10stopphotography

04/10/2026

It's a big one!

It snuck out of the shipyard at night. In 2022 Koru was moved from Alblasserdam to Rotterdam through the Dutch canal network, and it slipped away in the dead of night to avoid attention.

A city nearly took apart a landmark bridge for it. Koru was too tall to fit under the Koningshavenbrug, a historic bridge in Rotterdam. The Dutch government was accused of bending the rules by allowing the bridge to be temporarily dismantled for the yacht. In the end that turned out not to be needed.

The figurehead looks like the owner's wife. The bow carries a mermaid-style sculpture that reportedly resembles Lauren Sánchez.

It's too tall for its own helipad. The masts left no room for a helicopter, so a separate support yacht costing about US$75 million carries the helipad instead.

Its tracker went dark. Koru's AIS tracker was switched off for long stretches in its first summer, possibly to avoid attention.

It's too big for the superyacht berths. When it first reached Florida, no marina could take it, so it was moored at the Port of Everglades next to cruise ships and oil tankers.

Its fame became its problem. Part of the reported reason Bezos wants to sell is that the yacht is now so well known that it gives him hardly any privacy.

The name has a Kiwi link. The koru, the unfurling fern frond, represents new life, growth, strength and peace. That fits a yacht Bezos waited five years to receive.
Currently based in Auckland

Shot on the Fujifilm X100VI

SuperYacht World

30/09/2026

Podcast with Rajeev.

You don't need a camera that shoots 40 frames a second to photograph a mountain. The mountain isn't going anywhere. ☕

I had a great chat with Rajeev at Photocountry about slowing everything down, and about the gear question I get asked most. My answer hasn't changed:

"Invest in what you actually shoot, not what you think you might shoot."

(My bank balance learned that one the hard way.)

The full feature is live now 👇
https://www.photocountry.co/p/chipping-away-with-wayne-boardman

So be honest: what's the one piece of gear you bought for the shots you thought you'd take? 😅

Photocountry

Landscape Photographer, Auckland

18/09/2026

Wasn't expecting much, but as always, Auckland delivered.

St Marys Bay, five minutes apart. First shot's a 60-second exposure through a 10-stop ND long enough that the sky just gave up and turned to soup. Pulled it back to 30 seconds for the second and the clouds actually held their shape for once.

Half the job is just showing up and hoping. This one paid off.

06/09/2026

Hoturoa was the commander of the Tainui waka, one of the great migratory canoes that brought Māori to Aotearoa from Hawaiki. As the saying goes, "Ko Tainui te waka; ko Hoturoa te tangata" — Tainui is the canoe, Hoturoa is the man. He's the founding ancestor of the Tainui people, whose descendants today include Ngāti Maniapoto and the tribes of Waikato, Hauraki, and Ngāti Raukawa.

The voyage itself
The Tainui crossing wasn't smooth. It departed Hawaiki on what was considered an inauspicious night for sailing Tamatea, the night of the new moon, known for wind and storms. When his people warned him about the timing, Hoturoa is said to have replied, "Let me and Tamatea fight it out at sea." As they tried to leave the lagoon, the way out was blocked by rough seas and a sacred tree, until the priest Ngātoro-i-rangi sang an incantation that calmed the waters and let them pass.

Arriving at Waiake
As Tainui made its way around the coast and into the Auckland region, tradition holds that Hoturoa guided the waka into the Waiake Lagoon what's now known as Deep Creek, right by the beach where the Tor sits because it offered safe anchorage. From there, Tāmaki Māori settlement in the area grew, with many of the earliest people identifying as Ngā Oho. The headland near the Tor itself later became the site of a pā (fortified village), showing just how significant this stretch of coast was to those early communities.

So the connection isn't a myth about the Tor specifically it's that the Tor sits at the edge of one of the actual landing and settlement points of one of New Zealand's founding voyaging traditions. Worth noting the Moeroa story is the one directly tied to the rock itself, while Hoturoa's story gives the wider bay its place in the deeper migration history.

30/08/2026

Watched the sunrise alone at Murray's Bay this morning and thought of Jo. It's been a year since she lost her sight, and my life has completely changed because of her. Not in the way you might expect. She's taught me to notice things I used to walk straight past the warmth of the sun before you even realise it's risen, the sound of the water before you see it. I found myself imagining this sunrise through her eyes, except she'll never see it again. Just the colours. But the warmth, I like to think that part is still hers. Some things you don't need your eyes for.

Jo, this one's for you.

23/08/2026

Alarm went off at 5:00am. Not because I had to because I wanted to.
There’s a whole ritual that happens before a sunrise shoot that most people never see. It starts the night before, scrolling through multiple different weather apps that never quite agree with each other. Then the tide charts, because a low tide on this stretch of coast means exposed rock and reflections; a high tide means none of that composition exists.
Then the gear batteries charged, memory cards cleared, filters cleaned, tripod checked, everything laid out by the door so I don’t have to think to much in the morning.

Driving out in the dark, there’s always a moment of doubt. Is the cloud cover going to break at the right time? Is this drive about to be for nothing? You can do everything right read every model, time it against every tide table and the sky still might not show up for you.

That’s honestly what keeps me coming back. Photography like this isn’t just pointing a camera at a nice view. It’s reading the conditions, understanding the coastline, knowing where the light is going to land before it lands there and then accepting that a good chunk of it is out of your hands.
This morning it came together. But I’ve had just as many mornings where I packed up and drove home with nothing, and that’s part of the deal.
What’s your process before a shoot do you plan it out or just go with the flow?

Photogear

18/08/2026

Four Minutes at Narrow Neck

Sunday morning, Narrow Neck Beach, looking out towards Rangitoto.

GFX on the tripod, 23mm, 10-stop filter on. Rocks underfoot, water just starting to catch the light. Once the filter's on, the viewfinder goes black you're shooting on trust, not sight.

Set the exposure. Hit the shutter. Four minutes.

That's the part nobody sees just standing there on the rocks, camera doing the work, waiting on the shutter to count down while the sky moves and the water settles.

By the time it closed, the whole frame had changed. Clouds dragged into long streaks above the mountain. Water gone completely flat. Rangitoto didn't move it never does.

Second weekend in a row out shooting. Christchurch last week, home turf this one. I just now need to keep it up!

13/08/2026

This shot's almost beside the point, honestly. What mattered was three days in Christchurch with Paul, talking photography at the NZIPP conference.

Taken at New Brighton Pier, for what it's worth. Setting the camera up was its own saga hadn't touched it in about 12 months, so I had to set the date and time like it was brand new, every setting reset to default. Very, very rookie mistake. Should know better after all these years, but there you go.

Didn't actually have cameras out the whole time either. Only got out shooting the one evening. Another night we went for dinner instead, Two Fat Brits doing some real damage to the menu at Two Fat Indians.

First time I've been away for more than one night since Jo's stroke. Hadn't really left her side before this. Rachel, (Jo's sister), came up to stay while I was gone, which made it so much easier to properly switch off instead of half being there, half worrying the whole time.

Turns out it really is good for the soul. Good for the mental health too.

Thanks Paul Reiffer and Thank you Rachel 'Adams' Hearfield