/// Wild Tracks - Landscape Photography by Eduardo Gallo

WILD TRACKS

Passion for Landscape Photography

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Westland National Park, South Island, New Zealand

March 2012

Westland National Park, South Island, New Zealand

Canon 5D MkII & EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 0.3s f/19 ISO400 @24mm

Google Earth for this photo
HARSHNESS

The western coast of New Zealand's South Island is a world onto itself. Sandwiched between the Roaring Forties that bring storm after storm across the Tasman Sea and the ice covered summits of the Southern Alps, its weather can only be described as miserable. Utterly miserable. So much water is not only responsible for the abundant vegetation that covers the narrow strech of land between the ocean and the mountains, but also for keeping the loggers away long enough for society to realize how unique this area really is. The consequence is that nowdays most of the land west of the mountains is both protected and unpopulated.

It is common sense that if you visit a rainforest you should expect to get wet. For the same reason that you will be cold in the mountains or thirsty in the desert. But optimist as I am, I always imagine that the rains will not last for long. That I will be able to spend my time wandering in the forest happily taking photos in calm cloudy weather. Not this time though. Rainy, windy, and foggy during the day. Rainy, windy, and pitch black at night. Day after day. Night after night. It is hard to remain upbeat under these conditions. Impossible to walk, as the creeks are flooded and the trails are muddy. Impossible to take photos, as there is not enough light and the leaves do not stop moving. Impossible to get dry, as the humidity and dampness reach everywhere no matter what you do.

The good thing about rain is that it keeps people indoors. You can visit with no hassle locations that are generally overcrowed on nice days. Park on empty lots wondering if you've inadvertently driven through a "closed" sign or you are really the only one there. That is what happened this day, as I visited the Franz Josef glacier, one of the two easily reached tongues of ice that flow down all the way to the coastal plains. The enormous parking area and the straight thirty feet wide path that leads along the terminal moraine to a viewpoint close to the ice speaks of its popularity. I had a weird feeling, kind of what you get when driving on a multi-lane freeway with no other vehicle in sight. Surrounded by bright signs informing me of all the dangers awaiting me if I deviated from the path (ice fall, drowning, landslides, fines, meteorite strike, you get the idea) together with statistics about previous tourist fatalities in the area.

Temptation was too much for me. I am like I am and that is it. Moving under the rain like a diamond thief in the middle of a museum (quite a funny sight when you think about it), looking right and left for any sign of a ranger (who obviously was cozily drinking coffee somewhere warm), I quickly deviated from the path and approached the creek flowing from the glacier. More a river than a creek, as the torrent looked threatening and made lots of noise, even under the rain. I set the rain cover on my camera and painfully took several photos of the moving water and the striated rocks under clouds so low that I could nearly touch them, while unsuccessfully trying to keep the lens dry. Satisfied with having taken some photos on a day like this, I packed the camera and started walking upstream along the creek towards the glacier. A few minutes later I came into several small blocks of ice lying close to the creek, gracefully located among several boulders, and providing a good perspective when combined with the creek and the clouds. As I was setting up the tripod and pulling the camera from by backpack, the clouds suddenly rose just enough for the bottom of the glacier to reveal itself in the distance. I knew that was my lucky break, so I hurried to take the above image just in case it did not last, which it did not.

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