Photographing the Routeburn Track

The Routeburn track is a stunning walk through the alpine mountains of New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park. I walked the track over 3 days, staying 2 nights in Department of Conservation huts. It was an excellent experience and as a proud New Zealander, the ability to immerse myself in pristine native bush and alpine terrain was awe inspiring and gladly received.

Routeburn Flat. A basic reflection shot.

Photographing beautiful locations on multi day hikes is never going to be easy. A beautiful location doesn’t always equate to a beautiful image, as many other factors come into play. Good light just doesn’t happen all day every day, you need to plan, and you need a good dose of luck. So while a hike through some of New Zealand’s most stunning scenery sounds marvellous for landscape photography, the reality is a little different. On my trip I had 3 days of glorious fine weather. Perfect conditions for a hike, as well as enjoying clear stunning views in alpine locations. The flip side to the great weather is bright hard lighting conditions for photography, locations with deep shadows and bright highlights… huge dynamic range.

Routeburn Flat. I didn’t take a tripod as i was wanting to keep my pack weight down, so no ability to focus stack.

So when you have weather like this, the best thing to do is just embrace it and enjoy the experience of just taking photos. Another photography challenge is the need to keep moving along the track to make the next hut. Landscape photography is a pursuit best given time, you arrive at a location, find a nice composition and give time for the light to be good for the scene in front of you. Hiking photography, is more a case of taking a snap as you find nice views on the trail, when you happen to be passing it by.

It quickly occurred to me I had to focus my time on how I utilised sunset and sunrise on my Routeburn track adventure. My first night I stayed at Routeburn falls hut. A lovely hut with sweeping views from the tree top balcony. That evening I had a lovely time taking images, but when I popped them on the screen at home they were all poop. However, I learned a lot about the location and I do plan on returning at a future date.

A hiker enjoys the view from Routeburn Falls hut.

I was up the next morning at about 5am to catch the first light on the Harris Saddle. Without a tripod I couldn’t bracket my images, but Lake Harris was a great spot to catch the first light hitting the peaks surrounding the lake.

Lake Harris, Harris Saddle, Routeburn Track.

Once the sun comes up the light gets extremely harsh, not ideal for images. I was climbing the Conical hill track not long after sunrise and you can see from the image below how contrasty the light was.

View of the Darran Mountain range from the Conical hill track.

While full sunshine was never going to be making for great photography, I still enjoyed taking images of the Darran Mountain Range.

Darran mountain range, 3 shot panorama.

There was even the odd small tarn I could use as foreground in taking pictures.

I stopped not far from here for lunch, not a bad spot to enjoy a hot beef curry.

The stop for the night was at Lake Mckenzie and it turned out to be a very photogenic spot. Lake Mckenzie would be a fantastic place to photograph in winter. I can only image how spectacular the mountain peaks would be covered in snow, and with ice and snow around the waters edge. This is definitely a place I’d like to return and there is a fairy glen right next to the lake I’d love to explore. with a tripod.

Lake Mckenzie, Routeburn Track

Lake Mckenzie hut has sleep together style bunks, and the bloke who was next to me apologised for his loud snoring just before he nodded off and started to snore. So I dragged my mattress into the kitchen and slept there. I had a great nights sleep, plus it gave me a chance to get away early again. The track from Lake Mckenzie remains in the bush for about 20-30minutes and you can see the Darran mountain range catching the morning light through the trees but not get a clear shot. Luckily I walked through an avalanche zone where the trees had been destroyed and I got the shot below. But if you do want to take advantage of the alpine glow, you need to get away early.

The Darran mountain range, Routeburn track.

The track follows an up and down type walk to the finish at the Divide. The most notable stop for an image is Key Summit, an opportunity to capture a beautiful shot of mountains with a tarn in the foreground. I didn’t manage to get conditions I was at all happy with, and no keeper image ensued.

How I will photograph the Routeburn track in future

After walking the Routeburn track and understanding where I think the best photo opportunity’s are located, I don’t think I will walk the complete route again. I used a transport service to drop me off and pick me up from each end of the track. But there were far too many photo opportunities I missed by doing this, so instead I like the idea of splitting the walk into two outings and using my own car, so I can stop for images.

1. Routeburn Shelter to Routeburn Falls Hut

By taking my car to Routeburn Shelter I could also incorporate possible photography on the way through Glenorchy. So the plan is to shoot a sunrise in Glenorchy, walk the Routeburn track to Routeburn falls, shoot a sunset and sunrise at the location and then return, with a nights stay in Glenorchy to give me a sunset and sunrise.

2. The Divide to Lake Mckenzie

By leaving my car at the Divide I will be able to include photography of the Milford Sound, Eglinton valley and other possible photography sites. The plan would be to drive in to Milford Sound, get a sunset, and then an early start to get a sunrise at Key Summit. Hike to Lake Mckenzie for Sunset, then up early to walk back out, getting alpine glow on the Darran Mountain ranges, another shot at Key Summit, and then back to the car.

All in all the Routeburn track offers plenty of photographic opportunities, but for me I think a bit of planning is needed to get the best possible conditions to shoot the nicest locations.

Photographing The Milford Track

The Milford track is the most popular of all New Zealand’s great walks. A four day hike through pristine rain forest in the heart of Fiordland. I was excited about the adventure and potential for photo opportunities. About a month earlier I had bought a new camera, the Fujifilm GFX50sii with the bundled GF 35-70mm zoom lens, and decided to take the combo on the walk with me. My bush walk adventures have taught me not to expect the moon from the images I take. As landscape photographers know, good light on subjects is rare and generally requires repeat visits to specific locations to get a good shot, with multi day hikes, you are never in one place long, except at the hut/camp locations. This hike deep into the lush rainforest of Fiordland, was a journey into the unknown. I decided to leave my tripod at home and handhold all my shots.

DAY 1. Access to the Milford track is via a ferry from Te Anau Downs. The boat has a top deck so you get a great view of the huge granite mountains you will be walking under in the rain forest. My choice of lens was equivalent to 28-55mm on a full frame camera, so just a standard view. I would have loved a 70-200mm type lens for a tighter crop, but I made do with the old Fujifilm X-pan crop mode built into the camera. Not ideal, but still got an image.

The hike from the ferry jetty to Clinton hut where you stay the night is only about a couple of hours, if that. The bush on this part of the walk is really pretty, with lots of vibrant sphagnum moss covering the trees. So do stop and take pictures.

Day 1 and part of 2 is the best opportunity to photograph the Sphagnum moss. As the hike slowly climbs in altitude on day 2 the rainforest environment changes as well, so less of the lush green views, make the most of it on day 1.

Clinton hut is an overnight stop and from the helipad you have one of the hikes best photogenic views. A stunning vista of granite cliffs with rainforest in the foreground. I took off early in the morning, but this could also be a great sunrise photo opportunity.

This image was taken early evening and captures the mystical vibe of the Milford track with larger trees jutting out of the rainforest cloaked in low hanging cloud, clinging to the ancient granite cliffs.

Day 2. The second day is a long hike of about 18km slowly gaining in altitude. You will eventually walk out of the cover of the rainforest and travel between giant granite cliffs. Finding images here is not as easy as it sounds as the dynamic range between cliffs and sky can be crazy difficult. It started to rain at about lunch time and it didn’t stop for the rest of the day. I managed to get one image from the day I really like. There is a historic avalanche segment of the track where you have to navigate walking over boulders. This grouping of rocks was an obvious foreground, but my camera lens wasn’t wide enough so I took a handheld 2 shot panorama.

Rain brings waterfalls everywhere on the Milford track.

At the end of day 2 you stay at the new Mintaro Hut, the image below is of the tree outside the balcony of the hut. As you can see it’s raining. Expect lots of rain. I didn’t do much to protect my camera and on day three I was about to find out… i should have. You should definitely look at some sort of rain cover for your camera.

Day 3. The main focus of day 3 is the climb over the Mckinnon Pass. Whether you get a view from the summit is a lottery and on my day I only had fleeting moments when the clouds parted to get some kind of view. I can’t tell you what sort of focal range would suit this location, but a tele-photo lens in the backpack wouldn’t go amiss.

Just below the summit of Mckinnon Pass. While not a great view the low cloud did provide an atmospheric image with the pleasing rock formations and tussock grass.

It was on the descent I came unstuck with my camera. In Fiordland not only is it wet but extremely humid. My camera lens is supposed to be weather resistant, but that didn’t stop an internal element from fogging up. I missed a few shots but luckily after sitting the camera and lens in the warm sun to dry at the problem disappeared, and I took images all of day 4.

Day 4. This is an easy walk, and I took plenty of images. My pick of the day was the image below.

Just a few hundred metres from the end of the 53.5km Milford track I took this image. Probably the wrong time of day but a nice keepsake just the same.

After the end of the Milford track I stayed in Te Anau for the night. My room at the lakeside holiday park was really close to the boat clubs jetty, so it was an easy sunrise location.

Lake Te Anau. Without a tripod I balanced the camera on a concrete wall and took this image.

Photographing the Milford track was a lot of fun, and while I didn’t have the perfect focal range for many images, I still had a great time. If I were to do the trip again I would take longer and wider lens options. Overall the Fujifilm camera did the job, and the image stabilisation worked well. Next walk on my list is the Routeburn track, and I hope to walk shortly in January of 2022.

Remembering the Dunedin Cadbury Factory

When plans were announced for building the new Dunedin Hospital on the Cadbury Factory site, I knew it would be really important to get at least one good image of the Cadbury factory as a keepsake before it was demolished. The idea was good, but taking an interesting image proved a little harder.

I thought it might be nice to start by photographing the silos with a longer lens, and by doing so, include the spire of First Church in the frame.

The Dunedin Cadbury Factory silos. The ‘glass and a half ‘ symbol, established in 1928 to promote the glass and a half of full cream milk in every 200g of Cadbury chocolate.

I would always be looking for opportunities to grab a different perspective of the factory, and on this occasion I was driving through town late afternoon, close to sunset, so the shadows were getting long and the light was warm and summery. I used the apartment building as the foreground, and as luck would have it a seagull flew through the image at the moment of capture.

Cadbury Factory Silos, view from the Dunedin Railway Station.

The last image I took finally gave me the ‘something special’ I was looking for in a keepsake. I was on my way to Sue Todd Antiques, a regular client, to photograph lovely items for her website. The weather looked a little stormy with a mix of dark clouds and blue sky. The sun was still fairly low in the sky and the angle of it was shining brightly on the Cadbury factory windows. By shooting into the sun, the resulting light created a very monochromatic look to the image. The vantage point I took the image from also allowed me to include the Cadbury Fry building in the composition.

Cadbury Factory Dunedin. People have commented, the Cadbury factory even looks a little like a chocolate bar.

As a comparison, below a similar image, after the silos and factory had been demolished. By chance the view here now shows the old Dunedin Hospital.

The Cadbury factory provided employment for so many Dunedin men and women, and has been an important part of our cities history. I do feel a slight loss now when I gaze toward where the silos used to be in the current work site, but the promise of a state of the art hospital is something I can also appreciate and look forward to having in Dunedin.

Photoshoot: Dunedin City streets Vol 2

Another location photoshoot in Dunedin city with Rachel. I used a single godox ad200 light on a stand for all of the images. I am a Fuji shooter, so X-H1 camera body, with either the XF 35mm 1.4 or XF 23mm f2.

An alleyway shot using the graffiti to balance the shot. I love images that could tell a story.

Slight position change in this one.

The old Post Office building on Princes street. Remember the days of using a telephone booth? I popped the Godox flash to the right of Rachel, adding a kiss of light to the ambient light filtering into the scene.

The old Post Office building on Princes street. Remember the days of using a telephone booth? I popped the Godox flash to the right of Rachel, adding a kiss of light to the ambient light filtering into the scene.

The exterior of the old Post office building, but here the atmosphere is more stylistic and gritty with the lighting.

The ugly concrete walkway on upper Dowling street. I popped the Godox ad200 to the right of Rachel to create this frame within a frame image.

The ugly concrete walkway on upper Dowling street. I popped the Godox ad200 to the right of Rachel to create this frame within a frame image.

Alleyway off Moray Place. I loved the pockets of light in this area, so placed Rachel on the edge of one well lite area and added a pop of flash to fill in the shadows around her eyes.

Alleyway off Moray Place. I loved the pockets of light in this area, so placed Rachel on the edge of one well lite area and added a pop of flash to fill in the shadows around her eyes.

Same image but a portrait version of the scene with Rachel looking at the camera. Sometimes it’s too hard to pick which one you like best.

Stairwells behind the Regent theatre made for fascinating lines in the images. I loved this spot so will include a few variations of the same scene,

A portrait version of the scene.

A wider landscape version.

First Church was closed, so a perfect opportunity to utilise the stunning doors in an image of Rachel.

Dunedin never ceases to amaze me with the number of interesting locations on offer.