Hey, Lucie ...

I gotta' feeling

That tonight's gonna' be a good night

That tonight's gonna' be a good night

That tonight's gonna' be a

Good, good night

- The Black Eyed Peas I Gotta' Feeling

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 35mm, f/8, 1/20, ISO 2000     Photo: RGH 

I have always had an interest in photography (Link: Portraits of a Life), but that waned a little as I got older. My interest was re-kindled when I started traveling with Kari. She is an avid and talented photographer, but suffered a little from a lack of good equipment. One of the first "family" gifts I purchased was a better camera, and one of the first gifts I gave Kari was a higher-end point-and-shoot. Still, our interest and skills quickly outstripped these devices. After traveling to New Zealand on holiday in 2014, and in anticipation of moving here permanently, in the winter of 2015 we finally bought high-end camera gear. Sadly, as we struggled to learn how to use the camera, we still shot in Auto mode ... in essence, we had a really high-end point-and-shoot with fancy interchangeable lenses. Still, we played with the camera and learned, and eventually our photography started to improve.

One of our first trips with the new camera was to the mountains of North Carolina in Dec '15 ...

  

In Sept 2016, we made our home in New Zealand, albeit only briefly. We were here for a 1-year work contract, and while work was our reason for being here, our raison d'être was to get out and explore as much as possible. Those of you who have followed this blog from the beginning have been with us on just about every adventure. Through that year the writing on this blog got a lot better, but so too did the accompanying photography. I eventually posted two blogs with our favourite photos (Playing Favourites & Caution! Wide Load). They are heavily skewed to our later pics. Since then, our "favourites" file has changed significantly with only a few remaining and the rest overshadowed by much better photos.

Kari and I both got away from the camera's auto modes and starting taking control of our images. Along with our increasing technical abilities, our vision and composition improved as well. Having a great camera helped, but I would argue that what we learned translated to our cell phone photos also. Talented musicians can make great music with toy instruments. Athletes can translate their skills to many sports. Great photographers often "see" the photo before they shoot it. The tools they use are less important than their vision and execution. I ain't gonna' lie though ... good equipment has helped my execution more than a little bit. Along with learning how to use the camera, and how to see the composition before pushing the shutter button, I have also expanded my repertoire. I explored street photography in Wellington (Link: Keep Welly Weird) and here in Palmy (Link: Street Beat). We even dragged Little Highstead into the family hobby, sometimes as a reluctant model, but a few times as a photographer (Link: Strike a Pose). Back in the U.S. this past year, we didn't spend as much time behind the camera as we would have liked. Still, we kept trying our hands at new things ... wildlife photography, indoor sports, and portraiture (Link: Caught In the Camera Eye).

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 16mm, f/8, 1/640, ISO 100     Photo: RGH

We recently had the chance to try our hand at another new-to-us discipline ... shooting a large, indoor event. Little H plays football (soccer) at several levels, including club football with Ruahine AFC. I have previously shared game-day photos with the other parents for her team, and with the club. Two years ago, some of my photos were used during the end-of-year Prize Giving (awards ceremony). A week before this year's event, I was involved in the following e-mail exchange:

R-AFC:   Hi, Grant. The club was hoping to get some candid photos at prize giving this year and wondered if you might be up for the challenge? 

RGH:   What kind of photos are you looking for? I am happy to give it a try, but please understand that I am not a professional photographer in any manner and I can't guarantee results.

R-AFC:   We don't need professional, just would like to capture some of the awards, teams, and maybe some natural shots of the moments. If you are happy to give it a go, that would be awesome!

RGH:   I am happy to give it a go. Again, please understand that I am not a professional and can not guarantee results that everyone (anyone?) will be happy with. The best I can say is that I will try my hardest, but you can expect what you paid for. (since I would be volunteering, what they were paying for was nothing)

This is a pretty big event in a big venue. They recognise 19 teams who all walk onstage to receive medals and certificates. They also award prizes to the best Junior Team, best Junior Coach, best Senior Team, best Senior Coach, "Leaving" players (aging out of club level football), best Leaving Player, as well as a number of individual awards to players, coaches, and club organisers. They wanted photos of all of the prize givings and candid photos throughout the night. I went online to see how to organise myself, get an idea of what kind of equipment I would need, and look at photos from similar events to see how to compose them. I quickly realised that the task would be difficult for a single photographer experienced with these kinds of events, and impossible for me alone. Kari and I talked about it, and I recruited her to lend a hand. I would focus on shooting the happenings on stage, and she would shoot the "crowd" shots and candids. We decided to use only equipment we already owned, despite the temptation to go shopping. The only concession we made was to buy a flash. We showed up an hour early during set-up to practice our shots and make sure we got the lighting right. I'm really happy that we did; some of my favourite shots of the night were taken at this early stage. Putting together an event like this takes a lot of time, hard-work, and vision. What happens behind the scenes is just as important as the final product we all get to enjoy.

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 35mm, f/8, 1/15, ISO 8000     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 70-200mm f/4G ED VR @ 70mm, f/8, 1/40, ISO 5600     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 29mm, f/8, 1/15, ISO 1000     Photo: RGH

  

Nikon D810 + AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR

70mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 560                                   50mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 6400

Photos: KAH

Nikon D810 + AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR @ 58mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 6400     Photo: KAH

Of course, the entire reason for the event, and the reason we were asked to photograph it, was to celebrate the players, teams, coaches, parents, and supporting caste. Trying to get each and every player, team, and award recipient on and off the stage in a timely manner is a monumental task that was made to look easy. Trying to get them to stand still long enough for a photo was like trying to herd cats, made even more difficult by the request that I set up my camera at the far back of the auditorium ... about 50m away! I did sneak up to the stage for the individual photos, though.

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 35mm, f/6.3, 1/50, ISO 5000     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 35mm, f/6.3, 1/60, ISO 4500     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 24mm, f/6.3, 1/50, ISO 5000     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 16mm, f/8, 1/50, ISO 8000     Photo: RGH

Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 27mm, f/6.3, 1/50, ISO 8000     Photo: RGH

  

Nikon D810 + AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR @ 24mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 5600 Photo: KAH // Nikon D750 + AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR @ 35mm, f/6.3, 1/50, ISO 8000 Photo: RGH

Nikon D810 + AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR @ 38mm, f/7.1, 1/20, ISO 1400     Photo: KAH

This was a huge undertaking for us, but so rewarding and so much fun. I spent countless hours online trying to figure out how we were going to pull it off. If not for the encouragement, support, and photography skills of Kari, it never would have gone as well as it did. I am immensely proud of her and of us. It really did turn out better than I could have hoped or expected. Thanks, too, to Fiona and Hayden Burmeister for giving us the opportunity. I already have ideas about how to make it better next year ... and what new gear we're going to need.

... we're home.

My Word!

There is just one moon

And one golden sun

And a smile means

Friendship to every one

Though the mountains divide

And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all

- Sherman & Sherman It's a Small World (After All)

Tararua Range

We bought another new-to-us vehicle. This time it was something more practical ... a Toyota Landcruiser Prado VX. We also got good (and bad) news on the BMW. It's fixable, but the parts have to come from Germany. They will take at least 2 weeks to get here, so we won't have the car back until the end of September.

When I wrote about buying our first car in New Zealand (New Wheels and New Opportunities), I didn't go into much detail about the purchasing process. I did mention that we bought it from a public lot where people leave their vehicles for sale, but the post was more about the person from whom I bought it than the way in which the transaction actually happened. As it turns out, there are many options for buying a used vehicle in Palmy; online auction sites, online private sales, local dealers, etc. There are also cars for sale at one of the local parks. For a $10/wk permit fee, people can leave their car at Memorial Park and post a “for sale” poster in the window  (max 4 sales permits per person per year). The selection of vehicles in the lot includes clunkers, luxury vehicles, and even camper-vans. When we bought our SUV, we had a very limited budget and were focused on the clunkers.

We found what we were looking for, surrounded by much nicer vehicles and looking a little sad, but it was exactly what we needed; 4WD, diesel, roomy ... and under $3000. I called the number written on the flier and arranged to take it for a test drive. Our first surprise was that the owner didn't want to ride with us for the drive. He handed me the keys and off we went. It was beat up and smelly, and a lot of the little plastic bits on the inside were broken or missing, but it drove well. The next step was to ask the owner if I could take it to my mechanic for an inspection. This time the owner came with me, and while the car was being inspected, he and I had a coffee. The inspection went well and despite the dings, scratches, and welds on the body, the drive-train and under-carriage were in great condition for what we wanted.

Chumba at the Tongariro Crossing

The last step was to negotiate a price, and that’s where we had another surprise. I handed the man an envelope of cash and he gave me the keys. No paperwork, no title or registration, nothing to sign! That's not to say I didn't know anything about the pedigree of the car. In New Zealand, if you know the plate number and/or VIN, you can go online and learn a lot about any car. I did a police check to make sure it wasn't stolen, an ownership check to see when it was imported and how many owners there had been, and I could even see when it had failed any Warrant of Fitness (WoF) inspections and what was done to bring it up to code. I could also see that the odometer wasn't accurate ... at each ownership change and WoF inspection, the odometer reading is recorded. Somewhere along the way, someone had either replaced the odometer or disconnected it (a dodgy practice some in NZ employ to avoid paying road usage taxes). I registered the car at the post office and waited for the title papers to be mailed to me. After having my mechanic fix a couple of minor items, and putting on a new set of tyres, we were the proud owners of a beat up 1996 Nissan Terrano 4x4. Chumba-wamba (gets knocked down, but gets up again), was named by one of my oldest friends during a visit to the South Island (The Long Walk) and made the trip, including two ferry rides, without a complaint.

The mechanic I liked worked at a branch of Manawatu Toyota on the hospital property. In the 8 months we had Chumba, he got to know us fairly well. One shift, I left my lights on and walked out to a dead battery. The mechanic towed Chumba to the shop where it was put on a charger overnight. When I went to pick it up the next day, he wouldn't charge me. He told me to "bring us some pies or something", and so I did. They liked the pies so much, the next time I was in they asked where I got them (Sony Bakery on the corner of Ferguson & Albert). In one of those "small world" moments, I discovered that my mechanic's daughter is a NZ trained doctor now living and working in Canada. He had always wanted to visit Canada, and his plan was to retire soon and go for a visit. When we returned to NZ last month, I discovered he had retired and was gone from the shop. I hope he made it across the pond.

My new girlfriend

A typical blog post takes me about 6-10 hours to generate, from conceptualizing and researching, to writing and formatting, and then finally posting. Quite obviously, I don’t do this all in one 10-hour marathon session. Rather, I work on it a little bit each day. During our last stint here, I averaged about 1 post per week and Kari used to joke that my blog was “the other woman” in my life. Our new rental has a wood-burning fireplace insert, and I have a new girlfriend. Using the firebox is a lot different than a traditional open fireplace, and I have spent an awful lot of time trying to figure it out.

When we were in New Zealand two years ago, we were in a wonderful little house with amazing landlords who also happened to be great neighbours. It was a cozy home with an open and connected kitchen, dining area, and lounge. There was a fireplace in the lounge, but we couldn't use it. I can't remember if it hadn't been inspected or hadn't passed inspection, but the end result was the same ... no fires. In the winter, the house was heated by a combination of a single heat-pump in the kitchen/dining area and portable electric heaters. Electricity here is expensive (~$0.22-0.34/KWh), and older Kiwi homes are built in such a way that you can close of sections of the house, only heating the areas you are using. In the evening, we would heat the common areas. At night, we would turn on electric bed warmers and bring the portable heaters into the bedrooms, shutting off the heat to the rest of the house.

Normal fireplaces are aesthetically pleasing, provide a nice warm glow, and give off a distinctive and attractive aroma and sound. Unfortunately, their efficiency is only about 10% ... the vast majority of the heat they generate goes up the chimney. Fireplace inserts can have efficiencies >80%. They burn HOT! Not only does less heat escape, but they burn cleaner, meaning less soot and gases are released into the air. In NZ, heating with wood using a modern efficient woodburner is also relatively less expensive (~$0.14-0.20/KWh if you have to purchase your own wood ... much cheaper if you have your own wood lot like friends of ours). On our arrival to our new home, one of my tasks was getting in a supply of firewood.

Gum Tree wood ... neatly stacked.

Much of getting things done in New Zealand is more about who you know than what you know. It is a country of relationships. As my retirement/insurance agent said to me, "There are only about 5 million people here. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone knows who pays their bills and who doesn't." We had experienced this during our last visit here. So often Kari would be looking online to find somewhere to stay for our various adventures. A few times, she found that nothing was available. She would call the local iSite and be told ... "Oh, so-and-so down the road has a room for hire but doesn't advertise it. I will have her contact you."

The same is true for finding firewood. One of our friends gave us the number for the person they use. I contacted him, but he didn't have much. He had plenty of wood for next season, but we are toward the end of this season and he didn't have anything that he thought was good enough to sell to me. Another friend hooked us up with his wood guy. That guy only had two trailer loads left and was happy to sell one to me. On a random Tuesday morning, he showed up in my drive and we chucked a trailer load of wood into the garage. We have a 1-car garage that was now full of wood. When I got a chance, I would spend 20 or 30 minutes stacking it, but it was going to be a week or more before we could use the garage again. Imagine my surprise when I came home from work on the Friday before Father's Day to find all the wood stacked up against the garage wall. I was chuffed! Kari and Little H had given me the best Father's Day gift I could have asked for.

2005 Toyota Landcruiser Prado VX

Buying our newest vehicle was another adventure in Kiwi culture. When speaking with my insurance guy, he asked “only one car?” Not going into too much detail, I told him that I was waiting for Kari to arrive from the US and then we would be looking for an SUV. He mentioned that one of his other clients had an older Landcruiser for sale that looked to be in pretty good condition. A couple of days later, I got an email from the owner with a description of the vehicle and pics. It has a petrol (gasoline) engine, and we really wanted a diesel, but it was pretty much everything else we were looking for. I made arrangements to meet him and take it for a drive. Again, he offered me the keys and was ready to let me take it for a ride. I was in an unfamiliar place and told him he better come with me because I might get lost. The truck drove great ... steering was tight, no rattles or shakes. I warned him I was going to drive it a little aggressive, and he was game. I had no real problems with the truck, but it was going to need new tyres (a huge expense here), and I really wanted a diesel, so I passed.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and the day before I wrecked the BMW (Under the Weather), he called me and told me he was going to lower the price from $15K, to $12K (or $13.5K with new tyres). At that price, I was a little more interested, but I didn’t want to commit to buying Kari a truck without her driving it. I told him I would talk with Kari when she arrived in a week. We discussed it, and decided that we couldn’t beat the price. It’s an older truck, but we could drive it a short while and get something newer and exactly what we want in a year or so. We called the owner and agreed to meet again for Kari to give it a squiz.

This is where things went full Kiwi. Fraser is a giant of a man ... big bear paws for hands. But he is the nicest, kindest, most soft-spoken kind of gent. Kari looked the truck over and we were good to go. I pulled out my phone to transfer money to him, and he said “nah”, didn’t have much time. He was on his way to Hawaii for a couple of weeks and had to get going. He handed us the keys, a sheet of paper with his bank info, and said to just transfer the money when we got home. “Just don’t leave the country or anything” he joked as he walked away. Let me make this perfectly clear ... on our promise and a handshake, he handed us the keys to the truck for which we had just agreed to pay him $12K, gave us his bank account information, and said “Pay me later. I’m going to Hawaii for two weeks.”

It gets even more Kiwi ... Fraser told us he was going to learn to surf in Hawaii and I mentioned that I wanted to go to the surf camp in Raglan NZ. That’s when he mentioned that he had a mate with a house in Raglan. He said we should call him when we are making plans to head up to Raglan and his buddy would hook us up with a place to stay. “I mean it”, he said ... and I am sure he really did.

Cowabunga ...