Know Your Audience

Steppe Living

Having just started back into the whole blogging environment, it was with interest that I read an entry on smeeblog about how to go about it.  Rule 1 was be persistent; My mark = fail!  OK, so that may be a little hard on myself as originally I set out only to chart our travels through Asia for those back home as a sort of online travel diary, no wonder things slowed to a standstill once "normal" life resumed.  In the 9 months we were away there were 53 posts, in the 2 and a half years that have followed only a piddly 33 have followed.  Hardly a rich content stream to keep the interest of others so must do better.  Rule 2 was maintain enthusiasm.  A close friend of persistence, enthusiasm is a varied thing but I still enjoy my images and the memories they evoke so a tick in the box here, one day the world will know of the roaming traveller!  Rule 3 was the importance of inspiration, well another blog prompted this post so maybe things aren't going too badly here after all.

Child Racers

I would like to add a rule 4 if I may and that is: know your audience.  In that line of thought its pretty pictures for Celia.  And while the request may be for ones of NZ rule 5 could be don't give them everything they want at once to keep them coming back for more!  For these pictures I have gone all the way back to Mongolia to some edits, whose originals did not make it on first time round.  That's part of the joy of going back through the archives, finding the missed gem and discovering new favorites.

Family Outing

Image Repetition

Believe it or not I'm still plugging my way through the many photos that I took during our 7 month Asia trip, which scarily enough came to an end over 2 years ago.  It's a slow process, picking out the shots worth looking more closely at and then spending the time on them that they deserve all the while trying to avoid seeing what's new on facebook or what else there is to buy on trademe.  It is battle enough just keeping my recent efforts up to date so I anticipate things taking some time yet before I can truly say I'm current with nothing in my "to edit" file.

Bound for Drying

The above image could have been taken anywhere.  It was in fact in a field in rural China but what attracted my to the preview jpeg (and presumable the original scene!) was the frame filling subject matter and the repetition of the stacks.  I would like to go back and tweak the composition a little more but will have to make do with learning the lesson that it is best to slow down and be considered, after all a subject such as this is not going to get up and run away.

Red Hot

Trying to capture a market scene is tricky, I have a whole series of images from traders throughout the trip and very few convey the scene as it was.  Getting in close is one trick, it is far too easy to try and show too much in a photo such that everything getting lost and disjointed with just too much going on.  Two very different images but based on a similar idea.

Glorious Colour

Autumn Gold

After a rather dismal summer with no baking hot days (and many more suited in fact to baking rather than the BBQ) and a little more rain than strictly necessary for a drought prone region, April came at last.  The blue sky days materialised and we were determined to make the most of a long weekend after working the Easter break.  Otematata, our destination, is a small town in the Mackenzie country on the banks of one of the many hydro lakes of the region.  It is known as a brown, dry land with a drab pallet but undeniable beauty.  Autumn however is a time of colour and the Poplars shone a resplendent gold, perfectly framed by the ultramarine blue sky with highlights of red provided by the rose hips.

Mackenzie Colour

Of course I had a flick of my rod while Amy snoozed by the river, landing a good brown.  We walked and cycled and come evening retreated to the pub to watch the rugby (cheering the Crusaders of course) and enjoy the true drink of the Southern Man, a handle or two of Speights.

Lonely Road