Welcome to Aperture Priority NZ

I’m Rick Harvey, not an award winning photographer living in Invercargill, New Zealand.

For the record, photography is my hobby!

Apparently, every website or blog should have an “About” page – so here is mine. 

If you are like me, you probably don’t like seeing photos of yourself, and probably struggle to write about yourself too…but here goes.

Apertureprioritynz.com is my space on the ‘net where I can tell photography-related stories and share many of the images I take, and as my blog’s title suggests, I shoot primarily in aperture priority mode.

I often debate with myself whether this photo blog drives my photography, or whether my photography drives my photo blog.

Whichever way round it is, I take photographs for fun, and my primary goal is to create pictures that please me – and if they please you when you come to visit here, then that is so much better.

I describe myself as a lazy photographer – an opportunist who rarely plans a photoshoot – but rather enjoys just “snapping” whatever I come across.

For me, it is the final picture that matters, rather than the technicalities of getting there. That is not to say that I am averse to a bit of image post-processing – because I am not.

My go-to software for image processing is from the DxO stable of products – Photolab and the Nik Collection.

And please be aware I am a DxO Affiliate by their invitation, so that means that if you buy anything from DxO via a link anywhere on my blog, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, BUT you will receive 15% discount on new products (not upgrades) at no extra cost to you if you use the code RickH15 at the checkout.

But talking about post-processing software is a little like putting the cart before the horse. 

My camera gear is limited.

My primary camera is a Nikon D7500 DSLR, a very capable 20.9MP beast first released back in 2017. I use two kit lenses with it: a Nikkor 18-55mm zoom and a Nikkor 18-140mm zoom.

And I have recently purchased an old Nikon D3000 – the last Nikon DSLR with a CCD – and will use it with a standard 18-55mm zoom lens, supplied as the standard kit lens when the D3000 was released in 2009.

There was a time when I occasionally shot 35mm film, but I have disposed of all but one of my old analogue cameras on the pretext of “decluttering”. There is still a functional Minolta Dynax 8000i tucked away in a cupboard.

So, apart from a couple of filters and a tripod, that’s about the extent of my gear!

So – again – welcome to my website – I hope you enjoy what you read and see here.