What's the Story? A Photography Post

This is a copy of a blog post I did on my other blog earlier in the week, however over the past 12 months I have really been enjoying my journey with my camera and photography so I have decided to start sharing this part of my creative journey more here on this blog.

What's the Story - Is actually the name of a weekly link up party that allows you to share a photo and the story behind it.  So I am linking up with this site today.

This photo was taken the 4th day of our New Zealand holiday and my birthday.  It is probably instantly recognizable to those Lord of the Ring and Hobbit Fans out there.

These are photos from Hobbinton, the location of one of the LOTR and Hobbit Movie sets and the now very popular tourist attraction just outside of Mata Mata New Zealand.

It truly was a magical place to spend my birthday and it just so happens (I found out while on the tour) that this particular day of the year was also Hobbit Day.  I share my birthday with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.  The attention to detail around the set is quite breathtaking from the garden plantings, to light fittings, window trinkets, patchwork quilts airing on the fences, painted mailboxes, clothes lines to smoke pouring from the small chimney on the hill tops. You could explore here for hours however with approx 1000 visitors a day, time was limited per tour.  Just enough to have you falling in love and wanting to come back again soon.

Our fabulous guides were full of informative and interesting facts about the making of the movie and the set, including why this particular location was chosen, the desirable attributes they were looking for when casting actors and how certain effects throughout the movie were made.

The Green Dragon Inn, Stone Bridge and Water Mill

The setting was so picturesque and there were so many highlights for me personally on this tour.  One of them was being able to walk inside the Green Dragon Inn and order a cool cider/ale and enjoy a piece of Birthday Cake in honor of Hobbit Day with two of my most favorite people in the world.

If you are ever in New Zealand it is definitely worth a visit!