Tales from the Cripps

Adventures in Photography

Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Catlins: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 24

McLean Falls, The Catlins, South Island, New Zealand“Are you scared?” she asked me. Scared, me? No way. But the truth was I was a little scared. New Zealand is often considered the adrenaline capital of the world but I wasn’t queueing up to jump off a bridge or leap out of a plane. No, I was getting ready to walk back into a pub full of local Kiwis. When I first set foot in room 3 minutes earlier in my bright blue jacket and brown beanie with a silly puffball on top, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Getting stared at by every set of eyes in the room was unnerving enough the first time around and now that I’d placed my order with the waitress in the Bistro next door I was steeling myself for re-entry.

It was my second to last full day in New Zealand and I wanted to spend it being a tourist. The previous three weeks were hardcore photography bootcamp: sunrise and sunset every day, marathon drives, and more than one multi-mile hike back in the dark. I was exhausted and it was time to relax a little. So two days before my flight back to the US I found myself in the Catlins, the wet, wild, and seldom-visited southeast corner of NZ’s South Island.

Continue reading “The Catlins: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 24” »

posted by Josh at 3:54 pm  

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sealy Tarns: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 22

Hiker jumps for joy at the Sealy Tarns, Mt Cook / Aoraki National Park
The scenery is so grand I have to keep my eyes closed in case they explode.

This is a staircase from hell. This thing makes the infamous Half Dome steps seem like the bunny hill. I thought I was in pretty good shape but these steps have me sucking wind like a Dyson. To take my mind off my aching lungs and shaking legs I try to count the number of individual stairs in this endless trudge but I lose track somewhere in the two thousands.

The trail description didn’t make it sound bad at all: “Track starts out gently then ascends steeply to the Sealy Tarns. Allow 3 hours return.” A pretty unassuming description. Glib, even. But halfway up the track I was learning my lesson the hard way: in New Zealand, when a trail guide says steep, it means steep.

Continue reading “Sealy Tarns: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 22” »

posted by Josh at 12:14 pm  

Saturday, April 21, 2012

WHARARIKI BEACH: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAYS 15-17

Archway Islands, Wharariki Beach, South Island, New Zealand

The northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island is windy, very windy. And sandy, very sandy. This combination leads to the formation of sand dunes, which over the eons become sandstone. Because sandstone is soft it is easily eroded. And at Wharariki Beach -where I spent the last three days- the sandstone has eroded to create two of the most beautiful offshore islands I’ve ever seen.

Continue reading “WHARARIKI BEACH: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAYS 15-17” »

posted by Josh at 7:47 pm  

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Days 13-14

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks in the afternoon, Dolomite Point, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

I really like pancakes. I also really like rocks. So when I found out there’s a natural phenomenon on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island called The Pancake Rocks, I knew I was going to have to pay a visit. The pancake rocks are perched on a tiny coastal outcropping near the town of Punakaiki and do a lot to live up to their name. The rocks are made of a series of limestone “pancakes” that were originally laid down in a process called stylobedding, which is scientist speak for “we have no idea how this happened.” Over time the layers have been eroded over to form a rock garden of fantastically sculpted shapes.

Continue reading “Punakaiki Pancake Rocks: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Days 13-14” »

posted by Josh at 3:23 pm  

Monday, April 16, 2012

Fox Glacier Heli-Hike: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 12

Fox Glacier Ice CaveHave you ever been on a glacier? No, that’s not the right question. Better: have you ever been IN a glacier? For me the answer to both was a resounding no, until today. One of the most amazing things about this trip is that I am able to take advantage of opportunities I wouldn’t normally be able to afford. So far that’s meant a rental car, a Fiordland cruise, and perhaps coolest of all, a heli-hike to the dramatic Fox Glacier.

Continue reading “Fox Glacier Heli-Hike: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 12” »

posted by Josh at 3:18 pm  

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Arnott Point: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAY 11

Arnott Point, Haast, West Coast, South Island, New ZealandThe seals and I, we have an uneasy truce. As long as I don’t go in the water, they won’t bite me. Seems like an easy arrangement to uphold, but just to reinforce it they bark at me and mock charge from time to time. But I bark right back and the peace is upheld. All the same, my adrenaline is pumping and I’m almost happy when the sunset fades and I can skedaddle from their turf.

Continue reading “Arnott Point: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAY 11” »

posted by Josh at 1:31 pm  

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The West Coast: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAY 10

Sunset at Barry's Beach, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Barry smells like salami and has hairy ears. He lives on a remote beach at the end of a long gravel road off of a lonely highway in the sparsely populated south island of a country isolated in the southern pacific ocean. And yet he’s famous, for a Kiwi anyway.

Continue reading “The West Coast: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAY 10” »

posted by Josh at 4:42 pm  

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Fiordland National Park: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 08

Fiordland makes you spoiled. After seeing Mitre Peak rising 5000 feet straight up from Milford Sound, mere mountains just don’t do it for you anymore. You see the endless 1000 foot waterfalls cascading down sheer cliffs and suddenly your backyard falls don’t quite cut the mustard. Any old river coursing through hilly terrain? Boring once you’ve seen Monkey Creek.

Monkey Creek, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand Continue reading “Fiordland National Park: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 08” »

posted by Josh at 4:31 pm  

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Te Anau: NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURE, DAY 07

Sunset at Lake Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand

It’s always good to see old friends. And even better when they turn up in unexpected places like Queenstown, New Zealand. My college roommate, Dustin, had just finished a cruise between New Zealand and Australia and decided to hop back over to NZ for a few days before he returned to his job designing robots at the University of Colorado.

Having visited NZ a few times before I wanted to play tour guide for Dustin, but that can be difficult to do when your friend is so happy to be in New Zealand that he doesn’t care what he sees. So, Dustin, where do you want to go? “I don’t care, this is awesome!” What do you want to see? “Doesn’t matter, this is amazing!” Anything in particular you feel like doing? “Whatever, everything is fantastic!” After a few more questions like this I began to suspect that Dustin might not care what we did, so I pointed the car south and we headed off to Fiordland National Park.

But a late start prevented us from getting any farther than Te Anau before nightfall so we booked into a hostel, cooked a bit of pasta, and called it a night.

posted by Josh at 4:30 pm  

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Aoraki / Mt. Cook National Park: New Zealand Photography Adventure, Day 06

A moody, rainy day in Mt Cook National Park means it’s time to go for a walk. The dramatic clouds and milky glacial runoff lent themselves beautifully to black and white photography.

Mount Sefton, glaciers, and Hooker River, Mt Cook / Aoraki National Park

posted by Josh at 4:20 pm  
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