Bench mark: Framed in Akoara, New Zealand

Photographed in 2018 with my Nikon D750 and 28-300 mm zoom.

I can distinctly remember wanting to visit New Zealand.  I was in my early 20's and the desire was palpable.  I don't remember exactly why I wanted to go there - perhaps it was the unique wildlife or some of the remarkable imagery I came across, but there was no doubt that it would happen - sometime.

It would be another 35 years before it came to be.  The pull was always there, but things like money, time, and responsibilities prevented that from happening.  It wasn't until I had retired from teaching, my children were independent, and I had a few dollars saved that the opportunity came.  My wife and I left on a 37 day cruise from Vancouver to New Zealand with multiple stops along the way.

I took this photo in Akoara, a small town on the southern island.  There are several things about the image that I love.  The use of framing is one, but I love the mechanism here where two distinctly different but interesting trees complete the effect.  

One of the things I look for when shooting benches is a vista that it looks upon.  Often a bench is present for the sole purpose of giving someone a place to sit, perhaps to eat something or to rest from walking.  But I like the ones that are there because they provide a focal point for an expansive scene that you can enjoy if you only take a minute or so.

I quite miss my Nikon D750 camera.  It was a full-frame DSLR with a 24 mp sensor.  The lens I was using at the time was a classic traveller's lens providing a wide range of focal lengths.  I don't generally like such lenses because they sacrifice quality for convenience.   The almost 11x zoom was soft at the long end and was not high performance in terms of focusing dynamics.  My existing zooms are all in the 2x or 3x range - much less convenient but very much sharper.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com