While up in Taranaki for Waitangi weekend, I decided I'd make the most of the now-slightly-later sunrises - and since getting up at 5.30am feels normal to me anyway when I do it all week for exercise normally it was no great hardship to jump out of bed when the alarm went.
I headed straight down to Lake Rotomanu - I hadn't been down here since July last year despite two trips to Taranaki since then - instead I'd captured Lake Mangamahoe back in October and slept in at Christmas - come on a gal does need to have a sleep in sometimes!
It was a very still and clear morning. So much so that the lake was incredibly smooth - helped a little by the long exposures I was taking. The shot below is quite possibly my favourite black and white shot I've captured yet.
Once the skies lightened enough to reduce the shutter exposure, I enjoyed taking some shots of a lone kayaker's ripples flowing towards me - he paddled around the lake at least half a dozen times while I was standing taking shots and every time he came past the jetty the ripples would follow along after him.
With the skies lightening further I headed for Te Rewa Rewa bridge. I love the design of this bridge - I've never seen anything quite like it - it makes a bold statement on the surrounding landscape.
It's like walking through the belly of a whale or being inside a giant wave don't you think?!
And when I crossed the bridge and turned around to look behind me there it was. The shot that I
had been waiting so many months to capture.
That elusive mountain who is so often shrouded in thick cloud put on the most stellar performance for me on this morning. And the first light of the sun's rays caught on the bridge provided a golden curtain to the show.
And I'm firmly convinced that the architects who designed this bridge did so knowing exactly that on a day like today the mountain would be framed so wonderfully.
It was with a very big spring in my step that I left this place, finally satisfied!
