A small clearing in southern beech (Nothofagus) forest in the Darran mountains north of Milford Sound. The track from the Hollyford Valley eventually breaks out of this forest into open subalpine country around Lake Adelaide. The surrounding mountains are legendary in the New Zealand climbing world.All content © 2009 Pete McGregor
You can see why they chose New Zealand as the spot for Lord of the rings!.. Funnily though, I know of similar damp and mossy places over here. I guess the difference is in vastness of terrain... I can smell the damp grassy lushness from here :-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful image, except that I keep wishing for the background to be burned in more so that the portion in the sunlight stands out a little stronger.
ReplyDeleteAn added note... this is very similar to what the mountains and forests look like here in Japan, especially any areas close to a volcano.
ReplyDeleteKia ora Pete,
ReplyDeleteLokks like a great spot to pitch the tent for a night.
Cheers,
Robb
This is how I usually imagine NZ, mossy forest, incredible greens.
ReplyDeleteIt is always a retreat for me to come to your blog and nurture myself with the purity, beauty and truth of the images you deliver every day; each and every one of them is a real gift and an invitation to think about where we are leading our home, our mother nature. Greetings, Ely
ReplyDeleteI can smell the air!
ReplyDeleteWatercats, many parts of New Zealand had that Middle Earth feel to me even before the film. The diversity of landscapes made it the obvious choice for that film, too.
ReplyDeleteMiguel, thanks for the suggestion. Usually the problem with these forest-interior photos is extreme contrast, which is why overcast or even misty days are much easier for photography; however, they have their own difficulties. And that's interesting about the similarity to Japanese forests. I hope to see for myself some day ;^)
Robb, well, actually, it was pretty lumpy and swampy! A hammock would have been the way to go.
Zhoen, plenty of these sorts of scenes in Aotearoa. But we also have a great diversity of other landscapes, and all in a relatively small area, which is one of the reasons NZ's such a great place to explore.
Ely, that's a lovely comment and I'm deeply honoured. Thankyou :^)
Michael, I like it when one of my photos evokes some of the other senses in a viewer — as if it's managed to transcend the purely visual. Thanks :^)