Mac's

©Nicole Barker

I'm getting restless having stayed in the same "town" for 7 weeks so I was looking through travel photos and found this frame from a pub in Auckland.

Heaps of Dead Wild Pigs

©Nicole Barker
I love me some bloody carcass after a wild pig hunt!
PS - Every title I could think of for this blog sounded like a death metal band name.

Kaikoura races

©Nicole Barker

Wanna seal?

©Nicole Barker

Shamless Self Promotion

©Nicole Barker
I'm making bookings for my wedding photography services for 2009 both in the states and abroad, so if you know of someone getting hitched please refer them to me or vice versa. I employ a documentary shooting style and specialize in creative portraiture.
Thanks much! Or, as they say in NZ, "Ta!"

Abel Tasman

©Nicole Barker

Hiked my first of the Great Walks with my now good friend Mister Matt Mock of Boulder, Colo. We drank copious amounts of tube coffee, a brilliant yet disgusting concoction of sugar, cream, salt and coffee paste that you "mix" with hot water.
Also made the acquaintance of the Taz Man, a legendary fallacious brah hailing from Tijuana via Cleveland. Stay crazy in the NZ!
And about the photo; Tannins color the tidal streams red. Tannins are what make your wine tanniny.

Nelson, the Eugene of NZ

©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker

Saint Oswalds, Wharanui

Wanaka

©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker

Franz Joseph Glacier

©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker

Queenstown balls

©Nicole Barker

Raglan

©Nicole Barker
Justin Jones

©Nicole Barker
The Beach


©Nicole Barker
The bowl.

Bay of Islands

©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker
This dude lives on a tiny island nowhere near civilization. Each morning he takes his dog out for a ride.



©Nicole Barker
Quicksand makes for a treturous drive along the official beach highway.


©Nicole Barker
This is Gayle from London. We ride the bus a lot. She bakes me scones and makes me cups of tea.

Otago, 21 - Manukau, 8

©Nicole Barker
Rugby is a lot like american football, but it's bloody violent, the athletes are far hotter and the uniforms are much more attractive. All of which amounts to better images.

Downtown Auckland, New Zealand

©Nicole Barker
Here’s a reflection of the Sky Tower, which has obvious similarities to Seattle’s Space Needle. It’s both mall and tourist trap built into one tall spiky building, so I couldn’t care less. Though it is adjacent to my backpacker and thus proved to be an excellent land mark while making me way home after an unsuccessful day of trying to hike the coast to coast walkway. Turns out the path doesn’t actually exist, save it be for a handful of arrows spread out over 16 kilometers. We did find our way to the top of Mt. Eden, Auckland’s highest natural point. Why pay 18NZ to take a lift to the top of the needle when you can forgo even bus fare to trek across the city only to end up on top of an urban volcano?
That’s what I thought.

Embers, Downtown Portland, Oregon

©Nicole Barker
Happy Birthday to me! And no, that is not me on the right. I'm behind the camera, duh.

Sea stars

©Nicole Barker
Lincoln Beach, Oregon
Had to convince this random dude that yes, the starfish was still alive, and no, he shouldn't take it home. Luckily D-harmony, who took 14 credits in marine biology, was there to back me up.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

©Nicole Barker
Swingers!

Cascades Cycling Classic

©Nicole Barker
Shot this while fighting the downtown Bend traffic to get a slice of Mondo.

The lady and the Bachelor

©Nicole Barker
Floating Elk Lake below the west side of Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon.

Hood River Sandbar

© Nicole Barker
Kiteboarding in the Gorge. Someday I'd like to specialize in outdoor rec photography and shoot for the likes of Patagonia and Outside magazine. Sigh.

Independent

©Nicole Barker
Fourth of July fireworks courtesy the city of Hood River.

Media Rant

RANT #1- Yet another reason to not watch Fox "news":
In effort to demonize their critics, Fox News manipulated head shots of NY Times reporter
Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe.
Which part of the world do these guys look like they're from in the "demonized" version? You guessed it! The mideast.

RANT #2 - Getty Images photojournalist Brent Stirton said in a CNN interview that the Virunga mountain gorilla slaughter is the "most sobering" tragedy he's ever witnessed in Africa. Are you kidding me? I'm all for wildlife protection, but I'm pretty sure the millions of starving people dying from AIDS in war-ravaged "countries" would beg to differ with you Stirton.

RANT #3 - According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 129 journalists have been killed in the five-year Iraq war. Not to mention the 5,000ish American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Iraq has been named the most dangerous place to report from. Partly because reportage, visual and otherwise, is being censored by Uncle Sam.

Catch and Release

©Nicole Barker
My "dad" (not Jerry Dad, but my other dad, also named Jerry) is teaching me to be an angler. Friday he pulled a Peter a la Office Space and ditched work to fish the Quartzville creek. I didn't catch anything, but it was nice just to be in the river. Achievement of the day was never going for a swim, though my knees are all bruised up from falling on my face while trying to wade through rapids. Lesson of the day was don't hide thousands of dollars worth of camera on the bank before wading down river. It's really hard to find later.

Oregornia

© Nicole Barker
Here's a dad teaching his son to catch a wave. The lil' guy did stand up but I was slacking pretty heavily. My 4-year-old niece said she'll be surfing by the time she's 7. Girl's fearless.
Had a nice couple days surfing Otter Rock sans booties, hood and gloves. Felt like California 'cause the first day was the warmest weather I've experienced at the Oregon Coast. Second was Surfrider's International Surf Day and it was the most crowded I've ever seen.

Silver Creek Falls, Ore.

©Nicole Barker

Designer puppies

©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker
Bosley the puggle meets Bastion the boston terrier.

NYC

©Nicole Barker
Heading home from Charlotte, NC.


©Nicole Barker
China town.


©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker
MoMA


©Nicole Barker
Borough Hall, Brooklyn.

San Jose to New York City via Subaru

©Nicole Barker
Sierra Nevadas. Amy likes rocks.


©Nicole Barker
Red Rocks, Colorado. Amy really likes rocks.


©Nicole Barker


©Nicole Barker
Pennsylvania was a sight for sore eyes after a mind-numbing drive across the midwest.


© Nicole Barker
Any town, USA
We sung every patriotic song we could think of. So, a total of three.

Trip highlights include:
- dodging deadly tornadoes across the midwest and reading about how many they killed in the next morning's paper.
- listening to rap artists in correspondence with which city we were closest to (i.e. Kanye in Chicago, Bone Thugs in Cleveland).
- balsamic vinegar and rosemary potato chips from Boulder
- taking more than three hours to get from downtown Chicago to our NW Chicago hotel due to the car being impounded and getting lost both walking and driving in the middle of the night.
- singing and dancing, whilst driving, to: Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" and "Naughty Girl", Craig Morgans' "A Little Bit of Life", Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" and M.I.A.
- Best quote of the trip: "Yeah but you can't fit a dead deer in the back of a Prius."
- Des Moines, Iowa was a particularly interesting night. Our hotel window was about 12 feet from the McDonalds' drive through. I, not wanting to eat that crap, went to the next closest eatery and thus patronized a Nascar booty bar. Though alone, I was comforted by the campanionship of waitresses more scantily-clad than those at Hooters plus the gentleman who frequent such establishments.
- Sitting in traffic for an hour on the interstate in Omaha. Nebraska and Iowa proved to be particularly dismal states.
- In Sidney, NE we received directions to our hotel in regard to where the WalMart resides. Also, being mistaken for suits from Cabella's (Welook far from Cabella-y. We look even less corporate-y). I learned that Cabella's is not an Italian restaurant.
- Getting lost driving a California-plated car in downtown Manhattan.
- Seeing Monica, Krista, our parents, Erin and Katie Hale. Thank you everyone for your hospitality.

Hayward Field, Oogena

© Nicole Barker

early light + yellow landing pad + crop happy = eh

I flashbacked to college while shooting prep state track and field championships in Eugene. Ironically, as a student I got to shoot higher-caliber collegiate sports and meets like the Pre Classic.
It was strange shooting in a herd of photojournalists again. In Eastern Oregon I was a big fish in a small pond. In civilization I'm just a little tadpole.
It didn't go so great. I got yelled at by an OSAA dude (unwarranted), received embarassing advice from a colleague (warranted) and missed two first place victories for one of the teams I was covering. I'm such a grom.
I did, however, get to eat Pegasus' teriyaki chicken and pineapple pizza, meet the entire Hidle clan and catch up with one of my favorite professors.