Take three minutes, open this video full screen, and enjoy the beauty. "Aotearoa - New Zealand" is a stunning tour of a country chock full of natural wonders.
I have a running list of places I need to visit solely to photograph, and New Zealand just moved up quite a few spots. Ludovic Gibert spent three weeks there for his honeymoon and traveled over 4,000 kilometers, visiting Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Punakaiki, Kaiteriteri, and many more places. The result is a magnificent, rapid-fire amalgamation of tableaus and scenes. I'm normally not a fan of fast cuts in landscape shots; I like to have time to take in the wonders and be overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of this mortal coil, but Gibert conveys that same feeling I'm so fond of with equal aptitude via his quickly and ever-changing shots. The vastness and beauty accumulate so much more quickly than the mind can process, and as a result, the viewer's reaction becomes more visceral.
Gibert used a Canon 5D Mark II paired with a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art and Canon 100mm f/2.8, along with a DJI Phantom 3 for the aerial shots. Be sure to check out his Vimeo page and website for more!
It is the one thing I miss about my home country.....the landscape.....just so beautiful.
After driving around NZ with my wife for 6 weeks, I can tell you it wasn't long enough by at least 6 weeks. And I'm still trying to process the 6300+ stills (all RAW and Hires JPG so well over 13600 files) and 20+ hours of video I came home with. We were in NZ in 2013!
A most beautiful country even when it is raining.
At about the 1:36 to 1:39 mark there is a straight road. Where in hell was that found? Straight roads are definitely NOT a feature of NZ :-) At least that was my experience. Mind you I'm not complaining. If you do get there make sure you travel the Forgotten Highway.