Heading into the relative calm of Port Ross was a relief after the windy passage from Campbell Island and up the eastern side of Auckland Island. Anchoring up we headed into Erebus Cove to explore the site of the historical Hardwicke settlement.
I wrote about the struggles faced by the ill fated settlers of Hardwicke in my post after visiting in 2016. My struggle has been very much a 21st century issue that highlights the huge changes in the world in the intervening 160+ years. The settlers traversed half the world in sailing vessels on a one-way trip for a destination, sight unseen, in the hope of carving out a living. We travel in a warm, ice strengthened vessel with 3 good meals a day, warm showers and a cold beer at the end of a day exploring the wonders. On the 2020 trip we even had limited WiFi to communicate back home. Their challenge was to survive. My challenge has been to find an image that I’m sure is there but that I just seem unable to find to my satisfaction.
In my 2016 post I shared a number of Black and White images including my NZ Geographic landscape finalist image. The Southern Rata shapes and textures really lend themselves to high contrast Black and White images and the Victoria Tree is a subject that I think should work well but despite taking a number of images I have just never quite been happy with the results. Wide-angle, especially fish-eye lenses are helpful in capturing the tree and the close surrounding forest trees. It needs some patience to get an opportunity without fellow travellers within the fish-eye 180 degree angle of view and then care not to include your own toes in the frame!
On my 2020 visit conditions allowed me to include a sun star but on balance I think I prefer the 2016 version as the curve of moss at the base and textures are nicer. The sunstar seems more of a distraction than adding to the composition. This final image is also from 2020 and is similar to the 2016 image but includes more of the canopy and makes use of the ferns and the moss to create lines that lead to the tree and create a figure 8 flow around the image. It is the closest I have got to what I think may be there.
2016 photo with Fuji XT1 and Samyang 8mm f2.8 fish-eye lens. 2020 photos with Nikon D500 and Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 fish-eye lens.
