I was super excited to head to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand. As a born and bred African the allure of snow capped mountains is something I will never tire of. It is such a novel and exciting prospect to be in the snow and the opportunity to photograph one of New Zealand's most attractive landscapes (so attractive Sir Peter Jackson decided to film parts of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies in and around the area) was a dream come true!
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| Queenstown and Lake Wakitipu from above (f/11, ISO 100, 1/125sec) |
Above is a view from the top of the Sky Gondola in Queenstown. I stitched together 10 photos to create this panorama and I'm pretty pleased with the view it gives you over the area. I took a light reading with the camera in aperture priority first to see what shutter speed the camera suggested. Using f/11 as my aperture I knew I would have sufficient depth of field for everything to be in focus front to back. Once I knew the correct shutter speed I switched over to manual mode; set the shutter speed, ISO and aperture and there is the end result.
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| The Remarkables. Shot at 27mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/500sec |
I love the name of this mountain range, The Remarkables....... could not say it better myself, they truly are a remarkable sight to behold!
To get this shot I wanted to make sure it was a bit different so I headed to the edge of Lake Wakatipu and got low down. The branch washed ashore made for a good piece of foreground interest and really adds to the sense of depth in the picture. I set up on a tripod and using live view I zoomed right up on the mountains to make sure I had them as sharply in focus as I could.
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| The Cardrona Hotel. Shot at 20mm, f/8, ISO 400, 1/320sec |
The Queenstown and Otago area has a huge amount of history to it. When taking the Crown Range road to Wanaka you have to stop in at the Cardrona Hotel. The hotel is 150 years old and with a couple of roaring log fires it is a great place to stop for a drink. There are even chalets out back to stay in and the Cardrona Alpine resort is just down the road.
It was a miserable day when we stopped off here so I warmed the temperature of the shot up in post, I quite like the effect it has given the picture as it has taken on a vintage type tinge and I think that ties in well with the old feeling of the hotel.
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| Speight's.... The pride of the south! Shot at 28mm, f/4, ISO 200, 1/20sec |
The most important levers in the establishment, with one of my favourites on the far left! I used a wide aperture of f/4 here to really throw the background out of focus and give emphasis to the beer levers. I do wish I had brought my 50mm lens along as I could have achieved an even shallower depth of field with that one. I guess I'll have to go back then!
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| The old Cardrona Church. Shot at 40mm, f/11, ISO 100, 1/80sec |
The day we visited the Cardrona Hotel I noticed this church a little way down the road. As I mentioned the weather was atrocious so I made the decision to make the drive back out here the next day as the weather improved. I am so glad I did, the church stands in a little fenced off plot with manicured lawns and the backdrop of the snow covered hills really adds to the sense of place. Without the New Zealand flag you would be forgiven for thinking this was a scene out of Europe!
Coming back in better weather also ensured I was able to get the backdrop as those hills were completely lost in the mist and rain the first day we had been there.
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| Lake Wakatipu, on the road to Glenorchy. Shot at 18mm, f/16, ISO 100, 1/100sec |
Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand's longest lake and also the third largest in the country. We headed down the lake to Glenorchy to do a horse ride around the areas where The Lord of the Rings was filmed and I have to say it is one of the most beautiful treks I have been on. The road getting there winds along the shore of this aqua-blue alpine lake surrounded by impressive snow capped peaks.
I used the flowers (which were still a tad dead as spring hadn't quite kicked into gear down here yet!!) for foreground interest and the mountains marching into the distance from the left hand side to try and guide your eye into the picture, hopefully it worked! It was quite challenging getting this shot right as the sun was almost bang in front of me however I think this picture shows some of the drama of the landscape in this area.
The closer we got to Glenorchy the more you felt like you were in the Lord of the Rings. Now I will admit I loved the book, loved the movies and I can easily let my mind wander into fantastical worlds such as the one created by J.R.R. Tolkein and hopefully my pictures in the next post can show you the jaw dropping landscape of the area!
What an enticing first post! Can't wait to see more. The range of subjects is great - I like that you have broken up the landscapes with some buildings and interiors. The landscapes are, of course, the biggies though. The first one of the lake from above is AMAZING. Looking forward to the next post!!
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