Who am I?

Background

I thought I should give a bit of background as to where I come from and my motivation for taking photographs and creating this web site.

Where I live

I was living in Wellington from 1998 to 2001 after moving there from Canberra. I like the fact that Wellington is a compact city where I can ride my bike or walk into the city with a minimum of fuss. The city is just a good size to offer all the facilities that you need, but without the overcrowding and pollution.

I also love the architecture in Wellington. Being a very hilly city means there are some very inovative designs to cope with the terrain. Most people who visit from Australia are taken by the wooden houses in Wellington. They certainly add a lot more character than your average 3 bedroom red brick house.

Wellington, like Canberra, has plenty of bushland within easy reach. From where I live, it takes me about 15 mins on my bike to get right away from all signs of the city. Of course one of the highlights of Wellington is the harbour. I love seeing the different moods and colours the harbour displays depending on the weather and time of day.

One big attraction to moving to Wellington is the climate. A lot of people think I'm mad because I didn't like baking in 40C heat for days on end in Canberra. Wellington's temperatures are very mild, and yes it can get a little windy in Wellington sometimes (not as much as people will lead you to believe) , but I find the winds very exciting. It's great to watch the clouds shoot overhead or the choppy waves on the harbour.

Photography

At work in the field Like most people, I used to carry around a compact camera whenever I went travelling and took snapshots. I started to get a lot more serious about photography when I got the opportunity to use my wife's (Inger) old Minolta manual SLR. It was a great camera for learning and I still carry it around with my Canon EOS-50. Inger and I are both keen photographers. It's quite handy to have two photographers in the same location as we both see things in a slightly different way. I've included a few of Inger's photos on my site in some of the areas I missed or didn't get a very good shot.

I take mostly landscape photos as that's where I spend most of my free time, but the other areas I like are architecture and macro photography. I particularly like macro work as it allows you to focus in (mentally and physically) on a very small area. It's amazing just how much more you can see when you stop to look at something very closely.


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