New Zealand
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Most of my time at Muriwai is spent in the northern part of the beach, focusing on the rock pillars that make up the gannet colony or the rock plateau that people fish from. But, in this outing I walked into the unknown area of southern Muriwai, an area that requires scrambling over rocks and timing the tides to ensure one can get there and back without issue. It provided a different--and good--vantage point to watch the sun dip below the horizon. Just moment before that happened, I captured this image. I loved the curvy line of wet sand created by the receding waves, the reflected color on the remaining water, and the smoothness of the rocks in the foreground.
Rotorua is a center of geothermal activity near the middle of New Zealand's north island. I've had the opportunity to visit on a few different occasions, and really quite like the place. There's lots to do there, but for me the highlight is Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland, where I took this image. This private attraction has several places to witness the geothermal activity of the region first hand. Each time I'm in Rotorua, I head here first thing in the morning, so I can photograph it before the sun gets too high and before too many people arrive. I've enjoyed each opportunity to set up my tripod here, though a wind shift can result in sulfuric fumes being blown into the camera, not only fogging the lens but also potentially getting into the camera. Even though it's cold outside, the steam coming off the Champange Pool is hot and damp. The colors are stunning and deep, and the shoreline is crusted white from the mineral deposits. While all the views have been photographed countless times, it's still fun heading there to get your own take on the shoreline.
The tide was going out, the sun was going down, and a group of starfish was near the water line. After carefully climbing down a steep slope of wet rock, I positioned my tripod precariously close to the edge of the Tasman Sea. The growing darkness required the use of longer exposure times, which is exactly what I wanted: the movement of surging water creating dreamy, cloud like texture through the rocks, highlighting the vibrant starfish.
In early Spring 2013 (that would be October, due to being in the Southern Hemisphere), I flew down to the South Island of New Zealand to hit a few stunning landscape spots that had been on my radar for a while: the glaciers of the west coast, Mt Cook National Park, and the stunningly beautiful lakes near Mt. Cook. One morning while at Mt. Cook National Park, long before the sun rose into the sky, I headed out into the bitter cold that had blanketed the region overnight. My goal was to hike the Hooker Valley Track and arrive at Hooker Lake before sunrise. This lake provides the iconic image of New Zealand: Mt Cook, the country’s highest peak, reflected on a clear alpine lake. The hike was incredible, and the views were break taking. I stayed at Hooker Lake until I literally couldn’t feel my fingers due to the cold—which meant I couldn’t change lens on my camera, and I could barely press the shutter. Wanting to warm up and eat a real breakfast, I began my hike back to the car. About half way through the return hike, I turned around to see Mt. Cook again and saw this image before me. Despite the cold, I set up my tripod, blew warm air on my fingers so they could move enough, and then captured this wonderful image of Mt. Cook and the boulder strewn rivers that runs from Hooker Lake. Just looking at this image makes me want to return to the scene and soak it in all over again.
I had only a couple of mornings to capture the Moeraki Boulders on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. These boulders were something I'd wanted to see since I began researching places to visit and photograph in New Zealand. It turns out that such boulders, smoothed and rounded from eons of wave action , exist very few places in the world. The first morning I awoke to the the sound of lashing, heavy rain hitting the window of my hotel room. A quick check of the weather and I knew there was no end in sight to the rain and a sunrise would be nonexistent that morning. Thankfully the next morning proved to be better and almost exactly what I wanted: good cloud formations; a deep blue sky; and far in the distance the dark, forbidding sky that signals an incoming storm. I had the beach to myself for hours that morning, and loved every second of it. Peaceful, tranquil, contemplative. After the sun had risen far enough into the sky and I'd captured the images I wanted, I just sat on the beach and enjoyed the scene for a while. Happy and glad to be there.
The annual lantern Festival in Auckland draws tens of thousands of people, all enjoying the Chinese Lunar New Year, the festivities, and the warm Auckland Summer nights. While it's certainly crowded, it's a fun experience and one to enjoy if you're in Auckland in late January or early February. There are quite a few lanterns of different sizes and shapes, ranging from these seen here, to large animals and flowers. In this image, I loved how the deep red of the lantern was offset by the blues in the sky; the warmth of the lanterns against the coolness of a sky painted by the setting sun.
Lake Pukaki has to have some of the most beautiful water in the entire world. I remember driving up the road to Mt. Cook, which parallels the lake before hugging its coastline; cresting a ridge I was greater with the straight line of asphalt leading directly into the most turquoise water I'd ever seen in a lake. Not only was it an incredible turquoise, but the other hues in the water made it look more like a shimmering opal than water. This image was taken from the other side of Lake Pukaki, during another drive through the area. It was a beautiful Spring day, one that had begun with a 4:30am hike to Hooker Lake for sunrise. Despite being very tired, I continued my photographic journey of the area and came to this spot where the clouds, mountains, water and tree all caught my eye. It wasn't the best time of day to capture this type of image, but it worked out anyways.
The Moeraki Boulders are something that need to be seen to be believed. Almost perfectly round large boulders that are just sitting in the sand, withstanding the continual onslaught of the ocean. It's quite amazing to see, and there are several groups of them along this one beach. After scouting the area that afternoon, I went back just before sunset to see what the light would be like. Being on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, it's really a sunrise location but sometimes sunset can be good. While it was overcast this specific evening, there were traces of pink in the clouds as the sun went down. I chose to use a ten stop neutral density in order to get the water smoothed out as the waves came in during the 30 second exposure. Given where the tide was at this time, and the height of the waves. the water was almost lapping against the tripod. I see this and wonder if this is what the oceans on an alien world might look like. Smooth and ethereal water rushing amongst spherical boulders.
I'd never seen, let along walked on, a glacier before. I didn't know what to expect, except that it would be a new experience. After five hours walking on the ice of Fox Glacier, I had nothing less than an ear-to-ear smile on my face. The ice had these deep blue color in various places, was crystal clear in some places, and speckled with avalanche debris in others. Viewed from the face of the glacier, the peaks seem small and insignificant. But, once we got closer to them their size and mass became increasingly obviously. I took this image, a five frame panorama while one of our guides scouted out a potential route forward. While I usually eschew people in my landscapes, I included our guide in this image to give a sense of scale, putting the waterfall, crevasses, and peaks into perspective. I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was to be in this place taking pictures for several hours…and that's even after one of the cameras I was carrying, one that I'd received three days before, had totally died just two hours into this excursion.
The Moeraki Boulders are something that need to be seen to be believed. Almost perfectly round large boulders that are just sitting in the sand, withstanding the continual onslaught of the ocean. It's quite amazing to see, and there are several groups of them along this one beach. This image was captured just as the sun was setting, though it was an overcast evening with not much definition in the sky. Instead of focusing on the bigger landscape that the coastline presents, I choose to get closer to this grouping of two boulders. After watching the incoming waves for a few minutes, I liked the way the water created moving lines through and around the boulders. While I wanted the boulders to be sharp and in focus, I wanted the water to portray the movement I was seeing. Setting up for a once second exposure provided what I wanted: capturing the action of advancing and receding waves against the boulders.
The beautiful and photogenic Church of the Good Shepherd is one of the oldest churches in this part of New Zealand's South Island. Sitting on the shore of the stunning Lake Tekapo, the church is surrounded by deep blues, both in the sky and the water beyond. I had hoped to do some astrophotography the night I was there, but a nearly full moon and clouds moving through the area required a change in plans. Instead I focused on getting an image with deep color, some stars, and a bit of movement in the wispy clouds overhead. The only illumination was provided the by bright moon, which was more than enough for both the church and the snowcapped mountains in the background.
Be in the right place at the right time; either by planning or by luck. I won't say which lead to me being at the top of Devonport this late Spring evening. But, once I was there, I had my tripod set up where I wanted it, and had the camera settings dialed in. Didn't know what the sun would do as it sunk towards the Waitakere Ranges; all I could do was wait patiently. Then, in the span of just a few seconds, and only lasing about 30 second, this image emerged. The sun streamed in solid rays out from behind the clouds that hovered over the Waitakere. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone and all I was left with was this image, one of my favorite of Auckland's skyline.
After four days of walking the Milford Track, i was looking forward to a night in my Queenstown hotel; not that I needed it, but I was looking forward to it. Another cloudless night begged me to go out shooting, but I decided to place my camera and tripod on my hotel room balcony and have it shoot continuously. While I slept inside the warmth of the room, the camera did its thing. I framed the shot with no regard to the stars, just taking into account the trees in the bottom of the frame. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that the center axis of the rotating stars was almost perfectly in the middle of the frame. The streetlights provided illumination for the tree tops, and the green buoy burned through the night.
A scene from Fox Glacier on New Zealand's South Island. Fox is one of just a handful of glaciers in the world that run from a mountain and through rain forest.; it is also one of the world's most easily accessible glaciers. Near the end of our five hours on the glacier, we came across this view and it was stunning. I remember just standing there for a minute or two, just soaking in the scene without thinking about taking a picture. The ice captured me first: the beautiful turquoise blue, the veins of grey rocks, the sharp edges, and multiple layers. Then I saw the green vegetation attempting to grow on the avalanche -prone hillside beyond, with the single thread-like cascading down towards the valley. As I was crafting this image, I purposefully decided to keep the small remanent of cloud visible in the upper right corner; it shows how low the clouds came that day, and adds to the overall mood of the image.
I don’t think these icebergs will pose any concern for a large ocean liner, but they were plentiful in Hooker Lake, located in the shadow of New Zealand’s tallest peak, Mt. Cook. I’d make the hike to Hooker Lake early one cold Spring morning. Departing my hotel well before sunrise, and attempting to find the trailhead in the dark, I made quick progress once I actually found the trail. The goal was to shoot the reflection of Mt. Cook in Hooker Lake at sunrise. After doing that, I began to let my eye wander, and became mesmerized watching these little icebergs, having calved from the glacier that came came down to the lake edge, float around in front of me. I especially liked the iceberg in front, comprised of clear ice, whereas the others looked more frosty. But, the stillness of the lake created wonderful reflections as the sun was rising behind me. Eventually the cold chilled me to the point where I couldn’t change lenses or feel my fingers and toes. So, I decided to pack it up and head back to the hotel for a late breakfast. It was worth the cold, stumbling in the dark, and the little hike, to be able to see this incredible scene as the sun rose on this Spring morning.
Taken at one of my favorite locations in the Auckland area: Bethells Beach. There is a wonderful rock cropping you can walk out on to (if the tide is out) and watch the sunset from this vantage point. Seeing the sunset over the Tasman Sea from this location is a real treat, and one that I never get tired of.
A couple of hours in the car brought me to the east coast of Lake Pukaki. I love to drive, and almost didn’t want to stop and take any pictures. It was a beautiful day, the windows of the car were down, the sun was out, and I was driving on a road with almost no other cars next to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Imagine spending an hour along this road, with the bluest water next to you, and gorgeous snow capped peaks in the background. Things got even better when I did stop the car, and realized the entire area was silent. Nobody else around, no other sounds to pollute this incredible scene. It was perfect.
The roiling Tasman Sea is covered with scattered storm clouds as the sun sets over Muriwai, near Auckland. A huge rock outcropping juts into the sea at Muriwai, providing a playground for fishermen and photographers alike. In one area the water surges into the funnel seen here, and explodes out of a blowhole. I've spent hours in this location trying to capture the scene, and then many more hours afterwards to recreate what I saw and felt on site.
The Coromandel Peninsula is located a short two hours away from Auckland, making it ideal for a long day trip. I've done such day trips several times, with each instance providing different scenes given the changing weather and seasons. One of my favorite spots is a small pass along the west coast of the peninsula, which conveniently has a viewing area. The hills roll gently down towards a small bay, and can then be seen rolling back up towards the horizon in the distance. The grass is usually a golden color, and moves in waves as the wind blows in from either the water or down from the mountains. It's the lone tree here that makes the scene, and continues to capture my attention.I don't know how old the tree is, but it has survived many seasons and storms. I shot this image in color, but decided I liked it much better in black and white, with a sepia toning. Mamiya 7ii, 65mm Wide Angle lens, Fuji Provia 100F.
Punakaiki is known for its "pancake rocks," which is the main draw for visitors. But, around that area are other great views of the ocean, wave-beaten rock formations, and rocky coastlines. This image is one taken from the pancake rock walking track, so it was easy to get to. The hardest challenge in crafting this image was keeping the camera and lens dry, as it was actually raining quite heavily while I was there. Despite using film, I took several frames trying to time the exposure to capture an incoming wave. Weeks later, after having the film developed, I was rewarded with this image, which I then converted to black and white. Mamiya 7ii, 65mm Wide Angle lens, Kodak Portra 400.
The Moeraki Boulders are located along the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. There isn't much else in the immediate vicinity, but visitors to New Zealand make the Boulders a "must see" stop. They had been on my list of places to visit and photograph for a while, and I finally made it down there for a few glorious Summer days. The Boulders are almost perfectly round large and just sit there in the sand, withstanding the continual onslaught of the ocean. It's quite amazing to see, and there are several groups of them along this one beach. I'd scouted the area a couple of days before, and my first attempt at sunrise at the Boulders was marred by torrential rain. So, I went back the following morning, hoping the clouds would part enough to capture a good image. As chance and luck would have it, I was rewarded for my 4am wake up by a wonderful sunrise. I shot for probably an hour total, both before and after the sun rose above the horizon. But, my favorite shots, of which this is one, came just a little bit after the sun rose, but then was obscured by clouds. The rays from the early morning sun were powerful and full of color. It's images like these that make the early wake up times worth it.
