Castle Hill.

Castle Hill is a really cool bouldering venue about an hours drive from Christchurch. Bouldering is a form of rock climbing where no ropes are required. Normally the 'problems' are technically difficult while remaining a safe jumping height from the ground. The reason I say 'normally' is that sometimes the tricky moves can be at a worrying height. Boulderers tend to use portable crash mats these days to avoid twisted ankles or other injuries. Bouldering was originally a form of training for real rock climbing on bigger cliffs requiring ropes and other equipment for successful ascents. These days it has evolved into a sport in its own right with comprehensive guide books for areas such as this.

This image was taken late in the afternoon in winter. An SB800 flash is used hand held by someone else about 2m to camera right (the tell tale shadow behind Iain's head shows this anyway). I adjusted the exposure without flash until I was happy with the background sky (f5.6, 1/640th, ISO200, -0.7EV, 200mm). The SB800 was set in remote mode and at manual 1/2 power.