On just our second day at Puponga, blessed with beautiful weather (not a breath of wind), we decided to walk along the Spit at low tide, to photograph the sand dunes. We hoped for some nice evening light and some interesting formations to photograph. What we got was out of this world spectacular!
It's about an hours walk to the dunes from the car park. But if you are going to go you need to make sure that the tide is well out. Fortunately for us, we had timed it perfectly and low-tide coincided with sunset. I didn't really know what to expect from the dunes, and after about three quarters of an hour of trudging over broken shells carrying a tripod and camera gear, I was beginning to wonder whether it was all going to be worth it? But boy oh boy, was it worth it!
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| Farewell Spit Sand Dunes. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/45th sec, ISO 200 |
We were greeted with a landscape unlike any other I have ever experienced. I've never been to the desert before, and am possibly never likely to? So for me, this was the next best thing. A sandscape that reminded me of the sand planet Tattoine in the Star Wars movies, bathed in beautiful evening light. My photography brain almost exploded from sensory overload! It was almost too much to take in and process. It was so alien and foreign - I'm used to a lot of lush green on the West Coast - that I almost didn't know how to approach photographing it? And yet, at the same time, incredible images seemed to materialise no matter where I pointed my camera!
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| Visions of Tattoine. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/56th sec, ISO 200 |
Faced with such an overwhelming visual experience, I knew that I ran the risk of just 'spraying and praying'. Taking hundreds of images of stuff that was 'new' without really considering the 'why' of the image. So luckily I decided to slow down and give myself 10 minutes just to soak it all in and not take a single photo. I also decided to switch the camera to black and white in the viewfinder (shooting RAW + Jpeg so I would have the option of both colour and b&w later). These two decisions saved my bacon (so to speak), as they forced me to slow down and actually 'look' at what I was seeing.
What was I drawn to most strongly? What was I responding to most emotionally? When I took the time to ask myself these questions, and when I looked through the viewfinder of the X-E2 at the black and white image, I realised that it was the textures and the forms in the sand that excited me the most. And especially how these textures and forms were responding to the light. So that's what I concentrated on for my images.
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| Golden light. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/25th sec, ISO 200 |
If that had been the photography done and dusted for the evening then I would have gone away very happy and considered it a successful evenings shoot. But mother nature wasn't finished with us yet.
The light was slowly fading as we left the sand dunes to head back to the car park. We had another hours journey ahead of us, and wanted to make it back before dark. But we were also hopeful that the sky might colour up for a decent sunset. We'd had an amazing time with wonderful light at the sand dunes. Did we dare hope for a great sunset as well?
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| Colouring up. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f11 @ 1/40th, ISO 200. |
As we made our way back, we couldn't believe our eyes (and luck)! The light was gorgeous, and just kept getting better and better! At low tide, on such a still and calm evening, the reflections in the remaining water were perfect. Glassy smooth and pristine. Nicki and I were two very happy and excited photographers, with perfect conditions, in what turned out to be one of the best evenings of my life - period!
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| Very happy Photographers! Photo: Joanna Lorimer |
On a more technical note: I continue to be impressed and more than satisfied with the 16MP x-trans sensor in the Fuji X-E2. The x-trans colours are beautiful, the files are clean, and the cameras themselves are a joy to handle and use. I still love the programmable 'film simulations' of the Fuji's, and switching quickly between them is a breeze. Having shot b&w using my 'C2 - Acros' film simulation at the sand dunes, a quick press of the 'Q' button and flick of the control wheel and I switched to my 'C1 - Classic Chrome' film simulation for punchy sunset colours. The jpegs that these film simulations produce are astoundingly good. But so too, surprisingly, are the RAW files from the x-trans sensor. Most manufacturers RAW files are somewhat duller (even lack luster) when compared to the out-of-camera jpegs - but not so with the Fuji RAW's from the X-E2. Even the RAW files are punchy and colourful, with very little needing to be done to them in the way of added contrast or saturation. When I flick between a Nikon jpeg and RAW capture in Lightroom, the difference between the two files is obvious. Not so much with the Fuji's. Which I like.
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| Sunset over Abel Tasman. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f16 @ 2 secs. ISO 200 |
We had gone on holiday to Golden Bay knowing that there would be plenty of photo opportunities. I had prepared my gear as best I could, but you always need the weather to come to the party. So there is always going to be an element of luck involved with any photographic endevour. On only our second night at Golden Bay, we got extremely, extremely 'lucky'. We were in the right place, at the right time, to capture some truly magnificent light on the landscape.
On nights like this, in those moments when everything aligns and comes together (which - lets be honest - are extremely rare), I feel amazingly honoured, and incredibly humbled, to be a photographer. It's a hobby/profession that I've been passionate about for over 30 years of my life.
You may or may not be a person with a religious faith. I happen to be. And on a night like the one we experience that evening, I feel closer to my creator than at any other time. That's the gift that photography gives me.
