Mount Taranaki is an iconic spot to get that perfect picture to show off your exotic trip to New Zealand! There is a small pond(tern) on the sister mountain that provides the perfect surface to grab an amazing reflection shot. In my research for the trip I knew I wanted to get my own shot from this spot. I wanted something unique for this spot as well so I planned to stay the night on the mountain and try to catch some stars.
Since my main goal was a nighttime shot, there was no rush to arrive early so we took our time leaving the airBnB that morning. We stayed in this beautiful house of an artist in the town of Whanganui. After leaving Whanganui, we headed north along the coast. In my research I knew there was a lighthouse that I could shoot with Mount Taranaki in the background. It was around noon when we arrived there and the mountain was surrounded by thick clouds that covered most of the summit. These clouds didn’t seem to be going anywhere which was gong to cause a big problem for the shots I had planned.
We left the lighthouse and found a place to grab a bite to eat on our way to the mountain. At lunch I pulled out our map and double checked the route we needed to take. We were going to take the Mangorei Track up past the Pouakai Hut to get to the alpine tarns where I wanted to shoot.
We started our hike around 4 pm with the clouds still hanging overhead. The hike was a bit longer than we had anticipated. We didn’t think about the slower pace we would need to go carrying camera equipment and camping supplies.
As we were nearing the top, the sun was already starting to go down. I was frantic and knew we had to move faster or the sun would set before we got to this spot. I ended up grabbing my wife’s pack and strapping it to my chest in order to lighten her load and we started running. As we approached the top I could see that clouds had moved away from the summit. A clear Mount Taranaki rose into the sky in front of us. Another 10 minutes along the ridge brought us to the tarns where a number of other photographers were already gathered in position. I hurried to get set up before the light faded and was able to capture a wide variety of shots. As time went on and the sun got lower, the sky lit up with incredible intensity and the colors changed dramatically throughout the process. I have many shots that look wildly different from one another depending on when they were taken. Below is the collection of images from that night that show the wide range of conditions we experienced in the span of about an hour.
The temperature dropped quite drastically after the sun went down so we rushed back to the Pouakai Hut to set up our tent. Setting up our new tent for the first time, in the dark, on the edge of a windy mountain top was not the most enjoyable experience. My partner hopped into the tent to warm up as soon as we got it staked down. I grabbed our jetboil and got some hot water going for our dinner. With the extreme cold and the strong wind whipping at our tent, I didn’t get much sleep that night. I was also anxious to get the shot of the stars over mount Taranaki that I had come out for. Once I had waited long enough where the stars should be in the right location above the peak, I ventured out into the cold night alone. once I reached the same location we were for sunset, I immediately knew I was not prepared. The wind was ten times what it was early and my travel tripod was not able to stabilize my shots for the extended period that I needed in order to expose for the stars. After a few attempts, none of which were any better than the previous, I headed back cold and disappointed.
Along the path back to the tent, I came across a clustering of large boulders I thought might help shield me from the wind long enough to get the shot I wanted. I put down my bag and started to take out my equipment and realized that my tripod was now a bipod. In my haste to pack up earlier, I hadn’t tucked all three legs into the side pouch of my bag, and the one leg that can come off to be a mono-pod, had decided to do just that. Cursing to myself I grabbed my flashlight and started re-tracing my path. I spent the next 20 minutes searching in the dark, unable to recover the third leg to my tripod. Defeated, I retreated to my tent to wait for the sun to rise and get off the mountain, back to our warm van.
Although the shot I had my heart set upon came out as an unfocused disaster, I lucked out with an amazing sunset that provided me with some incredible images. One of these images sold as my very first NFT in Jun of 2021! You can learn more about my complete NFT collection HERE.
