In This Moment
A fleeting moment of sublime beauty, shared with friends and family in the land I call home.
Fiordland, New Zealand
Brilliance
A blood red sky, richly illuminated when the alarm went off over an hour before sunrise. The show slowly continued to unfold into a spectacle of vibrant colour, calm and light.
Ohau, New Zealand
Breaksea
An angle of Fiordland I’ve attempted to shoot several times, but being one of the worlds wettest locations, the task was easier said than done. During winter, clear spell opened up, with light leaking over the southern ranges above the Broughton Arm, at Breaksea Sound.
Breaksea Sound, New Zealand
Breathless
The calmest of days, when the sky is reflected upon the surface of the sea. In a land known for enduring storms, peace prevails.
Doubtful Sound, New Zealand
Calling
Beautiful light rains down over the northern stretches of Lake Te Anau, the part of the world I call home.
Te Anau, New Zealand
Triumphant
In the dim, pre-dawn light I set out across the smooth glacial waters in my pack raft. The looming faces of the Southern Alps watching over me, as they begin to awaken with the glow of the morning sun. A recent glacial calving deposited towers of ice across the waters, those in the distance stretching over 100ft in height. Around 1km from where I set off, the scene began to ignite, with vibrant light and colour triumphantly awakening the morning.
Tasman Lake, New Zealand
Break The Night
4am in Iceland. After driving through the night to escape cloud and wind, I briefly rested my eyes soon to be awoken by a restless sky. This was an intense and somewhat intimidating aurora display, that violently flashed and pulsed across the entire sky. No doubt these shows would have aroused some fear and much wonder for those living in former times. For me, shooting the aurora is quite difficult, mainly because I just want to sit back and admire in awe and indeed, this is what I typically do.
South Coast, Iceland
Upon The Dawn
Compressed mountain layers, captured at 400mm when flying around the summits at 100km/h in a small plane. Lining these up can be a little tricky, particularly when being bounced around by up draughts.
Southern Alps, New Zealand
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