NZPhotographer Issue 33, July 2020

When you find yourself coming out of
Covid‐19 lockdown, what do you do and
where do you go first? I had just brought
a new truck and wanted to get out of
Christchurch to refresh, recharge and test out my
truck on some basic 4 wheel drive roads so I thought
what better place to go than into the Hakatere
Conservation Park with its many lakes.
My target spot was Lake Emma and old Musters Hut
which can be reached via a short mountain bike
ride, a decent walk, or an easy drive over rough
terrain. I chose this place because I knew there
was no reception for phone service and I needed
a break from the reality of the world, even though
it was just a short overnight trip. Added to this we
were in a new moon phase giving me the ideal
opportunity for some astro photography without
light pollution from our friend the moon.
So off we set, Lake Emma is only a 2 hour drive from
Christchurch but as this was my first time as driver
of a 4 wheel drive vehicle on weather dependent
roads we took things slowly, heading off early in the
day.
I had been wanting to come here for several years
as I love the history of this site. The hut was built
between the 1860s‐1890s and is located beside the
beautiful Lake Emma but you are not are allowed to
stay inside due to its heritage so we set up camp in
tents outside.
While we were cooking dinner we were shooting the
sunset, lucky to have a perfect location to keep an
eye on the cooking food while having the ability to
shoot the lake’s reflection as well as the beautiful
colours in the sky. The area is well known for fog
drifting in not long after sunset, especially in the
cooler months, so I was hoping this would happen
whilst we were there.
We were shooting some early astro shots, the calm
water allowing a perfect reflection of stars on the
lake when I spotted what seemed to be fog on
the far right. I hoped I could get my dream shot
of the milkyway rising behind the hut before it was
a complete white-out but was more than happy
with shooting the low fog over the lake as it added
mood and drama to the otherwise still scene. With
1 hour to go until the milkyway was in the right
position above the hut, I kept shooting but with
each image I took, there were fewer visible stars so
my disappointment levels were increasing along
with the fog.
It was getting chilly so I got into my sleeping bag,
setting the alarm for 8.30pm. I poked my head
STAR REFLECTION
F2.8, 20s, ISO10000
8
NZPhotographer