Shadow Realm
A typical scene here when bring out in the high country of New Zealand. Mountains breaking free from the veils that once clothed them.
Southern Alps, New Zealand
Crown The Sky
For most of the night, the aurora held a powerful blast of beams rising from the horizon. On occasion these would sporadically expand and fill the whole sky, warranting a burst of applause. In the distance, ice would often calve off the terminal face of the glacier and echo through the valley and into the night. The ice in the foreground washed up just hours earlier after a large surge wave brought many ashore. These ones were around my size, so I had to sit upon them to reach this angle. The background is a single exposure and I used focus stacking to get the foreground sharp.
South Coast, Iceland
Ice King
The Caroline face of Mount Cook (over 12,000 ft), viewed from the eastern shores of the glacial Tasman Lake. I used my raft to reach the ice in the foreground, which stretched at least the length of a bus, with many others the size of multi-story buildings towering over me. This was a sensory overload, being alone floating across the still waters, surrounded by the giants of New Zealand as they came to life in the light.
Tasman glacier, New Zealand
Dusk
The remote, south west corner of Fiordland. An expanse of fiords and islands that are too wild, rugged and remote to be settled. So, nature reigns supreme, with storms often flooding and transforming the landscape, this golden afternoon being a rare exception.
Dusky Sound, Fiordland New Zealand
Selah
Yes, it is a grand sight when you emerge from the shadows of the rainforest and behold an amphitheatre of mountains draped in snow and ice. The most unforgiving of places can be so inviting.
Lake Marian, Fiordland New Zealand
Allure
As you drive the south coast of Iceland, not only do the number of waterfalls become innumerable, but also the glacier tongues begin to multiply. The large Vatnajokull ice cap covers 8% of the country, where many rivers of ice (glaciers) flow down from its heights. Here, at the terminus, ice regularly calves off and slowly melts into oblivion as the landscape is constantly sculpted by the hands of time and change.
South Coast, Iceland
Inside The Vortex
What you need to know about the northern lights is that they vary in intensity, not just from night to night but second by second. Some displays may be dim, like a faint glow and other nights like this, the lights move and pulsate through the sky like a serpent, so bright that the ground and faces of your accomplices glow green. I had the pleasure of leading one of my Iceland tours during this solar storm, which lasted through the entire night. Shouts of joy echoed off the nearby cliffs with every burst of energy from the green blasts, which rippled from one horizon to the other. Yes, they really are spectacular to the naked eye.
South Coast, Iceland
Reign From Above
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” 1Chron 16:31
Glenorchy, New Zealand
A Voice In The Silence
A temporary light that broke the veil of the storm. A face to face reminder to keep pressing forward.
Fiordland, New Zealand
Ice Blast
A display of sastrugi, mid-winter in the high mountains of the Southern Alps, New Zealand.
Storm King
Milford Sound in Fiordland, a gateway to the sea and one of the wettest places on planet earth. Glaciers once carved these giant granite towers which now endure the violent storms that blast down the fiord. Mitre Peak is the iconic jewel of the landscape, revealed here in all its storm born glory.
Fiordland, New Zealand
Firesky
Queenstown is well positioned for spectacular sunrises, with cloud often forming over the nearby mountains but clear skies present far out east. This recipe can make for some incredible dawns and I have witnessed this type of light in Queenstown a number of times. This one really went to another level though, with everything in the sky, water and land stained in rich crimson.
Vessels
Glacial meltwater flowing from distant valleys, a landscape once dominated by ice.
Glenorchy, New Zealand
Break Through
No other place stirs my heart like Fiordland, even the name itself evokes lofty thoughts. Whether in the midst of chaotic storms or amidst a window of calm, beauty abounds. Here, the veil of cloud is lifted as the sun sets over the horizon at Dusky Sound.
Adorn
Patagonia, a place that can boast violent, light blocking storms, or a landscape adorned in vibrant autumn colours and sun-kissed, glaciated mountain peaks. Thankfully on this particular afternoon we were greeted with the latter.
Patagonia, Argentina
From The Ruins
Where glaciers once ruled, by the smoking mountains of Fiordland, looking West over Doubtful Sound one afternoon as we waited for the sun to sink low enough to inflame the lingering cloud.
Fiordland, New Zealand
Hanging On
Mt Madeleine and remnants of a once mighty glacier which carved the peaks and valleys of Fiordland.
Power to believe
Mount Aspiring, the prince of the southern alps.
West Coast, New Zealand
Brothers of the earth
The peaks of Aoraki and Tititea (Cook and Aspiring), looking along the spine of the Southern Alps.
South Island, New Zealand
Glory
A moving moment, after 2 years of prior attempts to behold the magnificent Mt Fitzroy illuminated by the light of a new day. Not much else on earth rivals this sight.
Fitzroy, Patagonia
Sea of stone
Mount Cook centred above the glaciated sea of stone, that is the Southern Alps.
West Coast, New Zealand
Stronghold
Stormy skies and atmospheric conditions at dawn. The towers of the Fitzroy massif prepare to endure.
Patagonia, Argentina