At last a guest post from Peter Eastway. He asked me to share this with you guys. He paid his posting fee of $1000 and signed a legally binding contract so here it is, enjoy!!

Hi Christian

I thought you might like to know that while you’ve been galavanting up north with Australia’s wonderful red earth and golden beaches, I’ve been freezing my buns over in New Zealand.

Each time I fly into Auckland, when we pass over the western coast I look down south and marvel at this long, straight BLACK beach. And each time I tell myself I have to get down there.

As it turns out, I was giving a four day workshop just south west of Auckland and only half an hour’s drive from the very same beach.

On my first trip out there, accompanied by three New Zealander friends, I was wondering if they were having a lend of me (remembering the time we bowled underarm in cricket no doubt). There were really black clouds up north and when I mentioned them, the reply was simply, “They can get blacker than that”. And they did. Five minutes later it poured! I mean, it wasn’t just rain – it was like walking into a shower turned on full bore! With in 10 seconds we were soaked through to the skin. I didn’t have time to open my camera bag and, if I did, I reckon it would have filled up with water. It was amazing.

Anyway, after thinking about it a little more, and looking at my three Kiwi friends who were just as soaked as me, I decided they weren’t having a lend of me after all and that we just got caught out.

Was I worried about the rain? No, because I was testing out a new Phase One 645 camera – it was a lender! On the other hand, the Phase One P45+ digital back was mine… My gear needed a little time to dry out in the hotel and but then it was back to work as normal!

On the second trip, the weather was much kinder and this is when I took this shot. You’d be proud of me because I stitched about 8 frames together, shot with a 28mm wide-angle. It’s amazing how well Photoshop puts the frames together these days, but of course it helps to have the camera on a tripod and both focus and exposure set to manual.

But what really makes it is the black sand underneath the water over the beach – it’s a pretty special place and one I hope to get back to sometime. Maybe we can make it a team event – just make sure we don’t let the Kiwis know what a great place they have!

Anyway, you’ll have to tell Tony about this because it got a Gold in the NSW AIPP Professional Photography Awards – just glad the Australian judges didn’t know where it was!

Cheers

Peter