The Henley Cheese factory though Autumn and Winter

I have been taking images of the Henley Cheese Factory for a good few months now. Every time I visit there is something new to appreciate. It’s like saying hello to an old friend and enjoying a new and engaging story about their life. In this update I want to highlight 3 images.

This is an image I took around 5am in the morning when it was still dark. The night sky was clear and the moon was beaming bright over the landscape. Apart from the background light trails of cars on State Highway 1, the image has the appearence of a bright sunny day.

Henley Cheese Factory by moonlight.

In this next image a thick shroud of fog envelopes the factory. The calmness of this scene with its glass like reflection was very relaxing. When you take the time to slow down and connect with an environment like this it can be really rewarding.

Henley Cheese factory in fog.

The image below was taken during a morning sunrise. The grass is covered in a rather biting frost. On chilly days like this I look forward to grabbing a coffee afterwards.

A frosty morning at the Henley Cheese Factory

Infrared Black and White.

When I started this ‘study’ of the Henley Cheese Factory I wasn’t sure how the journey would evolve. Currently I am consistently photographing the building from about the same perspective. I could change it up, but I find there is comfort in familiarity of form and composition, so for now, I’ll just keep on keeping on. Thanks for stopping by and reading this small blog.

Xpan Crop on Fujifilm GFX - Flowers with the GF 110mm F2

In Dunedin we recently had a weekend of misty overcast days. These conditions were perfect for soft flat light photography. I had been visiting the Dunedin Botanic Garden to scout a location for an upcoming family photoshoot, when I noticed how lovely the flowers were looking. Under the flat light their colours popped and many were bejewelled with dew drops adding interest to their petals and branches. I had my portrait lens with me the GF 110mm F2 for framing scenes for the upcoming family session, but I couldn’t resist taking a few photos. What started out as a bit of fun turned into a weekend of colour and peaceful relaxation. I hardly ever take images of flowers as I find them hard to compose. However, I thought it might be easier (and fun) for me to manage my compositions by using the XPAN crop ratio option on my GFX. The XPAN crop uses half of the sensor and creates a panoramic aspect ratio of 65:24. I was hoping that the restriction of view would help me create pleasing images.

SATURDAY

All the images I took on Saturday were hand held. Shooting the GF 110mm at f2 with minimal focus distance only gave a sliver of focus plane to work with. So I just experimented with how much i stopped down to get more in focus.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.8. ISO 100, 1/250sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F8, ISO 160, 1/60sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5.6, ISO 200, 1/80sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/250sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2, ISO 320, 1/1000sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.2, ISO 100, 1/200sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F4, ISO 250, 1/160sec. One of my favourite images from Saturday, and I would return again to this scene on Sunday.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.2, ISO 100, 1/200sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.2, ISO 100, 1/125sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.8, ISO 250, 1/500sec. Another image I loved. The colours and the almost painterly out of focus areas were very pleasing.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F8, ISO 500, 1/100sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2, ISO 100, 1/320sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F4, ISO 100, 1/125sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5, ISO 100, 1/160sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/200sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F4, ISO 100, 1/160sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2, ISO 100, 1/160sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2, ISO 100, 1/250sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/125sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.2, ISO 100, 1/200sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5, ISO 100, 1/125sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.2, ISO 100, 1/320sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F4.5, ISO 160, 1/160sec.

SuNDAY

I really enjoyed the experience of slowing down and taking images of the flowers on Saturday. On Sunday when I returned, I thought I’d be even more deliberate by mounting my camera on a tripod. By doing so I could also look at trying to focus stack some scenes to get more in focus while maintaining a lovely creamy bokeh with out of focus areas. I still just shot with the GF 110mm.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5.6, ISO 100, 1/25sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5, ISO 100, 1/30sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5, ISO 100, 1/20sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/60sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/60sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2, ISO 100, 1/160sec. Focus stack.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.6, ISO 100, 1/100sec. Focus Stack.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5, ISO 100, 1/160sec.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.8, ISO 100, 1/160sec. Focus stack.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F3.2, ISO 200, 1/200sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.5, ISO 100, 1/125sec. Focus Stack. A repeat visit to this scene I loved so much.

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Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F5.6, ISO 800, 1/200sec. Again another take on a scene I really liked from yesterday.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F4.5, ISO 200, 1/125sec.

Fujifilm GFX 50sii, GF 110mm @F2.8, ISO 100, 1/125sec. Focus stack, again a scene from yesterday.

I really enjoyed photographing the Dunedin Botanic Garden over the weekend. The fresh colours were an absolute joy to capture. The XPAN crop gave me the ability to more easily compose an ordered image and the GF 110mm performed admirably. Using a tripod gave me the advatnage of setting my composition and selectively focus stacking the image. However a disadvantage was not being able to get the best angle on all occasions as the tripod is not as flexible as the camera being handheld. Finally, a word of thanks to the staff at the Dunedin Botanic Garden who are doing a splendid job on my cities public garden.

Photographing The Milford Track

The Milford track is the most popular of all New Zealand’s great walks. A four day hike through pristine rain forest in the heart of Fiordland. I was excited about the adventure and potential for photo opportunities. About a month earlier I had bought a new camera, the Fujifilm GFX50sii with the bundled GF 35-70mm zoom lens, and decided to take the combo on the walk with me. My bush walk adventures have taught me not to expect the moon from the images I take. As landscape photographers know, good light on subjects is rare and generally requires repeat visits to specific locations to get a good shot, with multi day hikes, you are never in one place long, except at the hut/camp locations. This hike deep into the lush rainforest of Fiordland, was a journey into the unknown. I decided to leave my tripod at home and handhold all my shots.

DAY 1. Access to the Milford track is via a ferry from Te Anau Downs. The boat has a top deck so you get a great view of the huge granite mountains you will be walking under in the rain forest. My choice of lens was equivalent to 28-55mm on a full frame camera, so just a standard view. I would have loved a 70-200mm type lens for a tighter crop, but I made do with the old Fujifilm X-pan crop mode built into the camera. Not ideal, but still got an image.

The hike from the ferry jetty to Clinton hut where you stay the night is only about a couple of hours, if that. The bush on this part of the walk is really pretty, with lots of vibrant sphagnum moss covering the trees. So do stop and take pictures.

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Day 1 and part of 2 is the best opportunity to photograph the Sphagnum moss. As the hike slowly climbs in altitude on day 2 the rainforest environment changes as well, so less of the lush green views, make the most of it on day 1.

Clinton hut is an overnight stop and from the helipad you have one of the hikes best photogenic views. A stunning vista of granite cliffs with rainforest in the foreground. I took off early in the morning, but this could also be a great sunrise photo opportunity.

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This image was taken early evening and captures the mystical vibe of the Milford track with larger trees jutting out of the rainforest cloaked in low hanging cloud, clinging to the ancient granite cliffs.

Day 2. The second day is a long hike of about 18km slowly gaining in altitude. You will eventually walk out of the cover of the rainforest and travel between giant granite cliffs. Finding images here is not as easy as it sounds as the dynamic range between cliffs and sky can be crazy difficult. It started to rain at about lunch time and it didn’t stop for the rest of the day. I managed to get one image from the day I really like. There is a historic avalanche segment of the track where you have to navigate walking over boulders. This grouping of rocks was an obvious foreground, but my camera lens wasn’t wide enough so I took a handheld 2 shot panorama.

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Rain brings waterfalls everywhere on the Milford track.

At the end of day 2 you stay at the new Mintaro Hut, the image below is of the tree outside the balcony of the hut. As you can see it’s raining. Expect lots of rain. I didn’t do much to protect my camera and on day three I was about to find out… i should have. You should definitely look at some sort of rain cover for your camera.

Day 3. The main focus of day 3 is the climb over the Mckinnon Pass. Whether you get a view from the summit is a lottery and on my day I only had fleeting moments when the clouds parted to get some kind of view. I can’t tell you what sort of focal range would suit this location, but a tele-photo lens in the backpack wouldn’t go amiss.

Just below the summit of Mckinnon Pass. While not a great view the low cloud did provide an atmospheric image with the pleasing rock formations and tussock grass.

It was on the descent I came unstuck with my camera. In Fiordland not only is it wet but extremely humid. My camera lens is supposed to be weather resistant, but that didn’t stop an internal element from fogging up. I missed a few shots but luckily after sitting the camera and lens in the warm sun to dry at the problem disappeared, and I took images all of day 4.

Day 4. This is an easy walk, and I took plenty of images. My pick of the day was the image below.

Just a few hundred metres from the end of the 53.5km Milford track I took this image. Probably the wrong time of day but a nice keepsake just the same.

After the end of the Milford track I stayed in Te Anau for the night. My room at the lakeside holiday park was really close to the boat clubs jetty, so it was an easy sunrise location.

Lake Te Anau. Without a tripod I balanced the camera on a concrete wall and took this image.

Photographing the Milford track was a lot of fun, and while I didn’t have the perfect focal range for many images, I still had a great time. If I were to do the trip again I would take longer and wider lens options. Overall the Fujifilm camera did the job, and the image stabilisation worked well. Next walk on my list is the Routeburn track, and I hope to walk shortly in January of 2022.