Last Sunday I took friends partway along the track to Iron Gate hut in the Oroua catchment. We were lucky with the weather — we got back to the car as the first drops of rain blew over from the Ngamoko Range. Earlier in the day the tops had been clear.
This is the Ngamoko, looking towards Tunupo peak, from the car park. At its most spectacular, the rainbow formed an almost perfect arch.
[19 February 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 45 mm, ISO 100, 1/100 at f11]
All content © 2012 Pete McGregor
How truly spectacular.
ReplyDeleteOn the thumbnail of this image, it looked like sepia with a strange bit of spot color. Only seen full size does it look like a rainbow. But then the illusion of a model landscape forms. Wonderfully eerie.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zhoen, eerie and menacing. 'Go somewhere else' indeed - as your comment says.....but where? It doesn't look easy to escape.
ReplyDeleteWow, great photo Pete. I like the shallow depth of field - looks like you've used a tilt-shift lens.
ReplyDeleteHow often does Ngamoko look like this eh?
Kia Ora Pete,
ReplyDeleteMakes me feel like I have many times standing there by the car with the boot open, making the final preparations and glancing with both excitement and unease into the Ngamoko ready to shoulder a heavy pack and into the mist.
Cheers,
Robb
Elephant's Child, it was indeed spectacular.
ReplyDeleteZhoen, I've seen that kind of cloud so often, and it is indeed eerie. I never see it without feeling a touch of gratitude I'm not battling the weather up there.
RR, in fact it's not too bad once you're off the tops and into the bush. But that's the catch — when the visibility's less than a hundred metres and you're on an unmarked route on the tops, navigation can be extremely difficult and you can't afford to spend too long up there.
Jono, yes, it's that tilt-shift effect, but in post-processing. No way I could afford a tilt-shift lens. Incidentally, smaller sensors like the GH1's four-thirds sensor have a larger DoF than larger sensors at a given aperture, so selective focusing can sometimes be difficult to achieve.
Robb, I'd be thinking about putting the pack back in the boot! Knights to Kinvig would be the only one I'd consider, as I know it well, it's poled, and you're usually not in the cloud for too long. But in this case, it had come right down and staying low would have been the only safe option.
Tilt shift photography, that's what I was trying to describe.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/118482
Perhaps some places are best left to the imagination? My only solace. -Maureen
ReplyDeleteZhoen, yes — an interesting effect, unintentional in this case. The novelty wears off pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteMaureen, some places will always be inaccessible except to the imagination. I like that idea.