New Zealand

During Janaury 2004 we returned to New Zealand. We visited Queenstown, Wanaka and Glenorchy. We next visited Motueka, kayaked Abel Tasman, explored the vinyards in Marlborough, and drove to the French settlement of Akaroa. We finished our visit with two days in Auckland. New Zealand is very panoramic, from its Alpine Glaciers to rolling hill wine country to dramatic beaches. New Zealand is truly a fabulous place to visit.

(s = 35mm, m=6x7 Medium Format, l=4x5 Large Format, d=digital)

The drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy offers beautiful scenery. (?)

Digital or Film? For the two similar pictures above, I used a 35mm SLR with Fuji Velvia Film
and a Nikon Digital SLR D100. There used to be, and remains some, debate around digital vs film photography. The film based picture was
scanned with a Minolta Dimage Dual III. I made no color or curve corrections with either picture.
The above example illustrates how each device interprets color differenty. Certainly your monitor, as well as
your eyes, will interpret blue differently than mine. Similar Nikon lenses were used to provide similar perspectives.
So which is which? Which do you like best? (?) PS - Shortly after, a friend of mine took the image immediately above,
made Photoshop corrections, and approximated the image at the very top.

Hiking the Queen Charlotte Track. We hiked eight miles in before realizing
that available water at this destination required boiling prior to drinking.
A surprising oversight, given we hike frequently in Arizona. Fortunately a fellow visitor had water to spare. (s)

Hiking the Queen Charlotte Track. (s)

Hiking the Queen Charlotte Track. We ultimately hiked to the 2nd arm in the center, above. The sounds
were beautiful, with Kiwi's sailing and motoring their boats to serene coves and beaches
surrounding hundreds of miles of coastline. (d)

Kayaking at Abel Tasman Park. I risked using my digital SLR surrounded by choppy ocean water. On the right
there were friendly dolphins but I only had a wide angle lens which made capturing them difficult. (d)

I did capture Hector's Dolphin leaping near Akaroa while on a boat. It took many shots to finally capture this dolphin. (d)

Wanaka, a small community on the South Island. Many famous Everest climbers come from Wanaka. (d)

A boat can be seen far below in Bob's Cove, a few minutes outside of Queenstown. (s)

What's a vacation without relaxation? In this shot, we enjoyed dinner in a private wine room cellar below our lodge.
We ate fresh seafood accompanied with 2001 Te Mata Elston Chardonnay. Yes, all the bottles were still there
after we left! (d)

Relaxing at the lodge, Queenstown. The lodge windows were polarized, which created an
unusual effect with the polarizer on my camera lens. A minor technical detail - our time spent at
this lodge was fabulous. (d)

A waterfall on the road between Wanaka and Mt. Aspiring National Park. (d)

Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown. (s)

A lone byciclist on the road to Mt. Aspiring. (d)

Standing in Auckland's tower, I photographed a bungee jumper bravely awaiting his plunge to the streets below.
New Zealand does not suffer from excessive event liability laws. (d)

I was less brave in this self-portrait aiming at my feet, and didn't bungee. Besides, we were pressed for time. (d)

Departing New Zealand, at Auckland International Airport. Hmmm, where to next? Do commerical
airlines get much nicer than this one? (d)

PS. If you must know, the top picture was taken with a SLR film camera, while the 2nd picture was taken with a digital SLR.