Known simply as Wairepo Arm, this lagoon is an ‘arm’ of the much larger Lake Ruataniwha near the town of Twizel in the Mackenzie district of New Zealand’s South Island. The lake is part of the huge Waitaki Hydro Scheme, which uses water flowing from the Southern Alps to generate a significant portion of New Zealand’s electricity needs.
Wairepo Arm is a popular location for photographers throughout the year. When the lagoon water is flat calm, the willow trees lining the shore reflect beautifully – vibrant greens in spring, golden hues in autumn, and rust-brown simplicity in winter.
This year, the autumn colours appeared surprisingly late in the Mackenzie. Our planned sunrise shoot was at another location some distance away, and there was a surprising amount of mist in the air after a warm previous day and chilly night. Realising that this might translate into mist on the lagoon, we sacrificed our long-awaited morning coffee and headed straight to it, where this scene was rapidly unfolding and indeed fading as the sun rose higher.
There are always several composition options at Wairepo Arm. On this occasion, I had to move quickly before the mist disappeared and chose this particular scene primarily for the symmetry of the trees and reflections on the far shore. The next choice was whether or not to include the sky, which was a pleasant pale blue with more mist in the hills leading up to it. I decided against it, with the aim of drawing the viewer’s eye to the colour, details and texture of the foliage. Lastly, I opted for a long exposure to ‘even out’ the mist as it moved across the scene, giving a softer, lighter texture to the final image.
