Behind the lens: Part 3
Paul Smith, born and raised an Englishman... now well and truly a kiwi in most senses of the word. Paul trained as a mechanical engineer (with a PhD in composites no less), and worked in various positions in the automotive industry, before moving to NZ and becoming a lecturer. He is now the mastermind behind Inspiring riding, and working as a freelance writer and photographer for several world-class publications.
Here he is taking a fairly relaxed approach to the job... I'm not sure if he planned it like this, or slipped on his cleats...
Either way - the photo turned out great. This is Jimmy, showing us how its done one one of several swing bridge crossings on the Heaphy track.
Also a couple more from our trip through the Heaphy, this time up on the tops after a morning of torrential rain - Mike took this great photo of Paul...
...taking the tall vertical shot... shame about the model and his poor cornering skills. If you look closely you'll notice that they both hit the shutter at the exact same moment... freaky.
It was pretty cool having two photographers shooting on the same trip, it was great to sit down at the end and compare the two different approaches and angles, often taken at the same time.
After riding the Heaphy track, we'd planned a spare day to ride a couple of lovely shortish tracks in Golden Bay. Here's Paul again, looking slightly more in control this time ...and the photo he was after. Jimmy again, cruising through some nice beech forest singletrack on our way to the Rameka.
Click on any of the slides for a larger version