Here are some of my images from Da Nang and Ba Na Hills.

Buddha statue at Bà Nà Mountains

Dragon Bridge at night

Bà Nà Mountains

Tran Thi Ly Bridge

Cable car in Bà Nà Mountains

Street Scene

Crossing Cầu Sông Hàn Bridge

Statue at Bà Nà Mountains

Street stall, Da Nang

Cầu Sông Hàn Bridge at night

Statue, Chùa Linh Ứng, Inspired Temple, Da Nang

Near the sea, Da Nang

Fishing boats, Da Nang

Fishing boats, Da Nang

Chùa Linh Ứng, Inspired Temple, Da Nang

Fishing boats, Da Nang

Crossing Dragon Bridge

Bà Nà Mountains

Chùa Linh Ứng, Inspired Temple, Da Nang

Chùa Linh Ứng, Inspired Temple, Da Nang

Dragon Bridge at night

Beach scene, Da Nang

Fishing, Da Nang

Here are some images I’m currently working on. I took these in Hanoi, Vietnam a few weeks ago. Heaps more to follow 🙂

Power lines in Hanoi

Street scene, Hanoi

Long Bien Bridge – Old Bridge by the Red River

Hồ Gươm – Sword Lake

Hanoi from Landmark 72

Street scene, Hanoi

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum – Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh, Hanoi

Driving around Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi

Văn miếu – Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Hanoi Railway Station

Văn miếu – Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Street scene, Hanoi

Some great firworks captured here:

I went along to The Breath of the Volcano on Thursday night in the Auckland Domain. ‘Groupe F’ produced a fantastic show combining animated projections, performance and fireworks, all with references to Auckland.

Some of the images on The Herald site capture the content of the show. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/image.cfm?c_id=1501119&gal_cid=1501119&gallery_id=131435#10795168

I went back last night with my camera to grab some shots of the massive fireworks over the Museum. It was fairly tricky to shoot as the wind picked up a bit as they were about to start so most of the smoke ended up heading in my direction. So that along with heaps of car alarms going off made it interesting.

The front of the building was in complete darkness but I photographed it when the flood lights came on after the show and used that image to overlay so as to give the impression the light were on as the fireworks went off. I adjusted the colours to match up with the colour of the fireworks too.

Here are a few of the edited shots I’ve been working on:

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

The Breath of the Volcano, Auckland Domain

I decided to get a few shots of the fireworks from the Skytower tonight. This display marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities here in Auckland.

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 Fireworks

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Chinese New Year 2013 – Lantern Festival. Albert Park, Auckland NZ

Here are some of the photographs I took last night at the Lantern Festival here in Auckalnd as part of the Chinese New Year events.

It was pretty difficult to get decent shots with the large volume of people around, but I somehow managed!

For the day that’s in it I thought this was interesting, a look at the two official presidential portraits of Barack Obama.

While a lot has been said online about the differences in his hair colour over the past 4 years, I couldn’t help notice how flat and washed out the skin tone was in the latest shot.

Take a closer look over at Petepixel:

http://www.petapixel.com/2013/01/18/a-closer-look-at-obamas-new-official-presidential-portrait/

I’ve come across a few interesting animated videos on youtube recently addressing some big issues. In the States, the NRA has produced a video addressing proposals to change gun laws. I’ve posted these as I think they are actually very visually interesting, hey that’s the designer in me!

In Ireland, the issue gay marriage is currently being debated. Here are two videos produced. This first clip is in response to the second.

I’ve been looking an animated videos a lot recently as I’ve been producing some for work using Adobe After Effects CS6. Here are a few shots of one that was used at an award show.

Its been a  few months since I decided to upgrade the Old Photos site, and to be honest I had hoped to have it complete ages ago but due to other commitments I’ve had to put it on the long finger until now. I’ve made a pretty decent start and over the next few weeks I’m going to be organising the 500+ images that will be available. I’m going for a much more user friendly site this time with smaller numbers of images grouped together. I’m also focusing strongly on integrating the content across social media.

Here are a few screen grabs

Home Page

Single Images – Auckland

Gallery Page – Queenstown

I’m building the new site in WordPress, so the old site is still live for now. I’ve also looked at how best to bring my portfolio site across to WP too, as that’s in need of a face-lift too! All in good time though.

I came across a series of images a few days ago and to be honest I’m completely blown away by both the artistic beauty and technical excellence by the artist.

Thierry Cohen has created a body of work called Darkened Cities where major cities of the world are depicted without the usual city light pollution so as to view the starry sky above. But as I read online, these are not simply skylines clear-cut in Photoshop and placed over a night sky image.

“He has traveled to places free from light pollution but situated on precisely the same latitude as his cities (and by pointing his camera at the same angle in each case), he obtains skies which, as the world rotates about its axis, are the very ones visible above the cities a few hours earlier or later.”

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/12/28/photographer-imagines-what-world-cities-would-look-like-without-lights/

http://thierrycohen.com/pages/work/starlights.html

New York 40° 42′ 16” N 2010-10-9 Lst 3:40

The image above, of New York reminded me of some of the photographs taken during the power cut after hurricane Sandy last year. http://www.petapixel.com/2012/11/05/new-york-magazine-cover-features/

New York after Hurricane Sandy 2012

And while I’m thinking of NYC tonight, might as well go off in a tangent and include this stunning image taken over Central Park by Sergey Semenov. The composite image recently won Epson’s Pano Award for most outstanding panorama captured by an amateur.

New York Pano

There is also an interactive 3D file on the Petapixel site, well worth a look:

http://www.petapixel.com/2013/01/10/this-aerial-panorama-of-nyc-looks-like-a-screenshot-of-sim-city/