I had missed a few shots last night at Tasman Lake so I decided to go back there for sunrise. Bryan had other ideas and headed off to another location.
Tasman Lake is a proglacial lake formed by the recent retreat of the Tasman Glacier. Tasman Lake, the glacier and the surrounding mountains are part of Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park.
Tasman Lake is only a 15 minute walk from the car park. Getting lost last night turned it into a hour walk! Upon arrival there were a whole bunch of photographers there. You can just see them in the image below on the right near the river mouth. In my experience, photographers you meet are either really nice or complete social misfits...these were all the latter. Non-talkers as I like to call them who all act like this location has never been shot before and you're about to steal their shot! It's annoying...just be nice!
Anyway, I started my ritual about the same time the rain came. The Non-talkers left. Yay! After a few panos I decided to move over to the river mouth and shoot from there. Camera attached to the tripod and filters attached to the camera...mistake! I settled in, shot one shot and then tried to move my filters. The sill Nisi holder is so fiddly and it was freezing and I dropped it. Crash!! The 0.6 Soft GND smashed but luckily the 0.9ND survived. I was so mad at myself I packed up, walked to the car, met Bryan and drove back to the Hermitage. I never left the room again today except for dinner. It rained all day anyway. Bryan was pretty brave and walked in to Hooker Lake in the pouring rain in prep for our shoot tomorrow.
Photographers at the river mouth
Canon 5Dmiii, 16-35L III @ 27mm, ISO2000, f/5.6, 1/2000s
One of the icebergs I liked
Canon 5Dmiii, 100-400L II @ 400mm, ISO800, f/5.6, 1/500s
Tasman Lake
Canon 5Dmiii, 16-35L III @ 21mm, ISO100, f/9, 10s with 0.6 Soft GND and 0.9 ND