City biking has a few highlights. Rode through this recent burn on the North Shore near Sydney. This place seemed like a perfect spot to stop and shoot a photo. I had my little Sony RX100 camera and got the shot. Melanie wasn't able to ride through without getting covered in soot.
The best trad rock climbing in the world has to be in Arapiles, Australia. I am just back from my second visit to "Raps" where I spent a week climbing the easy grades. It's the rock quality and natural lines that make Arapiles so exceptional. From the distance Arapiles doesn't look like much more than a pile of slag, But up close, I mean really up close, you'll find nearly every square millimeter of this pile to be beautiful, at least to the eyes of a rock climber. This time around I spent the non-climbing moments in the morning and evenings wandering around the place, exploring the crags and photographing good looking rock. Yep, I was wishing I could climb grade 25 (5.12) so I could power-up up some of Arapilies finer climbing lines. Maybe on my next visit.
A bird pauses under the north face of Death Row Pinnacle
It seems in the Sydney area there are sporting events happening everywhere on the weekend. These are members of the Lane Cove 12 ft. Sailing Skiff Club getting their boats ready for the water. This is at the sailing club's Longueville boat house. About ten boats sailed off from the dock toward the Sydney Harbour. I photographed this scene with my iPhone and processeded the image with Camerabag.
My friend John Middendorf living in Hobart Tasmania recommended that I visit this small bouldering area. Yesterday was my second visit to the Lindfield boulders located only four stops away on the North Shore train line. With flat landings and sculpted sandstone that seems to rise magically out of the ground, Lindfield has an appearance of a rock garden than simply a random jumble of rock. The climbing is moderate on mostly vertical rock with some spidery cracks as well. If the cliffs had another few meters on them this would be a crag, but instead you have many high problems and a fine top roping area. On the short track that takes you from the road to the rocks I noticed some old carvings. I suspect this place has entertained more than a few generations of rock climbers. This is a photo from yesterdays outing taken with my digital Nikon. I also shot some film in my Olympus Pen, but that will have to wait for processing.
photo details: Nikon D700, 24-70 2.8 lens, B&W processing with Nik software
It's just past mid winter in New Zealand, but the weather can be anything from a cold rain to snow to sunny dry rock. Great conditions were the rule at a recent shoot I did at Long Beach, the local climbing crag near Dunedin. I went there to climb with and photograph local climbing guide Dave Brash. I went there with a full compliment of lighting equipment since I knew it could be a murkey grey day. Instead I was able to use a warm winter sun when photographing Dave.
When I arrived in New Zealand six months ago I had spent years taking the sun for granted. I think my compositions in these photos from Long Beach show my reverence for the rare blue skies and warm light during the New Zealand winter.
The Coast to Coast race is one of the iconic multisport races in the world. The two day race traverses 243 kilometers of road, mountains and rivers starting at the Tasman Sea on the East Coast and ending at the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast. 66 year old Mike Ward is the only person who has competed in the race every year since it began in 1983. Mike returned again this year.
