What is it with Sunset photos?

Mazatlan, Mexico.

Sunset photos, secondary only to cat photos in the collective unconsciousness of popular imagery. What is it about sunset photos that appeal to people so much? I remember going to a lecture a while ago by New Zealand landscape photographer Andris Apse. Adris is well know for his striking images of our back country and wilderness areas. In part of the presentation he showed a collection of his images from the last few years, the wilds of Fiordland, Antarctica and the Auckland Islands. The crowd was suitably impressed, murmuring in approval as his images passed by. Then came a sunset shot, no better or worse than the rest, which immediately elicited loud oohs aahs and wows from the audience. A noticeably stronger reaction than to any other image he had shown. There is a conventional wisdom in film making that it's all about the story and, the most important thing in a film is the script and the always popular the visual effects must serve the story. This is a notion that I really don't subscribe to at all. Humans have a need to give meaning to everything around them, to try to understand their world and to make sense of it, to give it a story. But I think we also have a subtle innocence, an ability to be captivated by something as simple as a sunset, to be inspired by simple beauty without any inherent meaning.

MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory.

There is nothing like hiking for 8 hours in the desert; being attacked by flies, spiders and pointy sticks, only to be faced at the last stretch of the trail with a murky river crossing of unknown depth, and not being able to recall if it is a crocodile infested river or not.

water is worth loving

 skim boarding at Laguna beach.

Water is a notoriously difficult thing to make look real in visual effects. Some might even call the pursuit of photo real water the last frontier of computer graphics. My friend Chris used to be a digital fx supervisor at Weta and was heavily involved in CG water development. I remember he had this piece of paper stuck to the top of his monitor that said "water is worth loving". It was just regular text, something he had printed out. It looked pretty old, it was all crinkled and worn and had torn edges, like it had been ripped off and thrown in the bin on several occasions, only to be pulled out again, smoothed over and stuck back on his monitor. Water is a remarkable thing of ever changing beauty. Elusive, complex and wondrous. Despite its frustrations, it is indeed worth loving.

I heart you

The way of a film life

Sunny

One of the grandest, bitter sweet facts of a life working in film is the extraordinary and intense, yet sometimes fragmented working relationships and friendships you form with your fellow film makers whilst making a movie together. These fervent and frenzied periods of consuming hard work, good times and concentrated comradery, are often then suddenly cut when a show ends, the reels lock, it's pens down and crew go their separate ways. Malcolm McDowell lamented about the ending of his relationship with Stanley Kubrick after he had finished filming "A Clockwork Orange" "I didnt understand at the time being a young actor that, the way of a film life is intense relationship, separate, intense relationship, separate". Here's to all our friends who have gone their seperate ways. Good thing now we have facebook. Hi Sunny!!!!

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Mazatlan Lights

The Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Our contemplations of the cosmos stir us. There's a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation as if a distant memory; of falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries. The size and age of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding, lost somewhere between immensity and eternity. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from, and we long to return. And we can. because the cosmos is also within us. We are made of star stuff, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself - Carl Sagan

Dawn Ferry

I live on the side of a cliff with a view of the harbour. Wellington harbour is shaped like a fish hook and my view of the southern ocean is obscured by a little isthmus of land. I used to live further up the hill where it is not so secluded, but you could see much further across the Rongotai isthmus and out to the horizon from up there. In the mornings I would watch the ferries coming and going between Wellington and Picton. Seeing the ferry in the dawn light always reminded me of good times; getting up early to catch the ferry across the Cook Straight, a gateway to adventures into the wild. I would think of West coast road trips and long days exploring the wilderness of the South Island. When I moved to the new place I was a little worried that I would miss not being able to see out to infinity and the kind of limitless potential that represents, and I kind of do.

Mangawhero Falls

Mangawhero Falls.

A while back, in the middle of winter, I thought it would be a good idea to spend a night sleeping in my truck half way up the side of Mt Ruapehu. It was unbelievably cold. Never the less, being on the mountain in the mist and the stillness without any other people around is kind of special and I thought it was worth it. Some time after this I told my friend Steve about my excursion, and inspired by this image and my story he decided to try it for him self. Also a keen photographer, Steve hiked up the side of the mountain and camped on the eastern face in the hope of capturing sunrise across the Rangipo desert. He said it was so cold that he had to keep himself awake by doing press ups in his tent all night in fear of dying of hypothermia in his sleep. He also had the ranger chase him down asking him why he would do a damn fool thing like sleep on the side of the mountain in the middle of winter. I cant help but feel partially responsible.

Flinders Ranges, Australia

Into the Southern Flinders Ranges.

Wilpena Pound at dusk.

My grandparents on my mothers side were Australian, they moved to New Zealand before the war and my grand dad joined the New Zealand army. He fought in the Pacific and in North Africa and India. I always thought that was a hell of a thing to be prepared to die fighting for another country. After I finished film school I moved to Oz to see what I would make of the place. I ended up living in Australia for 6 years and  now I have a lot of Australian friends. It doesnt feel like home but I guess the place is kind of in my blood.

Not so long ago while I was back for a visit, I went to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia for the first time. It was the first time I really felt what was going to become a familiar feeling while traveling further afield from the great Australian cities: the place feels old, ancient beyond imagining. You could go to sleep for 10,000 years and wake up and nothing would have changed.