2009 sampler: people

Following the sampler pages of landscapes and  water, here’s another set of photos posted in 2009, this time with the theme ‘People. Remember they’re only some of the photos of people, they’re from 2009 only (although some were photographed earlier) and they represent a narrow range of subjects I photograph. If you move the cursor over a photo the caption will appear; clicking a photo will take you to its page, where you can view a full-size photo with additional information. I haven’t yet decided how to incorporate a button to return you to this sampler page, so in the meantime just use your browser’s ‘Back’ button (or press <Alt><left arrow>).

For the best view, toggle full-screen mode (recommended) by pressing F11.

You can explore the site by clicking a label (scroll down to view the full list), by checking out the archives or by using the search facility in the navbar at the very top of the page.  Of course, the  most efficient option might be to click the label ‘Sampler pages’.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Fog on the terrace

Fog changes the world. Everything stays the same; everything's different. Anything could appear through those trees and walk towards you.


All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

2009 sampler: Water

Following the sampler page of landscapes, here’s another set of photos (not necessarily my ‘favourites’) from 2009, this time with the theme ‘Water’. Remember they’re only some of the ‘water’-labelled photos, they’re from 2009 only and they represent a narrow range of subjects I photograph. If you move the cursor over a photo the caption will appear; clicking a photo will take you to its page, where you can view a full-size photo with additional information. I haven’t yet decided how to incorporate a button to return you to this sampler page, so in the meantime just use your browser’s ‘Back’ button (or press <Alt><left arrow>).

For the best view, toggle full-screen mode (recommended) by pressing F11.

You can explore the site by clicking a label (scroll down to view the full list), by checking out the archives or by using the search facility in the navbar at the very top of the page.  Of course, the  most efficient option might be to click the label ‘Sampler pages’.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Poplars, Te Awaoteatua stream

Te Awaoteatua stream — one translation might be "The river of god" — has had a rough time over the last year. Cattle often have unrestricted access to its water, breaking the banks and pissing and shitting in it; it receives regular aerial doses of fertiliser and spray; and a few weeks ago a large section of hillside collapsed into the stream, temporarily blocking it and filling it with sediment.  Winter storms downed a few more poplars, but most still remain, sometimes catching the light in ways that force one to stop, to look, to wonder.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

2009 sampler: landscapes

(Apologies if you noticed the disappearance of the original version of this post  soon after it first appeared — somehow I managed to overwrite it irretrievably and had to reconstruct it almost from scratch. Zhoen and Christy: I’ll try to reinstate your comments, but if I fail, thanks anyway!)

Here’s something different — a set of photos (not necessarily my ‘favourites’) posted in 2009, with the theme ‘Landscapes’. They don’t cover the full range of landscape photos, they’re from 2009 only and they represent a narrow range of subjects I photograph. If you move the cursor over a photo the caption will appear; clicking a photo will take you to its page, where you can view a full-size photo with additional information. I haven’t yet decided how to incorporate a button to return you to this sampler page, so in the meantime just use your browser’s ‘Back’ button (or press <Alt><left arrow>).

For the best view, toggle full-screen mode (recommended) by pressing F11.

You can explore the site by clicking a label (scroll down to view the full list), by checking out the archives or by using the search facility in the navbar at the very top of the page.  When I add a few more of these sampler pages, the  most efficient way to explore might be to click the label ‘Sampler pages’.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Merry (and relaxing) Christmas

Wishing you all a most relaxing Christmas and New Year


All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Tattoo [2]

A more general view of yesterday's tattooing session. Here, Deane finishes outlining the design.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Tattoo

I have no tattoos and have never seen anyone tattooed, so when I got the invitation to photograph the process I jumped at the chance. This is Deane, from the Soul Graffiti Tattoo Studio in Whanganui, at work this morning.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Local boy, South Luangwa NP

The only other people on my visit to South Luangwa National Park in May 2007 were a wonderful Glaswegian couple who arrived with a collection of Scottish football club jerseys for the local kids. Akim, our guide, took us to the village, where Jack and Annie distributed the jerseys. The kids were surprisingly shy at first — perhaps, like this little guy, not sure why they’d got so lucky — but it wasn’t long before the shy smiles, then great grins and laughter, appeared.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Stump and slip, Te Awaoteatua stream

One good thing about the big slip was that it encouraged me to explore a little. In doing so, I found a few things that seemed to insist on being photographed.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Black-backed gull, evening

Bird portraits seem predominantly to focus on portraying the subject in vivid colours with strong light that maximises detail. Fine — done well, they can be spectacular — but sometimes a different approach can be refreshing. One doesn’t often see soft light and pastel colours in bird portraits (I’m not saying they don’t exist, just that they seem under-represented). Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s my form of protest at the excesses of Velvia-like over-saturation and high contrast.

The bird is a black-backed gull (Larus dominicanus) on the coast of Wellington harbour on a midwinter evening in 2006.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

The big slip, Te Awaoteatua stream [2]

Here's another view of the big slip near my place, after the digger had spent a while opening up the stream and generally cleaning up much of the mess.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

The big slip, Te Awaoteatua stream

After heavy rain a few days ago a huge section of the hillside above Te Awaoteatua stream collapsed. It blocked the stream, which began to build up behind the natural dam, but prompt action saw a digger clear a passage to restore the flow.
My place is behind the trees on top of the terrace on the left hand side of the photo. A little too close for comfort, but not far to go yesterday evening when I walked down to photograph the slip. The bird is a kāhu (Australasian harrier; Circus approximans), heading off to roost for the night .

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Crane fly

Aotearoa/New Zealand has a particularly rich crane fly fauna, with roughly 600 endemic species. Often maligned as giant mosquitoes, crane flies (Family Tipulidae) do not bite people (nor other animals); some adults are nectar feeders but others do not feed during their short lives. The larvae live in diverse habitats including fresh water, soil and decaying vegetation.
This crane fly was hanging from the ceiling in my kitchen. The little structure apparently protruding from the back of its thorax, and looking like the head of a golf club, is one of the fly’s halteres. These are the vestigial second pair of wings (most adult insects have two pairs of wings); in true flies (Diptera), the second pair of wings has evolved into these structures, which help stabilise the insect while it’s flying.


All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Langur at Naini Tal

He sat on a low wall in the last of the sun, eating purloined roti.


All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Evening near Josimath

The small town of Josimath lies high in the Indian Himalaya, in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. This was the view down the valley of the Alaknanda river one evening in November 2006  from the balcony outside my room.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

The philosophy of apricots

Are apricots real? What do we mean when we say, "Apricot"? How do we know what apricots are? What do we mean by “real”? Am I a brain in a vat?

They were delicious.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor