I was revisiting my images from my New Zealand assignment last Fall and I came across this one. I took this on the second day of a two-day visit to Lake Tekapo, on New Zealand’s South Island. This is the iconic Church of the Good Shepard, which has been photographed every possible which way over the years by tourists, large format photographers, 35mm shooters, probably even pinhole aficionados. And no wonder. The church is situated at the edge of the lake, surrounded by a ring of snow-capped mountains. If there …

Having spent four of the grayest, rainiest weeks ever in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia and New Zealand, it reminded me of a valuable pro photographic lesson that I’ll share with you. It’s called ‘extraction.’
Of course, every photographer loves sunny days with lots of blue sky and clouds. But, what do you do when you get to a place where you only have a day or two and the weather sucks? Maybe it’s actively raining (that’s the subject of a future blog) or, worse yet, the sky is a featureless, dull …

As I mentioned in a previous blog (http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com/2010/11/28/te-anau-new-zealand/), Te Anau is a wonderful small town situated on the shores of Lake Te Anau. It is blessed to sit on the eastern side of the mountain chain that affords it protection from the winds and storms that blow in from the Tasmanian Sea.
It’s hard for me to absorb the following statistics: rainfall in the foothills on the southeast side of Lake  Manapouri, just east of the mountain range averages about 1 meter (39 inches) a year. That’s a reasonable amount of …

Since I’ve been a child, I imagined being in New Zealand. When I watched Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, spellbound, the child within was awakened. And so, here I am. No book, no documentary, indeed not even The Lord of the Rings, could have prepared me for the reality of New Zealand. It is stunning, the penultimate eye candy, an unending visual spectacle that boggles the mind.
From Christchurch to Fiordland
We left Christchurch (see http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com/2010/11/20/alive-and-well-in-christchurch/) heading toward Fiordland National Park, on a mission to scout out the South Island for our …

What Earthquake?
New Zealand is subject to earthquakes… lots of them. But after the recent earthquake tragedy in Christchurch, New Zealand, I’m convinced that the media whipped it into a distorted frenzy. Yes, one person died several days later of a heart attack. But the devastation I witnessed while here is nowhere near as bad as I had imagined.
To be sure, there are buildings down and repair work going on in the downtown business areas. There are regular aftershocks, and we felt a slight tremor at 10:30 at night on our …

Okay, so the Australia-Fiji-New Zealand trip and assignment is exactly 15 days off and I’m feeling rattled. A few items in the itinerary have been nailed down since my last blog post, but there’s a heckuva lot more to go.
So far I have the flights to and from Australia and New Zealand finalized, as well as one flight within Australia. Getting to Fiji has been set for months. I’ve got two car rentals arranged and a couple of nice lodging properties lined up and almost finalized, a good thing since …