Chasing the Light

A friend of my Dad's came down for one night on the way further south last night.  He too is a keen photographer so we spent the afternoon chasing the light.  It was one of those perfect Marlborough days - you know- blue blue skies, not a cloud to be seen, amazingly warm - summer temperatures almost, and hardly any wind.

We started off at the Brancott Heritage Centre.  A new restaurant/wine tasting cellar up on the hill - one of the few elevated areas in Marlborough.  It has stunning views over the Brancott Vineyard.  It's only been open since September, and they've never advertised.  They're so good they are turning people away and during holiday season you have to book well in advance.

You can see why it's so beautiful...  Vineyards going for miles.  I have a question. How do they get the lines so straight?

 Looking to the Wither Hills - always dry, never green.

While we were there they happened to be harvesting the grapes.  Little blue bees running up and down the rows taking the grapes to be made into a golden liquid of the gods!

While the rows were straight the ground obviously wasn't dead flat...

Harvesting...

Quite some machinery there...

After a good flat white, we headed to the Taylor Dam for more photography.   It's a gorgeous spot in the early morning or late afternoon and full of birds.  Always good for reflections too.

Cormorants sitting close by, and didn't seem to be worried about having it's photo taken...

The water was incredibly blue...

 Lots of Australian Coots...

People walking their dogs...

The water was reflecting the Autumn colours...

Mallards - a loving pair who bobbed heads together in a display of affection.

The light was superb - perfect time of the day...

One last shot before we headed to see a bit more of the countryside...

We decided to check out Taylor Pass Road, and on the way saw this Australasian Harrier hunting birds.  The birds formed a flock of protection - the bigger they look, the more chance they have for scaring the Hawk away, hence the flock.

The flock was a fair size at first and just after this photo, the flocked halved!

I wondered out loud how they decided to split the flock - woman and children first?  But was reminded it was just panic when the Hawk flew into it!  I am so blonde sometimes!

Much smaller...

It was about this time I started wishing I had a 600mm 2.8 lens with an image stabiliser.  If anyone has a spare one lying around please send it my way :)

I have no idea  if the falcon got a bird or not, but I kind of think this time round the flock of birds won.

Because I found him on the fence moping in the last rays of the sun...   This was as close as he would let me get to, and my 300mm lens just wasn't quite long enough.

 

The slightest movement and he was gone...

But the light was gorgeous on the long grass... 

And the sunset over Mt Fishtail was stunning.... 

All and all a great afternoon out.  We finished up in the local pub for dinner and an evening sorting out our photos that we had taken.  I must get my camera out more often!