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January 28^th Compliments and Testimonials

In September this year I released my third book ‘Fiordland Landscape and Life.”

This was designed from the outset to be the most significant publication of it’s kind about this special area of New Zealand. It involved numerous trips into the park by air, boat and foot over a period of 4 years, covering the entire area of this huge (1.2million hectare) park. The intent was to visually document every fiord, lake and major landmark within the park and to do so with each image being as artistically stunning, as possible. The book has been self published and so by necessity I have been heavily involved in every aspect of production: planning, design, printing and marketing.

I would like to pay tribute to a couple of people who have given special help, my wife Kara, designer Lana Osborne and the staff from Everbest Printing. As many of you, know this is something I do in my spare time and is very much a labour of love. When you produce a book it is an exercise in commitment and vulnerability: be it resources or putting your work out into the public arena for comment.

All this brings me to the point of this weeks blog. I received two notable pieces of feedback that I am pleased to share:

-from Wilderness Magazine, Feb 2012 (reviewer Shaun Barnett, himself a renowned and respected landscape photographer and in my opinion impressive wordsmith

“but with some of his landscape panoramics he can equal even the like of Andris Apse with a jaw-dropping image of sheer brutal Fiordland majesty”….”this is impressive panoramic photography, making a book to savour.”

And then an e mail from the master himself Andris Apse

-“I think your book is the best I have seen of Fiordland, some  excellent moody images that I would be proud to call my own. I am going to order a copy for myself”

I am grateful to both of these men. Kind words can make a difference but are sometimes hard to give. I have never met Andris Apse but he has been a huge inspiration for me with his groundbreaking book New Zealand Landscapes and subsequent work Landscape and Light,  collections of exquisite images of New Zealand. His comments are a mark of the generous spirit of the man and are a huge vindication for me.

So I encourage you look at the book, see what you think, spread the word and hopefully buy a copy.

Below is an image from the book.

Sportsmans Cove Dusky Sound

Rugby World Cup 2011!

No all Blacks, No Ritchie MCCaw , Dan Carter,but Scotland and Goergia and The One News Breakfast team arrived in Invercargill this week. After much waiting and typical Southern disinterest in the hype, when the moment arrived we dusted off  our raincoats, opened our doors and got out and supported this once in a lifetime event and have welcomed our visitors.

Around the town hotels are full and locals are hosting strangers from the all over.

We missed Saturday’s game between Scotland and Romania and should have gone to see England and Argentina at the new stadium in Dunedin, so we ventured out on a chilly September evening to Rugby Park, opting for the “comfort” but as it turns out freedom and fun and colour of the terraces.

The game was a dour tryless affair probably not helped by the steady rain.From a photography standpoint this provided for more opportunities as you will see below.

Good games were had byScotlan’s Kelly Brown, Rory and Sean Lamont and captain Rory Lawson. And for Georgia Mamuka Gorgodze.

Meanwhile a pellet of books makes it’s way to Invercargill, the Eagle is about to land. Watch this space!