Some thoughts... on New Zealand

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As I sit here, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, trying to come up with something new for today's article, I decided to talk about my most recent trip to New Zealand. All of these shots are in Auckland, by far New Zealand's largest city. A city that is at once very busy, like any other large metropolitan area in the world, but manages to maintain the Kiwis relaxed attitude to life and huge sense of fun.

Unfortunately I had commited the ultimate film photography sin, and I hadn't taken enough film, and I had finished that in the first week of being in the country. (These shots are to follow... once I get around to developing the film... I'm very lazy when it comes to sending the things off).
We were only there for two nights, as we were on our way back to London, via San Francisco. But we managed to cram in a lot in that short time. We managed to get all the sights that we missed from our previous visit in 2018.

When you are on the streets of Auckland, you can feel the city's vibrancy in the air as you can see influences from across the globe.

When you meet and chat to people in Auckland and New Zealand as whole, you get to realise how many of them had ancestors from all across the United Kingdom and just how much of an impact my country has had on their nation, for better or for worse.

But, now that New Zealand is part of the wider world, you can see just how much of an impact the Asian world is having on New Zealand, with all the street food shops that are available, offering everything from Chinese to Indian food.

While in one of bookstores there I discovered a photographer whom I not heard of. A guy called Craig Potton (Woo hoo, new photobook!), 
as a Kiwi artist,  his body of work is almost exclusively made in New Zealand, and features some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world that I have ever seen. Having said that, New Zealand packs in a lot of scenery in its two small islands. It's as if God decided to cram in all of the scenery in Europe into two islands. One day I'll get see all of these beautiful sights. New Zealand is a truly beautiful, amazing and friendly place. 

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