New Zealand’s South Island landscape re-imagined and re-imaged
Unconventional Black and White Images
(Where B&W is regarded as unconventional anyway!)
Welcome to a deliberate departure.
While much of my work over the last 20 years has focused on the literal ‘Southern Light’ of our landscapes, PhotoQuest is where I test the boundaries of the frame. This collection of black and white images isn’t just about removing colour; it’s about amplifying the ‘Static’ of the wild—the grit of a nor’wester, the weight of Fiordland snow, and the geometry of our local National Parks.
I’m looking for the ‘Inversion’—the moments where the familiar landscape becomes something slightly more mysterious and unconventional.
Long Sound Fiordland NZ – snow flakes settling on water. The Physics of Silence. These Fiordland snowflakes refused to melt, floating on the surface of Long Sound like white petals. A rare moment where the air and water temperatures reached a perfect, frozen stalemate.
What looked like a simple aesthetic fluke was actually a massive freshwater ‘lens’—confirmed by divers to be 2-3 meters thick—floating atop the saltier sea. This glacial-cold layer acted as a thermal shield, allowing the fresh snow to rest on the surface tension without the usual rapid dissolve of the salt. It’s a rare visual capture of Fiordland’s hidden stratification.
Has anyone else here seen snow float like this in the Fiords?
Long Sound Fiordland NZ – snow flakes settling on water and failing to melt for sometime.
Snow on the tops:“High-altitude grit. The outlier of the Southern Alps stripped back to bone and shadow.”
Waterfall draining Lake Widgeon:“Gravity and mist. A vertical narrative in the heart of Long Sound.”
Old Cromwell Town:“A study in structural silence. Finding the unconventional lines in our own backyard.”
Lime trees (Wānaka Station Park):“Converging Giants. A vertical perspective that turns Wānaka’s canopy into a gothic cathedral.”
Lake Wanaka NZ – Solar Flare (ƒ22 – lens stopped down)
Lake Hawea (Moonlight):“The Silver Hour of solitude. Capturing the cold, lunar energy of the Hawea basin.”
An autumn leaf caught “back-lighting”
Potentially a silver birch. From memory it was found in Wānaka Station Park.
Waterfall and Beech Forest on the Rob Roy Glacier Walk New Zealand.
The walk starts at the Raspberry Creek car park, 54 km west of Wanaka. After about 15 minutes it enters Mount Aspiring National Park. It is an easy 3-4 hours.
Historic cottage near Hyde Central Otago
Fenced in Ice Bow on Pisa Range:“Atmospheric Static. A rare ‘Ice Bow’ caught between the sun and the high-country cold.”
Lake Wānaka (Nor’wester):“The Lake in a gale. When the wind becomes a visible texture on the surface of the water.”
Ready to restore the frequency?
If you’ve explored the shadows, it’s time to see where the light breaks. Discover the chromatic anomalies, ‘God Rays,’ and unexplained phenomena of the >>
