Two visits, two weeks apart, to the flysch rocks of the Kaikōura coast. The same formation gave me a jagged sunrise the first time and a very different answer the second.

Snow doesn't settle on Te Mata Peak often — only a handful of mornings since I moved to Hawke's Bay. This time I was ready for it, walking my familiar trail before dawn as sleet gave way to sun, cold hands and all.

Most people come to the Ashburton Lakes for one thing: the mirror. Golden tussock, a sweep of mountains, water so still it stops your breath.

I went for that too, and got it. But staying longer than the first shot takes led somewhere quieter, through a passing storm and a rainbow, to a morning spent looking straight down at the water instead of out across it.

The best landscape photographs are rarely handed to you. Sometimes they require you to stand in the cold, staring into absolute nothingness, and wait. This is the story of a single autumn morning at Lake Tūtira, a morning that began in total fog and slowly resolved into something I hadn't expected: clean reflections, sharp light, and a geometry in the landscape that the fog had been hiding all along.

I arrived expecting cold — not just physical chill, but a particular visual cold: an Antarctica of the imagination, reduced to white and grey. The Ross Sea had other ideas. What I found instead was gold settling across volcanic peaks, pancake ice that looked impossibly like Monet's water lilies, and light that refused to behave the way Antarctic light was supposed to. For one hour in McMurdo Sound, the continent became the warmest place I have ever been.

The Balleny Islands sit at one of the most extraordinary geographic boundaries on Earth — the Antarctic Circle runs directly through the archipelago. On the way south, they were barely visible through cloud. On the return, two weeks later, they gave me everything: fierce light, sculptural icebergs, and a moment of golden revelation I could not have predicted or planned for.

Wild light. Monolithic ice. And an arch worn through the body of an iceberg that remains one of the most astonishing things I have encountered in a lifetime behind a camera.

In the Subantarctic, the landscape is never still. Wind, water, and shifting light reshape the islands from moment to moment, blurring the boundaries between land, sea, and life.

This article explores a different way of seeing—where the landscape is not a fixed scene, but a living system in motion.

In 2025, my photography captured New Zealand’s landscapes, from misty forests to rugged coastlines and mountains. Balancing travel with familiar local scenes, these images reflect both place and personal experience, telling a quiet, honest story of the year in photographs.

A visual story of a photography trip to Cape Farewell including a sunrise and sunset at Wharariki Beach, a hike on top of the cliffs, and an exploration of Farewell Spit.

Over several mist‑filled mornings below Te Mata Peak, I set out to capture more than just the view — I wanted to express the quiet mood and shifting light of the Tukituki Valley. This series presents images with a more interpretive approach, revealing the beauty, atmosphere, and subtle rhythms of Hawke’s Bay in golden light.

An itinerary with photos, gear tips, and a personal account of a 3-day hike of the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand’s most scenic Great Walks.

This visual journey follows Northland’s Twin Coast Discovery Highway, taking you through the Kauri Coast to the Far North, before returning via the Bay of Islands to Whangārei. Travelling in our motorhome, we dedicated two weeks to thoroughly revisit familiar spots and uncover new ones.

Step into the serene beauty of Lake Tūtira, where a foggy morning and tranquil waters set the stage for magical reflections and unexpected inspiration. Discover how this 36-hour retreat turned into a photographer’s dream!

There's a stand of trees in a paddock I've now photographed for years, sometimes returning to the exact same spot without planning to. This piece looks at what keeps pulling me back to the same handful of trees, and what changes when you know a subject well enough to wait for it rather than simply find it.

Most mornings, a small group gathers at the top of Te Mata Peak before the sun clears the hills, the same faces on the same track more often than not. This piece follows what that daily ritual actually looks like, and how the peak's mood shifts from one sunrise to the next even when the people watching it stay the same.

A visual journey through the enchanting landscapes of Iceland with landscape photographer Jos Buurmans, as he recounts his September 2023 expedition following Iceland’s Ring Road to capture distinctly shaped mountains, moss-covered lava, iconic waterfalls, accessible glaciers and iceberg-occupied lagoons.

Cyclone Gabrielle changed parts of Hawke’s Bay in ways I'm still photographing years later. This piece was written during the recovery, and it doesn't try to resolve the discomfort of finding beauty in a landscape still working through disaster.

The first leg of a slow trip around Hawke's Bay in a motorhome, starting at Kairakau Beach, where an unexpected shaft of sunrise light broke through the clouds right beside the Hinemahanga Rocks. Part travel diary, part reminder of what turns up when you give a place more time than a single visit allows.

A visual story about a photography trip to New Zealand’s South Island in the winter of 2022 featuring Fiordland and the Southern Alps.

A visual story about walking the Milford Track in December 2021 in the Fiordland National Park, featuring rainforest, rivers, mountains, and the MacKinnon Pass.