Aerial over Awatere River, Middlehurst Station, New Zealand
Phase One XF 150MP with 110mm Schneider Kreuznach lens, 1/2000 second @ f4 ,ISO 400

Tony Hewitt and I have just returned from two weeks on Middlehurst Station where we run our annual photography experiences. This was our ninth year of running the event and although we missed out on a couple of covid years, we have caught up by running two events per season. And regular readers will no doubt be familiar with many of the locations as they have certainly featured in my newsletters.

So, when you return to the same location time and time again, how do you make it more interesting? How do you keep the interest and enthusiasm flowing? It's a question most of us can relate to, whether we're taking our camera to a local park, our annual holiday destination or a repeat adventure to a favourite location. Do you try to take different photos or do you repeat photos you've already taken, but try to make them better? I guess the answer is a bit of both.

Just below the Quarters flows the Awatere River and in winter it is punctuated by the leafless red branches of crack willow trees. When shooting from the helicopter or a drone, the challenge is to position the trees against the patterns in the river bed. However, things are happening quite quickly so rather than trying to get the perfect framing, I just take lots of frames and do the cropping and transforming in post-production. 

This week's photo is definitely a preliminary edit. As I write this newsletter, I can see there are still some things to resolve such as the top left and bottom right corners. They may be better controlled with a healing brush or AI reconstruction, rather than the exposure adjustments I have used. But these are the easy things to point out - a bit like judges when they are thrown in the deep end and asked to make a quick comment. I think more critically I have yet to control the overall contrast on the river bed, perhaps to soften it down so the 'Y' shape with the fullstop made by the trees stand out more clearly. Or maybe I should remove the fullstop tree altogether.

However, what I do like is the softer palette. I like the contrast of oranges and blues. And I have intentionally reduced the blacks (using a luminosity mask) which can otherwise dominate the tonality. Maybe I warm up the central section of riverbank to contrast with the outside blues...

So, why am I sharing an image that is obviously incomplete in my mind? I think one of the most important lessons our Middlehurst photographers take away is that the creation of a photograph, whether a straight capture like this or a composite, is that it takes time to resolve the final presentation. We know when we like something. We recognise the good bits and are alarmed by the areas that don't comply. But rarely do we have all the answers all at once. 

Getting to a final edit takes time. And that's quite okay!

Similarly, getting the best photos of a location might take a few visits and that's quite okay too!

Middlehurst for 2025 is nearly booked out, so if you're interested, get in touch with Kim to put your name down - we're hopefully finalising the dates later this week.