When you tell someone you’re a photographer, the inevitable followup question is “What do you photograph?” If you answer weddings, or advertisements, or fashion, it’s pretty straightforward, well understood, and the conversation moves on. But when I say “travel,” there are always more questions. Most people jump straight to nature, assuming I basically just photograph lots of landscapes and the occasional animal. Rarely does anybody mention architecture, and food is never brought up. The fact is that one of things I love most about doing travel photography is the same thing I love about travel itself. There’s variety. None of us merely travels to see a pretty landscape and go home. No, we with wanderlust travel to experience the culture, meet the people, eat the food, get up for sunrise and stay out til it’s dark, look under the rocks, discover the weird stuff, and find all of the surprising, unexpected things and explore them. Those are things I photograph, because it takes all of them together to create a true sense of place.
A fun result of the ability to cover such a wide range of subjects is that with each new trip, I can choose a location of the world that is more or less likely to be weighted in a particular subject matter. When I’m tired of shooting ruined temples in Thailand, I head to New Zealand. When I’ve had just about all the waterfalls and rolling green hills I can handle, I might hop over to the cities and villages of Spain, and if I’m really in the mood to just do portrait after portrait of interesting people, maybe I’ll stop off in India (hopefully coming very soon). Each place in this world I might travel to is full of life and color in one way or another, and I’ve always been bored shooting the same subjects over and over. Travel photography allows me to explore the rich fabric of a place without getting bored. So while certainly, yes, New Zealand did afford plenty of opportunities for nature and landscapes, there were also countless chances to look a bit deeper. To find the weird artists, meet the locals, jump into the ocean, and explore Maori culture. If you’ve read my last few blog posts, you’ve already seen some of my favorites from this trip. But of course each of those posts had a theme, whereas here the theme is more of a general remembering of the country as a whole. See if you get a better sense of place from perusing a greater variety of subjects.
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Last photo of the trip and one of my favorites. Man waits for his plane at Auckland airport
Former pier at St Clair Beach in a cloudy, golden sunrise
Apothecary in a steampunk store, Dunedin
Selfie sticks everywhere!
One of the more painterly views of a Moeraki Boulder at sunrise
Historic “disappearing gun” in North Head, Auckland. Special thanks to the stranger who modeled so generously for me
Auckland Harbor and Sky Tower
Just another one of the hundreds of incredible waterfalls around New Zealand
Everywhere you travel has different art, it’s always an interesting way to show some depth and detail
I’ve never seen another place like this in the world
Traveled the country tip to tip. This is the northernmost point. Gotta love a lighthouse in a sunset
Taking in the view from inside one of the worlds longest sea caves
Sick of sea caves yet? Me neither…
The famous Emerald Lakes on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Can’t figure out which mountain this is, can you? It’s either HP Ailsa, Bonpland, or Mount Christina. A hearty thanks to anyone who can tell me for sure
Another view of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo
A Kea, mountain parrot. Incredibly bold, they will try to eat your bags, shoes, walking stick, pretty much anything. Makes them very easy to photograph
Mountain ranges at dawn from Mount Luxmore
A short interlude for weird art…
It’s crazy how little editing I’ve done to this, and how little I would believe that if it wasn’t me. New Zealand’s just too beautiful
Maori culture is still an integral part of New Zealand. This is a traditional Maori woodcarving
Despite being a tourist attraction, the Mitai Maori tribe puts on a great performance that teaches a ton about their history and culture. Really fun and informative
Meat pie and a “long black”, my morning ritual.
The way the sunset made these rocks shine just blew me away
New Zealanders, Kiwis, are badass. Even a 70-year-old can hike way harder and faster than we could. And of course, in shorts and gumboots, despite the snow
Best breakfast of the trip, except for all the meat pies. Okay let’s call it a tie
Kinda gloomy, kinda pretty, huh?
They call them the “Pancake Rocks.” You can see why
Everybody in New Zealand is friendly, but Stuart takes the cake. He has over 40 pet pigs, and just hangs outside all day inviting tourists to play with them, all for fun
Really fiery sunset, just gorgeous
This is pretty much baseline New Zealand. Windy road, green hills, blue water, blue skies and birds
Antique sewing kit
One thing about having 30 million sheep? Lot’s of sheep poo.
Speaking of 30 million sheep, share the road
Natural framing, silhouettes, snow-topped mountains, these are a few of my favorite things
Abel Tasman coastline. Reminds me of Big Sur
So rad, I love this. Volcanoes do amazing things
This guy destroyed at the Victorian Festival bicycle races in Oamaru
Five major wine regions in a small country, pretty hard to miss
My best friend, he just doesn’t know it
2 Comments
Oh My God Evan. Amazing!!
Your text sums up my travel philosophy as well, although I’m not a photographer. Met your brother Josh in Siem Reap yesterday. Said you may have advise or referral for someone who could proffesionalise my blog. Either way, glad to have run across your awesome site!