Still on the Wanaka landscape photography kick!

Autumn colours in New Zealand landscape photography are an obvious target for cameras, but one colour spectrum I suspect is overlooked is that prevailing in the tussock landscape this time of year. But it takes light, and like tornado hunters you've got to "be there and f8" to get the shots.

Today on a walk to the remote Meg hut it was looking like it'd just be an exercise day, but suddenly on the haul out of the Meg and over to the Cardrona valley on dusk, the last rays of the sun unexpectedly lit up this superb landscape so typical of this area.

We're looking at the southern end of the Pisa range here...


To illustrate my point consider this rather dead shot - lower left is the Meg hut, built in about the 1860s. Lately it's been tastefully tidied up by the Dept. of Conservation, and that certainly makes a tidy proposition, but in some ways I prefer the old character. Anyway the trees nearby have sadly been poisoned by the Dept. A mistake they admit to, in the quest to eradicate anything non native. The anomaly I find curious is that they can't apply the same criteria to grasses, because "introduced" in many tussock areas prevail, and that's a bit sad...


And lastly this shot is one of several that I managed to take in the brief window of time. I did have to run and stumble to get a good foreground, but on arrival I realised I'd forgotten the fence! It was a bit nasty with regard to barb wire so I gave away idea of crossing over, and tried this shot that I quite like...