A Defining Image

What better place to start than with the first landscape photo I took that I was really proud of. It was March 2004 and I was travelling around the South Island of New Zealand by myself before flying to the UK for what would end up being an 8 month backpacking holiday while I tried to work out what I would do with the rest of my life.

It was getting towards the end of my time in New Zealand, and the last place I visited was the Golden Bay area on the North-West tip of the South Island. I read about an out of the way spot called Wharariki Beach that sounded perfect for sunset, so grabbed my camera gear and headed there a couple of hours before sunset.

The drive was down a dirt road, then it was a 1km walk through some hilly paddocks to get to the beach. On arrival I discovered that not only did I have the place all to myself, but I was also the first person there since the tide had gone out, so the only footprints in the sand were those of birds.

I wandered along the beach, exploring different locations, admiring the ripples in the sand, taking some photos and waiting for inspiration to take me for a spot to set up to photograph the sunset. As the sun began sinking towards the horizon I spotted some sand dunes behind the beach that looked like they might offer a good view. I trudged through the sand to the top of one and discovered a lovely view of the beach, setting up my tripod and placing a grassy bush in the foreground of the shot. Then I waited.

It was such a peaceful and beautiful spot, with the only other people a couple walking along the beach in the distance. I took several images of the same composition as the sun got lower, with a shot just before the sun reached the horizon turning out to be my favourite. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, however there was a nice purple glow, which the magnificent Fuji Velvia 50 film translated beautifully.

It turned out to be one of those images where everything worked perfectly together, including my footprints in the sand towards the dune, which wonderfully traced the edges of a shadow and lead the eye into the image. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but I must admit that while I can take credit for the selection of location, composition and exposure, the footprints were simply fortune smiling upon me.

This was the first image I’d taken where I felt truly proud, and where there wasn’t a thing I wished I’d done differently. And to this day it’s still an image that I love, and that continues to remind me why I do landscape photography: not only to attempt to produce beautiful images, but more importantly to experience and truly appreciate the wonder of nature.