Dunes of Whatipu

Old railway tunnel

This tunnel is 1100 m long and located at Karangahake gorge. Lights at the ceiling and its exit can be seen on the picture. It was built in 1905 to provide train service between Tauranga and Auckland and was in operation until Kaimai tunnel was built in late 1960s - early 1970s.

Sunny day at Waihi Beach

Karangahake Gorge

Karangahake Gorge is a popular tourist destination on State Highway 2, where the road goes through Kaimai-Mamaku ranges between Paeroa on Hauraki plains and Waihi in Bay of Plenty. Besides amazing views this place features old gold mines, ruins of concentrating mills and almost 1 km metres long train tunnel. The photo above shows a view from the old railway bridge near the tunnel entrance to State Highway 2, the river and mount Karangahake (about 550 m) at the background.



This HDR image shows the narrowest point of Karangahake Gorge. The image was heavily processed as the original scene had very high contrast.

Sunny day

Summer, sun, calm weather.

Construction Site

The builder is going to erect a new multi-storey building keeping the old facade. The whole interior was taken away leaving only external walls.
Queen Street, Auckland CBD.

Lighthouse at Whatipu

This automated lighthouse is built on the rock at the Manukau Harbour entrance. Manukau Harbour is the second big harbour in New Zealand, its entrance is relatively narrow, so enormous quantities of water go to and fro with every tide. A very dangerous place for sailing and swimming indeed.

Workplace

Flower on the Sand

Found on the sandy dunes of Pakiri Beach.

Un-realistic view of The Gap.

The original photo was heavily processed to reveal every detail of the picture.

Crowded beach of Piha

Marokopa Waterfall

I took this photo a year ago. Today I tried to improve it using some technique adopted from HDRI processing. The main goal was to reduce high overall contrast without increase of brightness and keeping details of falling water.

Waitakere Dam

A couple of photos taken in Waitakere Ranges, the regional park located in Auckland, show Waitakere Dam, one of four (I think), which create reservoirs for city water supply.



A view from the road above the reservoir.



Another view is from the old railway below the dam. This narrow railway, also called tramline, was built for dam construction in 1920's. Now it is used to maintain a water pipe and for recreational rides on weekends.



This is an interesting spot, where the stream goes above the tramline along a big gutter. The pipeline is visible on the right side of the railway. One more feature of this tramline is that it goes through the longest tunnel in the Waitakere, about 700 m long.

Makatote viaduct

This bridge is located on the plateau, near Mount Ruapehu. It is the third high railway viaduct in New Zealand, and looks like a fragile structure, but it has been standing here for almost a century.

Waterfall at Tongariro National Park

Reflection

Blooming Silk Tree

One more HDR image is made of three shots. It is early morning and the light is too contrast. Even on the brightest photo the shadows are just black spots. This resulting picture is the mix of two LDR images I took from one HDRI.

Last Sunset of 2007