New Zealand December 2012 - # - Northern Eye Photography

In December 2012, my boyfriend and I headed to New Zealand for a hard-earned month of vacation time. For him, it was a return to his roots. For me, it was a photography tour to sharpen my skills, experiment with all my gear, to experience new landscapes through the lens (and of course, to meet the family). Ironically, I had been planning a trip like this already long before I met him. Meeting a whole new family on my trip, once it came to life, was an unexpected but wonderful bonus. I learned a lot on this trip through trial and error. Not being used to the sun's aspect at this latitude, I found it especially challenging to manage such brilliant sunlight with little contrast in shadows mid-day. It was a welcome experience, and a great break from Canada's December blues. New Zealand is a photographer's paradise, and I can't wait to go back there to visit friends and family again, to fly more, and to further hone my skills with the camera. However, next time, I hope to add a 500 mm lens to my kit before I go.

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The grand overview: We started in Auckland on foot for a couple of days, visiting some of my favourite places on and around the waterfront. Then we picked up our rental car for the remainder of the trip and drove 2 - 6 hours per day, hitting many points of interest as we went, taking about 12 days to leisurely make our way to Omarama on the 20th. The remainder of our trip was in and around Omarama, until our departure on Jan 2nd. We dropped our car off in Queenstown, flew back to Auckland, spent a night with family there, and flew home to Vancouver the next day.

We stayed at the Mercure hotel in downtown Auckland for two nights. I think I got munched by bed bugs there, judging by the itchy sleep I had and the lines of little red bumps that appeared on my back. Otherwise the hotel was perfect for the location, as we were too chicken to try driving in the city, on the left side of the road, from the right side of the car, right on Day 1. It was wonderful to be back in one of my favourite cities in the world.

One of the first places we went, complete with confused jet lag, was One Tree Hill. The last time I was here, it still had the famed "one tree" on top. However, that was a while ago and since then, protesters cut down the tree and nearly all evidence of it has been removed. The obelisk is still a dominant focal point though, and the evening light cast long shadows and a warm golden glow throughout the park. Yes, the sky and the grass really looked like this (through a circular polarizing filter).

The sunset glow at this latitude was a kind of magic light I had nearly forgotten about. I've only ever seen light like this here on the North Island and nowhere else in my travels so far. It was like seeing the entire landscape through a warming filter in a dream world. Maybe the locals weren't as starved for daylight as I was, so they might not have been as aware, but this light was just like liquid happiness bathing the landscape. Matt was very patient as I experimented with every lens and every aperture until I finally had the raw ingredients to build this HDR image of the main crater in the park.

This is another HDR of the same spot. I had left my graduated ND filters in Canada, so there was no other way to bring out the details in the grass without the setting sun washing out the entire scene. Thanks to the magic of HDR, I think this image represents about 10% of how beautiful the scene was.

At this latitude, I was re-learning how to use the polarizing filters. When centred on the sky, the effect produced much more dramatic blue hues here than I have ever captured at home. You will notice these dramatic cobalt-blue skies and saturation of greens throughout this album if you don't get bored before then. To the naked eye, the landscape was equally stunning and colourful, so I am thrilled that my camera's sensor translated a lot of that drama to my photos.

I fell in love with this tree and hillside. I love the way they break the scene in to a triad of colours with the path beckoning me to run up to the tree . . . which I did.

Crawling through the lava tunnels on Rangitoto was reminiscent of exploring the cenote's of the Yucatan in Mexico, but with smaller spiders. If we weren't rushing to catch the return boat, I would have loved to explore here more thoroughly with the camera. I could easily have spent all day here. Next time, I will make a note of booking off an entire day to explore the whole island.

The grand overview: We started in Auckland on foot for a couple of days, visiting some of my favourite places on and around the waterfront. Then we picked up our rental car for the remainder of the trip and drove 2 - 6 hours per day, hitting many points of interest as we went, taking about 12 days to leisurely make our way to Omarama on the 20th. The remainder of our trip was in and around Omarama, until our departure on Jan 2nd. We dropped our car off in Queenstown, flew back to Auckland, spent a night with family there, and flew home to Vancouver the next day.

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