Otago is a district in the lower third of New Zealand’s South Island. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean on the east coast through Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and Glenorchy to the west.
The main city is Dunedin on the east coast, but much of Otago has a rural character with many very remote-feeling portions. A number of my pictures are taken in this district with its beautiful rugged coast line, renowned jagged inland N / S aligned ranges, and its otherworldly-shaped rock outcrops on tussock covered hills. From the high hills the views seem to stretch forever having little sense of human presence with no power poles, houses or roads.
In Central Otago these are big, very exposed, rolling hills rather than craggy alps, and on a clear day stand starkly against wide intensely blue skies with dynamic cloud formations rolling overhead. There is often a distinctive quality of light here with golden tussocks and small shrubs of the hills interrupted by dark and weird schist formations. The region is criss-crossed with dirt roads and farm tracks making off road access by 4 wheel drive vehicle possible.
Otago has long attracted the attention of artists such as the NZ painter Grahame Sydney whose work is geometric and elemental. I often think of the subtlety of Andrew Wyeth paintings when I am poking about here. The area naturally lends itself to an aesthetic that is minimalist, stark and realistic.
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