We have just said goodbye to Marty from the US who has been with us for the last 14 days, photographing around the South Island.

Marty contacted us only a month before his visit and asked us to arrange a tour which would cover the highlights of the South Island and give us time in each location to allow for any bad weather that we might encounter.

Our tour started in Christchurch and we then headed straight for Punakaiki, on the West Coast, where we based ourselves for the next two days. Our evening shoot was at the Pancake Rocks, where the swell of the ocean provided fantastic shots of the blowholes in action. We made the most of our time there exploring both the coastline and forest areas, with many spectacular photos taken.

Fox Glacier was next on the list. We arrived to an overcast afternoon, which put the following day’s heli-hike in doubt. Against the weather forecast, the morning was clear enough to take the helicopter ride up onto the glacier for our day on the ice. We were fortunate enough to find some good ice caves and Marty was thrilled with the photography - this was one of the highlights of the trip for him. As if one helicopter ride was not enough for one day, we chartered a one-hour flight up Fox Glacier and across the face of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook (pictured). Photographing at 12,500 feet with the helicopter doors off was sublime.

We left Fox Glacier and drove through to Queenstown. The late light was obscured by cloud but not to be deterred we set up on the shores of Lake Wakatipu for an impromptu workshop on composition.

The following morning we made our way down to Milford Sound. Marty has photographed in many locations in the US but commented that he had never experienced anything like Fiordland.

We took the cruise out through Milford Sound the next morning and got some great photographs. Once back on shore, we spent the rest of the day exploring the surrounding forest. Marty still had the helicopter bug so we chartered a one-hour flight, again strapped in with the doors off. I’m not quite sure how Marty managed to concentrate on his photography as he was so awestruck by the scenery! We finished our photography at Milford Sound the following morning with a shoot of the beautiful reflections of Mitre Peak.

The next day it was back to Queenstown for two days of photography around the region.

Our last stop was Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. After nearly two weeks of superb weather, the cloud closed in and it looked like Aoraki/Mount Cook would be hidden from us. Fortunately, the weather cleared and we got some great shots before we departed for Christchurch.

There was never a dull moment over the two weeks and as we write this, Marty is trying to organise a return trip for a winter shoot!


22 January 2008

For the last three days, we have been enjoying photography around the Nelson region with Cian from Ireland.

On the first day, we went to the Lake Rotoiti district for a hike up the St Arnaud range. The weather was in our favour and after two hours of climbing through the bush we arrived at a stunning viewpoint. We set up here and captured panoramic shots of the surrounding landscape. Later, we photographed the evening light on the shore of Lake Rotoiti.

The next morning, we left Nelson and headed for the north-west coast. We arrived there mid-afternoon and spent the next two hours scouting for the late light set-up. Our patience was rewarded as the late afternoon sun lit the rocks and beach superbly.

Day three saw us setting out at 5am for the Abel Tasman National Park. It was a windy morning and the usually calm beach had quite a stormy look about it, which made for interesting dawn photography. We then made our way slowly back to Nelson stopping at different forest locations.

It was an enjoyable three days, with weather that allowed us to capture great photographs at each location.