Pataua Pa illuminated by warm sunset light...
Kia ora koutou,
How beautiful was today?! The last couple of days we've had lighter, cooler south easterlies blowing up fresh air from way down in the Roaring Forties. This is why March heralds in one of my most favorite times of the year to chase the light. With this thought firmly in my mind I put my camera gear in the car. But which spot should I head to? Several spots sprung to mind, the Heads being one of them. As a photographer, each time I visit a favorite subject I'm collecting data on how each spot is best photographed, and which conditions work best for each. Some need clouds, and some don't. On this occasion I had my sights set on the glorious vistas over Bream Bay towards the Heads from the Brynderwyns. For this shot I was anticipating some nice clouds. It's not enough just to have clear skies sometimes, clear skies can be boring. I wanted to see beautiful organized groups of perfect fluffy woolly sheep clouds grazing above the Whangarei Heads, all warmly painted with orange, yellow and peach. The background sky a beautiful gradiant of rising hues, like a curtain lifting over the Pacific Ocean. Now these are the conditions I dream of...
Driving through town while picking up a takeaway dinner on-route I could see that there weren't many clouds about, so that erased the Brynderwyn's idea. No clouds, boring skies, not in my vision of what I wanted. How about the Heads from Smugglers? Nup, been there, done that in those conditions. Hmmmm... what about Pataua? I'd been meaning to capture a photo that I've had in my mind for a while. There's a nice composition looking down the stairs looking towards the old Maori fortress hill that guards over the estuary. It could be nice with the last of the sun on there with the evening hues rising up behind. Unfortunately the tide was going out and there was a lot of sand where water could have been, but after scoping the scene I settled on this view and began to compose my evenings work...
Pataua Pa catching the last warm rays of evening light
All photographs are © Copyright of Doug Pearson 2019