Rotorua is a center of geothermal activity near the middle of New Zealand's north island. I've had the opportunity to visit on a few different occasions, and really quite like the place. There's lots to do there, but for me the highlight is Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland, where I took this image. This private attraction has several places to witness the geothermal activity of the region first hand. Each time I'm in Rotorua, I head here first thing in the morning, so I can photograph it before the sun gets too high and before too many people arrive. I've enjoyed each opportunity to set up my tripod here, though a wind shift can result in sulfuric fumes being blown into the camera, not only fogging the lens but also potentially getting into the camera. Even though it's cold outside, the steam coming off the Champange Pool is hot and damp. The colors are stunning and deep, and the shoreline is crusted white from the mineral deposits. While all the views have been photographed countless times, it's still fun heading there to get your own take on the shoreline.

A scene from Fox Glacier on New Zealand's South Island. Fox is one of just a handful of glaciers in the world that run from a mountain and through rain forest.; it is also one of the world's most easily accessible glaciers. Near the end of our five hours on the glacier, we came across this view and it was stunning. I remember just standing there for a minute or two, just soaking in the scene without thinking about taking a picture. The ice captured me first: the beautiful turquoise blue, the veins of grey rocks, the sharp edges, and multiple layers. Then I saw the green vegetation attempting to grow on the avalanche -prone hillside beyond, with the single thread-like cascading down towards the valley. As I was crafting this image, I purposefully decided to keep the small remanent of cloud visible in the upper right corner; it shows how low the clouds came that day, and adds to the overall mood of the image.

Be in the right place at the right time; either by planning or by luck. I won't say which lead to me being at the top of Devonport this late Spring evening. But, once I was there, I had my tripod set up where I wanted it, and had the camera settings dialed in. Didn't know what the sun would do as it sunk towards the Waitakere Ranges; all I could do was wait patiently. Then, in the span of just a few seconds, and only lasing about 30 second, this image emerged. The sun streamed in solid rays out from behind the clouds that hovered over the Waitakere. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone and all I was left with was this image, one of my favorite of Auckland's skyline.

The tide was going out, the sun was going down, and a group of starfish was near the water line. After carefully climbing down a steep slope of wet rock, I positioned my tripod precariously close to the edge of the Tasman Sea. The growing darkness required the use of longer exposure times, which is exactly what I wanted: the movement of surging water creating dreamy, cloud like texture through the rocks, highlighting the vibrant starfish.

After four days of walking the Milford Track, i was looking forward to a night in my Queenstown hotel; not that I needed it, but I was looking forward to it. Another cloudless night begged me to go out shooting, but I decided to place my camera and tripod on my hotel room balcony and have it shoot continuously. While I slept inside the warmth of the room, the camera did its thing. I framed the shot with no regard to the stars, just taking into account the trees in the bottom of the frame. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that the center axis of the rotating stars was almost perfectly in the middle of the frame. The streetlights provided illumination for the tree tops, and the green buoy burned through the night.

The Coromandel Peninsula is located a short two hours away from Auckland, making it ideal for a long day trip. I've done such day trips several times, with each instance providing different scenes given the changing weather and seasons. One of my favorite spots is a small pass along the west coast of the peninsula, which conveniently has a viewing area. The hills roll gently down towards a small bay, and can then be seen rolling back up towards the horizon in the distance. The grass is usually a golden color, and moves in waves as the wind blows in from either the water or down from the mountains. It's the lone tree here that makes the scene, and continues to capture my attention.I don't know how old the tree is, but it has survived many seasons and storms. I shot this image in color, but decided I liked it much better in black and white, with a sepia toning. Mamiya 7ii, 65mm Wide Angle lens, Fuji Provia 100F.

The beautiful and photogenic Church of the Good Shepherd is one of the oldest churches in this part of New Zealand's South Island. Sitting on the shore of the stunning Lake Tekapo, the church is surrounded by deep blues, both in the sky and the water beyond. I had hoped to do some astrophotography the night I was there, but a nearly full moon and clouds moving through the area required a change in plans. Instead I focused on getting an image with deep color, some stars, and a bit of movement in the wispy clouds overhead. The only illumination was provided the by bright moon, which was more than enough for both the church and the snowcapped mountains in the background.

I'd never seen, let along walked on, a glacier before. I didn't know what to expect, except that it would be a new experience. After five hours walking on the ice of Fox Glacier, I had nothing less than an ear-to-ear smile on my face. The ice had these deep blue color in various places, was crystal clear in some places, and speckled with avalanche debris in others. Viewed from the face of the glacier, the peaks seem small and insignificant. But, once we got closer to them their size and mass became increasingly obviously. I took this image, a five frame panorama while one of our guides scouted out a potential route forward. While I usually eschew people in my landscapes, I included our guide in this image to give a sense of scale, putting the waterfall, crevasses, and peaks into perspective. I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was to be in this place taking pictures for several hours…and that's even after one of the cameras I was carrying, one that I'd received three days before, had totally died just two hours into this excursion.

Taken at one of my favorite locations in the Auckland area: Bethells Beach. There is a wonderful rock cropping you can walk out on to (if the tide is out) and watch the sunset from this vantage point. Seeing the sunset over the Tasman Sea from this location is a real treat, and one that I never get tired of.

Punakaiki is known for its "pancake rocks," which is the main draw for visitors. But, around that area are other great views of the ocean, wave-beaten rock formations, and rocky coastlines. This image is one taken from the pancake rock walking track, so it was easy to get to. The hardest challenge in crafting this image was keeping the camera and lens dry, as it was actually raining quite heavily while I was there. Despite using film, I took several frames trying to time the exposure to capture an incoming wave. Weeks later, after having the film developed, I was rewarded with this image, which I then converted to black and white. Mamiya 7ii, 65mm Wide Angle lens, Kodak Portra 400.

Most of my time at Muriwai is spent in the northern part of the beach, focusing on the rock pillars that make up the gannet colony or the rock plateau that people fish from. But, in this outing I walked into the unknown area of southern Muriwai, an area that requires scrambling over rocks and timing the tides to ensure one can get there and back without issue. It provided a different--and good--vantage point to watch the sun dip below the horizon. Just moment before that happened, I captured this image. I loved the curvy line of wet sand created by the receding waves, the reflected color on the remaining water, and the smoothness of the rocks in the foreground.

The annual lantern Festival in Auckland draws tens of thousands of people, all enjoying the Chinese Lunar New Year, the festivities, and the warm Auckland Summer nights. While it's certainly crowded, it's a fun experience and one to enjoy if you're in Auckland in late January or early February. There are quite a few lanterns of different sizes and shapes, ranging from these seen here, to large animals and flowers. In this image, I loved how the deep red of the lantern was offset by the blues in the sky; the warmth of the lanterns against the coolness of a sky painted by the setting sun.