Episode 56 - 21 July 2026

Milkyway at tora Coast, wairarapa

An outing to photograph the stunning scenery of the Wairarapa Coast of New Zealand, in particular the foregrounds to compose with the milkyway (taken from the same night).

Episode 55 - 27th April 2026

Video Clips of a walk toward mitre peak, tararuas

A few clips documenting my walk toward Mitre Peak, Wairarapa. Unfortunately I didn't get to the top due to strong winds.

Episode 54 - 5th April 2026

Video Clips of Wairarapa balloon festival 2026

A few clips documenting our experience of the Wairarapa Balloon Festival 2026.

Episode 53 - 21st March 2026

Photography Vlog: Photography Vlog: Aurora Australis from Otaki Beach, NZ

A short vlog documenting my visit to Otaki Beach to photograph what eventuated to be a small aurora (and some milkyway shots too).

Episode 52 - 21st March 2026

Photography Vlog: Photopills AR alignment with Nomad MoveShootMove | Longest Exposure Before Stars Trail at 14mm

An experiment to find out how long I can expose for with a 14mm on the Nomad Move Shoot Move before the stars start to trail when aligning with Photopills AR feature.

Episode 51 - 14th March 2026

Photography Vlog: Finding the Glendhu Coastal Rock Arch, Wairarapa

A vlog telling the events from a trip to Wairarapa to find and photograph the coastal rock arch. A beautiful natural rock formation.

Episode 50 - 4th March 2026

Photography Vlog: Magnet Shipwreck Milkyway | Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8S

A video about my trip to photograph the Magnet Shipwreck on the Wairarapa Coast with the milkyway.

Episode 49 - 29th Dec 2025

Photography Vlog: Catching the sunrise on a mountain top | Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8S

I drove and walked through the night to photograph the sunrise on Mt Ruapehu, NZ. A collection of short video clips from the day and some photos at the end. Not a lot of photography chat due to being cold, tired, not sure whether the audio would work. Instead you can see the special moment where the beautiful light touches to crater lake on top of Mt Ruapehu which is the highest mountain (and volcano) in the North Island of New Zealand

Episode 47 - 28th Dec 2025

Photography Vlog: Visiting the local birds during golden hour

A little curiosity had me visit the birds at Pauatahanui Inlet during the evening's golden hour in summer. Video features a quick look around and lots of out of focus video from the Z7ii (it seemingly cannot find the birds!) Photos as usual at the end of the video :)

Episode 46 - 4th Dec 2025

Photography Vlog: Silhouette of an airplane against the supermoon | Nikkor 180-600mm

An unsuccessful attempt at photographing the silhouette of an airplane in front of the supermoon in Wellington New Zealand. A video capturing some of my thoughts that went into planning this attempt.

Episode 45 - 28th Nov 2025

Photography Vlog: Black fronted dotterel in NZ | Nikkor 180-600mm + 2x teleconverter

A little 30min afternoon excursion to photograph the black fronted dotterel. There are a few video clips to enjoy this cute looking bird totter about too. Another successful outing with the 180-600mm + 2x teleconverter!

Episode 44 - 22nd Nov 2025

Photography Vlog: Sports - The half marathon

UV body painted model under UV light at blue hour. A little collaboration between a few creative individuals - catch us over on instagram:

💄 veronicanzmakeup_hair

👗 ginger_elle_nz

📷 @keithmolloy_photography

📷 rayansplanet

📷 luminary_night_stories or photography_by_phil_butler

Episode 43 - 16th Nov 2025

Photography Vlog: Sports - The half marathon

A quick outing to photograph people running a half marathon.

Episode 42 - 25th oct 2025

Manawatu River in Palmerston North | Landscape photography location scouting

A quick look around a couple of promising landscape photography locations overlooking the Manawatu River in Palmerston North NZ

Episode 41 - 10th oct 2025

Photography Vlog: Harvest / Super-moon Moon

An evening and early morning up photographing the super-moon

Episode 40 - 10th Oct 2025

Photography Vlog: Focus stacking a panoramic sunset | Nikkor 24-70mm

An after work visit to the beach for sunset with hopes to photograph the spring flowers and a nice sunset.

Episode 39 - 2nd oct 2025

Photography vlog: National Park Milkyway 'Photo Banking'

An early morning photography trip to collect foreground images to later compose with a milkyway sky followed by a few shots taken at sunrise.

Episode 38 - 16th Sept 2025

Photography Vlog: Mucking about for the fun of it

The title says it all :-) No thrills or knowledge gems, just me mucking about

Episode 37 - 16th Sept 2025

Photography Vlog: Milkyway at Whitireia Park | Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8S

A walk around Whitireia Park near Porirua / Wellington New Zealand taking photos of the milkyway. Nikon Z7II Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8S.

Episode 36 - 10th Sept 2025

Photography Vlog: Landscape at Ocean Beach, Wairarapa | Nikon Z 24-70mm f2.8S

A little landscape photo mission at Ocean Beach in Wairarapa NZ.

Episode 35 - 23rd August 2025

Photography Vlog: Milkyway at Pukerua Bay | Nikkor 14-24mm and Move Shoot Move star tracker.

A little vlog and instruction about taking milkyway shots with a star tracker such as the Nomad Move Shoot Move.

Episode 34 - 17th August 2025

Bird Photography - Kingfishers; what I've learnt so far | Nikkor 180-600mm 2x Teleconverter

An 'in the field' and unscripted walk through of some tips and my reflections from a relatively short journey learning to photograph kingfisher with the Nikon Z7ii and 180-600mm with and without the 2x teleconverter.

Episode 33 - 10th August 2025

A home video style documentary of scenes from our Fiji Holiday

A collection of video clips from our holiday to Fiji

Episode 32 - 10th August 2025

Photographing starfish In fiji.

I had a little photography excursion during our holiday to Fiji. Given that I had recently photographed starfish in New Zealand in my last video, I was pleased to see new starfish to photograph in Fiji.

Episode 31 - 3rd August 2025

Photographing starfish at the beach.

There's really nothing to this video, other than short clips of me photographing at the beach. Let it take you back to a time when you went looking for starfish to photograph. Get comfortable, relax and enjoy. If you're after instruction about how to photograph starfish, this isn't the video for you :)

Episode 30 - 3rd August 2025

15min Photography Challenge | Nikkor 24-70mm 2.8S

Another 15min photography challenge, this time at Pukerua Bay for sunrise with the 24-70mm 2.8S lens from Nikon.

Episode 29 - 3rd August 2025

Beach walk to find fluorescent objects under UV light

An uneventful walk in the dark shining a UV torch at objects in search of fluorescence. Inspired by  @BrendanLarsenPhotography 

Episode 28 - 31st July 2025

15min photography challenge

Location: Paraparaumu, New Zealand

There's nothing like a time constraint to put you through your paces. The 15min photo challenge starts upon arriving to a location. One lens and on the spot strategizing gets the challenge complete. Join me for another 15min photo challenge.

Episode 27 - 27th July 2025

15min photography challenge

Location: Paraparaumu, New Zealand

Landscape photography with as little as 15min!

Episode 26 - 26th July 2025

Photographing Mountains from a Distance

Location: Paraparaumu, New Zealand

A sunrise mission to photograph Mt Ruapehu from Paekakariki over 200km away.

Episode 25 - 19th July 2025

Photographing Fungi

Location: Paraparaumu, New Zealand

A blip around some nature reserves looking for mushrooms to photograph with the 105mm macro lens

Episode 24 - 15th June 2025

Photographing Birds

Location: Pauatahanui Inlet, New Zealand

Building on the last episode, putting into practice the learnings of the day and finding that there is more to learn about photographing birds. 70-200mm with the 2xTeleconverter takes my range to 400mm f5.6.

Episode 23 - 25th May 2025

Photographing Birds

Location: Pauatahanui Inlet, New Zealand

How incredible it is to zoom to 1200mm, crop and still have a usable photograph of a kingfisher. Nikon Z7ii 1200mm f13 ISO2000.

Episode 22 - 26th April 2025

Wairarapa Milky-way Chase (part 2)

Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand

The following night on ANZAC weekend I was out chasing the milkyway again, this time over at White Rock. I was very under prepared having returned home to Kapiti and left most photography bits there thinking that I had lost enough sleep this weekend.

Episode 21 - 25th April 2025

Wairarapa Milky-way Chase

Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand

Follow along with me as I photography three locations in the Wairarapa during a stunning night for viewing the milkyway. This happened to be ANZAC day, but interestingly I didn't capture footage of this scene because I got the shot in 2min of being on site, then I was back to Waiohine Gorge.

Episode 20 - 20th April 2025

Wairarapa Hot Air Balloon Chase

Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand

Over the past few years I've enjoyed chasing the hot air balloons around with the challenge of getting some great landscape shots. This year was no exception and because of poor weather I caught the only day they took flight.

Episode 19 - 15th April 2025

Photographing Birds

Location: Pauatahanui Inlet, New Zealand

Feeling a bit under the weather I set off to shoot with the Nikon 180-600mm at Pauatahanui Inlet in the hope of seeing some birds. I was hoping to see birds in flight and to be able to sneak up on them for some high detail close up shots. Unfortunately, I didn't get those results.

Episode 18 - 13th April 2025

'Pink' Full Moon Vlog

Location: Levin

A spontaneous vlog taken over a year after the last video. This episode takes me to capture the full moon rising over Tararua mountain range. I almost miss the shot because of a tree in the way!

Episode 17 - 26th November 2023

Photography of Airplanes in Flight

Location: Masterton

We went to view the Wings over Wairarapa airshow from a distance to keep the children calm. This is the first airshow I've seen, although I cannot say that I officially attended the event. This video has me photograph the planes with the Nikon 70-200mm.

Episode 16 - 19th November 2023

Rock Pool Photography Fun

Location: Pukerua Bay

I took a wander to the nearest rock pools to see what creatures and interesting subjects I could find. Photography outings can be impromptu and novel!

Episode 15 - 11th November 2023

Orb light painting

Location: Cape Palliser

I have documented my first attempts at light painting orbs with a wide angle lens to get a nightscape of Cape Palliser. Light painting is for everyone.

Episode 14 - 30th July 2023

Backyard Macro Photography

Location: Home

I had some time to much around the backyard looking for interesting things to photograph with the Nikon 105mm Macro. Funnily enough, I didn't find much on this mid-winter day!

Episode 13 - 30th July 2023

Bird Photography

Location: Waikanae Estuary

I have a go at bird photography with the Nikon 70-200mm F2.8S lens. By using the Nikon Z7II I am able to crop in a very long way to get a closer view of the birds. There are so many birds to photograph!

Episode 12 - 30th July 2023

Sunrise Vlog

Location: Waikanae Beach

A winter morning sunrise with the Nikon 35mm S lens amongst the sand dunes with views to Kapiti Island. Will the clouds change colour toward the west for the sun rising to the east? I have my fingers crossed.

Episode 11 - 22ND July 2023

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

Location: Oriental Bay, Wellington

Intentional camera movement (ICM) is an artistic style of photography. In this video I give it a go with a wide angle Nikon Z 14-24mm lens on a cloudy Wellington day.

Episode 10 - 18th July 2023

Planning Aurora Photography.

Location: Nil.

A quick look at the flow I take for checking conditions and planning when I see there may be an aurora to photograph. This video looks at the apps I use.

Episode 9 - 26th June 2023

Landscape photography at the beach.

Locations: Hokio Beach & Pukerua Bay

Chilling out with photography at Hokio Beach with the 70-200mm and a flash back to a recent attempt at milky-way photography at Pukerua Bay using the 14-24mm lens.

Episode 8 - 21st May 2023

Daylight Long exposure photography

Location: Pukerua Bay

I'm out on a little escape to Pukerua Bay in the middle of the day. I've taken the 35mm, tripod and variable ND filter to try my luck at seascape long exposures. It was nice to have some choppy water.

Episode 7 - 8th April 2023

Hot Air Balloon Festival and Landscape Photography

Location: Wairarapa

I challenged myself to photograph hot air balloons in a landscape scene. It was a little race against the balloons as they did travel relatively faster than the time I took to compose and satisfy myself with the composition.

Episode 6 - 19 March 2023

Nikon Z 105mm & 35mm for landscapes

Location: Manawatu Gorge

An impromptu video to fill in time had me walk part way up the Manawatu Gorge keeping an eye out for photo opportunities.

Episode 5 - 18 Jan 2023

Photographing Rock-pools with an Ultra-Wide Angle Lens

Location: Red Rocks, Wellington

To make the most of the summer evening after a wedding rehearsal I went for a wander down the coastal beach toward Red Rocks, Wellington. It's my first visit and I wanted to check out the rock pools. I took the 14-24mm lens. Enjoy!

Episode 4 - 8 Jan 2023

Photographing a Rocky Seascape

Location: SH59 Between Pukerua Bay & Paekakariki

After a cold southerly front has passed through and the waters settle, I race out for an evening seascape photography mission. The mission is to use the rocky shoreline to frame Kapiti Island. Enjoy!

Episode 3 - 3 Jan 2023

GoPro for landscape photography?

Location: Waikanae Estuary, Kapiti

I set out on a photography mission into conditions which only a GoPro should - on the water! GoPros aren't typically used for landscape photography and having had a play, realise that is for a good reason. All things not helped by a lack of interesting scenes above or blow water. Enjoy floating about with me whilst I have a look around.

Episode 2 - 2 Jan 2023

Photographing a Rugged Coastline

Location: Mākara Beach, Wellington

Episode 2 takes us to Mākara Beach, Wellington to practice landscape photography where the coastline is rugged and beautiful. Enjoy!

nb. The audio off the GoPro is unfortunately degraded by the wind 'noise' (to be improved upon in future videos).

Episode 1 - 1 Jan 2023

Photography on a narrow hiking track

Location: Kapiti Escarpment Track

This is the very first adventure photography video where Phil shares his small photography adventure (and a lot of stair climbing). It's an early morning start and a steep and narrow track, but a nice way to see in the New Year. The landscape compositions are of the swing bridges along this track. Phil learns to grapple with talking to the camera - it's a good practice for videos to come. Enjoy!