Waipunga Waterfall drops off the edge of the vast Central North Island volcanic plateau. It is somewhat to the east of Taupō on the main road to Napier.
I usually time this trip to the end of Winter, or early Spring, where the winter rains make a high water flow likely. The first three shots here were taken in 2017 after a particularly wet Winter. The last shot is from 2014 and perhaps more normal conditions.
The last two years with Covid19 lockdowns have however, prevented me from going back.
For the 2017 expedition, there was a light rain when I reached the lookout. I set up the camera and tripod anyway, angling it down to stop the rain getting on the filters. Then it was a matter of waiting. One of the important tools to landscape photography is a good, warm, waterproof coat. One of the important personal attributes is patience...
People drove into the car park, came over to grab a quick pic with their camera phones, and glance at me as if standing in the rain doing nothing was weird behaviour.
After 20 minutes there was a break in the weather and I composed and took the first two shots. The second photo in this album is a stitch of 4 images I took. This allowed me to included the Waiarua Falls on the left as well.
While conditions were overcast I still slotted in a Neutral Density (ND) filter to slow the shutter further and make the overall image a long exposure.
I hope you enjoy seeing these images.
Any of these images can be ordered from my online galleries at https://www.nznaturephotos.co.nz/ These photos are in the waterfall gallery. The 2017 photos were taken with a Sony a7R 36MP camera so will make prints up to 20" by 30" easily.