Photographs and stories by Invercargill photographer Rick Harvey
Creating retro-style postcard images is a lot of fun. You can let your imagination run wild to a certain extent, and given all the great photo-processing applications there are available, it can be a pretty easy thing to do. On my About Me page I say “for me it is...
Back in late October I asked the question “Is it worth upgrading to On1 Photo RAW 2023?” and came to the conclusion that at least in my case the answer was no. More recently I asked myself a similar question – what are the reasons to try DxO Photolab 6?...
Diane Arbus, a doyen of black and white photography, once said “It’s important to take bad pictures”, the rationale being that by recognising bad pictures we will understand what makes good pictures. She also said, “I’ve never taken a picture I intended. They’re always better or worse”. I...
Most of my great ideas for stories come to me while I am out walking the dogs. Likewise, most of my bad ideas come to me when I’m out walking the dogs. This story – “How To Start Your Own Photoblog In New Zealand” – is one of my...
What I am learning is that learning to see in black and white is an ongoing process – at least until it becomes a natural and intuitive part of my photographic thought processes. There are so many fine examples of black-and-white photography scattered across the Internet and in reference...
Shooting photographs in black and white can be a bit like stepping back in time – after all black and white photography has been with us for over a hundred years. I like black and white, and lately, I’ve been learning to see in black and white before I...
Turning dull photos into keepers… Thanks to advancements in AI technology, sky replacement is now a common feature found in most modern photo and image post-processing apps, where just clicking one button can change the whole appearance of a scene. But is sky replacement ethical? And should you replace a...
Here’s one way to make dull photographs pop If you’re like me you’ve often come back from a walk or a photoshoot and found that some of the photos you’ve made are dull, flat and lifeless. No doubt you have your own techniques on how to make dull photographs pop....
Is It Worth Upgrading to On1 Photo RAW 2023 It’s just over a year ago since I published a story outlining 5 reasons to use On 1 Photo RAW. Since then I have changed my computer from a Mac to an arguably more powerful Windows-based machine. In hindsight, not the...
The Lazy Photographer For better or for worse, I’ve always considered myself a lazy photographer. My photography seems to go in fits and starts no matter what I do or say to myself to get motivated. Having said that I still really enjoy my photography! But just lately I...
What an incredible amount of feedback I’ve had about a story I published here a couple of months ago – Photographing Trees. Thanks to everyone for the very kind comments left on the post itself, and the messages you have sent to me directly. I appreciate them all. That...
An alternative visual world In his book, Black & White Photography renowned photographer Michael Freeman says one of the appeals of black and white is that it transcends reality and offers “an alternative visual world, and in a way, a surreal one because everything in that world is seen...
Is it really two months since I posted my first collection of Postcards From The North Island? Mmmm – yes it is! The first collection was published here on June 21, and in spite of my best intentions there have been no further Postcards From The North Island. However, after...
In my website’s brief “about me” section I describe myself as an opportunist photographer but if I am blunt I would say that I am a procrastinator when it comes to my photography. In the past, I have rarely – if ever -planned to go out and capture specific...
Before I get to the 6 reasons to use Nik Collection 5 – first things first. What is the Nik Collection? The Nik Collection is arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of plugins, or stand-alone apps, for corrective and creative processing of photographs. It has been around for years...
Photographing Trees I never really stopped to think about taking photographs of trees as a specific niche genre of photography. But apparently, it is! A Google search throws up dozens and dozens of pages on how to photograph trees, and here was I thinking there is no right way...
Back in April I wrote a story called Our Favourite Freedom Camping Sites – Part 1. This isn’t Part 2 – that is still to come – probably after we finish our jaunt around the lower half of the North Island in a few weeks. So please watch this...
Postcards From The North Island Growing up I remember listening to a radio programme by Alistair Cook called Letter From America. I loved his mellifluous voice, and the stories he told, and often thought it would be wonderful to be able to do something similar. But alas – I’ll have...
This is a story about some of our favourite freedom camping spots – or at least about five of the 26 freedom camping spots we have stayed at so far in the South Island during our motorhome travels. More specifically, it gives me an opportunity to showcase some of the...
Goodbye to Nikon – but potentially not forever…. A Nikon D5100 has been the number one camera in my photographic arsenal since late 2012 – and it has been a really fun and competent camera to use, capable, under the right conditions and operator (i.e. me) set-up, of producing fantastic...
It might be strange for me to say this, but this collection of photographs of black and white street views was inspired by – or rather motivated by – Canadian photographer Kyle McDougall’s visual story called An American Mile which I stumbled across a few days ago. Sure my photographs...
June 29, 2022
Our Favourite Freedom Camping Spots – Part 1
April 22, 2022
April 10, 2022
Black and White – An Alternative Visual World
August 25, 2022
September 4, 2022
