Taking only photographs – leaving only footprints
Originally built in 1834 as a Scottish Presbyterian Church. It was eventually consecrated as a Church of England parish church in 1874. Refurbished in the 90s it is a classic style of what I think of when I think of English churches. I was here for a very special christening. As you can see we had the perfect weather on the day. Arriving a little early I was able to capture this photograph without cars in the carpark and the sun over my shoulders.
This is one of my best photographs of the Milky Way and the church in the foreground makes it all the more special. Yet, I still have unfinished photographic business on the shores of Lake Tekapo. Especially when it comes to better astrophotography, landscapes at night and the Church of the Good Shepherd. My vision for this location is a higher up view with a wide lens. Combining my previous Lake Tekapo with Church of the Good Shepherd photograph. Where you can see the lake behind the church with this photograph of the stars above. This would probably be taken from the MacLaren Footbridge. I tried that on this night but the wind made it impossible to get a sharp enough photograph of the church or a long enough exposure to capture the Milky Way. I could use Photoshop to combine the two images but I would rather capture the one photograph in the camera. That will have to wait for another visit to the beautiful Mackenzie country.
The Church of the Good Shepherd from above wasn’t a photograph I was expecting to take. Seeing the new (to me anyway) MacLaren Footbridge. I wanted to see what the view of the church was from up there. From here you get a better view of Lake Tekapo and the mountain range behind the church. Zooming the camera in like this, the church looks bigger than it actually is. The lake doesn’t look like there is 27 kilometres (17 miles) between us and the northern end of the lake. The forested area of trees on the left side of the lake is Motuariki Island. About 8 kilometres north of the bridge this was taken from.
I first visited Tekapo about 8 years ago. Ever since I’ve wanted to go back in winter. It often snows in the area during this season, as it did on our second day. Typically night and astrophotography is better during winter when the milkyway is visible. The last couple of times I’ve visited Tekapo were in the summer when there were hundreds of tourists surrounding the church. On this evening I had the place to myself. What doesn’t come across in the photograph was how windy it was. Even with the camera on a tripod many of the photographs were blurred due to the hallowing winds coming off the lake. This photograph was taken after sunset so there was still a little light in the sky. It was still a relatively long exposure of 1.6 seconds.