Posted on 1 Comment

Action Packed Weekends

Taking photos and making videos is fun, that’s why I do it. Doing it consistently is key as well as making it interesting.

Forest blog

I set out about two years to do exactly that. Keeping it interesting isn’t that difficult, I get around the place and have interests in a few things, so consider that box ticked.

Consistent “constantly adhering to the same principles, course, form, etc.” I feel this is the biggest thing to building a platform especially in this modern, internet based age where everything is at your fingertips. This doesn’t mean it’s hard, it’s just a lot of work! I’ve never kept count but there’s certainly a few hours tied up in the Adobe suite each week.

2 x Whale blog

The last weeks vlogs are of course out on time and very interesting. Saturday saw a dive that wasn’t the most productive and a freezing shoot with the drone

Sunday! Boy oh boy was it interesting. Whales, surfing, skimming and laughing. How your Sunday should be

Cheers to the last and here’s to more content!

Omaha Pano cold blog

See you at the beach.

-Sam

Posted on

June You Sexy Thing!

Last Winter was a real buzz. I’m not quite sure why but maybe it’s the cold water and the lack of people out there enjoying it.

The month of June has just passed and it was right up there in terms of enjoyment, I’m talking wayyy up there! Find out what went down below

Vlog of the month

Pic of the month

Blue Cape blog

July is already off to a ripper of a start. Picture Southern Right Whales 😉

See you at the beach!

-Sam

Posted on

Feeling Good Man!

I’m feeling good man.

This coming week, on Monday, is the three month mark without an alcoholic drink. I don’t really consider this a particularly big deal but I do put it down to feeling so good.

Just go blog

Fitness and health is such a huge part of my life and it’s something I don’t give much thought to. Several years ago and more specifically the last couple, I made the conscious decision that to operate at a high level consistently, then I had to be fit and healthy.

Day in, day out, what do I have to lose?

Nothing. That’s what! Good food and physical activity, day in, day out is key. I hit the gym a few times a week but I really feel strongly about having physical hobbies and lifestyle.

Eating well is probably harder than staying active but with so much fresh fish at my disposal and an interest in good food makes this a fairly straight forward transaction.

How do we push fit and healthy lifestyles to people who simply don’t want to hear it? It’s a tough one, as most in the fitness game think gym selfies and general douchebag tendencies is what’s needed.

It isn’t.

While I would love to get into it I feel it would be better suited to a podcast topic at a later date but I am well aware it is bloody hard to push fitness and health without coming off as arrogant or full of yourself. I realised this (again) when I tried to film a little segment in last weekends vlog and had to do several takes because self confidence, especially in our tall poppy chopping society of New Zealand doesn’t allow this talk. Find the vlog below

Sunday was Tugg day once again with a fun session even in partial sunlight. Then I went to shoot some drone shots in severe wind

That’s it for the weeks blog, I could have very easily rambled for hours about my true thoughts on fitness and health but I will save it for another time.

Sloth Tugg blog

I’m feeling good man.

See you at the beach!

-Sam

Posted on

Adventure NZ Podcast #1 Adventureman Dan

The topics of podcasts has been something I’ve taken particular interest in for a few years now. To be perfectly honest I don’t watch (if we’re talking video) or listen to too many but I get quite into the ones I do.

I’ve wanted to do one for a couple of years, every so often I’d think about. More recently I’ve thought about it a lot more and realised it was time to pull the trigger.

Seek blog

First up we have a friend of mine I finally managed to catch up with after a few months of contact. I would love to fill you in with words but that would defeat the purpose of the podcast wouldn’t it. Dan is from America and is somewhat of a skilled and very enthusiastic spearfisherman with plenty of great things to say about New Zealand.

Dan blog 2

 

Find the video podcast below

And even a downloadable (I think) Soundcloud link

We spent a few days tripping about in the far north, you can find the adventure on OXS TV here or on the blog post from the trip.

On a serious note I have penciled this podcast in for a once a month type thing which I feel is achievable. I would love to feature people with opinions, interests and skills that suit the Adventure NZ tag so feel free to nominate someone! I already have a few people lined up. I’ve figured it’ll take a while to find my feet with this but it’s going to be a blast!

See you at the beach.

-Sam

Posted on 1 Comment

The Mice Played

Mid week last week rolled around and it was time to hit the road again. The team of Mice, consisting of my Dad, Uncle, a friend from America and myself were heading north for a few days of fun, in and on the water. The cat (my Mum) was heading south for a weekend doing whatever cats do.

Dan dunes blog

A long drive on Thursday night brought me to Houhora in good spirits and good weather.

Friday morning we got out on the water for a very green and quiet spear. The afternoon could be the most scenic and enjoyable few hours I’ve had lately. Check it

North Cape was Saturdays destination. North Cape is more north than Cape Reinga in case you didn’t know. We dove there at New Years with some bronzies. We ate shark on Saturday. Find it here

Sunday was moving day and a rather spontaneous filming of my first video podcast which I believe will be live this Sunday

I’ve shot a heeeeap of images up north in the last couple of weeks so I will think I will throw together a separate blog post featuring them as well as a couple of videos.

Cape blue blog

Stay tuned for the podcast. I will see you at the beach!

-Sam

Posted on

The Wild Horses Of Spirits Bay

Horses are funny creatures. Most are contained to a paddock, forced to be ridden by us humans. The lucky few are let to roam free, exploring the wide open expanses of the country side without a care in the world (I assume).

Horses 2 blog

I’ve visited Spirits Bay in the far north of New Zealand many times now and have seen a horse or two on most of these visits. Once or twice they’ve even been standing in the middle of the road.

On this day they were perched high up on the cliffs just standing and watching. I popped the drone up in the air expecting them to scarper like domesticated horses do and nothing. They did nothing. One battery of shooting later and I had this little production below which I feel is possibly my best work to date!

I am super happy with the results, they only thing I wish I could change is that I shot another batteries worth of footage. You can see the vlog from the day here

Please feel free to share this clip around!

Horses 4 blog

See you at the beach.

-Sam

Posted on

268

But what does it meeeean? The number 268 has no real significance to anything really, i just Googled it. In this case however it is the total number of uploaded videos I have through my two YouTube channels.

Thunder 1 resize

If you follow me on either my main or my second “vlogging” channel then you will know I do like to keep active. I set out about two years ago to produce content on a consistent and reliable basis. To date this has been successful but very tough. Very, very tough.

The workflow and level of button pushing per week is large. I manage I feel because I don’t watch TV at night, drink beers or put my feet up. It helps I live alone and most of all I love it! This is how I prefer to spend my evenings, editing!

Right edit blog

The last week has been up there again with the level of button pushing. I have already blogged about a Snapper snoop from Matauri Bay, as well as edited up a drone clip from up north Queens Birthday weekend which is live on Monday. I had to pull finger there as I’m away in the north again 🙂 and won’t be back until Sunday.

Anyway last Saturday saw some waves. Waves! There’s hardly been any out east this year

Sunday it was back in the water, with some laughs with my youngest and best team rider. I also shot some great shots of a Thundercat! I reaaaaally want to shoot some drone footage of these guys so keep an eye out!

If you would like to follow me on YouTube you can click the pictures below as well as see a few statistics

Main channel

OXS Main Crop

Second channel

OXS TC Crop

As mentioned I’m currently up north doing a bit of diving and media capturing. See you when I get a back!

-Sam

 

 

Posted on

My #1 Reason Why I Love Aerial Photography

I’ve been flying and shooting with drones for coming up two years now and love it. I love being able to put the camera in the air and follow things about. Flying that little (in the case a Phantom) machine about really does draw a lot of attention, which oddly enough is the least interesting part of it to me.

The how far, how much does it cost, what do you do with the photos etc etc type question do get pretty old, pretty quick.

While they are incredible pieces of tech, my main and number one point of interest from the very start, was being able to put a camera in a place I physically can’t get to. This image of the wild horses at Spirits Bay in the far north really got me thinking about this. I was about 100m below and 300m away when I shot this. I certainly wasn’t prepared to get too close in person for the fear of being stampeded. Do horses even do that? Unless I had an actual helicopter and a huge lens, there was no real way to get this snap without a drone. The weird thing is that they weren’t bothered the slightest by this little machine buzzing about.

Horse view blog

I wouldn’t be able to get this shot any other (realistic) way and holds true for so many images. Here’s a couple more of my favourites.

Cliff Top blogWhale Chris blogCauseway 3 resize

I’m dropping a 4K edit of these horses on Monday so you can hold your breath until then. Or just browse my YouTube channel while you wait.

See you at the beach!

-Sam

Posted on

Snooping The Snaps

Ahh yes Snapper. The kiwi favourite, found in abundance and targeted by fisherman and spearfisherman everywhere.

While they are pretty straight forward to catch on a rod, underwater it’s a different story. Spooky is the best way to sum them up. You have to see them before they see you, most of the time.

I say most of the time because the first time I swam over this ledge I spotted it and I’m pretty sure it spotted me. A quick little burley, a new angle of attack and BAM! Check it below

Beautiful eating as you more than likely know. You can find the full trip in last weeks blog post hereeeeeeeee

See you at the beach!

-Sam

Posted on

Making A Long Weekend Even Longer

Who gets a long weekend for their birthday? The Queen that’s who. Keeping in mind, this long weekend isn’t actually her birth date (April 21st which also clashes with mine) which is kind of strange.

I was eyeing up this three day celebration for some time. An invite to a 30th birthday celebration at Matauri Bay and a passable weather forecast had my name stamped on it. Friday morning saw our first frost of the Winter. I took special note of this as I threw my tent into my ute.

Matauri Sunset blog

Arriving at Matuari Bay a shade after 4pm I got settled in and helped set up camp. Gladly there was room inside and even a heater for the night!

One thing to note at Maturi Bay is all the petty theft. Ongoing reports at the campground mean put your stuff away and lock your vehicles. It’s a sad but harsh truth of the place. I recall going there several years ago, parking up at the beach and walking south. According to the man who come spoke to us that we were on the wrong end of the beach and had to go the other way.

Early start on Saturday for sunrise and a dive. The first weekend vlog is action from Saturday and Sunday. I’m holding some footage of the wild horse for another edit

Monday the forecasted weather hit for the little trip to the Cape and a dive at Spirits Bay

After all my trips to the Cape I can’t believe I never walked down that track!

Tuesday was the trek home in very average weather and surf checks

This week was also the week I gave away the canvas pano of Omaha. Congrats again to Debbie Crane!

Name edit

That’s it for this week, back in the groove and working on a lot of content. A LOT!

See you at the beach!

-Sam