New Zealand: day 14 - photo tour

A few family members who are also hobbyist photographers had recommended private photo tours with guides, and for years I had rejected them as uncompromisingly bougie. But, I did one this summer and really enjoyed it; not only the the photographer know where to go to find great shots, but they were also able to help provide some guidance/advice on photography - framing, camera operation details, etc. So since this trip was a bit of a splurge for us, I looked at finding a guide for one day.  I looked around for a few different guides and ended up booking a day with Glen Howey, a local photographer/guide.  Today was the the day!

I woke at 5am, ate a quick breakfast and met Glen in his Land Rover at 5.30 for our sunrise shoot.  He picked me up at our airbnb in Queenstown and we headed for Glenorchy, a hamlet about 45 minutes from Queenstown.  Our first stop was the small into the river.  The jetty and neighboring boat launch were both particularly crowded with fishermen (today was the biggest fishing competition of the year!), but we did okay working with the folks at the end of the dock to get some good shots.  

After shooting the jetty, we moved to the adjacent spit to catch light off the mountains and some partially-submerged trees.  For LOTR fans, these are the Misty Mountains.

This morning shoot chilled us to the bone, so we warmed up in a local coffee shop before heading further down the road in to Paradise.  Past Glenorchy, the road turns to gravel and we entered a national park.  Shortly after we entered the park, I started feeling a little queasy from the bumps, so Glen pulled over to let me catch my breath.  While we were paused, we shot a little in a mossy glen that was used in the LOTR films.

We continued further on to an abandoned truck on a working farm. The owners leave the truck there for photography crack.  

From there, Glen drove me back to the airbnb, where I met up with H & S for a lunch and wander.  We watched a street performer juggle swords while spinning a ball and doing a hula hoop, and we went up the Queenstown Gondola to see the city from a new perspective.

H tried very hard to attract a bird to share her lunch.

The gondola was kind of lame.   The one in Christchurch was much better - it had more hiking trails on the outside and was generally less full of garbage stuff.  

We picked up a lovely picnic dinner from Ferg's Bakery and returned to the airbnb to prep for the afternoon session with Glen.  He started by taking us into Skipper's Canyon, a deep canyon of rutted roads that provided a huge expanse of photographic opportunity. H & S came with me on the afternoon, and Glen did a great job keeping the experience engaging for both of them while also photographically interesting.  H focused on macro photography, S examined the flora and looked for birds, and I learned about light and monochrome filtering.

After about 10km of driving down the winding rutty road (stopping about 10 times for such places as 'Gorilla Head,' 'The Lighthouse,' 'Hell's Gate,' 'Heaven's Gate,' and 'this is just a really cool shot if you aren't afraid of heights,' we reached the end of the accessible trail and found a sunny perch high up in the canyon to eat our dinner and shoot the last light getting into the depths.  Glen made coffee, hot cocoa, and provided cookies. Then, we retraced our steps, stopping just a few times as we raced the sunset to our last stop.  Once we left the Skipper's Canyon, we headed up to the Coronet Peak Ski Area (which is still running its last days of the season) and found a great perch to catch the last night across the valley on The Remarkables Ski Area and then the post-sunset glow across the valley.  

From there, Glen returned S & H to the airbnb before joining me for a beer at a locals bar outside of the strip in Queenstown.  I bought the first round, he bought the second round, and we had a great conversation about politics, music, history, and culture.  Just a really lovely experience all around.  What a fun day - I got to see places I never would have seen on my own, and I definitely improved my photography because of it!