In this issue

My Artwork for this Issue

Photographing the land is, in many ways, just like beginning a relationship. Unfortunately, some encounters are short-lived because the conversation doesn't go anywhere, and having experienced it, we are probably not enthusiastic about attempting to take it any further. As a result, there is very little connection between us.

Other places vibrate at an intense level, often in our souls. Those are the times we fall in love and cannot stay away. Every encounter is different; every meeting builds upon the previous one, bringing depth to our understanding and perhaps joy to our hearts.

Piopiotahi/Milford Sound is like that for me. It is always an encounter that excites me and to which I look forward. As it has from the first moment I arrived here in Te Anau. It continues to do so now. And, like a lasting relationship, we never really find the baseline, the basement, and the bedrock where we can go no further. So instead, the relationship continues to expand, being added to, and our understanding develops.

By now, I should have photographed every millimetre of Piopiotahi, yet something appears before me when I dare to think I have. Even the same things are different.

I think you must visit when it is a sparkling sunny day, a very picture-postcard (not that anybody uses those much anymore) day, with rich colours and cloudless skies. However, you only ever need to do that once.

Piopiotahi's true personality shows itself in the worst weather when a raging front is coming in off Te Tai a Rehia (the Tasman Sea) and piling up against the upside-down keel of Te Waka Atua, the South Island. Then waterfalls appear as if from nowhere and stream like tears down the steep granite flanks of the fjord. They are gone again within 1 to 2 hours of the rain ceasing.

The mist and rain descend, shrouding the mountaintops and slithering their way down into the valleys. Suppose Taawhirimaatea, the God of the winds, is holding his breath. In that case, an incredible brooding quality falls over the sound, with soft skeins of cloud snaking and shrouding the mountains, and the land is painted with a palette of grey blues and greens.

It is impossible to be anything but reverent and respectful at times like this. And honour the wonder before us.

As I attempted to do two days ago when we went to Piopiotahi.

I wanted to kneel and mihi to (knowledge) something so profoundly deep, beautiful, and infinitely fascinating.

Something which has kept me enthralled and in thrall from the beginning of our relationship.

Frontispiece

nd the theme for this week's newsletter.

Photographer's corner-which camera should I buy?

Seeking Goldilocks

I thought this one had died years ago, but sadly not.

At the beginning of digital photography, approximately 15 to 20 years ago, for some people, the brand they used was everything, and they defended their patches ferociously. In one corner, weighing in with red rings around their lenses (and maybe their fevered eyes), were the Canon aficionados. In the opposite corner of the ring was the gold ring group, people passionate about Nikon. They glared intently at each other across the top of their pentaprisms. All the other users found their own place, ignored them and just got on with it.

While you don't hear much these days about a particular brand being the be-all and end-all, that bias/prejudice is still there among a few people.

Somebody rang me a couple of weeks ago to ask me for my advice. Given that I am a Fujifilm Ambassador, I suppose they were expecting me to convince them to switch to Fujifilm. I suspect they wanted an excuse to get rid of the camera (Canon) they had last used ten years ago and start afresh. After years away, they were looking forward to picking up their photography again.

"So what do you think, Tony? What camera should I buy?"

My answer.

There are no bad cameras these days. All the manufacturers make great equipment that will probably do more than you will ever need. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony. They are all good. Great cameras and some phenomenal lenses. After all, they can't afford to be making rubbish gear. The competition is too fierce.

Please visit a reputable camera shop, not one of those big-box retailers who charge a premium and inevitably (in my experience) know very little about photography because they are too busy trying to convince you to buy a lounge suite, TV or washing machine. Avoid them.

When you get to the shop, explain to them what you are looking to do, and perhaps your budget.

Let them take you through a range of different models, explaining the various features of each (most of which you won't understand).

Then pick each one up and hold us in your hand. Imagine yourself using that camera to make the sort of photographs you like to make (landscape, portraiture, street, birds. etc). Then, imagine yourself using it for a full day's shooting.

One of them will feel perfect in your hand, just the right size, weight and heft. One of them will say: I want to come home with you.

That is the right camera for you.

And when the opinionated and ignorant pass judgement on your choice, should they do so, smile sweetly and go your own way.

You made the choice that is right for you.

Waiata mou te Ata-Flying Water Song

Flying Water Song

Early morning raindrops

dribbledrumble crumble

with soakboned drummer boy fingers

on my tinglerhythm tindrum roof,

flickertyped messages on sunhardened plastic papyrus sheets,

warmwind tweets from the back of the wind,

which is rubbing its coldbristle cheeks

against the staccatostaved spine of the land.

It flicks its locks, licks the roughadzed cliffs,

and watches the water fly

in spume and fume

and rambleroam

across

the end of days.

Fevered Mind Links (to make your Sunday morning coffee go cold)

What is Fine Art? Learn About the Definition and the Different Types of Fine Art — mymodernmet.com

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info. If you've ever taken an art course or visited a gallery, you've likely come across the term “fine art.

Legendary Orient Express Train Is Redesigned To Be a Contemporary Art Deco Dream — mymodernmet.com

Since it was first launched 140 years ago, the Orient Express has been synonymous with luxury. And thanks to Accor, that tradition will continue long into the future.

Every Loss Reveals What We Are Made of: Blue Bananas, Why Leaves Change Color, and the Ongoing Mystery of Chlorophyll — www.themarginalian.org

Autumn is the season of ambivalence and reconciliation, soft-carpeted training ground for the dissolution that awaits us all, low-lit chamber for hearing more intimately the syncopation of grief and gladness that scores our improbable and finite lives — each yellow burst in the canopy a reminder t

Winners of the 2022 Nature Conservancy Photo Contest Show the Beauty and Stuggles of the Natural World — mymodernmet.com

Every year, the global environmental organization The Nature Conservancy holds a photo contest to show the beauty of nature and what we stand to lose to climate change. The 2022 Photo Contest saw the largest participation ever, with entries from 196 countries across six categories.

Recipe: Devilled lamb kidneys & silverbeet — www.stuff.co.nz

1. To prepare the kidneys, rinse under cold water then pat dry with kitchen paper. Slice each kidney in half lengthways then cut out and discard the white fat and sinew. Season the kidneys with the black pepper, cayenne pepper and a little salt. 2.

One thing you should never photograph on holiday — www.stuff.co.nz

Ben Groundwater is an Australian columnist, blogger, feature writer. OPINION: Imagine yourself in Sydney, or maybe Melbourne, walking along a standard suburban street. You're carrying a camera as you explore the neighbourhood, a big DSLR with a long lens.

This Wacky AI Tool Will Finish Your Artwork for You — hyperallergic.com

Artificial intelligence (AI) image generators have been quite busy lately, from producing spooky art, strange videos, and a terrifying creation called “Loab” to helping a Colorado artist win a blue ribbon at the state fair this summer.

A ‘Viral’ New Bird Song in Canada Is Causing Sparrows to Change Their Tune — gizmodo.com

A new bird song is spreading like wildfire among Canadian white-throated sparrows, at a scale not seen before by scientists.

End Papers

On purpose and photography

Somebody asked me the other day how long it had been since I had owned some camera equipment. When I reflected on the answer, I realised (to my horror) that it had been nearly five months. "It must feel like your hands have been cut off," they replied. When I pondered on it, I realised that they were correct.

And then, when I dug deeper, I realised that the (enforced) break wasn't necessarily bad. This is probably the third time I have been without a camera for a long time. At least one I could pick up whenever I needed to. The wonderful people at Fujifilm New Zealand have helped me out wherever they could, enabling me to make new pictures.

However, I think there are times when it isn't necessarily bad. We reach a point where we need to take a break because we are about to change gears and move up a level. That has certainly been part of the pattern of my photographic journey. I'm about to begin seeing and producing in a new way, albeit with a camera. I'm looking more closely at the software I use and what I'm trying to say, to look for new ways of saying it better. Whatever it is.

And what do I want to say? I will probably write more about that in another newsletter; however, why do we photograph anyway? What are we trying to say? Is there a purpose for photography beyond awards and competitions in self-satisfaction?

Of course, there is. However, I believe that when we devote our photography to something greater than ourselves, we move our work to a new level. We give ourselves purpose.

On the road again

a few weeks ago, I went to Christchurch to teach photography, a thing I love doing. It was a great weekend; hopefully, everybody who attended my workshop will learn something.

However, as my journeys nowadays tend to do, there are other things along the way, routes my tupuna and kaitiaki direct me to travel as part of my mahi Wairua, and people for me to meet and talk with. So, when I returned home a week later, it had been quite the journey. It took me a couple of days to rest and recover.

It would seem I'm about to head away on another hikoi (journey), which will take me to the far North of the country. I know it is a journey of faith, and I know what the Kaupapa/backbone of the trip is. I'm not anticipating being back much before the beginning of December. I'm hoping to catch up with all you usual suspects, people I love dearly, so don't be surprised if I tap (virtually) on your door.

I am very conscious of all of you who read Breathing Light, and I'm wondering how to keep it flowing while I'm on the road. So your thoughts and comments, and suggestions are welcome.

In the meantime, please stay safe and look after yourselves. COVID has NOT gone away, so please take the precautions that feel right to you. I will be keeping myself apart for this Hikoi Wairua, with plenty of N95s in my glove box.

Perhaps I will catch up with you along the way.

Ngaa mihi nunui arohaa ki a koutou

Much love to you all