From the 2020 archives and  a trip to NZ  pre the global Covid-19 pandemic. 

I didn't take many photos with the analogue Leica M-4 P rangefinder on this trip as  I was in the process of giving 35mm  film photography away. Digital photography was far better in low light situations  and Kodak colour negative film was becoming rather  expensive.  

The photo below is of trees on the banks of  the Waiau River  at Lake Manapouri in the Southland region of the South Island.

We were staying at Lake Manapouri at the time,  monitoring the pandemic situation and keeping an eye on whether  Australia would close  its borders.  We wondered if we would  be able to finish our trip. The Europeans that  we meet still thought that they could  keep on travelling between countries. The possibility of  Australia and New Zealand closing their borders was considered to be remote. 

That all changed within a week.  Australia closed its borders on the 19th of March,    the planes stopped flying, and people were trapped.  We were fortunate as we were able to get seats on the last plane out of Dunedin.  We travelled to Adelaide via Brisbane then went into quarantine.   

During that last week we continued with our holiday in Southland.  Whilst we were were staying at Manapouri we did a number of short walks. For one of them   I spent a day walking the start of the Kepler Track along the shores of Lake Manapouri. The forest I walked through was a world of green.  

I was fascinated by the forest textures but the low light in the forest meant  that the Leica M4-P was at its limits. It was handheld and I was not carrying a  tripod with me.  

I started to change my mind about 35mm film photography during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 and 2021and started thinking in terms of poetic photography.    I am  exploring  the archive as the salt damaged Leica-M4-P is still being repaired by Leica in Germany.