree photo on my phone of this. 

I then flew to Zhangjiajie to join Susan Blick on her 12 

day Real China photo tour. As a woman in her 50s 

who would otherwise travel alone, being part of a 

specifically organized photography tour is my travel 

nirvana. I’ve previously travelled to India with Susan 

so I knew the absolute focus (excuse the pun) of the 

China trip would be on photography and that with 

Susan’s research and experience, every place we 

visited would be guaranteed photography gold. 

China itself is so vast that I would not have known 

where to start if planning a trip there on my own. 

I certainly accomplished things and ventured to 

places my solo photographer self would not have 

thought to do, or pushed myself to do. What I loved 

about China was that every experience was one I 

would not get at home. The lack of familiarity meant 

every day presented you with something new to see, 

photograph, and learn. Since being home I am backmapping 

my experiences through my photos, and 

researching places we visited in more detail. 

18 


TELL US MORE ABOUT 

SOME OF THE PLACES 

YOU VISITED WITH 

SUSAN... 

I absolutely loved the ancient 

town of Feng Huang in the 

Hunan province. Central 

to the town is the Tuo 

Jiang River, which offers a 

plethora of opportunities for 

photography! Many of my 

favourite shots feature the 

centuries’ old stilt houses on 

the river’s edge. Boats are 

constantly ferrying tourists up 

and down the river, several 

varied bridges - and the 

stepping stones - traverse the 

river, all making for fantastic 

photographs. 

Our time in Feng Huang 

was shared with a myriad 

of national tourists, as it 

coincided with the holidays 

celebrating the 70th 

anniversary of the Peoples’ 

Republic. Whilst this was 

challenging at times in terms 

of getting authentic shots, 

it was also fun to watch 

them dress in traditional 

Miao costume for their own 

photos (so many selfies!), 

and provided opportunities 

for some great street 

photography. 

We stayed in Feng Huang for 

three nights, which enabled 

me to revisit places at 

different times of day. Some 

of my preferred shots were 

taken in the early morning 

when I wandered by myself, 

watching the town wake 

up. This was when I was 

able to get great shots of 

the stilt houses, although 

by the time I got to the 

stepping stones again, they 

were already heaving with 

Chinese tourists. That said, 

I do enjoy the images I 

captured of the river being 

crossed. I kept waiting for 

someone to stumble and 

tumble in but it did not 

happen! 

EARLY MORNING, FENG HUANG 

F2.8, 1/250s, ISO100 

UNDER THE BRIDGE, FENG HUANG 

F8, 1/320s, ISO500 

STEPPING STONES, FENG HUANG 

F8, 1/100s, ISO160 


BUFFALO, FULI TOWN 

F8, 1/500s, ISO400 

20 



WOMAN IN DOORWAY 

OLD FULI TOWN 

F4, 1/250s, ISO400 

KNICK KNACK SELLER 

F4, 1/1000s, ISO400 

A GLIMPSE WITHIN 

F4 1/200s, ISO400 

22 


On a day tiki-touring around Yangshuo province we 

visited the gorgeously authentic old Fuli Town, and here 

I captured more of the type of image that I personally 

love. Wandering through the streets I was drawn to the 

doorways, and the glimpses of life you could see within. 

Without wanting to intrude, I tried to shoot unobtrusively. 

At one doorway, just as I passed, an old woman 

emerged and looked up and out at the perfect time. 

When I looked more closely at the image later, I loved 

that I could just see a picture of Chairman Mao behind 

her, and other artefacts that told me more about who 

she may be. 

Another character in Fuli Town was a woman selling 

dusty knick knacks - to enable the photo, I bought a 

‘treasure’ off her. Generally I found the Chinese people 

quite unwilling to engage with the camera without some 

sort of trade off which is fair enough - I’m not fond of 

being photographed myself! 

We also visited Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. I do 

not profess to be a landscape photographer, and this 

is definitely an area of continued learning for me but 

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was the perfect canvas 

for experimenting and honing my skills. 

We visited three different areas of this massive park; Tianzi 

Mountain on the first day, and Tianmenshan the next. To 

get to Heaven’s Gate at the top of Tianmen mountain, 

we rode the longest cable car ride in the world, looking 

down on the famous 99 bend road (and trying to 

photograph it from out the tiny cable car window!) 

which we later bussed down on. 

For me, the most spectacular views were from the 

‘Avatar’ mountains as they are now often named, 

having been the inspiration for the floating Hallelujah 

mountains in the movie Avatar. From Wulingyuan, we 

travelled to the base and ascended via the Bailong 

elevator, the tallest outdoor elevator in the world, which 

took us up the mountains in 2 minutes flat. It took us a lot 

longer to get down, but that’s a whole other story! 

The sandstone pillar like mountains that stretch for miles 

are definitely ‘otherworldly’ and scream China to me. 

The shot across the layered mountains was another I had 

hoped to achieve, and it justified lugging the big lens. 

YOU STOPPED BY HONG KONG ON THE WAY 

HOME, TELL US ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE... 

Hong Kong was a three day stop over, apart from an 

organised bus tour of Hong Kong Island, including Aberdeen 

Fishing Village, I stayed on Kowloon. Because of the limited 

time I had, and the protest activity (which I had no desire 

to seek out or photograph) I elected to hire a photography 

guide. Through a quick internet search a couple of days 

before arriving in Hong Kong, I found William Banzai who 

offers cultural/historic city tours as well as photography 

tours. I’d mentioned the sort of photographic experience I 

wanted, and through William’s knowledge of the area, I was 

taken to all the right places. 

TIANZI MOUNTAIN 

F8, 1/500s, ISO250 


24 


MOUNTAIN LAYERS, ZHANGJIAJIE 

NATIONAL FOREST PARK 

F4.5, 1/8000s, ISO250 


SANDSTONE PILLAR, AVATAR MOUNTAINS, 

ZHANGJIAJIE NATIONAL FOREST PARK 

F10, 1/50s, ISO200 

26 


BAILONG ELEVATOR TO AVATAR 

MOUNTAINS 

F6.3, 1/400s, ISO400 

January 2020 27

We firstly meandered with our cameras through two very 

old local style Chinese neighbourhoods: Yaumatei and 

Mongkok. Mongkok literally means crowded street corner 

in Cantonese. Our walk ran parallel with Nathan Road, a 

famous shopping street also known as Hong Kong’s Golden 

Mile, only we stayed on the Western side which is old 

residential and industrial and definitely not touristy. 

William described this area as Hong Kong style “messy 

urbanism;” public spaces and buildings externally modified 

and adapted to uses not originally envisioned by city 

planners. The area is densely packed with old tenement 

buildings dating back to the early 50s, the period when 

Hong Kong was inundated with refugees from Mainland 

China. There are still vibrant outdoor markets, street shrines 

and temples, old pawn shops, old family owned restaurants 

and traditional shops as well as seedier establishments of 

the night such as mahjong parlours and night clubs. We 

did come across evidence of the protests, including a 

shrine to a young girl recently found dead in the harbour 

- supposedly suicide though rumour of being killed by the 

police. But thankfully no direct protest action. 

After threading our way through all manner of Hong 

Kong/Cantonese Street life, we reached a quintessential 

expression of Chinese culture: the Yuen Po Street Bird 

Garden. Evidently, old men like to have song birds as pets. 

They keep them in wonderfully ornate bamboo cages and 

take them for a daily stroll to the local park or bird meet-up 

place. The birds sing to each other and the good old boys 

socialise and talk bird shop. There are a few ladies in the 

mix, but most seem to specialise in selling the birds and a 

range of bird-related accoutrements. 

WHAT TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS CAN YOU 

SHARE WITH US? 

Allow yourself time to revisit certain spots at different times 

of day, or again at a favoured time of day. I think this has 

been my own short-coming, as I haven’t always been as 

patient and considered as I might have been had I taken 

more time in one place, so maybe this is also advice for my 

future travelling self. There’s not always something better 

around the next corner so best to get a great shot where 

you are than a series of rushed shots on the move. 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON OVER TOURISM? 

Hmmm well that is an interesting one isn’t it because 

as photographers we are somewhat perpetuating the 

problem. We take photos of these beautiful, amazing 

places which encourage others to want to visit! 

In China, almost all the thousands of tourists we ‘toured’ 

alongside were Chinese nationals so I am not sure if that 

fits the definition of over tourism as they are technically 

locals themselves. My perception in China was that 

the tourist dollar was very welcome, but I did often 

wonder about the impact of so many people on the 

environment, and was often surprised at the ease of 

access to precious places that would perhaps benefit 

from controlled access to preserve longevity. I guess 

that is the rub worldwide. 

ABERDEEN FISHING VILLAGE, HONG KONG 

F8, 1/500s, ISO200 

28 


SHRINE TO CHAN YIN LAM, HONG KONG 

F4, 1/400s, ISO125 

YUEN PO BIRD GARDEN,, HONG KONG 

F4 1/1600s, ISO320 


STREETS OF HONG KONG 

F9, 1/30s, ISO200 

30 

NZPhotographer 

HONG KONG BUILDINGS 

F6,3 1/1600s, ISO500

AT EXCIO WE PROMOTE 

#PHOTOGRAPHYFORGOOD – HOW WOULD 

YOU SAY YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY DOES GOOD? 

My ‘doing good’ is close to home. A cornerstone of 

my school’s ethos is “Doing Good because Good 

is Good to Do” and as our ‘unofficial official school 

photographer’, I take a lot of joy out of freely sharing 

with their families, the photos I take of our kids at 

school events etc. Last year I created all the photos 

for our new school website (gratis), did all the team 

and group photos for our Yearbook, and our website 

blog and Facebook page are regularly updated with 

my images. It’s humbling to receive feedback from 

families about how they love the photos, and that 

they are joyfully shared with whanau here and around 

the world… keeping families in touch with each 

others’ lives in this way fills my cup! 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? 

Top of my travel bucket list is a photography trip 

to the Galapagos Islands, although that will take a 

bit of saving so is a pipe dream currently. This year I 

intend to explore my own backyard with a trip to the 

South Island planned in conjunction with the PSNZ 

convention in Christchurch. 

Photography wise I have just purchased a drone, so 

am looking forward to exploring my photography 

from a different perspective – literally! I am also keen 

to build my little side hustle business, and investigate 

the possibility of a small home studio for portrait and 

‘petrait’ work, and to learn more about lighting. But I’ll 

not be giving up my day job any time soon - I’d miss 

the kids too much and I need photography to remain 

an escape, not be a necessity. 

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE? 

www.instagram.com/ 

serendipityphotographynz 

www.facebook.com/ 

SerendipityPhotographybyLynn 

www.serendipityphotographynz.com 

albums.excio.io/profile/serendipity 

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Moviemaking with a Smartphone 

by Milan Maric aka Markuza 

A behind the scenes look at what it takes to shoot a ‘simple’ 

short film with an iPhone. 

Over the past 17 years, I have lived on 

4 different continents and worked 

for a dozen television stations, 

government agencies, and independent 

film productions as a producer/editor and 

photographer/cinematographer. As a freelancer, 

I have participated in the production of 4 featurelength 

documentaries and about 50 short fiction 

films. 

Photography has always been my passion, long 

before I enrolled in art school and got a chance 

to really learn more about it. I took thousands of 

photos without any instructions or formal training, 

these images preserving moments for myself, my 

friends, and my family and which now hold utterly 

different value from any other material that I’ve 

done professionally. 

During the past 20 years, I’ve had 14 different 

cameras from 4 different manufacturers. The 

majority of my photos are done digitally, roughly 

180,000 snapshots organized in 1,477 folders. Every 

once in a while, I dive back into these archives and 

think of the topics that I covered at the time, as 

well as the evolution of the technical quality. Like 

with any other work, practice makes you perfect 

but passion and inspiration can give you the edge. 

If we look at the statistical data, the amount of 

photos uploaded every day on the internet is 

overwhelming, but that doesn’t mean we should 

stop creating and honing our craft. I agree that 

sometimes it is intimidating to look at all the 

beautiful photos on highly curated feeds and say 

“I will never reach that level” but that is not the 

truth, and you should always remember “it is not 

the wand, it is the wizard!” – A lack of sophisticated 

technology can be lightened with a good idea, 

planning and a bag of tricks. This is what I would like 

to talk about with you today. 


While working in the field, I had the privilege to see some 

amazing men and women creating their visual magic. 

Yes, the fancy camera will help you to create a better 

image technically but it won’t do the framing or create 

the idea on its own. You know what your passion is, 

and once you demystify the tools and understand the 

tricks, you will be able to achieve a high creative and 

technical level. 

DEMYSTIFYING SIMPLICITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY 

AND VIDEO 

In 2014, a director/friend of mine from Tristan Pope invited 

me to work on the short fiction movie titled “Romance in 

NY”. He wanted to shoot an entire project on an iPhone 

4. My role was to record behind the scenes video, take 

production stills and design lightning for the scenes. At 

the time, the iPhone camera was the cutting edge of 

technology, and people waited in line in front of the 

store to get their hands on a new model. 

For the behind the scenes shots, I used a Canon 5D mark 

2. Like the iPhone 4, the flagship Canon 5D was packed 

with new technology and multiple improvements over 

previous model. One could ask “why didn’t you use the 

new DSLR to shoot the movie”? Well, at the time, we 

saw a very successful promo campaign called “shot on 

iPhone”, focused mainly on the still photography. Making 

movies on a smartphone was still a pretty new thing, and 

we wanted a piece of that action. 

The director had an idea to make the entire movie from 

the point of view of a guy in love. The form factor of the 

phone allowed us to position the camera right in front 

of the protagonist’s eyes, mimicking the width of human 

vision for close up’s and, using a small Gorilla tripod, we 

secured the camera on the directors shoulders and 

head. The camera position followed the movement of 

the body, so the footage looked pretty natural without 

any additional stabilization. For wide angle fast moving 

shots we used a smartphone steady cam rig. 

While reading this, remember that any photography skills 

are easily applicable to moving images. The principal 

rules of aperture, focal length, exposure and sensitivity 

work the same way except for shutter speed. 

In controlled lighting conditions, such as diffused light 

and with a dynamic range of about six stops, the iPhone 

footage was beautiful. With the help of third-party 

software, the sensor could be pushed to seven stops 

of dynamic range without any visible loss of quality or 

the introduction of grain. Nevertheless, that still wasn’t 

good enough for cinema-style visuals, so we had to use 

additional light sources to raise the overall exposure and 

balance the scene. 

We also purchased a set of snap-on lenses made 

for the iPhone. The set included: a wide-angle lens, 

telephoto lens, and a circular polarizer filter to be able 

to partly remove the reflection from glass surfaces. We 

also prepared a few other pieces of equipment – In the 

apartment, we used a fog machine to create a mist 

resembling waking up from a dream and in the night 

scene at the Brooklyn bridge park, I followed the action 

with a small bi-coloured/dimmable LED light. 

34 


The restaurant scene was arguably the most 

complicated scene and it took us a few hours to set 

up and flag the lights. We had two 1K ARRI Fresnel’s, 

and one 300W smaller source. Larger units helped me 

to raise the overall exposure of the scene and set the 

mood whilst having the spectator still believed that the 

dominant illumination came from the candles on the 

table. 

The result was a good, short fiction film 17 minutes long 

with a very organic spontaneous look. If we take into 

account everything from the pre to post-production 

stage, it was a very efficient ten days with a skeleton 

crew of six people. 

Social media giants and many influence’s on their 

respected platforms are selling the idea of “simple and 

easy setups, that provide miraculous results”. In reality, it is 

never that simple. On this particular shoot the movie was 

indeed shot on a smartphone but here is the list of extra 

stuff. 

1. The movie had a director and director of 

photography with experience in traditional film 

making. That means we prepared a storyboard in 

advance and had the equipment for lighting design 

necessary to improve the iPhone’s poor performance 

in low light. 

2. Additional crew members helped us with lighting 

setups and crowd control at improvised locations. 

Extra crew also included grip and make up person. 

3. We had professional actors trained to read the mood 

from the script and follow the directions. 

4. The power of contemporary post-production 

software – If your footage is exposed correctly 

(no blown up highlights and no crushed shadows), 

you can really make miracles in post-production. 

5. Last but absolutely not least, the experience for how 

to pitch and sell the project for a successful festival 

run. 

Another more high profile example of a movie shot on 

an iPhone comes from Oscar-winning director Steven 

Soderbergh who, in 2018, shot “Unisane”, an entire 

feature-length movie on an iPhone. He explained that 

the motivation for using a smartphone camera came 

from the script itself – One of the main guidelines of 

framing in cinema comes from the point of focus and 

overall depth of field. If the entire shot from foreground to 

background stays sharp, the gaze of the audience won’t 

be guided, forcing the spectator to “look around” and 

analyze the entire frame. Unisane is a story of a person 

losing their mind, and by filming the footage where 

spectators are struggling to find a focus, the director 

implies the state of mind of the main protagonist. 

A CAMERA IS A TOOL THAT SERVES THE ARTIST 

To go back to the point from the beginning, if we are 

able to understand the abilities of our equipment, we 

can maximize the potential of what we already have. If 

as an author, we are clueless about what the main plot 

is, no expensive gear will solve the problem. By knowing 

what we are trying to achieve in the shot, we can 

utilize all the practicals and props around us and find a 

creative way to substitute specialized equipment. As a 

creator, you should never be intimidated by technology 

or by the bragging of any “influence’s” because the 

basis of the technology is not complicated to learn, and 

all influence’s were once beginners just the same as you. 

Watch the short film “Romance in New York” and see 

behind the scenes footage at http://www.milanmaric. 

com/films.html 


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36 

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Exploring Myanmar 

with Lyn Alves 

I 

am a female solo traveller in my late 60’s, who 

enjoys wandering the world, journeying along the 

‘road less travelled’, off the tourist trail. My camera 

is my companion on my adventures but I haven’t 

always been a solo traveller - my husband shared my 

passion for travel and adventure but, sadly he passed 

away so I have been traveling on my own for the last 

5 years. 

Looking back, photography has always been part of 

who I am. It started with my first box Brownie at the 

age of 9, progressing through a range of point and 

shoots until my first real camera in my early 20’s, a 

Zenit. My love affair with this solid Russian beauty died 

when it froze on me on a mountain holiday in the 

snow!! 

I have been a Canon girl ever since, buying a SLR 

when my husband and I backpacked around South 

America way back in 1996. 16 precious films were 

guarded with my life. Those were the days of placing 

your films into black bags so they could ‘safely’ be 

scanned by the X-ray machine at airports and not 

knowing if they would be okay until being developed 

on returning home. How times have changed. I 

resisted buying a digital camera for as long as I could. 

I couldn’t get out of my head the term ‘spray and 

pray’, but have to admit my photography changed 

in 2009 when we travelled across North Africa - Egypt, 

Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco. We were going to do a 

camel trek out into the Sahara, stay with the Bedouins 

and sleep on our camel blankets under the stars so 

I needed a camera that was dust and sand proof - 

enter my first DSLR, the Canon 40D. 

Capturing on my camera moments, scenes, 

occasions and people is such a pleasure and a 

privilege. It enables me to relive the journey whenever 

the occasion arises. My fascination with cultures 

from around the world, I’m sure, stemmed from the 

National Geographic Magazine that I devoured as a 

youngster – it’s a passion that I cannot get enough of. 

I travel for 2 months each year and have plans for at 

least the next 5 years! I’m simply one of those people 

38 


GOAT HERDERS OF BAGAN 

F5.6, 1/1250s, ISO1250 

that gets excited when opening a map and thinking 

“where to next”. I am at my absolute happiest with 

a pack on my back and a camera in my hand, and 

welcome any new adventure that comes around the 

next corner. 

When I travel, I travel light - I have a backpack and 

that’s it. Everything I take with me has to be carried on 

my back, so camera gear is at a minimum. All I take is 

a Manfrotto travel carbon fibre tripod, my Canon 80D 

(I have a 5D mark IV which stays at home) and two 

lenses; the Canon 24-105mm f4 L USM and the Canon 

10-18mm. 

Myanmar was part of my adventure last year where 

I also visited Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Three 

countries as different and as diverse as you could 

get, but it was the extra ordinary journey into the 

conflict area in the Shan Military Zone that makes my 

memories of Myanmar more special. 

I was travelling through this beautiful, but troubled 

part of the country with a photography tour guide 

and a local photographer, who, through his contacts, 

had applied for and organised the safe access for us 

through the Hoya Region to meet and photograph 

Hill Tribe Women of the Htekho Tribe who have been 

subjected to atrocities by the Burmese Army for 

decades. 

On our journey by car, through the hilly mountainous 

country, we passed through check points the higher 

we climbed. (Before the road was pushed through, 

the tribe we visited, had a four day trek to get to 

civilization). Opening the windows, the car was 

instantly filled with the scent of fresh pine from the 

forest. The undergrowth was covered in a carpet 

of wild sunflowers and cardamom, the latter being 

harvested by the locals in the area. The peaceful 

scene belies the tension that I was feeling though - 

traveling through conflict zones is not a daily thing for 

me! 

The village is located on a steep hillside, dry and dusty 

without a blade of grass to be seen. We were met 


y a young 27 year old who would be our guide 

and interpreter. He told us that as a 7 year old, 

he had to flee into the forest with his younger 

siblings when the Burmese Army came and burnt 

the houses and destroyed the crops. They had to 

survive for 5 days in the forest, can you imagine! 

Myself and my photography tour guide were the 

first Westerners the villagers had seen in nearly 

3 years. They were curious yet shy. It was mainly 

young Mums and the elderly women in the village 

that day, as every able person was out harvesting 

the vital crops located a two hour walk away, with 

no vehicles or machinery to help them. 

The usual raft of puppies nipped at our heels as 

we wandered through the village. The houses 

are all built on high stilts, totally wooden, with the 

cool underneath used for storage of livestock ie 

cattle and pigs, this also being the place where 

they thresh the rice. All the precious grain is stored 

away from the houses, also on stilts, to keep the 

rodents at bay, but also to keep it away from 

potential fire - The cooking is done inside the 

houses in a special ‘pit’ in the floor so there can 

be the accident of a house catching fire. A house 

can be rebuilt but food cannot be replaced. 

We observed two women who were threshing rice, 

it was steaming hot, so I could understand why 

it’s done under the house. They have found an 

ingenious method of getting the job done quickly 

and efficiently, with the added benefit of feeding 

the pigs and hens at the same time. 

The women were wearing their traditional 

clothing, which is worn daily and often handed 

down from Mother to daughter. All the tribes 

have their traditional dress and their unique style 

of beauty. Here it was long earrings, threaded 

through plugs in the earlobes and copper coils 

on the lower legs which are never taken off. One 

theme that ran through the three hill tribes we 

visited, was the beauty of ‘fat knees’ which the 

copper coils emphasised (I thought I fitted in 

well!!). 

The first member of this tribe that I got to sit down 

and talk to was a 74 year old widow. Her house 

just had the one room with a thatched roof, open 

windows with one window draped with a cloth 

for a curtain. She lived in the barest of conditions, 

aside from a mattress on the floor as her bed, the 

only piece of furniture she had was a wooden box 

that held her worldly belongings, this also doubling 

up as her seat and bench. 

I discovered that she had been made to move 

three times in her life because of the Burmese 

Army… If a husband dies (life expectancy is 58 

for men and 64 for women) the widow must then 

THRESHING THE RICE 

F4, 1/320s, ISO500 

A HTEKHO TRIBAL ELDER 

F4, 1/40s, ISO3200 

40 


go and clear land and grow her own food. If 

you don’t work, you don’t eat. Simple truth. 

It was humbling to talk to this lady, a survivor, 

living on her own. She had such an elegance 

about her, a self-assured inner knowledge that 

each day is a blessing and nothing is taken for 

granted. She told us she has six grandchildren 

and her only wish is that they will visit someday. 

Simple needs. She could not understand why 

we would want to take her photo, but was 

very happy to sit on her box and let us click 

away making use of the natural light coming in 

through her open window. 

Further up in the village we met a young 

woman who was very happy to take her 

basket of wood off her back, lay it down and 

talk to us. She thought she was about 40 years 

old, she didn’t remember which year she was 

born, but she knew that she was married at 

sixteen. She told us she had ten children, but 

two had died – Life, death, it’s all accepted 

here. 

She was so open, smiling and friendly, and 

happily shared a moment with her youngest 

three children. Again, It was a total privilege to 

be in the company of a person that has had 

such an extremely hard life, but like the rest of 

the village, she didn’t complain. These people 

simply get on with what they have to do for 

daily survival in extreme conditions, living under 

the threat of the Burmese Army. 

I will never forget my day there and the many 

women that I met. It made me re-evaluate my 

life and priorities - You cannot meet, visit, and 

spend time with these incredible women and 

not be affected, not be inspired to be a better 

person and not accept some of the bullshit of 

first world issues. I must live with purpose. I must 

be thankful for every breath. I must be thankful 

for every day. And I was definitely thankful 

for every one of the sixteen days I spent in 

Myanmar. 

Yes, I did visit some of the popular sites which 

made for magical photo opportunities, I 

watched the net fishermen of Mandalay and 

ballooned over the 1000+ temples of Bagan 

which were bathed in a soft mist. I lightpainted 

old fishing boats on the Irrawaddy 

River and walked along the famous teak U Bein 

Bridge, all at sunrise. I was mesmerised by the 

‘dancing fishermen’ on Inle Lake, watched 

goat herders return to their village on a wellworn 

path, and saw young women with 

baskets full from a day’s toil in the fields, all at 

sunset. 

COLLECTING THE 

DAYS FUEL 

F8, 1/25s, ISO125 

A LIGHT MOMENT 

IN A TOUGH LIFE 

F4, 1/80s, ISO125 


BALLOONING OVER BAGAN 

F4, 1/320s, ISO400 

MORNING TEA BREAK, INLE LAKE 

F4, 1/40s, ISO800 

42 


STUDY TIME 

F4, 1/320s,ISO1000 

I also loved my time at an ancient rundown monastery 

which was totally off the beaten track - Only local 

knowledge enabled me to visit here and I came 

away what would become some of my most favourite 

photos. 

Spending time with the young novice monks and the 

young children from the village that ran amok and 

brought me so many freshly picked flowers created 

precious moments - what an experience, to take 

time to sit and talk and ask about their lives, feelings, 

and aspirations. This monastery would have been so 

imposing in its prime, but I just loved how it still had 

an air of elegance even though the paint had faded 

and the gold had lost its gloss. 

Using only natural light from the windows that had 

long since seen any glass, I found the paint-peeling 

walls a great contrast against the bright orange 

robes of the young novice monks. We spent a whole 

afternoon here which enabled me to get shots with 

the monks looking so relaxed – because we had spent 

time getting to know them first. This is my type of travel 

photography - I love to sit and chat and spend time 

with the locals. 

My mantra is “Travel with an open heart, a free mind, 

and a big smile. Be totally in the present moment, 

let go of any perceived expectations and embrace 

every single second of your journey”. 

instagram.com/lyn_alves_photography 

twofeetandaheartbeat.squarespace.com 

albums.excio.io/profile/Wanderlust 


The One and Only Thing That Will 

Make Your Photography Better 

By Ana Lyubich 

The title of this article is not original - I 

borrowed it from a photography forum as 

it grabbed my attention! Reading that post 

my hopes and expectations were quickly 

dashed as the article quickly narrowed down to 

the idea of ‘the only thing you need is practice’. 

I couldn’t agree more, but… while practice is 

very important and the more you photograph the 

more you start seeing photographic opportunities 

and start understanding your camera and 

exploring creative angles, the only thing that will 

make your photographs special and different is 

connection. Let me give you an example of what 

I mean. 

Those of you who live in Wellington will know 

that there is an event called “Tulip Sunday” that 

happens every year at the Botanical Gardens. 

It’s always beautiful and I have been visiting it 

every year because I simply love tulips but also 

because the event is a dream come true for 

photographers who want to practice their skills. 

Photographing the same thing every year is a 

challenge at the best of times but it is an even 

bigger challenge to photograph the same 

flowers year after year! I have photos of tulips 

taken from all angles - from the top, from the 

bottom, from the sides, under, over… you know 

what I’m talking about. 

So this year I was a bit anxious, not knowing 

how to photograph the tulips in a different way, 

despite having had a lot of practice. I decided 

I’d just walk around to see if I could spot a new 

angle, perhaps I’d be able to get inspiration after 

watching other photographers. 

What I accidentally discovered not only surprised 

me but has since changed the whole course of 

my flower photography. In all those wonderful 

beautiful flower beds full of tulips I saw it. I 

saw the one. That one tulip that wasn’t like all 

the others - it wasn’t super pretty, it was even 

a bit out of place, but it was beautiful in all 

its weirdness. I started photographing it and 

I couldn’t get enough, that’s when I started 

looking around for other odd or blemished 

beauties and realised they are everywhere - We 

just don’t tend to see them as we are blinded 

by the ‘standard’ beauty and stereotypes. It has 

now become my mission to find the most unique 

looking flowers and show how beautiful their 

uniqueness is. 

Back to the topic of what will make your 

photographs better. That special connection 

that I now have with my ‘unique’ flowers is 

an example of what I was talking about. A 

photograph is just an image until you connect 

with the subject on a special new-dimensional 

level at which point it becomes reflected in your 

images. 

Technically, there will always be photographers 

who are better and indeed worse than you but 

we cannot and should not compare ourselves 

with others. Even if you have the same camera 

and accessories, are at the same place at the 

same time, with the same light, you and another 

photographer next to you will take photographs 

that will look different. Why? Because there is a 

reflection of the ‘inner you’ in each photograph 

you take which is quite obvious to the viewer, 

believe me. 

Like fingerprints, there are no two identical 

photographs. Photography taps into your heart 

and the better understanding of yourself and 

what you are trying to photograph and achieve 

with your shots, the better photographer you will 

become (note that I didn’t say ‘the better your 

photography will become’!). 

Many of us have made new year resolutions 

so if photography is on that list for you, forget 

about comparing yourself to others, forget about 

influencers and think first of what you want to 

photograph, how you can do that, and then try 

to capture and create something unique. 

Even though a photographer consciously 

photographs an object or landscape or anything 

else, in the end, it is always his or her personality 

that creates the interpretation that gives each 

image its individual power. And only as a result 

of that, does a photograph resonate with the 

viewer. 

44 



What Are You Photographing? 

Deeper thinking about the true subject of your photograph. 

by Richard Young 

46 


MOUNTAIN LIGHT, TASMAN GLACIER 

F11, 1/1250s, ISO400 


Often while immersed in capturing a stunning 

landscape, bathed in beautiful warm light 

at sunset, a passer-by will stop to talk to me. 

The first and more than likely only question will 

typically be; “what are you photographing?” As if there 

is something that they are missing looking out over the 

same fantastic vista in front of them. It is a question that 

annoys me at times, partly because of being interrupted 

from the moment I’m in, but also because it seems they 

feel that this beautiful landscape is not worthy enough to 

make a good photograph on its own. I could, and often 

have replied to them with “this beautiful landscape, isn’t 

it stunning?” They will generally seem a little disappointed 

by this answer, as if they were expecting something else, 

perhaps some exciting wildlife. 

But in reality, it’s a very worthy question. Yes, I am 

standing in front of this stunning landscape, but what part 

of it is my subject? What is the story I wish to tell about 

this landscape? If I point my camera towards this grand 

vista without considering this, I am going to record the 

scene without any personal or artistic interpretation. As 

a photographic artist, it is my job, not just to capture this 

landscape but to add my visual interpretation to it and 

tell a story in my work. Sometimes it is also what we leave 

out of a photograph that can help define our subject. A 

painter has the luxury to choose what to include in their 

painting, as a photographer, we often need to decide 

what does not add to the image and how we can leave 

this out. Deciding what to leave out of a photograph is 

often harder than it sounds, especially when faced with 

an amazing vista as it is all too easy to include everything. 

I think there are three crucial elements that make up 

any successful landscape photograph; subject, light, 

and composition. Just shooting some beautiful light (e. g. 

a fantastic sunset) is not enough on it own to make a 

great image. If we start to break down the landscape in 

front of us, we might wish to capture all of it, but which 

part of it is most interesting? What part of this grand vista 

should our subject be? Once we have made this choice, 

we can then decide how to compose the photograph 

to make this subject clear to the viewer. We can also 

PINK BOULDER, LAKE OAHU 

F11, 4s, ISO64 

48 


FROSTY TUSSOCK, TASMAN RIVER 

F11, 6s, ISO64 

determine what other parts of the landscape will add to 

the picture, and what will only be a distraction. 

While teaching on workshops, when I ask a student what 

they are photographing I will often get a reply like “that 

interesting little rock on the side of the lake” – the rock 

they are standing 10 meters away from with an ultra-wideangle 

lens on their camera. While that rock is a great 

subject, it will be lost in their final photograph, due to their 

current composition. With their distance from the rock and 

lens choice, the rock might only represent about 5% of the 

image area in the photograph. Therefore, it’s important to 

decide what our subject is before we set up our tripod, this 

will then inform our decisions of which lens is best to use 

and where best to capture the subject from. 

If they had started with deciding this rock was to be 

the main subject of their photograph, they could have 

moved closer to it, made it larger and more defined within 

the surrounding landscape. Or they could have selected 

a longer telephoto lens to zoom in on the rock and isolate 

it from the rest of the landscape. Both of those choices 

would allow it to be a more significant part of the end 

photograph and define it as a subject to the viewer. 

Hopefully, the subject, (“what I am photographing?”) 

in the pictures with this article, are clear. For the image 

looking out across lake Ohau, it is the foreground rock 

on the side of the lake, I framed this with the distant 

mountains and soft light behind. The photograph looking 

up the Tasman River at Mt Cook is about the lovely texture 

of the frost-covered tussock against the soft swirl of the 

river pool. I framed Mt Cook in the background, but this 

is to give a sense of location, not as the subject of the 

picture. 

So the next time I am out photographing a beautiful 

sunset at one of my favourite landscapes, will I be any 

less annoyed when a passer-by stops to ask “what are 

you photographing?” Probably not! If I replied to them 

that I am photographing this little rock on the side of the 

lake, instead of this beautiful landscape, do you think they 

would be less disappointed with my answer? Probably 

not! They might even reply with; I thought you might have 

been photographing the sunset!

Photographing My Way Home 

I 

recently came full circle with my photography, 

whilst making an image of a lavender flower head. 

It was a beautiful moment to be out in Wellington 

Botanical Gardens on a sunny day capturing the 

photo and remembering that this was how it all 

started. 

You see, it was seeing a photo of a flower with a 

shallow depth of field in a magazine as a young teen 

that launched my interest in photography. The beauty 

of the flower must have dazzled me and I wanted to 

know how the photographer had achieved the blurry 

background so that the flower stood out so naturally 

like that. It wasn’t until 2006 when I was gifted a DSLR 

from my family and took a career break from ICT 

teaching that I started to figure it out. And now with 

years of learning and unlearning, I’m able to give 

myself complete permission to experience wonder 

and photograph flowers just for the sheer meditative 

by Natalie Clarke 

joy of walking the gardens barefoot and enjoying 

pretty things! 

My journey with photography has led me to many 

places – across the globe and deep into my inner 

world – and ultimately to a place of being, which I 

feel Denis O’Connor encapsulates in his Rudderstone 

sculpture, which I also projected through my 

photography that day. 

“To walk through Rudderstone engages the body in a 

metaphor for the journey that the New World we live in 

challenges us to take; the transition from old to new.” 

Denis O’Connor 

I feel my photography practice is taking on a life of 

its own as I settle into life here in New Zealand – cue 

cliché shots of ferns unfurling! I’ve been making the 

transition from London to Wellington over the last two 

and half years – I feel the most at home I’ve ever 

been and the Botanical Gardens is part of that and it 

has become my favourite playground. 

JUST BE! 

F5.6, 1/320s, ISO400 

A NATURAL BEAUTY 

50 


F5.6, 1/160s, ISO200

LIGHT ON KORU 

F4, 1/80s, ISO100 

I love my time in the Gardens, being nurtured and 

inspired by nature. Having recently moved into a 

house right next door, I’ve swapped my daily coffee 

habit for a more healthier and active morning ritual 

of being out amongst the trees and flowers! Some 

days I take my camera, mostly my iPhone, but as 

collaborators back in the UK taught me, valuing 

the experience of life ahead of the photo is more 

important. A challenge indeed when photographing 

for work and someone is paying you to document 

their event that you would really just like to be a 

participant in! 

Photography has been an on-and-off love affair 

in my life for over 13 years now, and it’s been an 

incredible vehicle for self-development with others in 

all areas of life. It has allowed me to grow holistically 

as a person – creatively, emotionally, spiritually and 

entrepreneurially. Through a whole load of teaching 

photography projects and personal photographic 

pilgrimages (as I now call them) I’ve transformed 

some of my deeper struggles with depression and 

stress. I’ve found a natural home in the contemplative 

style of photography and as a form of creative 

meditation which I was introduced to in Scotland 

whilst on Buddhist retreats. 

Photography has also guided me on the pathway 

to a whole new adventure into my calling as 

an independent personal and project change 

consultant. In 2018 I completed five years of rigorous, 

therapeutic training as a professional certified coach. 

I often thought my photography days were over 

during this time but it wouldn’t go away and refined 

as a spiritual practice for me. I’m now enjoying 

playing more with the symbolism, metaphors and ritual 

nature of photography. This has come out of building 

on some powerful human change technology called 

Clean Language developed in the 1980s by David 

Grove, a late New Zealander. My own integrated 

approach to deep inner change work incorporating 

Clean and photography is of course called 

‘Clean-ography’! 

As I settle and make my creative routines here, my 

aim is to make a long-standing wish come true by 

becoming a dawn photographer - being able to 

rise early for the blue and golden hours and capture 

Wellington at her best. I’m also now focusing on 

writing up and sharing my photographic and 

coaching experiences through my groups such as 

the Coach with the Camera monthly peer-mentoring 

event at Thistle Hall. It’s taken me a long time to 

feel confident in my photographic ability and find 

my approach and voice, so I’m looking forward to 

bringing the photo stories alive as lessons in trusting 

the process and as a thank you to the power of 

photography as a truly creative medium. 


52 


For me, photography is so much more than 

taking images or judging how good a photo is. 

As a photographer it’s about having a loving, 

mindful state of presence and more broadly, 

a way of life that’s about noticing, witnessing 

and honouring. For some, photography is an 

expressive vehicle for coming home to one’s own 

true nature. I personally feel very happy to have 

seen that flower in the magazine that captured 

my imagination many years ago! As Saul Leiter 

simply put it, “I don’t have a philosophy, I have a 

camera.” 

www.instagram.com/coachwiththecamera 

www.facebook.com/coachwiththecamera 

www.coachwiththecamera.co.nz 

albums.excio.io/profile/cwtc 

HOME IS RED 

F4, 1/640s, ISO200 


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Unleashed 

PHOTO COMPETITION 

Submit your long exposure photos by 10 January 2020 

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plus other great prizes. 

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54 


THE GALLERY IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY 

PORTFOLIO 

BEST READERS' SUBMISSIONS THIS MONTH 


HEAVENLY BEINGS 

F5.6, 1/400s 140mm 

This image was taken on Mirissa beach 

in Sri Lanka. I was standing at a distance 

watching the sunset when this man went into 

the water. It lined up like magic. 

Ainsley Duyvestyn-Smith 

56 


VILLAGE 

FUN 

F11, 1/500s, ISO320 

These children were 

captured playing in 

the village street of a 

small village called 

Alberabello in Bari, 

Italy. The area is noted 

for the special design 

houses called Trulli The 

style can be seen in 

the photograph with 

the round peaked roof 

and the white washed 

walls.. 

Don McLeod 


HAVANA FOOTBALL CLUB 

F1.8, 1/1000s 

Walking around in Havana, Cuba I came across 

this group of children playing football on the street. 

Oblivious to their surroundings, I decided to stop 

and watch for a while, and in the process caught 

some wonderful moments of kids being kids. 

Ainsley Duyvestyn-Smith 

58 



60 


SUN UMBRELLAS 

Amalfi Italy 

Alistair Boyd 


TRANQUILITY 

This was the sunrise from our little jetty 

outside our room on our last day in Bacalar, 

Quintana Roo, Mexico. One of the most 

beautiful peaceful places we've stayed at. 

Taken on my Samsung s7 edge camera. 

Allie Sharp 

62 NZPhotographer


64 


FLINDERS STREET 

F9, 1/300s, ISO3200 

A busy station, Flinders Street in 

Melbourne. Watching the people go 

by, walking and talking. 

Ann Kilpatrick 


66 


WHAT'S MISSING 

F9, 1/320s, ISO250 

Street scene in Melbourne, Australia, these guys 

must have been very warm on a hot sunny day. 

Ann Kilpatrick 


FLYING OVER THE KIMBERLEYS 

F9, 1/640s, ISO200, 14mm 

Three couples rented three 4-wheel drive vehicles and headed out into the outback. 

One of our excursions was to take a seaplane trip out to the Horizontal Falls. As the 

plane was pretty cramped, and I didn't know how wet we would get on the jet boat 

through the falls themselves, I left my main camera behind. This was shot with my 

mirrorless camera from the seaplane. I was pretty happy with the results. 

Carole Garside 

68 



70 


"EVERYONE LOVES CUBA" 

Each time I return to Cuba the colour fades. Buildings are being destroyed by 

storms and lack of maintenance. Tourism is decreasing, food is in short supply, 

pharmaceuticals are desperately needed. The struggles for the people on the street 

is becoming desperate. But the joie de vivre is still evident despite the despair for so 

many. This photo was taken on the Malecon (sea boulevard) in the capital city, Havana 

in 2015. Upon our return last year we discovered many of these buildings had collapsed 

in September 2017 due to Hurricane Irma. 

Liz Cadogan 


72 


AL HAMALI 

F5.6, 1/100s, ISO200 

The Porters in the traditional markets in Qatar. 

Maria Ligaya Bumanglag

BADWATER BASIN 

F16, 1/60s 

3 shot panorama of the salt flats of Death 

Valley National Park, Las Vegas. 

Nee Christopher Lagria 


MARDIN: THE SHINING CITY OF 

MESOPOTAMIA 

F6.3, 1/200s, ISO400 

Located in Southeastern Turkey, Mardin is an enchanting city demonstrating a 

cultural wealth and architectural heritage passed down through thousands of 

years. It is considered to be one of the most unexplored places in Turkey. Stone 

dwellings cascade down the hillside above the Mesopotamian plains, minarets 

emerge from a baked brown maze of rambling lanes, a castle dominates the 

old city, the golden stone houses, masterfully and elegantly built on the steep 

slopes, achieve an extraordinary harmony between climate, geography, and 

architecture, revealing the city to be an architectural treasure chest. 

Maria Ligaya Bumanglag 

74 



76 


RELAXING ON THE GALAPAGOS 

F13, 1/180s, ISO200 

We stopped on the island of Fernandina 

and the wildlife was so tame. 

Mark Davey 


BADLANDS 

F16, 1/60s 

When travelling to Las Vegas, a lot of people often opt to stay in Vegas and enjoy the casinos, the nightlife, 

the food, etc except for me. I travelled alone to Death Valley National park, a 3 hour drive from Las Vegas 

while my family and friends were enjoying Vegas life. I didn't regret my decision because I got to see the salt 

flats of Death Valley National Park. 

Nee Christopher Lagria 



80 


COMING IN FOR LANDING 

There is something I just love about a Pelican coming in 

to land. The way they use their wings. I always head to 

the Charis Seafood market when I'm on the Gold Coast 

Australia to watch this daily ritual. Sometimes up to 70 

Pelicans arrive for a daily feeding. 

Paula Vigus 


HIMALAYAN PRAYER 

The Kanchenjunga massif (8,586m - third highest on earth), viewed at dawn 

through prayer wheels at Pelling (2,083m) in Sikkim. This is a most sought 

after travel destination due to the wonderful line of sight to Kanchenjunga, 

closer than the more widely seen view from nearby Darjeeling. 

Peter Laurenson 

82 



REFLECTED ANTS 

In August 1997, before terrorism had really impacted tourist movements in northern Pakistan, 

I hired a guide and porters to complete a route in Baltistan to K2 base camp, then over 

Gondogoro La, back to Hushe. I had reached Gondogoro La from the Hushe side 5 years 

earlier. Here my porters (the 'A Team') are reflected in Daltsampa Lake. Trekking in this less 

populated region is a more remote experience than in nearby Nepal. Well worn trails dotted 

with tea houses are replaced by vast deserted glaciers. 

Peter Laurenson 



86 


EXPLORING ON ORKNEY 

F10, 1/250s, ISO400, 55mm 

Travel and holidays are all about exploring new 

places. After exploring Marwick Head we headed 

back to the car while taking in the view of typical 

Orkney landscape. 

Peter Maiden 


SUNSET ON THE CHOBE RIVER, BOTSWANA 

We were on a safari in Botswana and stopped to enjoy the sunset. The dust in the air 

created the most amazing sunsets and as we watched the buffalo came wading 

across. It was wind still and quiet. The photo captured what it looked like. 

Rudolph Kotze 

88 



90 


MYSTICAL MOUNT 

NGAURUHOE 

Spent a weekend in Tongariro National Park 

and on the way back from a great walk 

to the lakes, the sun started to set and the 

mountain just looked great. 

Rudolph Kotze 


92 


DAYS END 

F8, 1/20s, ISO200, 55mm 

The last of the sun at Maori bay, Muriwai 

Ruth Boere 


94 


NEW LIGHT, NEW DAY 

F5.6, 1/400s 140mm 

I'm lucky enough to be able to call this my 

local beach. No matter what is going on in 

my life, if I rise early enough to watch the 

sunrise here, I always come away with new 

energy. Sunrises provide so much hope. 

Sarah K Smith 


96 


SUNSET MAORI BAY 

F 7.1, 1/20s, ISO100 

Sunsets on Auckland's west coast never 

fail to deliver. There is always mood and 

intensity regardless of the time of year. 

Simon Wills 


98 


CASTLEPOINT 

F5.6, 1/400s,140mm 

I took a series of photos which I stitched together to 

create a panorama of Castlepoint. 

Tanya Rowe 


100 


SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE AND 

THE ICONIC HARBOUR FERRIES 

While the Opera House and bridge will stand as the most recognised 

images of Sydney, the ferries and a true icon of this vibrant city. 

William McPhail 


102 


SYDNEY SUNSET 

Capturing the quieter, more relaxed 

side of Sydney as the sun set. 

William McPhail 


"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU LOOK AT THAT 

MATTERS. IT'S WHAT YOU SEE.” 

HENRY DAVID THOREAU 

104

NZPhotographer Issue 27, January 2020

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