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We have a glorious pōhutukawa tree in our garden. Often referred to as the New Zealand Christmas tree, Metrosideros excelsa, is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, The pōhutukawa is one of twelve Metrosideros species endemic to New Zealand. Renowned for vibrant colour and its ability to grow even on rocky cliffs, the pohut is a New Zealand icon, admired and appreciated for its strength and beauty, and regarded as a chiefly tree (rākau rangatira) by Māori. The blossom of the tree is called kahika.
Pōhutukawa bloom from November to January during New Zealand’s summer season. They are under threat from browsing by the introduced common brushtail possum which strips the trees of their leaves. A charitable conservation trust, Project Crimson, has the aim of reversing the decline of pōhutukawa and other Metrosideros species.
A lovely image, Erik, that makes me curious to know what they are playing, whether they are backstage, etc etc. Black and white works so wonderfully here!
Do let me know if you decide to visit. I’ve given lots of people insider advice about visiting NZ!
Do you still have the Oly, Dave?
Thanks everyone! Happy holidays!
Quite a mysterious mood, looks welcoming and ominous at the same time. Well done Beth!
Thanks Beth. I wanted to share my own experience as promised, but put my reply in the wrong place.
Car lights and street lamps on Rocks Road, in Nelson, New Zealand
https://www.eyeem.com/p/116743007
And a question for Rob: Why is it that Tersha’s link to a photo on flickr works, while my link to a photo on EyeEm doesn’t?
Super composition with clever use of angles and the the tiny light in the background in the mirror image position. Love it!
I can’t say I like Bill Hickey’s photo, but he is an artist. Deborah Christensen, a writer on the Medium platform, reminded me recently that an artist is someone who paints, draws, or makes sculptures; OR “someone who creates things with great skill and imagination.” Bill is an artist just as I too am an artist. We don’t need validation commercially or from others to call ourselves artists.
As Deborah pointed out, the experience of creating is the most important thing in defining yourself as an artist, not whether or not you earn money from thee process. The English artist Henry Moore(1898–1986) said: “There’s no retirement for an artist, it’s your way of living so there’s no end to it.”
The current commercial artistic establishment recognises Bill Hickey’s work. But only the art of a few escapes obliteration by the sands of time. For many, it’s the sand of time that reveals the art.
Could it be that your friend already has a reputation, and that makes it easier for him to break the rules?
Thanks Pat, Bruce and Bobbie
Huge respect and congratulations, Chris
Busy concentrating on his work, a tailor at the Kota Kinabalu night market
Thanks Beth. Sounds like you have concluded there is no one stop shop.
I am finding that Lightstalking is as good as it gets for conversations, consultations and constructive critique. There is also a wealth of resources here. I’m still keeping in touch with aminus3, but I that is for sentimental reasons, plus I want the site to survive as I have such a a large historical archive there, which will just disappear if the site tanks.
I realise that what I an still looking for is a place to locate a portfolio of best images. You use Instagram for that, it seems, but are unhappy with the cropping of vertical images.
I hope others will share experiences and recommendations here.
Thanks Beth. Sounds like you have concluded there is no one stop shop.
I started out with digital in 2009 after my daughter asked why I didn’t take pics any more. She’d been looking through our collection of slides and prints, made over may years with a Nikon 35 mm camera. My first digital camera was a fancy point and shoot, a canon with a fixed lens, but with both manual and automatic settings. For learning and growing I joined aminus3, which launched in 2004 and still exists despite all the other options. It’s gone through a couple of makeovers, but the essence has stayed the same. It’s a photo-a-day site where people get to know each other, comment constructively and ask each other questions. I learned a great deal about photography by looking at other people’s work, reading the conversations and asking questions of people who had more knowledge and experience.
Two photos are singled out by the site team each day called, the feature and the colour feature. So that can provides an incentive to post and to improve. Individual members can also make albums of photos they appreciate. These are called remixes. Photos can be viewed in many different ways, by date, tag, theme/genre, country, colour — the range of choice is amazing.
File size must be less than 6 MB and maximum effective resolution must be less than 12 MP. But A+ Subscribers (for USD 49/yr) can upload files less than 20 MB with maximum effective resolution must be less than 25 MP. Other benefits of subscribing are explained here.
I’ve dabbled on other sites including EyeEm and YouPic and notice that my photos on aminus3 only look as good if I subscribe to aminus3’s A+ membership.
Through aminus3 I met a group of other NZ photographers and we set up various activities of our own, including photomeet-ups, biweekly challenges and the like. A lovely thing about the site is that it’s a chronicle of my journey over a number of years. That’s because I generally wrote something about the photos I posted.
I posted every day, a great discipline that encourages learning and growth, until I took a full time job in Lao in 2014 . Two things messed up my photography life — the heavy workload, and an aminus3 makeover that made uploading and viewing photos on my poor Vientiane internet connection a real headache. When I returned to NZ 18 months later, I didn’t go back to posting every day. Not because I didn’t love aminus3 any less, but because my photography practice had totally fallen apart. I’ve only been getting back into it over the past year.
Now I realise that the aminus3 community peaked and has been contracting. Back in 2013 there were over 1000 regulars, but currently the numbers are down to under 200. The developers have introduced some new features recently in a bid to revive the site, and here’s how it’s described:
Aminus3 began to shift in its purpose. From an image a day photoblog community to a place where culture, education, language and social responsibility meet amazing photography, and a realization that we are all on this journey together.
If you’re interested in reading more, have a look here.
