Auckland, October 2017
…is where Oscar winning The Piano was filmed. When Sherry and Jeff brought me there in 2012, it was a gusty grey day. It is how I remember Karekare beach. And it was grey again when I returned on this trip. Fog roiling on the peaks of the mountains that guard the continent from the treacheries of the ocean. A persistent drizzle falling, heavy skies and a wind that curled its way around my bones into my heart… while the locals were in shorts.
Eighty seven shades of nightfall, at noon.
And just in case you were after some color…
It feels at this point, like I could shoot nothing but Karekare beach for another few years. Didn’t think an inner landscape shooter existed in this city slicker, but I guess it always has, refusing to be dampened despite my best efforts over many decades!
charlene winfred 
Feel the Force….and embrace it.
You bet!
Charlene – these images are to die for. I feel and see the same as you do. Love these..
Thank you so much Rob. It’s a special place, Karekare. Inspires particular photographic desires
Magical photographs of a magical place, I can almost hear the surf!
It’s pure magic, Mike. Nothing quite compares
Oh, my heart…
At some point in the future, a postcard will arrive in your mailbox saying this: “so, I’ll meet you back here in January?” ;)
Fantastic pictures, Charlene! I’m home with a sore throat dreaming myself away from a mega dark and grey Malmö, Sweden. Cool that these pictures from New Zeeland can carry so much of the same feeling as those pictures you posted a while ago from Denmark, on the other side of the globe. That’s the mark of a great photographer.
These pics make me want to go out and shoot, but instead I stay in with a hot cup of coffee and play one of my all-time favourite albums, Together Alone by Crowded House from New Zeeland. It has a terrific song on it called Kare Kare and it’s playing right now. :)
What Malmö needs is some black sand beaches and rugged Olof ;) Winter weather seems to go well with that kind of landscape…
Thank you for your kind words. I’m not sure how great a photographer I am, but it seems that dark landscapes are the kind of thing I like to shoot, if I shoot landscapes at all.
And thank you for the tip re Crowded House. Listened to Kare kare this morning. It is very very apt indeed!
Beautiful images Charlene. And beautifully written too. I was there many moons ago, sadly was not into photography at the time. Must go back.
You’d kill it out here, Ora.