sunsets

The best few months of my life were those I spent studying abroad in New Zealand in 2009.  The day I left, I typed out a list of everything I had yet to do—so many reasons to come back.  Something I’d add to that list now?  Take better pictures.

There’s a huge difference between taking photographs to chronicle an entire experience or journey and taking photographs to capture a subject in as aesthetically-pleasing a fashion as possible.  My NZ photography fell into the former category, and combined with the fact that for the majority of my time abroad, my only camera was a tiny point-and-shoot in the 4-megapixel range, I wouldn’t rate my photo collection as particularly high-quality.  Nor did I initially spend much time editing my photos—with a grand total numbering in the thousands and a student/traveler life to lead, I simply didn’t have enough time to devote to making sure individual shots were perfect.

But when it comes down to it, New Zealand deserves more than I gave it.  In an attempt to do my favorite country justice, I’ve begun the process of selecting my very best shots out of thousands and retouching them to more accurately represent the beauty I observed—not the watered-down, lifeless originals my camera captured.  With so many photos, this is merely the first in a series, so stay tuned for more!

Lake Wanaka close after dawn, as viewed from Mount Iron

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