beach – Sandy's Views

Back Home

January 6, 2018Posted in New Zealand, photography, TravelTagged abstract photography, art, beach, beachlife, canon, cityscape, cityscene, New Zealand, photography, portrait, Roadtrip, sport, sunset, travel, travelphotography4 Comments

By back home, I mean I traded the Olympus Mirrorless camera back in for a Canon. I missed having what I feel is a proper camera. A big Digital Single Reflex Camera. I like Canons so I bought the Canon 6D MkII. Actually it’s not quite as simple as that. The 6D MkII is the camera almost made for me. It’s more clever as one of Canons best ever camera’s, the 5D mkIII. I’ve also had one of those, a second hand one which I traded in for the Olympus Camera as I thought I would enjoy the drop in camera weight. It wasn’t worth the change sadly, still, you live and learn.

I wanted my own new Canon DSLR camera though and the 6D MkII came along at the perfect time. It’s got great image quality, plenty of pixels, it does a bunch of stuff I don’t care about or understand and it has built in wifi which is awesome in so many ways. It does what it says on the tin and has delivered a number of quite fetching images already. My only issue with it is that the shutter isn’t as quiet as I’d like. I know right? That’s literally the only issue. I love this camera and I’m looking forward to getting to know it better. Herewith some imagery from my 6D MkII. It’s not all about the camera though. For those who are interested, I mostly, currently only, have a Canon 24-105 L series walking round lens on the front of my camera.

Ariana and Millie — People standing in my shot, I may have asked them to.

Shepherds Delight, Himatangi Beach. This is home.

St Andrews Side — St Andrews Church, Turakina.

Turakina Cottage — I like this building.

Wake boarding one handed — KIte surfer, practicing at the new place in Foxton. It’s called ‘Off The Loop’ Cable wake boarding among other awesome adventure activities.

Weds 03-01-18 part 2 — Home, of an evening.

Muapoko Street — That’s my street at night. Awesome sunset.

Eclectic mix. See you soon.

Himatangi Beach

November 21, 2017Posted in photography, TravelTagged architecture, beach, community, holidays, landscape, New Zealand, photo, rustic, seascape, seaside, summertime, travel, travelphotography, Vacation, village2 Comments

This is where we live now. A small beach community in Manawatu, New Zealand. Himi as I call it has a wonderful eclectic variety of proper beach baches and more conventional homes, and the largest sand dune in the Southern Hemisphere apparently.

The phrase, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is best applied here. Here is a collage of Himatangi Beach images. I love it here.

This is the road to my place, ok, it’s not the only road, but it is a road.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Cool ay? See you at Himi.

City Surfers

March 16, 2017Posted in New Zealand, photography, TravelTagged beach, beach life, New Zealand, surf, surfers, surfing, Wellington5 Comments

For the sake of clarity, I don’t surf. I don’t even swim in the sea. I know that if I do I’ll be eaten by a Great White Shark immediately upon entering the water. People might say that’s a phobia. I however know I simply have a rational fear of a dangerous predator. That aside, I love the sea and love being near the sea. I also like photographing sports. I’ve decided one of my favourite sports to photograph is surfing. So here are some surfing photos. All of these were taken in Houghton Bay which is just 15 minutes or so from the Wellington CBD on the South Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Hence the title City Surfers. I’m not going to write captions for the photos because that would be superfluous. I hope you enjoy the images.

Oceans, Rivers and Lakes

July 11, 2015February 14, 2017Posted in UncategorizedTagged beach, lakes, landscapes, nature, New Zealand, ocean, photography, Rivers, scenery, seascape, travel4 Comments

New Zealand has a lot of water, we’re the country most surrounded by water of any country on earth. Make some sense of that. We have loads of lakes and rivers, lakes within lakes and lakes with volcanoes underneath. I’ve posted about our coastal awesomeness before. Those images were mostly in the far north. This lot were taken a bit further south. Southern Central North Island

Looks pretty, it's disastrous, those are flood waters. Manawatu flats under water. The Manawatu river is a long way from here. — Looks pretty, it’s disastrous, those are flood waters. Manawatu flats under water. The Manawatu river is a long way from here.

Rangitikei River, near Utiku, looks calm enough now, you should have seen it a few weeks ago, washing away bridges it was. Not this bridge though.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I like a nice valley. This is one of my favourites. The upper reaches of the Rangitikei River. Seen from Toetoe road. I know it's a funny name for a road but it's a splendid view. Toetoe is pronounced toy toy and it's a sort of pampas grass kind of thing. — I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like a nice valley. This is one of my favourites. The upper reaches of the Rangitikei River. Seen from Toetoe road. I know it’s a funny name for a road but it’s a splendid view. Toetoe is pronounced toy toy and it’s a sort of pampas grass kind of thing.

Whanganui River, with Mt Ruapehu in the distance, 120 kilometres distant. That's a 9,117 foot high volcano, 120 kilometres away. — Whanganui River, with Mt Ruapehu in the distance, 120 kilometres distant. That’s a 9,117 foot high volcano, 120 kilometres away.

This is here because the water in the watercourses down there is orange, which is cool.

Along the coast from Himatangi to Foxton beach these little rivulets flow across the beach and out to sea, see?

This is at the Manawatu River mouth, Foxton Beach. Looking inland at the Tararua Ranges. They've got snow on them under that cloud. I was hoping to get some snow in the shot as well. Not today. — This is at the Manawatu River mouth, Foxton Beach. Looking inland at the Tararua Ranges. They’ve got snow on them under that cloud. I was hoping to get some snow in the shot as well. Not today. That stick is like a local version of the Lake Wanaka tree.

That's looking out to sea across the Manawatu River. Fishing net with attendant Seagull beside the beach. — That’s looking out to sea across the Manawatu River. Fishing net with attendant Seagull beside the beach.

If you showed this photo to someone and said this was the Mouth of the Manawatu River at Foxton, they wouldn't believe you. Go on, try it, ask someone. — If you showed this photo to someone and said this was the Mouth of the Manawatu River at Foxton, they wouldn’t believe you. Go on, try it, ask someone.

The early morning stillness of Himatangi Beach. Looks very calm and beautiful. It is. Most people don't give Himatangi a second or even first thought. That's fine with me. — The early morning stillness of Himatangi Beach. Looks very calm and beautiful. It is. Most people don’t give Himatangi a second or even first thought. That’s fine with me.

Frost on the sand at Himatangi Beach. Himatangi is on the lower half of the west coast of the North Island. The beach is also a road, I love a beach that's a road. — Frost on the sand at Himatangi Beach. Himatangi is on the lower half of the west coast of the North Island. The beach is also a road, I love a beach that’s a road.

Driftwood beside the outlet to the sea at Himatangi. It's all free, help yourself. — Driftwood beside the outlet to the sea at Himatangi. It’s all free, help yourself.

The road from Himatangi Beach to Foxton Beach. It's not the only road, but it's the best one. Speed limit is 30 Km/h — The road from Himatangi Beach to Foxton Beach. It’s not the only road, but it’s the best one. Speed limit is 30 Km/h

Lake with a Volvcano underneath. This is Lake Taupo, a 616 square kilometre crater for one of the largest Super Volcanoes in the world. True story. This Volcano goes up, you can expect flight delays, for the rest of time.

This is also Lake Taupo, looks pretty, can be catastrophic. Those fluffy flower things are Toetoes.

Cloudy coolness

June 27, 2015February 14, 2017Posted in New Zealand, photography, TravelTagged beach, clouds, landscape, nature, New Zealand, photography, seascape, sunset, travel2 Comments

Because who doesn’t like to look at some epic cloud formations? Don’t ask me to go all scientific on you. I’m not a cloud geek, I don’t know what the clouds are called. I just like looking at and photographing some cloud action that’s worthy of capturing. I’ve already put a few photos throughout the blog which feature cool clouds, but they were incidental to the view. These ones are the reason I took the photo. It’s the subtle differences. If you know the names of the clouds, please comment and enlighten us all.