A Maori/Modern Dance Performance

[Tronhard]

I had taken some older and humbler gear down to the centre of Auckland to photograph the pre-Christmas bustle, but was pretty disappointed by the lack thereof (I guess a lot of people are shopping on-line and at malls). On my way I stumbled on a performance of creative dance with a distinctive Maori interpretation, being performed outside the Auckland Art Gallery as a part of the opening events for a major show of modern Maori art.

There were actually two performances, so I stayed for the second one as well to get into a better shooting position. As you will see from the images, they were actually performed in a shallow pool that occupies a major part of the forecourt to the main gallery entrance. As a result, I and the cameras took a fair bit of splashing, but it was all in a good cause.

I took a bunch of images using 2 x Canon EOS 60D's (circa 2010): one with an 18-55 IS STM and the other with the 55-250 IS STM lens. All shots were hand-held and available light.

Rather than downsize and upload multiple images, I include a link to the images on my MS Onedrive folder.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkpuvZN5i75Ggk10...W6ujN?e=peLJfn

[mugge]

Trev, you have good batch of keepers there. I especially like your black and white ones.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

A very nice set Trev. The shooting conditions look interesting and given my aversion to cold water, I am impressed by the performers perseverance. Existing light work can certainly be challenging and the old camera bodies and kit lenses have performed admirably.

In most of the shots, the background is nice and even so the colour images work very well. The colours of the faces add some pop against the dark clothing and water. That gets lost in the monochrome version.

[Tronhard]

A very nice set Trev. The shooting conditions look interesting and given my aversion to cold water, I am impressed by the performers perseverance. Existing light work can certainly be challenging and the old camera bodies and kit lenses have performed admirably.

In most of the shots, the background is nice and even so the colour images work very well. The colours of the faces add some pop against the dark clothing and water. That gets lost in the monochrome version.

Hi Manfred:

Actually, being summer, with a shallow pool and black stone bottom and surround, the water was rather warm!

Yes, for me the trip was a challenge to see if I could get some decent shots with my older bodies and cheaper kit lenses. I love new tech as well as the next person, but I still love shooting with those older cameras too. As a living fossil myself, I guess you could say I was hoping to reinforce the old adage that one can play a good tune on an old fiddle!

The two performances were about an hour apart, but the lighting changed dramatically as what was in shadow in the first one, became full sunlit in the second. Furthermore, parts of the building were in light stone, while others were in black stone and deep shadow. I tried to position myself for the second performance so that I could shoot with both backgrounds, depending on where the performers were doing their stuff - the benefit of being there for the first as a sort of recon...

Yes, I know what you mean about the colour/monochrome thing, still, I thought it was a worthy exercise and it seems (from Ole's comment) that there is a audience for both.

[lovelife65]

Thanks for sharing, wonderful.
Happy to hear in your country people seem to be taking the virus a little more seriously?

[Tronhard]

Hi Sharon:

Effectively, we are living as normal here. We are winding up towards the first precursors to the Americas Cup yacht races and the place is heaving with people, hanging out in bars and restaurants in the waterfront areas while the harbour moorings are full of super yachts.

The following images were taken on the Sony RX-10MkIV, hand-held:

Flags a Flutter


For a Wednesday evening, it was heaving and we got visited by Santa's cross-dressing elves!


More traditional vessels contrast with one of the super yachts, many of which had enough RADAR and comms to outfit a spy ship


Conspicuous Opulence...

The only challenges are for people trying to get into the country. So far around 90,000 Kiwis, permanent residents, and essential workers have gone through two weeks of managed isolation, and there are queues of people around the world hoping to take their places. So much so, that the government has had to issue a managed isolation voucher system so that airlines don't transport anyone without a reserved spot. Many of the big money yachting enthusiasts have sent their super yachts in ahead and now find that they can't enter the country because they have no vouchers! My heart bleeds...

Our economy has bounced back and our GDP, after a -3% dip, has bounded back way beyond expectations, thanks to Kiwis holidaying in the country instead of going overseas, or buying big-ticket items instead of travel. http://See: https://www.stuff.co.nz/...haped-recovery

Again the challenge is foreign access - right now, in Auckland we have 14 container ships sitting in the roadstead waiting for an opportunity to dock. In desperation they sent one container ship 250km up the coast to another port and have been running a shuttle service of container trucks, leaving every 6 minutes to come to Auckland - and that is going on for a week.

Looking at the mess the rest of the world is in, we feel incredibly fortunate to have a government that reacted relatively quickly and decisively, based on science, to do the hard yards early and eliminate the virus: obviously, we are hugely fortunate to be so isolated (the nearest country is 2,000km away), but we also had mass buy-in by the population for the measures, as the government put it "our team of five million".

[Ken MT]

Couldn't agree more.
Another NZ'er

[Dave Humphries]

Great series Trev,

A little preparation goes a long way - I'm talking of the shoot, although come to think of it, applies equally to the global situation and how your country dealt with it.

Cheers, Dave

[Jim A]

Marvelous images, Trev, I am very jealous of both the opportunity that you had .... plus the skill you need to achieve these! Also, I second your summary of NZ experience of covid ... and additionally agree that we are "incredibly fortunate", both stemming from our location, but also the leadership that we have.

Feel sure that the other Trev and Trev would agree

[Tronhard]

Thanks Jim. It was a pure fluke that I came across this, but I am totally grateful for the experience. Even if I did not have a camera to record it, I would have been captivated - I was so impressed by the quality of the performance. I was keen to find out if they were doing any more in the near future, but it seems their next scheduled performance is in May!

Considering we are in the same city we should catch up some time! Perhaps PM me if you agree.