Ten Fifteen Photos: Otago Harbour and Peninsula

View toward the mouth of the Harbour from Harrington Point...I took the bus out there and had less than 10 minutes before catching the return bus.  It was so, so quiet and this image reflects that.  (Only later did I see that there are a couple of birds in the shot).

Mudflat at Portobello...The early evening light created a dramatic contrast .  I've seen this effect produced in Photoshop with filters, but this is the image out of camera.  Also, only after looking at the photo did I see that there are a couple of footprints.

Boulder Beach from Highcliff Track...subdued color but lots of texture: the dunes, the boulders, the sand, and the water.

Eibe Olendorff at Leith Berth...early morning light with the Peninsula in the background, while waiting for one of the infrequent buses out to Harington Point on the Peninsula.  Not an easy shot to get as one has to work around bushes lining the waterfront..  Port Otago does not make it easy to get clean shots of ships.  It's not like the old days when a regular flow of freighters came up and down the Harbour and one could walk right out on the wharves.

Waiting for high tide...not an easy shot to get with a 70-200 lens from the window of a moving bus (Harington Point trip).

A weekend morning trip to the beach with the kids... with a 70-200 lens from the window of a moving bus (Harington Point trip).

Road on Karetai Track hike...a textured gray gravel road winding through a green landscape is emblematic of drives out on the Peninsula.  My current project in ceramics is to create a representation of this image in clay.  I have a very similar image from the hike to New Zealand Marine Studies Center in Portobello which conveys the same effect equally well.

Karetai Track hike...the texture of the trees and brush makes for an interesting landscape.

Sandymount Track hike...texture on the hill plus texture on the beach.

View of Hooper's Inlet from Sandymount Track with the Harbour just visible in the distance...green hills dotted with trees, more green hills in the distance, and several bodies of water (beach, inlet and Harbour) are an example of the terrain that makes this area so special.  All that is missing are blue sky and white puffy clouds.  I should like to get out to Hooper's Inlet area much more often, particularly in the morning and early evening when the light is interesting, but I don't have a car and it is a long drive.

Sandymount Track...the lines of the fences, the wall, and the sheep track give several paths for the eye to explore.

Mom and newborn...cute.

New Zealand sea lions | pakake at Sandfly Bay...amusing.

Undaria pinnatifida at Weller's Rock Wharf...interesting light; only later did I find out this is an invasive seaweed known as "the gorse of the sea."

Neptune's Necklace (Hormosira banksii), Portobello at low tide...the early evening light provided me with a new perspective on this seaweed which I had previously only seen covered in grayish slime.

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Bonus Photo

Water Under Bridge - Friday Afternoon...still not sure how I got this shot but it may be the best of the lot.