Every year we work with many publishers, designers, companies and printers to create a large range of quality calendars.  Retail calendar have just started hitting shops, and samples are arriving (it seems to get early each year).  Here are a few just in, with one that we particularly like below:

2011 calendars by Rob Suisted, a selection so far

We particularly like the NZ Panorama title.  It was developed with John Sands based on the large collection of quality New Zealand panorama stock photos that Rob has created over the last few years. It’s a large calendar, and with metallic embossing on the front it looks great.
	Have a closer look. These should be appearing in stores mid August.

For your info, we have a massive collection of images perfect for NZ calendar production.  The calendars above are publically available in stores, but we also create numerous specific in house  titles directly with companies, such as banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, consultancies etc.  Please contact us if you have a calendar project in mind; they are a great full year promotional tool.

Rob Suisted interview with Wilderness Magazine, click to read

Had a few covers of Wilderness to date:

Last week I was asked to talk at a pre-school. My initial thought was that I didn’t have time to prepare and do it, and anyway, being used to speaking to adults, what would 3-4 year olds get out of it? 

Courtney from Evan’s Bay Preschool said, “these kids love playing at what you do for a job - they’d love you to visit”.  I remembered the saying above and reconsidered; and was very pleased I did.

I took along my polar outfit and…a few photos. We sat around talking about going to Antarctica, and filming penguins and other animals. The kids are great fun, and their knowledge amazed me.

I was lucky that Wellington photographer Kat Grooby popped in for moral support. She’s used to kids, thought it worth a watch, and kindly took a few photos.

We left with the kids excitedly playing outside at sailing to Antarctica on the gym, while other kids carried an injured ‘invisible’ penguin off to hospital.  Their enthusiasm was infectious, and their creativity flowed back into me.

I walked away with a nice feeling that I’d enriched the kids learning; but they’d unexpectedly made my day brighter, happier, and had reminded me of important things.  Many thanks. 

A young polar explorer - maybe a Robert Swan in the making?

Found an apt  Buddhist saying: “If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path”.

Kat Grooby wrote:

Yesterday I went with Rob to watch him talk on the Antarctic to a local preschool in Wellington.  He’s used to speaking to adults, so 3 and 4 years olds were out of his comfort zone.  But he was a natural and spoke for half an hour, interacting and having their attention for the whole time.  His wonderful photos were shown on a slide show to illustrate places and wildlife. They were very bright children and were able to answer his questions about the environment and animals.  Rob dressed up in his Antarctic attire and showed the children some of the important equipment such as ice axe, binoculars, and they were excited to hold the tools.  He talked of the importance of loving and caring for the animals.  As we were leaving a number of children were digging with their ‘ice axes’ in the sandpit while others carried their penguins to safety.  He obviously left a lasting impression.

We try and incorporate ‘giving back’ into our business, especially by supporting important things, such as environmental, conservation and social causes.  It’s a satisfying aspect to our day to day, and the ‘payment’ or return on this is often beaut.  I call it ‘the juice of life’.

Are you giving back? Hope so.

Robert Swan, South Pole

Robert Swan walked to the South Pole in 1986. At 33, he walked to the North Pole (1989). He’s earned a spot in history alongside the heroic explorers of old, becoming the first man to walk to both poles. Incredible. He doesn’t do things by halves, and he’s taken on some Herculean tasks since.

Robert Swan was in Wellington last week and I was invited to a small dinner.  Robert gave a pre-dinner slideshow that set the scene for an inspiring evening, and touched many chords for all of us. 

For me, having been to both polar regions, having some idea of how epic his walks were, and being a student of polar heroic history, it was a big treat sharing his tales, elbow to elbow, at the dinner table.

Robert Swan's final message to us

Robert was inspired by Antarctica and the heroic explorers when he was 11.  He dodged Oxford Uni (much to his father’s chagrin) and in his twenties decided to raise $5,000,000 for an expedition, bought a ship, convinced 25 volunteers to give up 3 years, and set sail to Antarctica, to walk to The Pole.  It took him 5 years to get 1000 sponsors and enough money, before setting sail in 1984 - meeting Capt. Scott’s last surviving expedition member Bill Burton in Lyttelton.  He tracked down original sponsors of Capt Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910-1913 expedition, e.g. Shell Oil supplied petrol to Captain Scott and again supported Robert’s attempt. It’s worth mentioning that Robert had never even been camping at this stage!

The short story is that he walked to the South Pole in 70 days without radios but, upon arrival, discovered that… his ship had sunk in ice. They had no way to get home, and no assets to cover costs! Rising from the ashes, three years later he walked to the North Pole with a multinational team of seven. Unexpectedly the team struggled to survive because of uncharacteristic early melting of the polar ice. This sparked a concern for climate change.

His supporters, Jacques Cousteau, Sir Peter Scott (Capt. Scott’s son), and our Sir Ed, encouraged Robert to be an advocate for the protection of Antarctica. With the Antarctic Treaty up for renewal in 2041, Robert developed his 50 year mission to make sure Antarctica remains protected and respected. Robert has since taken the stage with world leaders at the Earth & World summits, run campaigns to clean up old Antarctic bases, used oceanic yacht races as calls to action, sailed around Africa, is a motivational speaker, works on climate change awareness, runs Antarctic leadership tours, built an educational base in Antarctica, and is currently planning his next mission which might just involve another long walk. Whoa!

I took to following messages from Robert Swan:

• You can do anything if you put your mind and heart into it.  He certainly has proven that.
• Believe in yourself, go your own route, commit, and don’t be scared to do hard yards. 
• Follow your heart and do things that inspire you.
• One person can create something big and make a difference.
• The climate might be warming naturally, but humans are adding serious harm, and consequences are serious for all of us.

Photos of Capt. Scott’s Cape Evan’s hut in Antarctica, containing many of the brands that went on to support Robert Swan’s trek again in 1986. 

Thank you Rob Morrison for being a very generous host to us all.

What is serendipity?  I know it’s fortuitous coincidence, but what is it really? And why do some people have more of it than others? I’m very interested.

My speech was titled: ‘Shooting from the Heart - seeking an exceptional life via photography’.  Of course, photography is my income, but it pays me richly in many better ways;  I’ve been lucky to meet some amazing people, wildlife, visit some special places, and share great experiences so far in my life.  The ‘juice of life’ is what I call it now, and it’s something that should ideally be enjoyed and sought in a pure sense, not driven by necessity or ego.

I’ve found that the more I try to discover this in a pure sense, without selfish interest, the more serendipity or coincidence appears.  It might sound a bit flaky or woolly perhaps, but I can assure you that there is a sensible reason for it, and here in lies what I have learnt so far, and wish to share.

Creative professionals know that creativity comes from an open still mind.  A mind that contains stress or fears becomes closed and creativity suffers.  Same with opportunity, same with serendipity.  I think that we all have similar portions of coincidence in our lives, but an open mind simply sees more of it.  I have the confidence now to use serendipity as a powerful defacto indicator that my mind is more open, and therefore probably more receptive to opportunity and creativity.  Make sense?  Watch out for it and tell me what you think.  Does it happen to you also?  I’m very keen to know more. 

A nice piece of historical serendipity to share

By happy coincidence, while researching my speech, I discovered a little bit more about an ancestor Laura Jane Suisted (1840 - 1903), and an unexpectedly fascinating link between us that spans the globe, and a century, appeared……

Laura Jane Suisted (1840-1903), NZ’s first woman journalist, & friend of Nordenskjöld. A fascinating link for me.

Laura was New Zealand’s (and one of the world’s?) first woman journalist and political reporter (NZ was the first country to allow woman to vote in 1893 I’m proud to remind you), and in 1894 she travelled solo to Scandinavia and wrote a book of her travels called ‘From New Zealand to Norway’. More can be read of her in the Dictionary of New Zealand. I discovered a nice piece of serendipity arising from her travels: in Scandanavia, she became friends with Baron Otto Nordenskjöld, a famous Swedish polar explorer.  I didn’t know this, and it’s exciting to discover that not only have I been to Lake Nordenskjöld in Chile, and visited Otto Nordenskjöld’s Antarctic hut remains from his ill fated Antarctic expedition (1901-04), but the zodiac boat that I drove in my Arctic trip last year, was named after Nordenskjöld.  That felt great and become a great way to reinforce part of my speech.

To think that Otto Nordenskjöld has played a part in my life, and to later find that my ancestor had known him in a link that spaned the globe over 100 years earlier felt rather good.  Circles within cirles - serendipity of the first order.

Visited Nordenskjöld hut remains (1901-1904 Swedish Antarctic Expedition, Weddell Sea, Antarctica) in 2009. ©Rob Suisted	Visited Cordillera del Paine in Torres del Paine National Park & Nordenskjöld Lake. Patagonia, Puerto Natales, Chile, in 2008 ©Rob Suisted
The zodiac boat that I drove in the Arctic this year, named for Nordenskjöld. Nice coincidence.

Further, while in Greenland I met a very colourful chap, Prof Robert Apte, from UC Berkeley, who turned out to be the neighbour and collaborator of a teenage mentor/inspiration of mine Galen Rowell, & who had also visited Nordenskjöld’s hut. A small world indeed, linking even smaller connecting circles together in my life.

And just to top off the last layer of serendipity in this story, the word ‘Serendipity’ itself has a nice personal piece of serendipity. I was sitting in a small hotel in a ’small’ town of Shimoga in Karnartaka, India. By chance, beside my bed was a small tattered leaflet explaining that the only town (90 families) in the world to speak Sanskrit was close by; and back home I’d been learning a little Sanskrit. What was the chance of that - I was a long way from the tourist routes, and had no idea of Mattur. So, I had to follow this coincidence and visit.

After much effort I found Mattur, and spent a beautiful morning there with locals (none of whom spoke English). You can read about this exciting motorcycle adventure I had in India here. Well, the nice thing about this is that the word ’serendipity’ has a Sanskrit origin: viz: “The word derives from Serendip, the Persian name for Sri Lanka. The Persian word itself has been derived from Sanskrit name for Sri Lanka viz. Swarnadweep (Swarna meaning golden and Dweep meaning island)”. Another circle within a circle within a circle.

Some day I’ll blog about the day my roof blew off my house in a southerly gale, when the very next email was from a US based magazine doing an article on Windy Wellington.  The payment from that photo job as more than it cost the insurance company to repair my house - go figure!  Big serendipity - how lucky was that? 

What do you think? Does Serendipity tell us something? Does it reinforce that we’re on the right track? Does it indicate when we’re open? Would love to hear your comments.

Thanks to Neil Gordon (@tehoro via twitter) for the PSNZ photo above.

Love it or hate it; think it’s a waste of money or money well spent, the new Visitor Centre at Zealandia cannot be ignored. I spent a couple of hours at the Centre the other day, getting a preview of the exhibition as a result of the small contribution I made, through my job, to its creation.

The job I do could politely be described as ‘niche’; people often look at me nonplussed when I tell them what I do. ‘That’s a job?’, they think and, often, say.

When I first arrived in New Zealand to live, I was uncertain that I would be able to continue to work in the mysterious profession that I had been practising for several years in London. What is this esoteric activity you may ask? I work as a freelance image researcher, sourcing appropriate images for publication in books, newspapers and exhibitions. One of my more memorable contracts was for Guinness World Records where there was always a chance of meeting some extraordinary characters (pictures of the world’s most tattooed man anyone?) (ROB: Whoa, did you introduce him to your Mum Caroline!?). And one of the least memorable? How do you fancy spending all day seeking sufficiently interesting pictures of “nuts and bolts” for an educational textbook.

In the expectation that New Zealand was simply too sparsely populated to sustain a …

rarefied profession such as image research, I had prepared myself to think laterally about how I would earn a living once I got here. Maybe I would re-train, write a book, study, walk dogs? Luckily for Wellington’s dog community, it soon transpired that the job of an image researcher does exist in Wellington and in the past couple of years I have been involved in a number of fascinating and rewarding contracts. If anything, the scale and cultural profile of NZ has delivered a more varied, and interesting set of assignments than I would have experienced in London during the same period.

Top amongst these assignments has been my work with Wellington company Story Inc, in the image research for Zealandia, formerly the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, due to open tomorrow - Please have a look here. This has been a large and complex project in which I have undertaken a crash course in indigenousNZ flora and fauna(I now know far more about native NZ plants and NZ animals than I ever knew about their British counterparts because, as a hardened city dweller, I never had the need to know whether I was looking at an oak or an elm). I have also had the privilege of encountering a number of dedicated and talented Kiwi photographers, Rob Suisted included, all of whom have impressed me with their knowledge and passion for their environment and their subjects and the consistently high quality of their work.

Story Inc artist's impression of Zealandia. Courtesy of Story Inc

So, doubtless you will have heard many positive and negative views about the Zealandia experience. Whatever your viewpoint, I can simply say I hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I did.

Thanks for the great post Caroline, it was a real pleasure working with you on this project!
If you’d like to get in touch with Caroline for her to image research for you, please don’t hesitate to send her an email: caro@interweb-thingy.com.

Have a look at the image below and for more information about Rob’s helicopter shoot also check out Aliscia Young’s guest post as an assistant on the shoot.

…

This file is massive (nearly 15,000 pixels wide without interpolation!), and great for huge reproduction. We’ve already had several orders for personal copies for the wall and for commerical use. Drop us a line if you’d like to know more.

If you would like to have a look at additional wind turbine images, please have a look here.

Rob was returning from working on part of a Tourism NZ photo campaign to various scenic parts of NZ. He’ll share some of the spectacular shots once they’re released - they’re awesome.

Check out some of her work below. She has exhibited at 5 Stories High Gallery, Wellington and if you’d like to see more of Aliscia’s work or get in touch, please email: lightroom.exhibition@gmail.com. Thanks for the kind words Aliscia!

The other day Rob invited me to join him to photograph from a helicopter around the top of the South Island. The night before we set out Rob said, “forgot to ask if you’re okay with flying. Doors will be off and it’ll be up and down and all over the place…good fun.” Thank goodness I don’t experience flying sickness, I thought to myself…

As an emerging professional photographer with a strong interest in the environment, nature and fashion photography, my nature studies are usually shot with a macro lens or at a tight close up scale.
By photographing in this way, I aim to reveal the intricate detail, beauty, texture, and colour of subject matter as a valued commodity.

The opportunity to join Rob on his expedition offered me new views and the experience to photograph from above, far and wide. As a creative being I am enthusiastic that we all have the
opportunity to see and interpret what is around us, to each express our individual relationship with something truly magnificent, in our own way.  Watching Rob professionally photograph with
panoramic scale and his own integrity was inspiring.

I found myself visually taking in the grandeur of the landscape, photographing from a zoom lens on spectacular sights.  Searching for pockets of magic, immense beauty, colour and texture, in the totality that is offered by such a magnificent spread of nature, land and sea from above.

Stepping off the helicopter at the end of the day gives you greater perspective of where we live. There is a certain amount of detachment that you feel from your usual daily routine activities.  It gives you greater insight in to the earth that we live upon.  From above it looks a far more delicate and limited resource that we cannot take for granted.  It is a reminder of the appreciation and understanding that we need for New Zealand’s natural environment.

Thank you Rob, for the experience of a new way of seeing from above, the learning, and the sharing of your teachings.

Rob’s comment:  “Thanks Aliscia.  Nice work, I really like what you achieved, and it was great that you were able to assist.  You had some great insights afterwards and it’s great that you’ve been keen to share this post. It’s also nice for me to share a fresh view through new eyes from a different perspective.

I remember my first forays into aerial photography - it’s a totally foreign perspective, and a very noisy, expensive, and pressured environment.  I think we always muck the first few attempts up, so hopefully you were able to get that first aerial experience under your belt in a better way than on a client’s time!” Thought you’d be keen to see one of my shots:

…New Zealand Geographic is a fantastic magazine, consider subscribing or signing up for the NZ Geographic newsletter, well worth it!

I came across old photos of my own encounter with a friskly Kakapo recently. The famous person around at the time was Don Merton (famous enough), but unfortunately there was no video camera.  Fame and glory were not to be this time, so you’ll have to make do with this image:

Rob Suisted being Kakapo’d by an over enthusiatic ‘Trevor’ on Maud Island. Photo by Don Merton. Kakapo are one of the rarest birds on earth (123 birds), the heaviest parrot, the only nocturnal one, and a Lek breeder.

Remarkable experiences. Conflicting demands. How to make the most of them & life?

I’m lucky in my life, and work, to see and experience some remarkable things.  The trick is not to take this for granted.  It’s easier said than done when the object of the experience usually must be shot with camera.  There are fundamentally opposing demands here and I want to explain a solution I’ve found to this problem….

Philosphically speaking, many believe happiness flows from being present; enjoying the here and now.  But, in amazing situations the focus of my attention must also be to catch the perfect image, and it’s hard to be present to that experience so you can enjoy and remember it.  Hence, I often get back to the studio to start work on images, but can’t actually remember being there; my focus was singularly on the photograph creation.  Well thats fine you might say, but for me these experiences are the ‘juice of life.  To not fully experience them is wasting something very special. 

So the solution is simple but hard to implement.  Over the last decade I’ve worked hard to train myself to do both things.  Not together, but in a serial manner.  I use any down time amongst the work to be still and fully absorb the experience.  I pinch myself as a reminder of how lucky I am to be in this position.  But it is actually very hard to remember to do this, and it’s taken many years to make it habit.

For instance, this post about helicopter aerial filming shows a typical job.  It’s amongst the most spectacular scenery, involves big budgets, high pressures and LOTS of noise and competing demands.  I had to work hard to enjoy the incredible positioning flight (sweeping over 1500+ metre peaks that fall away to the sea in a second!) because it’s not something we get to do everyday.  Luckily I was able to grab moments of stillness here and there during the day, because I  don’t remember a full minute of focussed photography from the whole day!

I’ve also discovered as a side effect of this training, that creativity and opportunity flows from, or is enhanced by, it.  So there’s a double kick back - great memories for life, and improved creative output.  Simple solution, hard to implement, but well worth it.  Come hear me talk more about this and other things at the New Zealand National Photographic Society Conference in Nelson (7-11th April 2010). I just hope Mark Cawardine knows what I’m talking about.  I’m sure he does…..

Mark Carwardine being Kakapo’ed (great laugh, 1.7 million view can’t be wrong!):

Click to see the full panorama image detail.  Gloaming Hill far left, yachts moored in Porirua Harbour centre, and lights of Plimmerton far right.  1.5km fire front at one stage.  Teen charged with arson this morning.

UPDATE: Wellington’s DomPost newspaper has just licensed this image to run across a page tomorrow (23 Feb 2010).  Keep an eye out.

The day started in a run of perfect weather, but mysteriously a thick layer of fog/cloud filled Fiordland making filming tough for myself (stills photog) and the HD Cineflex video helicopter team to operate. What happens next?

You’ll see a lot of the equipment we use, several helicopters, and…how a commercial aerial film shoot typically runs.  I happened to be working alongside some pretty important names in the film game - Alfie Speight does a huge amount of aerial filming on big budget movies such as Lord of the Rings, Peter Thompson has been a pioneering aerial HD cameraman all over the world, and Peter Young is the owner of Fisheye Films which has made some fantastic television (including a fav of mine  ‘Hunger for the Wild’).

The behind the scenes has been shot on the run ‘gorilla’ style, mostly on my Canon G10 when not photographing, which will make you feel like you were there from the curtain call at 5am (had to speed the recording up a bit as my brain wasn’t at full speed) to the wrap at the end of the day.  Helicopters are noisy windy things (esp. without the doors) so sound is tough, but they make up for it with spectacular scenery. You’ll enjoy coming for the ride by the seat of your pants over some of the most amazing scenery on the planet.  Lord of the Rings fans should come along too (you’ll have to see why).

I can’t show you any results from the photo shoot just yet, as we’ve only started and have a few more shoots to do for the client, but you should see them later on in the year - hopefully on a billboard near you! 

An amazing thing for me was that we flew through an area that Evan and I slogged through for 2 tough weeks in Fiordland last year (and I lost 6kg in weight!). We breezed through in 2 minutes!

Sit back, strap yourself in, and come along for an exciting ride. We’d love to hear your comments and feedback afterwards.

Cheers, Rob

Any thoughts? Rob would love to hear your feedback!

***Rob is being interviewed on New Zealand National Radio, 2 Feb 2010 at 10.05am, about this book and his travels. Tune in and listen live, or by archive.

So, we’d be honoured if you considered buying a personally signed copy from our bookstore. A little bird told us that Peter Jackson just got his. #shamelessplug
You can also check out more internal pages from the book in this earlier post.

Castlepoint Lighthouse and Punakaiki National Park, pages 112/113

Check out an amazing impromtu Waiata performance and dance by Mere Boynton and Terri Ripeka Crawford at our book launch:

Please leave us your comments - we always love to see them.

I snapped this shot after a formal portrait session on the sea ice edge near Mawson’s Historic Hut in Antarctica.  An Adelie penguin was running between the both of us and it only took one glance to do the obvious.  With a twinkle in… Lothar’s eye he knew exactly the perfect pose to strike!

Lothar is the Executive Chef on Orion Expedition Cruises which takes in the Ross Sea and Mawson’s Hut areas of East Antarctica. Amazing what he and his team can produce in the galley onboard a ship in big southern ocean swell.  A very resourceful man (as the photo shows ;->), with keen sense of humour.  Lothar and his wife Tracy (#1 and 2 below) are wonderful people, oh, and they used to live in NZ and owned a fine restaurant in Picton so they’re nearly related.

Here’s the fun formal posed photo with the Officers of MV Orion just prior:

Officers of MV Orion on ice

Check out the rest of my large Antarctic stock photo collection, there are some beauts (and great memories) here, even if I say so.

Cheers

Rob

Just prior to his speech, Terri Ripeka Crawford and Mere Boynton performed a completely impromtu song and dance performance of ‘Te Kokako’ - a composition by the late Hirini Melbourne, in honour of my book. I want to share this with you.

It was amazing, completely unexpected, very spiritual and moving for people (yes, we saw tears). For me it was a great honour and a moment of complete presence and clarity in the evening which created good memories. Thank you very much to both of you.  I hope my blog readers will enjoy watching the performance, as we did.

‘Te Kokako’ represents the dance and…song of our rare native blue wattled crow, the Kokako (with the most beautiful bird song in the world we think).

The acoustics in the building where fabulous - I just wish we could do it better justice with our recording.  And, Mere modestly told me later that her voice wasn’t properly warmed up given the impromtu nature of the recital.  By the crowd of people working late she drew to the balconies in the atrium above us, and the appreciation we gave, we were all impressed.

A big thanks for Becca Hart for the foresight to record it all on my G10, and to Terri and Mere for permission to share it with you.

Have a look at Mere’s CD WAIKOHU (Mere Boynton and Friends. MMT 2034), and other interesting works.  And, read more about Terri Ripeka Crawford and her work.

Majestic New Zealand book cover, by Rob Suisted

We’re going to add a bookstore to purchase copies of Majestic New Zealand soon. And I’d like to sign and dedicate if you wish.
All the best
Rob

Update: We now have signed copies of available for supporters, if you’d like to consider a copy, have a look here.

Rob's first latte art fern

Several things have been drawing coffee and photography together for me over the last few days so I’m going to make a caffeine fueled comparison.

It would be fair to say that coffee has become quite important at Nature’s Pic Images.  Over the last year a brand new Vibiemme Super E-61 group head espresso machine has become a shrine to which morning work schedules often bend around.   Before actually owning a coffee machine of any quality, I enjoyed a good coffee at a fav local cafe (Cafe du Parc), but I had no idea of the skill employed by Georga, Terry, and the team when making a consistently good brew.  There is a lot to know and a lot of variables to deal with.  I now tip my hat to a good barista.

So, why the hedonistic comparision between coffee and photography?

Both are, at the same time, technically intensive, and creatively infused.  It’s an interesting blend and one that I love.  To make the perfect photograph is impossible; to make the perfect brew is impossible.  What do you think? 

I was reading an article (for the life of me I can’t find it now) by a life long barista where he claimed to have only poured about 30 ‘God Shots’ in his career. God shots would be an espresso pour to die for I guess? There was no definition….., but then maybe you don’t need one - you just know. 30 God shots ain’t that many!  Looking holistically at all the images I’ve shot (probably 100s of thousands now), the ‘God Shots’ I can claim to have produced probably number in the same ballpark I think…if I’m lucky.

What other connections are there? 

You’ve gotta love and respect your subject.  It’s perhaps impossible to make a good coffee if you don’t love the stuff yourself?  I can always tell a good coffee that’s been made out of love - it’s a dead giveaway. Same with images.  I was at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania a few years back, sitting back enjoying the speccie scenery when two English photogs marched up with giant lenses, giant tripods and giant egos.  They walked past the small group of hikers, climbed over the sign that said “Don’t go past this point, fragile vegetation restoration area’, trampled the plants, and proceeded to talk loudly and fondly of themselves. Someone asked them if they’d read the sign they climbed over.  They said they ‘wouldn’t be long’.  It begged the question: “Can you take good photos of nature without a love and respect for the subject.  I doubt it.  I didn’t see their shots, but I have my suspicions on how good they were. I’d wager that this applies to all areas of photography.

Being PRESENT.  What?  Obviously being present at the birth of a latte is vital to it’s production, but what about being really present?  For me, the coffee production ritual is a form of mediation.  Don’t worry, I’m not going all new age on you here, just follow me.  If I’ve been working for a few hours on photoshop pouring that perfect image it’s vital to stay focused, and a good break is essential from time to time.  I love to head for the kitchen, lay out a clean space on the bench for a brown ACR Italian crockery saucer, find a shiny nice teaspoon, prime the coffee basket with fresh grinds, level, tamp, temp stablise the E-61 group head, and pull a shot.  Then start on the perfect milk frothing, before attempting to pour some latte art, before sitting down to totally focus on the flavours and aroma - not letting anything get in the way.  It may sound a bit ‘anal’ to some, but it’s a few minutes of pushing the world back, and being present to the task at hand. Nice.  It’s also something we don’t do too much in these crazy days it seems. 

And the same exists with photography.  I find my best work is when I’m alone with freedom to create what’s possible.  Only when I’ve dropped other thoughts and distractions does my best work appear. Only when I don’t feel like there is anyone I’m holding up, or deadlines to meet, that I can really do my best work.  This includes immersing yourself in the situation. Getting out and climbing the hill, and experiencing the weather and seasons, gives you a respect and understanding of your environment and hence a deeper respect.  All necessary things to do your best. 

Coffee gear is like camera gear.  It’s expensive, needs to be maintained to get it’s best, and you have to understand it.  Of course we’re talking professional gear here.  The first thing I did when I got the Vibiemme was to pull it apart.  Obviously this ain’t for everybody, but it gave me a great understanding on what it does (and it’s a thing of beauty too) and how to get the best from it.  Similarly, when the Canon 1DsMk3 I last ordered (the 3rd in NZ and the first to Antarctica!), it got the same treatment. Obviously it wasn’t pulled apart physically, but it got put through it’s paces to get to grips with it.  So, just like being able to instinctively snap a shot with my camera like it’s an extension of my arm, I can also instinctively tell what the Vibiemme is up to by the tone of it’s voice.

A thing of copper and brassed beauty

So, maybe there’s a book in the future?  ‘Zen and the art of espresso machine maintenance’ should do it?

Thanks for support from Kara MacDonald at Herkimer Coffeein S. Ravenna, Seattle, USA.   For an American, Kara is an energetic supporter of everything coffee and Kiwi.  So much so that  she has even taken a Kiwi boy as her own (he works on Windows at Microsoft - the clear ones ;->), and she’ll drop a Sola Rosa or Black Seeds track on for you if she knows you’re from NZ.  Last time in Seattle she had me behind the counter making my own brew with her kind words of encouragement and advice guiding my learning. She’ll have to be the co-author of a book.  If you’re passing, please pop in and give her my regards, she’s a great sort.

Any thoughts?

It’s been a tough year for some.  Let’s hope 2010 is a great year for all. 

I’d really like thank the people I’ve worked with and for this year.  We’ve done some great things and this year has been a beaut.

I was lucky enough to visit Santa’s homeland this year. I’m standing beside his postbox. Seriously, this is where all letters go that are addressed to Santa in Greenland.

In Greenland, I also managed to visit a spectacularly scenic little town called Uummannaq on the west coast of Greenland, and walked overland to a remote bay where Santa has his summer house, a little sod hut maintained by the locals. Be assured that I put in a good word for you all, and if you’re of the Christmas persuasion, you’ll be blessed with the season’s best.

Kind regards,
Rob Suisted

Solution was to build a remote control vehicle that I could very slowly inch towards the nest over an hour while we monitored the birds’ reaction and leave it set up to capture intimate scenes (very, as you’ll see below!).  So that’s why I built TankCam. We’ve kept the highly successful assignment under wraps until now.  This video tells the story and gives you an idea of three days worth of filming, behind the scenes.  Please view and post your comments - it’s great to get your feedback:

Why not use a large telephoto lens you might ask? …Well we did, but the birds are small, and the depth of field very limited to get great shots of two birds. I wanted to try something fresh in order to get unique photos, and think this was achieved.

I was lucky to score a photo sequence for fairy terns mating!  Now that’s a story - when you have rare birds then breeding is of course rarer, and potentially the reason why there are rare. The poor boy spent all morning eniticng and wooing his girl with various fish treats.  Finally she relented, lay quietly at his side for him to climb on.  He neglected to hand the fish over, but she was demanding.  In the time it took for her to swallow the fish it was all over - exactly 3 seconds (as recorded by the camera metadata).  But that seems to be all it takes by the look on his face in the last frame. There you go…you saw it here first!

The rig was perfect with it’s 360 degree rotation and up/down panning in the head so once in place I could follow the action easily from a laptop about 20 metres away:

Read more at New Zealand Geographic Magazine. The next issue #101, carries the article that this shot was for.  Consider subscribing to the magazine - it’s a beaut.

Thanks to Ranger Abby Meagher at Department of Conservation in Whangarei.  Her help in understanding the birds and monitoring their behaviour on this assignment was very important.

Cheers, Rob