Christopher Stott | Christopher John Photography

July 19, 2020July 19, 2020

Japanese Anemone

I’d seen this plant growing through spring and couldn’t imagine what is was going to be. To be honest, I thought it was a weed. It seemed vigorous and kept getting taller and taller with quite lush leaves. Next there was a dramatic increase in the number of buds on the plant. The photo below, taken with a reversed 50mm lens, shows the buds on this plant.

Several days after the buds appeared a few started to open and they are glorious as you can see in the main photo for this post. Seriously relieved that I didn’t pull these plants out these blooms are proving to be very popular with the bees. These plants would also seem to be very easy to grow!

April 23, 2020July 19, 2020

Heading home

I’ve been stuck at home due to lockdown and it’s quite frustrating as the weather is so good. Spending time in the garden I’ve been noticing quite a few hoverflies. I wanted to try and get photos of these creatures whilst in flight, but this was close to impossible. Without a camera they are happy to hover close by, but as soon as you raise a camera to get a shot, off they go.

Focus was a challenge as these creatures were quite fast moving and stayed still for such brief moments. I tried using a 105mm macro lens to maintain a reasonable distance between camera and insect whilst also providing a fair level of magnification. I really wanted the insect to face me, but all I seemed to get was a rear view as they headed off from whence they came.

All the same, great fun whilst stuck at home during lockdown.

January 15, 2020July 19, 2020

It’s cold

I’d forgotten just how cold it gets in winter here. I’d not experienced an English winter for close on 30 years and the bitterness of the breeze was something I’d long forgotten. Even with no snow outdoors is a bit of a sad place to be. It goes dark early, and the sun doesn’t rise until late. It feels damp and most of the trees and bushes look dead without their green coats of foliage. All the same, it’s a great place to be to take a few photos. I felt the shots look best in black and white … well, to be honest at this time of year things do look pretty grey!

Shot with a 50mm lens at f2.8. I didn’t want to take anything heavy or cumbersome out with me … something that would fit inside my coat was the idea, just in case it started raining again!!

January 14, 2017January 16, 2017

A big boat!

Ovation of the Seas on the Watamata Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.

What a huge boat! 348m long, 48.9m at its widest with 18 decks and a maximum passenger capacity of 4905. This is a very large cruise ship. So large in fact that it was unable to berth at any of the usual wharfs in Auckland. Passengers were required to use the tenders to get to shore and back. You can make out a few of these small yellow boats alongside the ship. Looking at these little boats and realising there could be over 6000 people aboard, it does makes you wonder how quickly they could get everyone off the ship and away on the tenders and liferafts should a need to abandon shop arise.

In the background of the photo above you can just make out Auckland’s Harbour Bridge. You can also see the viewing deck that rises above the vessel on a huge arm providing people with spectacular views of the various locations the ship visit. I suspect the ship would have difficulties passing under the harbour bridge with the arm extended, but what about when the arm was lowered?

The next photo shows the ship on its way out of the Waitamata Harbour heading east towards Devonport’s North Head. You can make out Auckland’s Skytower in the background.