Aug 02 2012

Snowshoeing in The Remarkables

I am not a skier. I tried once when I was around eleven, and at my first attempt to go downhill I was rolling down the slope like a snowball, skis flying, hat lost, telling myself: “Never again”.

I kept my promise. Which I am planning to break in the next couple of years as I am no longer eleven and have a little bit more courage and control of my core muscles (or so I think).

I enjoy cross-country skiing though (but it’s a whole separate blog post).

Anyway, when in Queenstown in winter one must have an encounter with snow. You kind of don’t blend with the July crowd over there if you do not have a healthy glow and a dreamlike expression on your face, and skis on your shoulders. Since I was not ready to break the spell of my childhood memories of the ski incident but wanted to have that pink glow we opted for snowshoeing. Which was the best fun we had in ages!

Snowshoeing in New Zealand is quite new and is becoming very popular. If you are ever in Queenstown you have to do it, especially if you don’t ski but love snow. Our guide Errol (who is the most friendly, knowledgeable and super-relaxed person) picked us up from the hotel early in the morning and off we went up the gravel road that leads to The Remarkables snow area.  The views from that gravel road (and the drive itself) are heart-stopping and hard to describe in words but I managed to snap a few lovely pictures from the car so you can see for yourself. At the base we layered up, put the snowshoes on and started climbing up the mountain to the amusement of the skiers gliding above us in the cozy chairlift seats. BUT they didn’t know that WE can leave the bustle of the slopes behind, go past the “Danger, exit at your own risk” sign and enjoy the wide open winter wonderland at the frozen lake Alta and uninterrupted views of Single Cone and Double Cone all to ourselves with the exception of three snow patrol guys who were having fun on the fresh snow, ahem, working their territory. And silence, that silence…

The rest you can see below.

I can say I did feel like I belonged when we returned back to town, despite not having skis on my shoulders.

And big thanks to my darling for all the pictures of me in this set. You are an amazing photographer.

And here is Errol at work! Don’t you just love his office space and his business attire?

You can book your showshoeing fun at http://www.snowshoeing.co.nz/

(and no, we did not get paid for this promotion:)we paid our full fare, and would come back any time and do it again)

 

 

Posted in Personal, Travel
Jul 31 2012

My Favourite Mountain

“Truly it may be said that the outside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man” 

– George Wherry, Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot, 1896


Mount Cook. Towering above New Zealand. My love at first sight. All other mountains that I have met in my life are undoubtedly no less majestic and eternal and beautiful, but standing in front of Mount Cook makes my heart flutter like nowhere else in the world.

This July I felt blessed. I spent time watching Mount Cook from the southern end of Lake Pukaki, across the teal waters. In the morning, in the afternoon, at sunset. I cheered when the morning clouds disappeared and revealed the mountain in all its snowy glory, rising high above the wide open space of the Mackenzie Country. I witnessed the most magical sunset clouds making the mountain glow pink. I woke up at The Hermitage and captured the first light kissing the top of Mount Cook, well before  the rays reached the valley. I hiked towards the glacier lake at the foot of the mountain, feeling tiny and humble, and free.  I sat wide-eyed (and I am afraid wide-open-mouthed too) as we flew in the helicopter towards it, and then around it, on the same level as the highest peak.

I watched it becoming smaller and smaller and then disappear over horizon on the day we left New Zealand.  First from our car, then from our plane window, my face pressed to the glass until the white peaks stopped glistening and the vastness of the ocean took over.

See you next time, Mount Cook. I will miss you. But I have your pictures, in my heart.

Sydney Travel Photographer

 

Posted in Personal, Travel
Jul 24 2012

Beauty in Every Moment

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”
 – Ralph Waldo Emerson 

It is everywhere – in the light shining through the coloured glass,  in moody winter skies, in lavender bush growing through the fence ornament, in the bright-green colour of chopped veggies. Beauty is everywhere around us, and I can’t stop repeating myself that Instagram helps us see it in things we often would just go past without paying much attention.

Or to quickly capture the magic of the morning rainbow that only lasted a minute or so, and to share it with the world. It is so easy to grab your phone and record that moment, to take notice.

Or to have that tiny camera ready in the warm pocket of your down jacket while snowshoeing through a blizzard in The Remarkables.

We have just spent the most amazing week in one the dearest to my heart places – the South Island of New Zealand. Stay tuned for more pictures from the photographer’s paradise! There definitely will be more than one blog post about our adventures there. But for now, here are a few Instagram moments of my July:

Posted in Instagram, Personal, Travel
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Lisa Jay - August 6, 2012 - 8:47 pm

I’ll have to find you on instagram. I’m totally addicted too :) Love these images.

Jul 13 2012

Hunter Valley Seasons

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread–and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness–
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”

– Omar Khayyam

The changing colours of vine leaves. The eternal circle of birth, ripening, harvesting, rest. Oh Hunter Valley, how you inspire me – your landscape, your country roads, your cellar doors, your warmth, and lovely picnic spots. And your wine of course.

These pictures are spanning six years, three different camera models and I don’t know how many bottles of Shiraz. We have been to the Hunter so many times I have lost count – just the two of us, and with our friends and family and  overseas visitors, and again just the two of us. Our faces are recognized in a couple of wineries which always makes us come back there again and again, to talk about difference in vintages, undiscovered beauty of Hunter Pinot, and cellar door manager’s relatives in New Zealand. We have seen every season in full force – new tiny bright-green grapes in spring; heavy, full of life and promise summer fruit; red flame of autumn leaves; naked and frozen vines in winter.  We celebrated our anniversaries and birthdays, shot weddings, watched our favourite artists perform among the grapes, or just went up there on a Sunday because we felt like it. We watched the orange summer sun rising above the vineyards, promising the 45-degree heat in February, and worn our warmest down jackets while witnessing a frosty winter sunrise in July.

And I always had my camera with me.

If you are ever there, stop by these lovely places:

Draytons

First Creek

Krinklewood

Shakey Tables Restaurant  (their food is a work of art!)

Happy Friday! Hope you have the cosiest weekend.

Posted in Destination Wedding Photographer, Hunter Valley Wedding Photographer, Personal, Travel
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Koren - July 13, 2012 - 9:32 pm

Anastasia, these images are spectacular! You are soooo talented. I love!

Kathy - July 13, 2012 - 10:00 pm

Stunning work as always Anastasia…you captured the pure essence of the area in your photos and words…Hunter Valley is now on my list of must see places…beautiful! :)

And just like that…he is six months » Anastasia Photography – Wedding and Family Photographer Sydney Australia Worldwide - June 18, 2014 - 5:11 pm

[…] His first day trip. Even managed a nap under our favourite jacaranda tree in our favourite picnic spot: […]

Jul 08 2012

Inspiration

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…. I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

– Elliott Erwitt   

 

One of my biggest photography inspirations is Elliott Erwitt. If you are not familiar with his work yet, I urge you to visit his website or pick up one of his books, and be struck by his witty humor and amazing eye. Whenever I feel I am stumbling on my creative path again (like today), I think of Elliott’s work. I go to my bookshelf and open “Snaps”, a 544-pages source of constant amusement. I have never, ever, seen another photographer who could pick the visibly mundane moments, expose them on film and show to his viewer how much grace and humor and emotion is in every day that would go unnoticed if not for Erwitt’s timeless lenswork. Sadness and tragedy go hand in hand with zest for life and quiet laughter. In-between moments are full of life and its true meaning.

Have an amazing day, wherever you are in the world. I am off to spend some time learning to see and feel from the true master, the incomparable Elliott Erwitt.

 

 

 

Posted in Personal, Thoughts on Photography