Moeraki
The mysterious celestial boulders of Moeraki in New Zealand sit embedded like petrified sentinels of another world, in defiance to the ever changing kinetic force of the South Pacific.
This day had been a wearing one. It was towards the end of one of my many journeys to create images of New Zealand, and I had just experienced the startling occurrence of crossing a set of train tracks too quickly in my motor home, resulting in all of my crockery falling out of the cupboards and smashing on the floor behind me. All was forgotten, however, when dusk resulted in the creation of this, one of my very favourite images.
The Moeraki Boulders are a curious and appealing geological phenomenon said to be 'septarian concretions', exhumed from surrounding mudstone by coastal erosion. Maori legend says they are the remains of eel baskets, calabashes, and kumara washed ashore from the wreck of an Arai-te-uru, a large sailing canoe. Whatever their origin, they make for a compelling subject for landscape photographers.
Of the hundreds of boulders on the beach, I chose these four as their varying sizes and the separation between them reminded me of a little family. I positioned the camera so the top of each rock was at the same level, parallel with the horizon. I then waited for the light to be low enough to expose for about 20 minutes, allowing the receding ocean to form a visual contrast to the resolute immobility of the boulders.
capture: film | paper: fujiflex crystal archive | edition: limited 250
