Here my anchor is set firm
here connected lies my earthly form
my life like the Pohutakawa roots entwined
as is my mana with fortitude
here is life fleeting but with my gratitude
here my kete kai overflows
It had been many years since I last visited the glorious Kauri Mountain beach that I used to frequent a lot with my folks when I was a young child, as well as a teenager/young adult chasing waves. So rediscovering these sacred places has been an extremely rewarding experience, to reconnect with these focal points filled with joyful memories and youthful freedoms. I wasn't sure if it was still there was still public access to this site as it had been such a long time since I was there last. So I was very happy to see that it was indeed still accessible for all who know her treasures...
Returning to my roots I slept in the back of my car the night before with the hopes that the sunrise would offer up the kind of atmospheric conditions that make capturing images a successful venture. My alarm jolted me to my senses at a pre dawn time, eyes bleary, but feeling refreshed after a satisfactory nights sleep. So out into the crisp morning I ventured, camera backpack filled with the tools of my trade, a pocket filled with muesli bars to stay me over when the grumbling began.
So along the track I began, up into some thick gorse forests, gingerly picking my way through some less than encouraging cow tracks, wishing my skin was as tough as the cowhide that made them. After a rather painful few attempts I managed to find myself in an adequate position in order to capture the wide landscape vistas that I had envisioned prior to this shoot.
After setting up my equipment I stood there quietly anticipating what the sun was going to do, what kind of clouds were going to dance with the first rays of warmth and light. Slowly it arose from the ocean, images being stored on my cameras CF Card, work flowing, second nature, something that I have done countless times in the past while working as a seasoned travel photographer. These are the moments that photographers live for, a form of meditation, zen like state of being "in the moment".
Once the magical golden hour has finished I pack up, feeling very blessed to have just captured such a glorious moment in time. After unsuccessfully navigating a couple of tracks through the gorse due to forgetting which one I took, thankfully I finally made it back out onto the more user friendly fields for the relaxing walk back to where I left the car.
All photographs are © Copyright of Doug Pearson 2019