What Makes New Zealand the Dream Location for Landscape Photographers
Have you heard of the golden hour? That moment just after sunrise or before sunset when the lighting is perfect for taking photos? Well, New Zealand is the country equivalent of golden hour! Small, stunning and seasonal, filled with beaches, sunsets, and native bush, there’s simply no better place in the world for photographers to embrace their craft and hone their skills.
To take your landscape photography to the next level, talk to award-nominated Meghan Maloney about her upcoming photography workshops. In the meantime, read about the qualities that make NZ a photographer’s paradise.
Some of the world’s best beaches
In NZ, nobody lives more than 120 km from the coast. Our world-class beaches are not just beautiful but unique – travel around the country and you’ll find everything from black sands to rocky coastlines and picturesque golden beaches. It’s the best place to lean into your budding photography talents and learn how to shoot incredible seascapes.
Cathedral Cove Seascape Sunrise
The wonder of sunrise
There's no better way for a landscape photographer to start the day than seeing the first light appear over the horizon. With so many incredible photography locations around NZ that face the rising sun, you'll be spoilt for choice to capture a sunrise that embodies all that is wonderful about the wonder of a new day.
Nugget Point Lighthouse Sunrise in the Catlins
Stunning sunsets
Capturing a perfect sunset is on every aspiring landscape photographer's bucket list. Once you learn how to use the right filters (I highly recommend Kase Filters) and get the timing right, you’ll take magazine-worthy photos showcasing the kaleidoscope of colours in the NZ sky as the sun begins its descent.
Matarangi Sunset, Coromandel
Learn to work with waterfalls
From the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island, New Zealand has hundreds of stunning waterfalls. With all this running water, you have so many opportunities to learn how to take long exposure photos that give viewers the soothing feeling of watching water tumbling over a cliff in a lush forest setting.
Whangarei Falls, Northland
McLean Falls Waterfall, Southland
Four distinct seasons
Our little country is the perfect place for passionate landscape photographers to learn the subtle differences that changing seasons bring. Because we have a fairly comfortable climate year-round, you can snap a winter landscape without frost bite and spend a summer’s day snapping photos by the beach. You’ll learn to work with spring’s beautiful blossom and exhibit the auburns, reds and golden yellows that suddenly emerge in autumn.
Lake Marian, Fiordland in winter
Summer sunset over New Chums Beach, Coromandel
Spring Cherry Blossom in the Waikato
Autumn Colour in Twizel
Enjoy nature at its finest
The natural world offers endless inspiration for artists, musicians and photographers alike. By pursuing landscape photography in New Zealand, you get to spends hours absorbed in the natural world hiking amongst incredible mountain and lake scenery, chasing waterfalls and watching the stars.
Hooker Lake Hike, Mount Cook
The wonder of the night sky
Did you know New Zealand is home to several Dark Sky Reserves? This makes NZ one of the best places in the world for stargazing and a dream for astrophotography. You'll see the Milky Way clearer than ever before and capture a night sky that seems to be filled with a billion stars.
Stargazing in New Zealand, Church of the Good Shepherd in Tekapo
You might see the Southern Lights
If you’re lucky, an evening shooting stars in the South Island might reveal the vivid greens, violets, pinks and blues that make up the Southern Lights of the Aurora Australis.
Aurora Australis in Twizel
Hone your skills with Meghan Maloney
Are you a passionate landscape photographer who wants to embrace and enhance your skills in New Zealand? Talk to Meghan Maloney about joining one of her landscape photography workshops throughout the country.
