John Cosgrove

Started writing again after a long break away from this blog, things have been okay with just a small amount of work in Dunedin. I had good clients last year but this year only have one, need to think more about marketing myself as a PJ editorial photographer but would really like to move in the direction of teaching photography.

Kath and her RedCross team practicing their water crossing techniques in a shallow Taieri River at Outrum.

Still traveling a lot around the countryside shooting farming photos for CountryWide Magazine, Terry, the editor’s a good bloke.

Some of the assignments:

Croyden Aircraft company hanger at Gore - full of old planes - really cool.

Lamb sale in the rain at balclutha

Deer Farm near Wanaka

Autumn farming near Poolburn in Central Otago

Anyway my days have been occupied with research – research and a lot more research for a book I am writing on New Zealand’s WW2 war photographers working with the 2 NZEF, yes we actually had a couple of official and a few semi or unofficial snappers but compared to the aussie army (200) and the other allied forces (50,000) we only had a few (2). However it has been fun researching them and I am still looking for more info – it’s kinda therapeutic as it keeps me thinking positively while under employed. A lot more research still has to be done as I have already written about 80,000 words so far for 10 chapters on the subjects. I am now writing the proposal to the NZ Army to support the project in 2014.

The photographers targeted include George Kaye, George Bull, Harold Paton, Merv Elias, John Pascoe and George Silk.
Been out interviewing old soldiers at RSA’s and now need to travel north to spend some time at the national archives in Wellington, Auckland and Waiouru if I can find someone to pay for it all.But it’s been a lot of fun getting this far and the stories I have found make for an interesting volume.

We had a our first dumping of snow yesterday, a good 3- 6 inches up here on the slopes of hills surrounding Dunedin, which was kind a fun for about 1 hour then it got too cold to appreciate anymore, nipped out with Kacy to shoot when the sun briefly came out then it returned to its usual dull and sleety day. Today it’s shining outside and the snow is melting away fast –typical.

It was good that the snow held off until Tuesday as I covered the annual Twin Peaks Battle Tab conducted by Bravo Coy 2/4 Bn RNZIR here in Dunedin over the weekend: 26kms up and down the two summits twice, not for me as my old war injury is playing up now that it’s a bit colder and I can’t run or climb stairs any more too well.

Another subject snapped in the last week was the annual Ironman 4x4 rally hosted by the Landrovers Owners Club of Dunedin. It had been raining all week and on the day it rained heavily which was great for the competitors but bad for keeping the gear clean and dry. While I got muddy I still got some cool pictures, which was kinda fun as I have started shooting video of everything I cover these days. Brought a small HD Sony handicam and now are working my way through its limitations while teaching myself how to use Corel Video editor.

Already posted a couple of videos on YouTube on the Ironman 4x4 and Twin peaks Battle Tab and had one brought by Farmers Weekly.

Learning how to shot both cameras at the same time which is a struggle at times but it’s fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx31IVPx1ac

Stay well

JohnC

The past weekend was one of ups and downs, I worked real hard juggling the load of servicing four different clients all while trying to maintain a good coverage of events at the same time
They were all fun events, the national young farmers competition final at the stadium (was interested to see how they would do it without the usual mud, digging and heavy machinery), the 4OSR annual Twin Peaks Battle Tab 27 kms long race held in the hills behind Dunedin, all the action at the Rally of Otago as well as servicing my other client, the DCC.
The rally and battle tab were the most fun and on the rally I met some real nice photogs, makes a change from the usual wannabes you find on some events, these guys like neil, ewan and john were all dedicated shooters with heaps of talent and willing to chat and learn from each.
As to the rally it was good to see the usual suspects trying hard but what was also cool was to see some more veteran machines other than the usual BDA Escorts, Nissan's or Toyota's, they were V8's, a Holden Monaro and a Ford XT GTO belonging to a couple of Aussie drivers who punted their charges around the dirt roads for fun, everyone enjoyed the howling V8's and the wicked slides they produced on the corners.

Speaking of corners I found one which allowed me to get in close to produce some amazing angle shots as the drivers climbed up them. I shot it using rear curtain sync at 1/250th of a sec. One even smashed a TV cameraman's polarising filter, ah the joys of shooting rally. Above the talented young driver Sloan Cox leaps through the corner.