A Day at Eastwoodhill Arboretum
A Photographic Society of New Zealand Regional Convention Field-trip GISBORNE’24
Eastwoodhill Arboretum was the choice for twenty photographers on Saturday afternoon for the Photographic Society of New Zealand Regional Convention, GISBORNE’24. Our transport, aptly described by PSNZ Vice President, and MC for the weekend Aston Moss as the ‘Mumma Bear’ bus was driven by the delightful Danny. Danny greeted us all warmly and then formally commenced proceedings with a Karakia inviting both safety and blessings as we made our way to Eastwoodhill Arboretum, a space of national significance.
Leading the tour was Gisborne Camera Club member Jan Shanhun, who on the 40 minute bus journey out, gave us insight into the history of the arboretum and its value today. Jan regaled us with tales of the founder (William) Douglas Cook, who commenced planting in 1910, volunteered to serve in the First World War, lost the end of a finger to a bullet in Gallipoli and then in France lost the sight of his right eye courtesy of another bullet! Perhaps most intriguing was the post war Douglas adopting the practise of tending his ever-increasing plantings wearing only boots and a hat!
Upon our safe arrival at the arboretum Jan supplied us with a site map, and additional and necessary, insight into finding our way around the 135 Hectare space, with a view to being on time for our return home.
Eastwoodhill Arboretum is wonderfully generous in what it has to offer. The space is quintessentially Kiwi, in that it is unpopulated (no hordes of tourists), naturally and gently manicured, full of horticultural gems, with its 25,000 species of exotic and native trees, shrubs and climber plants all coming back into life with the onset of spring.
Before we set out with our cameras, I set the photographers a little challenge – that was to photograph each scene both in landscape and portrait orientation. This is a practice I have adopted as I find that whilst I may have preferred one option in the field, it is often the other that I end up using. I invited the photographers to send me one, two, or maybe three images along with a brief explanation as to why they chose this version and I would compile these images into an E Book, which we will share amongst the arboretum field trip attendees.
Our afternoon was made complete with a wonderful spread of homemade teacakes, sandwiches, tea and coffees put on by the Friends of Eastwoodhill Arboretum, and then a safe and colourful journey home which, courtesy of a detour chosen by Danny, took in some additional scenic and interesting sights of Gisborne.
We returned to our lodgings replete; full tummies, refreshed inner beings, and memory cards full of photographic gems!
By Annette Johnston
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6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
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24-25
John Hawkins
Tanya Halliday
Angela Harris
Andre Mutavdzic
Nicola Lye
Jacky Challis
Penny Kennedy
Sandy Jones
Hamish Ashton
Jan Shanhun
Annette Johnston
Cover Image: Petula Pine Mosaic by Jan Shanhun
John Hawkins:
Stalked Bulbine: Someone else was shooting these and I could see why as the flow of the heads was vertical, it seemed a perfect aspect, with the eye flowing from the one in-focus to the out of focus and back again; it holds your eye
Fuchsia: As they were spread horizontally it seemed like the best aspect. I like the contrast in the 3 main colours, red, purple and green. Also, the different stages of opening.
Neglected: Aspect to match the chair. This seat was probably important to someone long past and is now almost hidden in the garden.
Stalked Bulbine
Fuchsia
Tanya Halliday:
After reviewing my images from the Eastwoodhill Arboretum trip I have gone for all the portrait options over the landscape options, maybe that is because it suited the subjects better and created a more harmonious look, especially for the flowers.
I was hunting the light and shooting wide open as Michael Bradley said we should try as well as incorporating your challenge with the two aspects as well. A good challenge to try as it threw up some great questions when not only taking the images but when looking at them a few days later!
Tiny Leaves
Angela Harris:
The Pathway: I chose the portrait orientation because it narrowed the view to make the path the leading line. I also enjoyed the shadows and general natural light caught in this image.
Texture: I chose portrait because I liked the greater falling-off of the depth-of-field effect.
Understory: The portrait orientation I feel shows a sense of depth, whereas the landscape orientation gives much more visual weight to the carpet of leaves.
The Pathway
Andre Mutavdzic:
Brown Shoots: Brown Shoots is in vertical format (I followed your advice to try both formats). The portrait format gave more emphasis to the tree and the vertical ‘grain’ of its bark.
Bracket Fungi: The Bracket fungi just ‘looked better’ in landscape format.
Brown Shoots
Bracket Fungi
Nicola Lye:
Using my camera in portrait mode isn’t my usual practice, I will if needed, but it was good to have the challenge from you, as I am very happy with two of my portrait photos.
Beautiful Ixia: The relatively long stalk and buds beyond the open flower lend themselves to a portrait orientation more than landscape. And, without the length of the stalk showing, there is less appreciation for how delicate it is and the load it is supporting. I love how the bud that is about to open, resembles a tulip, and the colouring is gorgeous.
Narcissus in the Gloom: The landscape orientation felt like it was chopping the scene in half. And, for me, the portrait orientation gives the feeling of the flowers reaching for the sky, particularly with the face of one bloom aimed skyward.
Narcissus in the Gloom
Jacky Challis:
In the first image (Eastwoodhill-1) I walked round a rather dark shaded corner of the track and was struck by the beautiful, warm inviting light round the next corner. Portrait mode would not have captured enough of the scene.
In the second image (Eastwoodhill 2) I found a tangle of bleached white sticks hanging over a pond with Autumn leaves floating beneath. I thought it might be a good subject for ICM. I’m not yet experienced in ICM but I liked this result. I tried portrait and landscape but the latter looked better.
Penny Kennedy:
Dreaming: My friend had given me the idea of trying ICM with pine needles so I experimented. I chose landscape orientation as I wanted a different perspective from how the pine needles grow upwards. These branches were lower down the tree and in beautiful soft light. I love the movement in this image. It gives me a feeling of dreaming.
Skywards: The magnolia tree is telling its story endlessly reaching skywards for the light; each stage of its season told in its branches. I chose portrait orientation to follow the tree towards the sky.
Revolving and Evolving: The ball turns in the water, perpetual in its movement, as does the earth. We exist in this movement, ever evolving. I chose to include a self portrait and landscape orientation to tell that story with more of the surroundings than myself.
Dreaming
Sandy Jones:
That was such a lovely afternoon at Eastwoodhill.
I have been there as number of times, living in Gisborne, quite often take clients there for shoots. It was nice to just do what I wanted.
I chose these images for their colour and background bokeh, one landscape to incorporate more colour and one portrait to make the flower the hero of the image. I wish I had taken my tripod to get sharper close ups.
Just Look Up
Bokeh Bouquet
Hamish Ashton:
The portrait version is a great study / portrait of the Koru, where as the landscape version tells a bit more of the environment.
Both reflect what I saw ...
Koru Unfurling (Portrait)
Jan Shanhun:
Impression of Springtime: I chose portrait orientation as it matched these long slender spring bulbs plus I could get a little blur more easily into the image this way.
Petula Pine Mosaic: The portrait orientation allowed me to get a better composition with the triangular shape created by the 3 trunks and these shapes are echoed again in the image. The landscape version looked too ‘squat’ for such tall majestic trees and more trunks gave a less interesting composition.
Iris Blue: I chose the landscape orientation this time because of the stem arrangement and the way the petals fell. Then a square crop seemed to suit the image best as I was able to make the most of the triangular foliage bottom left to give an interest base that then leads the eye out to the flower to rest there to enjoy the beautiful throat of this Iris flower with its pearly blue bud below.
Impression of Springtime
Petula Pine Mosaic Iris Blue
Annette Johnston FPSNZ
Across the Valley: A glance across the valley invited me to give frame to the new vibrant spring growth set against a backdrop of darker pines. The vertical orientation was necessary to accommodate the trunk of the silver birch - the hero in this frame.
In Golden Light: A Japanese Maple in first blush, set against a gold-hued background. The Landscape orientation allowed me to include more of the rich negative space.
Tipped in Bronze: A fleeting moment in changing light transitioned this budding oak into a bronze tipped masterpiece - In this instance the vertical format was the only possibility!
Across the Valley
In Golden Light
Tipped in Bronze
We hope you enjoy our insight into this wonderful Eastwoodhill Arboretum. It is indeed a National Treasure ....