Posts Tagged ‘landscape’
Hey there!
I figured it was time to share my next bunch of photo’s from my recent New Zealand trip, so here is a set taken from along the Mount Cook road which runs all the way from the bottom of Lake Pukaki to Mount Cook Village near the foot of the mountain. About 50 kms in all. The valley is such that no matter where you are along the road you will be sure of a great view of New Zealands highest peak.
Sunrise on Mount Cook road
I braved the early morning temperatures to make it along for this sunrise. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to get, given the time of year, the angle of the sun and the weather conditions etc. I didn’t get too much action with the sun hitting Mount Cook, but I was pleased when the sun rose a little higher and shed a nice warm light onto the grass and trees in the foreground.
Mount Cook road
Here’s a shot I took in the late afternoon as the sun cast some nice warm light and attractive shadows across the mountains. This is possibly my favourite photo of the Mount Cook area and it doesn’t actually contain Mount Cook. It definitely serves as an example of always checking whats behind you when you are taking landscape photos, as I had my back to Mount Cook when taking this one.
Mount Cook road
This image was made from around the same place as the prior one above when I turned around to find another amazing scene laid out beside me.
Mount Cook road
Back on the road and another beautiful scene unfolds.
A New Zealand Falcon
This last photo is of a bird that I didn’t identify until I came back home and googled for it. Turns out it is a Falcon, all I knew is that I saw quite a number of them during our trip and that I hadn’t seen any before.
This one was in a car park at the end of mount cook road and was feasting on what looked like a rabbit. It’s meal was too heavy to fly away with so the little guy was making the most of his catch where he stood. I was lucky enough to get to within a few meters without scaring him away and was enthralled. After a few minutes I figured I should just let him eat in peace.
So I guess thats all for now, see you next time!
Greetings friends and happy new year to you all!
I have just returned home from a 3 week trip to New Zealand where Sonia and I spent our holiday period and as you can imagine I was like a kid in a sweetshop, spoiled with all the wonderous photographic opportunities all around me the whole time. We hired a camper van and spent the first 11 days touring the South Island, visiting many of the famous natural landmarks, including Lake Tekapo which has views towards Mount Cook.
A boat sets off into the misty blue Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo is fed by the southern alps and sits at an altitude of 700 metres. It covers an area of 83 square kilometers making it the second largest of three lakes that sit at the northern edge of the mackenzie basin. It is fed by glacial melt that contains finely ground rock powder which gives the water the distinctive blueness. I find it hard to believe that the colours in the above image are real, but as anyone else who has seen the lake for themselves will vouch – it really does look like this!
The Church of the Good Shepherd overlooking Lake Tekapo
A church sits at the edge of the lake, built in 1935 it was the first church in the Mackenzie Basin. There is an altar window inside which provides stunning views over the lake and mountains, but there were a few too many other tourists in there for me to want to go check it out close up. I took this shot from a distance up near the cafe and tourist info center.
The Winding Road
I do not think that I would be exaggerating if I were to claim that there is a stunning photo waiting to be taken where ever you are in New Zealand, so to prove it, above is a photo I took as I was about to cross the road back to the parked camper after getting my first glimpse of Lake Tekapo. Never has the old addage of “Always check whats behind you” been so true as when you are in the wonderful country of New Zealand.
As you can imagine, I have a whole load more images from my first trip across the Tasman – so I am looking forward to selecting the picks and highlights and bringing them to you here on my blog in the days to come.
References:
Lake Tekapo @ Wikipedia
Hello Internet!
I recently spent a couple of days at the Hunter Valley, New South Wales’ famous wine region. It’s a short and scenic 2-3 hour drive north of Sydney and is well worth a visit whether you like your wines or not. Here is a small selection of photo’s I made over my visit. There is no real theme to this set, rather it is more just a cross section of all the shots I took that weekend.
Read the rest of this entry »
La Perouse is quickly becoming one of my favourite local places to shoot. A couple of weekends ago Sonia and I headed off on a walk from Yarra Bay, along Frenchmans Bay and onto La Perouse and Bare Island. It took about 1 1/2 hours at a leisurely pace and we got some nice images along the way. Here is a small selection of my shots as we followed the route south.
Yarra Bay – with Bare Island off in the distance
A natural looking breakwater at Yarra Bay
Some mossy rocks between the two beaches
La Perouse Tower
Bare Island
On the rocks below Bare Island
Facing south under the bridge
Capturing the last of the red glow of sunset
It makes a change for me to post some landscapes that were taken in the daytime, I always seem to find myself taking long exposures at night but I really should get out more in the daylight hours as I had a really nice time on this photowalk.
In case you are reading this and would like to follow the walk yourself, please see this google map for the location:
Click here (until I find out how to stop wordpress stripping out the google maps embedding code)
We travelled by public transport mainly because we are currently car-less but it is actually quite convenient for begining the walk in one place and ending it in another. The 309 bus (which goes from Circular Quay) will drop you at the bottom of Military Road, just a short walk from the northern tip of Yarra Bay beach. Then once you have completed the walk south to La Perouse you can catch the 394 back to Maroubra Junction from which you can head off anywhere you like.
Thanks for visiting and see you next time 
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