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Cape Reinga New Zealand

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:06:57 -0700

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Cape Reinga is the northwesternmost tip of the Aupouri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is located over 100 km north of the nearest small town of Kaitaia.

Maori history and legend
For Māori, Cape Reinga is the most spiritually significant place in New Zealand.

An ancient pohutukawa tree and a lonely lighthouse mark this special place.

It is here that after death, all Māori spirits travel up the coast and over the wind-swept vista to the pohutukawa tree on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua.

Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) and Spirits Leap
They descend into the underworld (reinga) by sliding down a root into the sea below. The spirits then travel underwater to the Three Kings Islands where they climb out onto Ohaua, the highest point of the islands and bid their last farewell before returning to the land of their ancestors, Hawaiiki-A-Nui.

Everywhere you look in the surrounding landscape of Te Rerenga Wairua, you can find evidence of human settlement, hundreds of years in the making.

The Far North is the nearest in climate to the tropical home of the first Maori settlers. They could garden here with plants like taro, gourds, and yams. Forests, coasts and wetlands were abundant sources of food for hunting and gathering too.

Kupe, known as the great navigator, is said to have discovered the Far North when he thought he was heading towards a whale. In fact, he was travelling towards Mount Camel in Houhora. Kupe’s crew, upon landing, settled from Cape Reinga to Parengarenga Harbour.

Many places Kupe named range from Te Ara Wairua (the spirits pathway) to Te Rerenga Wairua. Kupe established Te Rerenga Wairua as the point from which his descendants would travel in spirit form back to Hawaiiki-A-Nui.

Abel Tasman named Cape Maria Van Diemen after the Governor of Batavia's wife

European contact
Maori had occupied Northland hundreds of years before Abel Tasman sailed in for water to the Three Kings Islands on the eve of Epiphany 1643. He named the islands after the biblical three wise men. He was the first European to sight North Cape and was responsible for naming Cape Maria van Diemen in honour of the Governor of Batavia’s wife.

Captain Cook and the French captain, Jean de Surveille sighted the north coast within a few days of each other in 1769. In 1772, Marion du Fresne anchored his sailing ship in Spirits Bay (Kapowairua) and landed in quest for fresh water.

It was not until the arrival of trading and whaling vessels in the late 18th century that European contact with the area really began to have an impact. Close behind the whalers and traders in the 1830s came the missionaries who sought to convert Maori to Christianity.

The first European landowners in the region were Stannus Jones and a young English lawyer, Samuel Yates, who acquired ownership of a large tract of land in 1873. Yates married a local Maori princess and became farmer, storekeeper and gum trader. He became known as “King of the North” and his homestead as “Paki” from which the name Te Paki derives.

In 1930, the Keene family bought up half of the northern headland (16,000 hectares) and they grazed the hilltops and broke in large tracts of land for farming. In 1966, the entire area of farm was bought by the Crown and today only 2,900 hectares has been kept as farmland. The remaining area has been encouraged to return to its natural state.

Lashed by winds, pounded by surf and sand or soothed by the calm of sunlit days, the whole area of this northern tip of New Zealand has a wild and unpredictable nature.

Around its shores, sweep the currents of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean that meet in a foaming swell of broken water over the Columbia Bank just west of Te Rerenga Wairua.

Cape Reinga today
Cape Reinga has become a popular tourist destination visited by over 150,000 visitors annually.
From the car park a short walking track leads down to the lighthouse.
From here there are outstanding views of the ocean, the Three Kings Islands, and Cape Maria Van Diemen.

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© Copyright All rights reserved The Official Photographers 2013

Dreamy Wedding

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 17:16:50 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

This photo was originally an out take we thought nothing of it but as i did a final check through the photos before presenting them to the client we thought it was actually pretty neat this was not a posed shot, we were walking to our next location and i popped a quick test shot to check the natural light and am now glad i did i really like the dreamy feel to this photo.

Canon 5DmkII l 50mm F1.8

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© Copyright All rights reserved The Official Photographers 2012

Our Second Home - Whangamata

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 18:20:27 -0700

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Explored August 12, 2012 #24

Shannon and I had a weekend off so we went for a much needed few days off at the beach (Our second home). Staying on the boat with 6am starts to watch the sun come up. It was such a beautiful day.

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Hamilton Arch

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:35:03 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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About
I have visited the Hamilton gardens hundreds of time and always come home a little disappointed with my shots because they always look the same and a little plain and boring. Today i popped down wanting to come home with some new aspects of the Hamilton gardens thinking out side the box when shooting.

This was a 6 image panorama keeping the arch's and fountain as symmetrical as possible to create an interesting panorama and to throw a scene of scale in there i waited for the person to you see up the back to walk into the frame before snapping away. I used a cokin ND8 filter to slow the shutter down to 0.6sec to capture some movement in the water.

Camera: Canon 400d
Lens: 18-55mm 3.5/5.6
Aperture: f/16.0
Exposure: 0.6 sec
ISO: 100

© Copyright All rights reserved Aaron Radford 2011

Street Art

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:18:41 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Canon 400D l 20sec l f/8.0 l 24mm l ISO200
View On Black
January 20th is day # 20/365

About
I came across this lovely piece of street art around our local city center here in Hamilton NZ, This is not tagging it is Art from some of our Tech students to help prevent your typical wall Taggers...

Anyway when i saw it i thought what a great place to come and try out my first attempt at light painting. So i set up my tripod at the above composition took a few text shots at ISO 1600 just to make sure it looked how i wanted. Then dropped my ISO back to 200 @ f/8 with a shutter of 20sec and started to paint the wall with my speedlight at 1/32 pwr. I personally love how this came out please let me know what you think.

Processing
CS4
Burning out hot spots
Saturation
Framing

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:57:00 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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© Copyright All rights reserved Aaron Radford 2011

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:41:54 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Canon 400D l 6sec (Sky), 15sec (tree) l f/10 l 21mm l ISO200
View On Black

About
This shot is blended 2 exposure one for the sky / clouds and one for Tree, Grass and chair. to capture the movement on a very sunny day i used my B+W ND1000 (10stop) filter.

Ever feel your not alone ?

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:48:46 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Canon EOS 400D l 45sec l f/10 l 21mm l ISO200

About
I wanted to create a landscape shot that was completely different to my usual style.
This was a 2 shot vertorama shot @ f10 for 45sec using a ND1000 filter to try and capture some of the movement of the trees as it was one hell of a windy day.

As for the title when i was shooting this picture literally in a cemetery i started to really get an uneasy feeling and was constantly looking behind me and over my shoulder to find nothing but more trees haha its funny how our minds work some times.

Processing
Merged in CS4
soft light layer
fog grad filter
Cross processed CS4

Hannah Wright 2

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:12:06 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Hannah Wright

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:14:00 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Nakita

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:07:28 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Anna Powell

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:06:28 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Nakita

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:08:56 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Kate

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:09:40 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Kate and Nakita

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:08:13 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Anna Powell 2

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:05:20 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

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Makeup and fashion shoot Makeup by Marlize makeup Artist.

Lippy

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:16:20 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Canon 400D l 1/160 l f/2.8 l 50 mm
Check it Large

About
Tonight i had a bit of a product shoot for Marlize makeup artist to be used on her upcoming website. This was one of my favorites of the evening. Do keep an eye out for this weekend Makeup and fashion shoot.

Strobist
Canon 430exII @ 1/8 shoot through umbrella
Vivitar 626af @ full roof bounced

The CANON

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:32:46 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

View On Black

About
What can i say ha-ha its here it arrived just a few days ago and im so excited to use it in full swing in a few hours at a friends wedding so keep an eye out for my first few shots with this monster.

Strobist
430exII @ 1/8 reflecting off a yellow card for Glass reflection
Vivitar @ full bounced off roof.

Huka Falls NZ

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:53:13 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Canon 400D l 0.5sec l f/29 l 25mm l ISO100

January 21th is day # 21/365

About Huka Falls
The Huka Falls are the largest falls on the Waikato River, near Taupo on New Zealand's North Island.
They are the most visited natural attraction in New Zealand!
The Waikato river is one of New Zealand's longest rivers and it drains Lake Taupo - the largest freshwater lake in all of Australasia.
At the Huka Falls, the Waikato River which is normally 100m wide, is squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop.
Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautful blue/green pool.

The name Huka is the Maori word for 'foam', which is appropriate as the falling water and rapids certainly resembles foam, especially under flooding conditions.

NORM !!!

nobody@flickr.com (AARON_400D) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:16:57 -0800

AARON_400D posted a photo:

Canon 400D l 1/200 l f/8.0 l 50mm l ISO100

January 19th is day #19/365

About
After a really busy 2nd day back at work i really had no idea what to take a picture of. This shot of My Parrot Fish "NORM" came about as we have just set him up a nice new home in a 200ltr tank with a few more friends. Why the B&W you say well the colour really looked no good.

Strobist
430EXii on top of tank at 1/8 pwr
Ebay Trigger

About Parrot Fish
The Blood parrot cichlid (also known as parrot cichlid and bloody parrot) is a hybrid cichlid. The fish was first created in Taiwan in around 1986. Its parentage is unknown, but the most commonly speculated pairings are midas cichlid with the redhead cichlid, or the severum with the red devil cichlid. Blood parrots should not be confused with other parrot cichlids or salt water Parrotfish
Because this hybrid cichlid has various anatomical deformities, controversy exists over the ethics of creating the blood parrot. One of the most obvious deformities is its mouth, which has only a narrow vertical opening. This makes blood parrots hard to feed and potentially vulnerable to starvation. Some cichlid enthusiasts have called for their removal from the market and organized boycotts against pet stores that sell them.