02.24.08

Flying Dubai to Europe

Posted in Aviation, Landscape, Travel at 1:03 pm by Warren Williams

After a long 14 hour night flight from Sydney to Dubai the final leg, Dubai to London was a lot more interesting. Conditions in the morning departure were pretty bad with low visibility as winds stir up the desert sands, and haze lingered around. Flying Emirates, Boeing 777-300ER, A6-EBJ.


Desert civilisation below


Motorway viewed from above


Aerial view of Istanbul, Turkey with Ataturk airport in foreground


Entering the Alps over Austria

02.23.08

Sydney with Emirates

Posted in Aviation, General, Landscape at 5:00 pm by Warren Williams

Leaving Auckland back for London, the first stop was in Sydney, with a peaceful early evening flight. The view into Sydney is very similar to Auckland, surrounded by clear blue water. Flying Emirates, Boeing 777-300ER – A6-EBI


Wedding Cake Island in the foreground by Coogee Bay, leading up to Bondi beach in top bay

02.21.08

Departing Queen Elizabeth 2

Posted in General, Travel at 9:00 pm by Warren Williams

Making one of her last trips this year, the HMS Queen Elizabeth 2 will soon become a floating hotel in Dubai. Thousands of spectators were there to witness the departure, as she sounded a blazing horn heard across much of Auckland. Surprisingly the Queen Elizabeth 2 is forty years old, however in pristine condition. The Queen Mary 2 recently replaced the QE2 as the flagship vessel of Cunard.

02.20.08

Beyond the Atmosphere

Posted in Astro, General at 11:00 pm by Warren Williams

A favourite pastime is stargazing through telescopes at my grandfathers house, who has a couple of scopes, and old photography gear. The conditions tonight were tough, with a lot of shimmering in the atmosphere which doesn’t give the best results. The full moon isn’t the best to photograph either, due to the lack of contrast and shadows as the sun is lighting the moon from directly above.


An old, but favourite of Jupiter passing behind the Moon – June 2005
20D + 10″ Meade LX200 telescope


Orions Belt, shot with 1DIII, 70-200f4, @ 200mm, mounted on telescope, ISO 3200


Clouds creating some shadowing
1D III + 8″ Celestron telescope


Orion’s Nebula – 1DIII – ISO 6400, 2000mm focal length

Lilly at Bethells

Posted in General, Landscape, People at 9:36 pm by Warren Williams

During my very short stay in NZ, decided to catch up with my old workmate Kayla and her partner Carl. Just over two years ago, Lilly was born, very premature due to complications, weighing in at just 3lb 4oz (1510 grams) – half the normal weight.
The gallery of the newborn photos in the ICU of Auckland Hospital can be viewed here

Bethells at sunset was chosen for some casual mostly candid family photos against the beautiful rugged coastal backdrops.

02.19.08

Downtown Auckland at Midnight

Posted in General, People at 11:59 pm by Warren Williams

Straight after the evening shoot at Karekare, drove into the city to meet a photography friend, Mathew Wong, who has put his own shots into his flickR gallery

Only managed to take a handful of shots, but was more interested in having a chat about photography styles.


Matt with a pen light


Matt in action 😛


Finishing off with some wide angles by Princes Wharf

Karekare GKPE Photographers Meet Up

Posted in Aviation, Landscape, People at 9:30 pm by Warren Williams

Managed to arrange a short notice meet up with some photographer friends (from www.gkpe.org.nz / photography-on-the.net) where we discussed travel/camera gear/beers and had a good laugh.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter also made an appearance, now operating from a different rego/helicopter – ZK-HLN instead of the old outdated ZK-HHV. In late 2006, I saw the progress of the rebuild, adding a more powerful motor and extra features such as night vision goggles and collision avoidance system. Click to see the build photos


Limited by a short 105mm lens again, as 300mm back in UK


Wendy Cain


Liz – photographers in action


David lining up a shot looking South towards Whatipu


Fantastic full moon rise over the hills at Karekare

02.18.08

Stormy Muriwai

Posted in General, Landscape, Travel at 8:33 pm by Warren Williams

Took another drive out to the rugged West coast beach of Muriwai in stormy conditions


Managed to get wet in the process of taking this shot, with large waves crashing over!

02.17.08

Muriwai Gannet Colony Sunset

Posted in Animals, Landscape, Travel at 9:59 pm by Warren Williams

After shooting the wedding in Napier, drove back to Auckland and decided to unwind at Muriwai, above the rugged coastline below from the gannet colony lookout. Being limited to just a 105mm lens, made bird photography rather difficult, but still managed to get a few snaps when they were closer. Further tested the new Sigma 12-24 ultra wide angle, which gave some good results.


Three seperate exposures/shutter speeds to create this view looking North


Stormy skies

02.16.08

Napier Wedding – Amy & Craig

Posted in General, People, Wedding at 8:00 pm by Warren Williams

After the recovery period from recent travels, ventured down to Napier for the wedding of Amy and Craig. The weather was stunning 27°C – in fact a touch too hot for all who were dressed for the occassion. The ceremony was held at the Botanical Gardens, with some photos afterwards along the beach where Craig proposed, as well as the port where the massive Queen Victoria was docked.


Napier Botanical Gardens



Amy and her mum, after walking the aisle of flowers


Dove release


From near the proposal point


The “invincibles” striking a pose


Amy and her brother Clinton – champion wrestler

02.12.08

Homeward Journey

Posted in Aviation, Landscape, Travel at 7:00 pm by Warren Williams

After almost eight months away from home, the final destination was approaching. After missing the connecting flight, had to wait for the next available flight several hours later. The flight from Sydney to Auckland was a brisk 2 hours 20min flying over Piha, Oratia & Henderson (my home towns over the past 20 years) before seeing a spectacular view of Auckland city and the Hauraki Gulf.


The view towards Bondi beach


Clear waters of the Tasman Sea, and Sydney City views


Auckland’s Harbour Bridge, Sky Tower, Princes Wharf (with a large cruise liner) and North shore


Motuihe Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, where I’ve spent days planting trees

The next twelves days in New Zealand will be a rush, catching up with friends and family, shooting a wedding, before heading back to London.

Into Sydney, Australia

Posted in Aviation, Landscape, Travel at 10:22 am by Warren Williams

The leg from Bangkok to Sydney on the British Airways 747-400 was very tiring. Was initially told the plane is twenty minutes late, and would miss my connecting flight from Sydney to Auckland. Subsequently, the flight left Bangkok two hours late. To make matters worse, the in flight entertainment systems weren’t working either!


Descending through Northern Sydney


Shadow of the BA 747-400


After landing in Sydney was lucky to see the large A380 taking off from Sydney to Singapore.

02.10.08

Thailand Sunset from Birds Eye View

Posted in Aviation, General, Landscape, Travel at 9:13 pm by Warren Williams

Flying high above the Thai peninsula, in a Thai Air Asia A320 (HS-ABB), stood witness to a fantastic sunset. With all my recent and upcoming flights, planned them by requesting particular window seats dependant on the flight direction and time of the day. In this case, sitting on the left hand seat behind the wing heading from Phuket to Bangkok (Northwards), had a perfect view of the sunset and cloud formations. Shortly afterwards, was priveledged to get some cockpit photos – a rarity in these days with high security worldwide.

02.09.08

Loh Dalam Bay Sunset

Posted in General, Landscape, Travel at 8:29 pm by Warren Williams

Low tide meant a tricky 200metre walk out to knee deep water, to get some photos of the long tail boats. This is the Northern bay where the tsunami of over 6 metres devastated the low lying area, Boxing Day 2004.

Phi Phi Don Viewpoint

Posted in General, Landscape, Travel at 12:00 pm by Warren Williams

Took a morning gut wrenching walk up to the main lookout over Phi Phi Don, which was made worse by the searing heat.

The main habited part of Phi Phi is surrounded by two bays, Loh Dalam Bay in the North, and Ton Sai Bay from the South.


Phi Phi Leh on the far left, and Loh Dalam Bay on far right


Loh Dalam Bay, where the force of the 2004 tsunami struck from


Testing the new Sigma 12-24mm wide angle lens

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