CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL

Well the Chinese New year has come and gone and was celebrated in style here in Auckland over two fabulous evenings. Thousands of people came to enjoy the rich music and theatrical performances, rich delicacies and vibrant atmosphere. My eye was drawn to the vast array of intricate and colourful lanterns set up throughout the event. Here's a few of my favourites...

WAI O TAPU - Sacred Waters

Nestled deep in the heart of the geothermal wonderland that is Rotorua, Wai o Tapu is a rich mixture of mood, colour and texture, not to mention smell. It's a wonderful testament to the earth's deep internal power come forth to the surface to be experienced by us above. It's one of my favourite places in NZ to photograph. From the artist's palette that is the Champagne

pool, the eery greens of the Devil's Chasm and the bubbling swirls of molten rock and clay creating ever moving patterns... I love it!

NIGHT CHAMELEON

I originally photographed the lovely Frances Alice Beatrice Scott at the Rhythm and Vines Festival in Gisborne. I was deeply impressed with her natural, spontaneous & zesty creative flair in front of the camera. We reconnected in Auckland a week or so ago on my birthday and decided to do a spontaneous all night shoot on the Auckland Waterfront together. Love the results...!

RHYTHM AND VINES MUSIC FESTIVAL

I answered a very spontaneous call on Boxing Day to fly to Gisborne the following morning to shoot NZ's biggest music festival Rhythm and Vines. Set amongst the gorgeous natural amphitheatre of the Waiohika Estate Vineyard there was a huge range of energy packed yet intimate acts enjoyed by over 20,000 fans over three action packed days. A far cry from breaking down on Christmas Day and getting towed home sans presents and xmas dinner I was happily surprised to be flown down in a private jet from Auckland with Moby, jet around in helicopters and be put up in a fabulous room in a 4 million dollar mansion for a week with pool and tennis court. Doesn't get much better than that! Here are a few shots from the Festival. There are several images circulating on the festival website home page, so have a look! www.rhythmandvines.co.nz

Time for a bit of a holiday now me thinks...! Mountain biking in Rotorua, hot springs and climbing volcanoes in Taupo, then a week on the beach in Coromandel. Yeehah!

VALE OF BELVOIR/AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC

Two weeks ago 12 hardy photographers joined up from all over the state to photograph the beautiful Vale of Belvoir in the states North West, near Cradle Mountain. All members of the NPT (Nature Photographers of Tasmania) our mission was to capture as many and varied images as possible to highlight the conservational significance of this land newly purchased by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. As an unexpected bonus the photo editor of Australian Geographic Chrissie Goldrick flew down to join us and do a story on the project. Check out the April edition next year...

5 days of on and off rain and drizzle didn't deter us hardy folks from the daily dawn risings, though it did take it's toll on the evening socialising by the end...! I stayed an extra few days in an old cattle drovers hut on the land and managed to get a couple of beautiful clear dawns.

Just last night we all came together for a slideshow of the collected works of the project so far - talk about a fabulous body of work!

Here's a few of my contributions...

EPSON/NZIPP IRIS PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Ten days ago, on very short notice and after a candleburning late 5 am night, I managed to send off some entries to the NZ version of the APPA Awards - the Iris Awards.

The Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards are the only competition of its kind in New Zealand and were held at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP) annual Infocus conference in Wellington from 20-24 August this year.

This year the awards received a record number of entries.

The winners were announced last night at the Awards Gala dinner and I ended up winning five awards of the six entries I sent across. So needless to say I'm very happy about that! Two awards were in the Landscape Category and the other three were in the Wedding, People, and Creative categories respectively.

Thanks again to my guru printer Simon Olding and the wonderful Ian and Kim at Campbell St Framers for helping me create such beautiful imagery and to whisk them away on time!

What next? Hmmm...!

ABC STATELINE TV CLOSER

The lovely Airlie Ward has asked me to submit a slideshow for the closing section of the Tasmanian edition of the Stateline show on ABC TV this Friday 14 August.

The idea is to celebrate my two latest exhibitions and recent success at the Australian Professional Photography Awards. The show begins at 7.30pm and the closer will be the last article on the show before finishing at 8pm. So tune in and enjoy the viewing! I've never seen my photos on a television before. I wonder how they'll look?!

Come to think of it, I don't have a television, so I'll be knocking on a friends door with a few glasses of champagne at the ready to celebrate!

Aroha nui

Paul