[zkarj]

That river is certainly a 'proper' river today. On Wednesday when I was there it was flowing at around 10 cumecs, but this morning it peaked at around 350. That's a lot of water.

I remember a trip we did to Nelson in August '99. Caught the ferry over to Picton on a stunning day. Stopped off at Pelorus Bridge and walked down to the river and skipped stones with the kids, then drove up the lovely Rai Valley noticing a house on a high mound.

A couple of days later on the way back there was a dusting of snow just above the road summit on the Whangamoas. The Rai Valley was almost completely river, with the water lapping over the side of the road in places, and the house now on an island. At Pelorus Bridge I wasn't even game to stand on the bridge given the amount of water rushing under it. A HUGE contrast to the trip over.

[zkarj]

I figure it's time for another photo.

Every time I saw one of your photos with your bold watermark I wanted to make one of my own along similar lines. Well I finally did it. I'm reserving it for my most cherished work and having just gone through a reprocessing of my Singapore photos (some for the third time) there were five that made the grade. One example below. The rest in a new Flickr album.

[Kiwizinho]

Every time I saw one of your photos with your bold watermark I wanted to make one of my own along similar lines. Well I finally did it. I'm reserving it for my most cherished work and having just gone through a reprocessing of my Singapore photos (some for the third time) there were five that made the grade. One example below.

Nice picture.

I wish I didn't have to use a watermark, but finding commercial users taking advantage of my photos makes it necessary. My attitude is if someone asks nicely and wants an image for non-commercial use, I'll probably let them have it free, but if they can afford to pay and are using it commercially, there are things like K-3 IIIs that unfortunately aren't given away for free, that I would quite like to have if I could afford to, but I think I'd kind of get into trouble if I just took one from where I found one lying around.
Recently I had to chase up the Local Government NZ Conference that was held recently in Blenheim as they'd grabbed one of my images, watermark and all, and used it without asking. It's not as though councils don't annually increase rates to pay for whatever they think they need to pay for, so they ought to understand user pays.

I deliberately added a complex coloured gradient to mine as I suspect it might make it marginally more complex to clone out than a nice crisp white, although white looks better.

[NZ_Ross]

I'll probably let them have it free, but if they can afford to pay and are using it commercially, there are things like K-3 IIIs that unfortunately aren't given away for free, that I would quite like to have if I could afford to, but I think I'd kind of get into trouble if I just took one from where I found one lying around.

Speaking of the K-3 III I took this image this morning with the 50-200WR from the office. Not my best lens, but what I had with me over 100mm. I am still pleasantly surprised with the output of the sensor.

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[zkarj]

My attitude is if someone asks nicely and wants an image for non-commercial use, I'll probably let them have it free, but if they can afford to pay and are using it commercially, there are things like K-3 IIIs that unfortunately aren't given away for free, that I would quite like to have if I could afford to, but I think I'd kind of get into trouble if I just took one from where I found one lying around.

I was contacted by a firm doing work for Air New Zealand who wanted to use one of my photos. They clearly outlined how it would be used and asked me how much I wanted to charge them, or they would let me know their "standard rate". Quite why they did not just lead with their standard rate is beyond me. Anyway, having no idea about such things, I contacted my brother who works in the print/design industry and he gave me what he thought was a fair price he'd pay for the image if he was doing the job. I sent that to them and never heard back. The worst part of it, for me, is they were clearly treating me as a know-nothing and I wasn't worth their time.

Speaking of the K-3 III I took this image this morning with the 50-200WR from the office.

Speaking of a crisp white! Don't see much of that stuff around here. Weather hasn't been good enough to see the Tararuas from Welly since it got cold enough.

[Kiwizinho]

Speaking of the K-3 III I took this image this morning with the 50-200WR from the office. Not my best lens, but what I had with me over 100mm. I am still pleasantly surprised with the output of the sensor.

That looks very white. I'm in North Canterbury at the moment for school holidays, visiting my parents, and it's mostly mud that's around here rather than snow.

Driving south was interesting. All the rivers were up, but the rain all seemed to be in the high country as although it was damp, there wasn't any real flooding.

I walked down to the Ashley River from my parents' place this afternoon, and there are still lots of signs of the big flood a few weeks back. There are signs of water having been places it hasn't been probably since I was a kid.

[NZ_Ross]

I walked down to the Ashley River from my parents' place this afternoon, and there are still lots of signs of the big flood a few weeks back. There are signs of water having been places it hasn't been probably since I was a kid.

There has been a fair bit of flooding about, that is for sure

[MarkJerling]

Fair bit of snow Ross.
Here it's been a bit wet. We had to take the long way home on Saturday from Wellington. Petone / SH2 area was flooded and Rimutakas was shut due to a slip.
Had to go to Aro Valley for work. Heading back to the highway on the Old Hutt Road which in places resembled a river I had the good sense to check NZTA road closure info so we managed to head up SH1 and avoid the mess. Planned to duck back over the Haywards but with Rimutakas still closed we had to continue up to Palmy.

[NZ_Ross]

Planned to duck back over the Haywards but with Rimutakas still closed we had to continue up to Palmy.

That is definitely the long way round Mark.

[MarkJerling]

That is definitely the long way round Mark.

And slow. What's normally a 2.5 hour trip became 3.45 hours due to traffic. Should improve when the new road opens. (Hopefully)

But then, who can resist a detour to Palmy?

[microlight]

I somehow managed to miss Palmy when we were over there (we went for Paraparaumu and Kapiti) - what did I miss?

[MarkJerling]

I somehow managed to miss Palmy when we were over there (we went for Paraparaumu and Kapiti) - what did I miss?

Mount Cleese. And...... No, that's it.

[zkarj]

And slow. What's normally a 2.5 hour trip became 3.45 hours due to traffic. Should improve when the new road opens. (Hopefully)

Oh the fond memories of being over at the air show in Masterton when the announcer explains on the PA that the hill road is closed with a truck crash. A long journey that would have been completely fine if not for that wretched roundabout in Otaki. I'll never understand how a town of less than 5000 people could hold the major arterial highway to ransom like that for so many years. Unfortunately I see the bypass is not due to open for another 18 months or so. At least I'll get Transmission Gully for my trips to visit Mum in Waikanae this year.

[microlight]

Mount Cleese, eh - so-named by the Ministry of Silly Walks? (Or Recycling? 😉 )

[NZ_Ross]

I was just about to leave the office this evening when this sunset unfolded in front of me. K-3 III and K105/2.8. I am still very happy with the K-3 III. I had the K105 with me as I was trying to get another, better copy of yesterday's morning mountain image. I have never really considered it a 'landscape' lens as such, but it does ok in that role.

One of the things I really enjoy about the Pentax system is you can use a modern camera with a old lens like the K105/2.8, and get images like this set. Very satisfying.