I'm on annual leave this week, so that opened up time for some photography. We moved to a coastal village in 2024, and while the move has been great overall, it turns out there's a lot of work to do to make a place feel like 'home'. The key thing though, is the older kids are really much happier here.
So, yesterday I went back out to Te Hāruhi- which is part of a regional park just north of us. It was mostly a scouting expedition. Knowing what kinds of scene there are to photograph, does help with the creativity.
To my delight, I spotted some tūturiwhatu (or NZ dotterels). These are endangered birds, under pressure from introduced invasive predators and people disturbing their beach nesting sites.
They obliged by letting me take some photos- the low angle was achieved by lying prone. This doesn't just make the photos more appealing, it's a lot less alarming to the birds.
Because these small shore birds live on open beaches, they do need to be photographed with a decent telephoto lens. You're not getting close up to them.
Enjoy :)
