Echoed Photo

I got word of the Karapoti mountain bikGordon’se race, while looking for outdoor supplies in Gordon’s Outdoor store.  The race takes place about forty five minutes north of Wellington City in the Upper Hut and is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Sandy was kind enough to drive me all the way out there. The day looked bleak to say the least. It was pouring rain and the forecast said the worst was to come. Additionally, I had no rain coat and had no arrangements for getting back to the city. But, these are the things that adventures are made of, so off I went. It wasn’t long before I met one of the photographers that worked for cycle-photos.com. His name was Kyle, and he was quick to not only show me the best spot to get photos of the race, but he also offered me that car ride back to the city.  After shooting the rather kayotic river crossing that starts the race, we kicked back and just waited for the stream of people to begin to make there way back to the finish.  All in all it turned out to be a wonderful kick off for my sports shooting portfolio.  

I have spent the better part of the last two days inside, studying and learning various lighting and photoshop techniques. It has worked out quite well, as the weather has begun to show the first signs of fall. Since I have been here I have tried to make sure that, when I am not photographing I am studying and vice versa. My focus has never been better. But it isn’t hard to feel good in paradise.

Our 3 day trip to Auckland was a total success.  After enduring one of the most beautiful and bumpiest plane rides, I have ever experienced, we touched down in Auckland. We decided to spend our first night out on the town. We made our way to Queen Street via cab and soon realized that there is certianly no shortage of night clubs. We spent most of the night observing the drunken pandemonium and over abundance of black mini skirts. 

Day 2

Refreshed and rested we made our way towards the apartment of our couch surfer contact, Gene-luc. After spending some time at the local farmers market we took a ferie to Davenport and spent the rest of the day on the beach enjoying good conversation and the hot New Zealand sun. 

Day 3

Marla and I decided to spend the day checking out the stores on Broadway Street. Around 3:30 we caught a bus to the Geniuses Energy Theater, to see our favorite author and spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle. Even though it was a full house, we were fortunate enough to get seats in the second row, no more that ten feet from Eckhart.  The audience was asked to welcome Eckhart in silence rather than with a round of applause. The rather physically frail man made his way across the stage to a red chair. It was clear that he had a unmistakable presence about him. He spoke for exactly 2 hours. The room had an incredible energy as everyone sat and focused on present moment awareness. It was truly a gathering of those who are drawn towards consciousness. In the end, he humbly thanked the audience and in the same fashion as his entrance, he quietly made his way off stage.

I want to quote my flat mate, Sandie. ” You are at your best when you travel”. She really summed it up. You do feel most alive and in the moment. Every thing seems so new and fresh. From a photographic stand point. It doesn’t really matter were you point the camera, everything is inspirational. 

     Besides walking around the city, I spent a good part of the day trying to learn the in’s and out’s of the blogging world. I just learned of a fantastic google service http://www.blogger.com/home. Basically it is all the tools necessary for creating and posting you own blog. And the best part is that is is totally free. This was a bit of a shock to me to learn that I could have simply used this rather than trying to navigate my way through the labyrinth that is wordpress.  I created my own as an experiment to see if it gets more hits. Check it out if you like at http://echoedphoto.blogspot.com/

It took me about a week and a half to get settled in. I am now more familiar with the city and finally have my bearings. In summation of the last week. I took a bus tour of the city, attended the Cuba street parade, got sand blasted on the beach by a wind storm and just yesterday, I saw the beautiful botanical garden. First off, I payed 3 dollars and took a cable car, that was more like a trolly, to the top of the hill.  The view of the city and the harbor was spectacular.  The garden was established in 1868 by the New Zealand institute. It consisted of a wide variety of native plants and trees. As I continued walking, it turned into more of a rain forest. There is a variety of paths to take and the one I took led me to the rose garden.