North Island Holiday - Part One.

I don't get out much.

Seriously - it seems the older I get, the less I want to leave the comfort of home. Twenty years ago I would have been out most weekends, up at the crack of dawn, chasing the good light - and the good images. But not anymore.

And I certainly don't go away on many holidays. I could practically count them on one hand.

To some extent, this comes down to the fact that holidays are so damn expensive - and getting expensiverer (yes, I know that's not a word) every year. And I'm not even talking overseas. Travelling in your own country, paying for accommodation, and eating out, can be eye-wateringly costly.

But then again, what price do you put on experiences? Or relaxation (not that travelling is all that relaxing necessarily - but I digress). Yes, it costs too much. But I do know that when my wife and I have bitten the bullet and gone away together for any extended period, 'on holiday', we have thoroughly enjoyed it.

So maybe I should. You know. Get out more...

Mawheraiti Rail Shed, West Coast. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/750th, ISO 400

So I did. 

My wife and I finally took a trip we had been talking about for at least a couple of years. We'd never quite managed it for all sorts of reasons - and almost didn't go at the last minute this time either (but that's another story that I'm not going to tell). But in the end, the Ferry was booked, accommodation sorted, the dog was kenneled, and off we went - to explore the central North Island. First stop - a night in Blenheim (so we could catch the Bluebridge Ferry and cross to the North Island early the next morning).

I didn't get far - about 30 minutes into the trip - before I wanted to stop and take a photo of the above shed (see, it's working already). Shot on the Fujifilm X100, it's just the kind of image I love taking. Little did I know at this stage in the journey that there would be a lot more images like this over the next two weeks!

Lake Rotoiti - Nelson Lakes National Park. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/1250th, ISO 400 

The trip to Blenheim takes you past the Nelson Lakes area, and in particular Lake Rotoiti - which is just a five minute diversion off the main highway. It's a beautiful lake, with stunning scenery in all seasons and in all weather. Although if you are there on a beautiful hot day in summer the mosquitoes will eat you alive! I was outside for all of about two minutes before I headed for the relative safety of the car. They really know how to ruin a good day....

The above photo, taken on the X100, has been cropped to square - simply because I didn't stay out with the mosquitoes long enough to compose perfectly, and also because in the original 3:2 image there was nothing happening on the left hand side. So I cropped it later in post. Ironically, when I had a Bronica film camera that used the square format I found it a real struggle composing 1:1. But now I tend to 'see' images in this format quite a lot. Go figure.

Wairau Valley Garage. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/1250th, ISO 400

Eventually we drove through the Wairau Valley - wine growing country - only 30 minutes outside of Blenheim. Again, I had to stop and take a photo of this abandoned garage, even though the light was dreadful! This would be amazing with soft light, or early morning light streaming into the front of the building. 

But I didn't have that kind of light, did I. I had very bright, mid afternoon, harsh light and shadows that were a nightmare to get detail from. Despite this, the X100 has done extremely well. It also helps that I shot it in RAW so I could push and pull detail out later on.

No, it's not great (or even good) light, but it is a great subject. I certainly wasn't going to hang around for a few hours for the light to get good. And that's another thing about being on holiday. Sometimes it will be the only time you will ever be at a particular location in your life, so golden light be damned! Just get shooting. And when light gives you lemons.... (or something like that).

Etrich Taube (Dove) - Aviation Heritage Centre. Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/30th, ISO 3200

Our ultimate destination on day one of the trip - apart from our accommodation in Blenheim - was to visit the Aviation Heritage Centre. It houses the personal collection of WWI and WWII memorabilia of Sir Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame), as well as several full-scale diorama's built by Weta Workshop (more on them later).

We had somewhat limited time, so decided to concentrate this visit on seeing the WWI exhibition. We will definitely go back at some stage and see the WWII exhibit as well.

Since this is a photography blog and not the history channel, I won't go into great detail about what planes are which, where the were made, what battles they were in etc. But I will say that the exhibitions are a lot of fun (and a challenge) to photograph. Although I had been using the Fujifilm X100 up to this point on the trip, for the exhibition I switched to my Lumix S5 with 20-60mm - for a couple of probably obvious reasons.

Siemens-Shuckert D.IV. Panasonic Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/200th, ISO 3200

Firstly, I was going to be dealing with a lot of low-light. So I wanted two settings to help me get sharp images; a high yet clean ISO setting, and image stabilisation. This the S5 has. The X100 - not so much.

Second, I wanted a bit more 'reach' at both ends - wide and telephoto. The fixed 35mm of the X100 was going to be too limiting in confined spaces. The Lumix S 20-60mm was perfect. The above images at ISO 3200 are fantastic - sharp and with very little noise. An excellent result.

Not a lot of people know this, but my 'other' hobby is building military scale models and putting them in dioramas. So getting to see these full-size dioramas from Weta Workshop up close was truly amazing. If you are in New Zealand, and find yourself anywhere near Blenheim, I highly recommend spending a day at the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Aviation Heritage Centre, Blenheim. Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/800th, ISO 100. 65:24 ratio

For our first day on holiday, I'd say it was a great success, and an excellent way to start the trip. It wasn't a 'photography' holiday as such, but my wife is well aware of who she married - and we had scheduled our time to include creative stops along the way. As a matter of fact, she just happens to be a very good photographer herself, with an excellent eye for an image. And although she used her iphone the whole time, at least half of her photos are practically identical to mine! I would often get to a scene and start to get ready, only to find that my wife would already be standing in the exact spot I wanted to stand in! And now she's even talking about getting a 'real' camera! I approve....😊

So that's day one. We were away for 12 days. More posts will follow....