A lovely three weeks in Christchurch, New Zealand. These are photos in Christchurch proper, the Botannical Gardens and view from the nearby Gondola ride up a mountainside. The Botannical Gardens were so beautiful (even at the start of New Zealand winter) that I went three times for leisurely strolls.
Christchurch, NZ had a major earthquake in 2011 that destroyed many homes and buildings. They are still rebuilding. A unique aspect to this is that many of the sides of the buildings have been opened up to street artists for mural paintings. I love street art and I haven’t seen this much street art in a city since visiting Hamburg, Germany earlier this year.
I’ve been in New Zealand for a month now and have had the opportunity to visit a few of the filming locations for the Lord of the Rings movies. By far my favorite has been “Hobbiton” in Matamata, New Zealand. Hobbiton is about 3 hours outside of Auckland and is the location of the Hobbit “Shire” where Bilbo Baggins and Frodo lived. A beautiful landscape on a still-working farm complete with rolling green hills, sheep and over 40 hobbit holes carved into the hillsides. Part of the tour was drinking ale at the Green Dragon tavern and walking across the bridge that Gandalf went across to enter the Shire in the Lord of the Rings movies. All my friends also enjoyed this tour so I highly recommend it (and you can also get a tour that includes the Glow Worm caves in Waitomo)
Recently I did some landscape photography in my hometown of Mount Vernon, WA. We have beautiful farms and agriculture in the Skagit Valley of Washington State (USA). I was fortunate to have as my guide one of the most-love landscape photographers in Skagit County, Gary Brown. He showed me many tips on composition, location and post processing.
If you love landscape photography check out Gary Brown’s Instagram page at: https://www.instagram.com/garylbrownphotography/
Camera: Sony A7 iv. Lenses: Sony GM 14mm, Sony GM 35mm, Tamron 70-180mm
Here are some of the photos I took in May 2023 of the Skagit County, WA farmlands around Mount Vernon, WA:
Seattle, WA USA street photography Spring 2023. I hadn’t been to downtown Seattle, WA during the day for a few years and I was surprised by the high amount of homelessness and drug use that I witnessed. I don’t normally photograph homeless people but I did include a few here to give a feel of what I saw as I walked the Seattle streets of King Station, Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market and the Seattle waterfront.
Camera used was a Sony Ay iv and lenses included Sony GM 14mm, Sony GM 35mm and Tamron 70-180mm. Full gallery of Seattle street photographs below:
Skagit County Tulip Festival 2023 in Mount Vernon, WA USA. Many people say this is the most beautiful time of the year in my hometown of Mount Vernon, WA. Truly breathtaking views of our tulip fields and local agriculture in Skagit County, WA.
Most photos taken with Sony A7 iv camera and Sony GM 14mm lens (I love this new lens for landscape photography!)
Hamburg, Germany photos from our last city of the 2022-2023 Cirque du Soleil European tour of the show Crystal. What a wonderful city! The city felt like being in a virtual steampunk world. I visited the Indra music club there the Beatles first performed in Hamburg, the underground tunnel, Miniature World, Reeperbahn and walked the streets for hours enjoying the architecture and graffiti of the city.
Photos with a Sony A7 iv camera and Sony GM 35mm lens
Photos from my week in Oslo, Norway in March 2023. I was there performing with the Cirque du Soleil show “Crystal” at the Spektrum Arena and also was able to visit many of my relatives living in and around Oslo. Highlights for me were the National Theater, Metro trains and the Oslo Opera House. I also saw a demonstration about the current war in Ukraine that was very moving.
Photos using a Sony A7 iv camera, and Sony GM 35mm and 24-70mm lenses
This is the first of a series of videos I have created as part of my latest project called “Discuss AI”
Over the last several weeks I’ve been learning about and working with artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGTP, BrainTrust AI, Google Bard and Typecast AI. I created several simple videos while learning about it; videos on my YouTube channel that are overviews of the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. I knew that I wanted to do something with AI and that those videos were just a vehicle to learn more about it.
Photos from my tour break vacation to the island of Mallorca, Spain. Most of these photographs are from the city of Palma de Mallorca, Spain. As usual, I like street photography, architecture, graffiti and interesting perspectives with lines and shapes.
This was the last of my photography workshop learning sessions as I was able to meet with two professional photographers at the local amusement park fair Fira del Ram (Fair of the Ram) for some unique perspectives with the rides. I learned that street photography is technically illegal in Spain due to privacy laws so very few of these photographs have people in them.
Besides hanging out with the local professional photographers, I also met some excellent street musicians including one of the best accordion players I’ve heard who goes by “Tony Mallorca”. You can see several videos of him playing on my YouTube channel in the “Short Video” section at: https://www.youtube.com/@ConradAskland
Also got to experience a sunrise hot air balloon ride and that was a little scary to take photos from so high up but you’ll see a few below. Another highlight was visiting the Frederic Chopin and George Sand Museum in Valdemossa on the island of Mallorca, Spain. (Chopin wrote some of his piano pieces on the island of Mallorca)
These photos were taken with my Sony A7 iv camera and two lenses: a Sony GM 35mm (my favorite) and a Sony GM 35-70mm. See below for some of the photos
Photos from my visit to Paris, France in February 2023. Sadly, I didn’t get a full session of night photography because I had to leave Paris early due to an upcoming worker strike. These photos taken with a Sony A7 iv camera, Sony GM 35mm lens and Sony GM 24-70mm lens
