… Hobbit Town photos mystery solved….

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The two photos above one apparently of the same scene - appear to confirm that the Hobbit Town photos published this morning by the Dominion are indeed real - even if they do look a little too toy townish.

A photographer who said he took the Dominion's pics – Simon – rang Scoop this afternoon in protest at Scoop’s reporting of story.

He said he took the snaps four weeks ago for the Daily Mirror and had hired a helicopter especially for the purpose.

Shooting from 500 ft up he had taken three rolls of film of Peter Jackson's set. The fine detail shown in the photos was due to the fact he had used a very long lens, he said.

Explaining the long delay in appearance of the second shot in public, Simon – who did not wish to give a second name – said he had been waiting for the magazines to have first crack at them. There were are further eight photographs in the series and he thought the New Zealand Herald and Waikato Times were intending to run some of them.

Simon said the Hobbit Village looked from the air like the set from the English kids programme Telly Tubbies.

Scoop’s content partner http://theonering.net further corroborated Simon’s story this afternoon saying that the gate-keeper on the Waikato property was fairly ropable about a helicopter overflying the site when they visited.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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