Day into Night, and the Magical Bit Between
It’s time for one of those stories again. What we do, and the way in which we do it, is intentional. We set out to help people design and immerse themselves in an unforgettable experience here in the Southern Lakes. As we slow down and discover, the moment will be captured in breathtaking photographs.
Right from the moment we first heard from Parul, we knew we were going to have an adventure that will be spoken about for many years to come.
Growing up in India, moving to Aotearoa in her teens, Parul has been here studying and working since. With a move overseas approaching, our brief was to visit some truly majestic places, slow down and capture, in images, the moments when she connects to the environment all around her. To build a collection of images to fit alongside the many others she’s captured along the way during her time here in Aotearoa.
This time she doesn’t have to worry about taking the photographs, that’s what we do, and we make it real easy.
We were looking for solitude, so we headed North fairly briskly, making sure we had an introductory stop by the edge of Whakatipu-wai-Māori, then we headed towards some very large boulders to catch the last of the light in an alpine valley.
The native bush seemingly invites you in, following gentle careful paths through fallen trees, moss and leaf litter strewn across the floor. An almost overwhelming sense of colour, light, smells and sounds greet us as we take our time to take it in. Feel with all of our senses. Arrive in this one of many special places.
It would be easy to let time take too much control, but time takes no time for no one, Southwards we shall venture, swapping rivers for the lake.
As we approach the Equinox, where the Sun rises due east and sets due west, day and night are sharing the time. The time it takes to transition between the two states of light and dark is lengthening. All Winter, it’s been pretty quick. Now, we’ve got more time. Golden Hour, lazily transits into Blue Hour and they’re almost even just that, hours, not 15 minutes. The aerosols from the eruption a few moons back in Tonga have still been making their presence known, and really visually stirring things up.
So yes, thankfully, we have enough time to refuel on some locally sourced food and enjoy an on the road Aeropressed Mocha, before we soak in the last of the golden rays at the wharf.
Magical things happen in these transitional periods. The light changes subtly, and definitely, forever continuing its relentless push forwards through time. Always traveling at exactly the same speed, where ever, when ever. The light we’re now seeing isn’t coming directly from the sun. It’s reflected by our atmosphere, the environment around us is shaping what we see with our eyes and our brain adjusts as the signal constantly weakens in order of us to keep seeing. Just as we think the light is about to go out, they start to poke through, the stars that is, one by one. The brightest first, beginning to form into the constellations, and then as if all of sudden, but ages later it’s as dark as it’s going to get and we’ve just witnessed the birth of that day's night.
Whakatipu-Wai-Māori offers us a variety of options to observe this transition, allowing us the place in order to have an exploration of what’s above. We use the stars themselves to place the cardinal points, connecting us further to where we stand. Knowing where we stand helps us work out how best to get to where we are going.
Standing beneath the expanse of our Solar System, Galaxy and Universe places us, yielding a sense of perspective and belonging that cannot be manufactured. It requires us to stand still, in and amongst a natural environment with the openness to connect and talk.
“My fam had an absolute blast tonight looking through these photos you shared, Simon! I LOVE them and really enjoyed telling my family about the various places I got to see with you 😍 It was an amazing experience and these photos will always remind me of our gorgeous Aotearoa locales and the experience of the beautiful sunset to night sky transition that we witnessed. Thanks for sharing all your stories and knowledge about the region Simon. ”
