New Zealand: Lake Kaniere
All right, if I’m going to mention Lake Kaniere, as I did last time, I guess I should show you what it looks like. The view of it above is from February 19th.
But I really prefer Lake Wakatipu, which I photographed two days later under similarly overcast skies but with ultramarine and more animated and therefore more photogenic water. And oh, the patterned rocks along parts of Lake Wakatipu’s shore:
© 2017 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Beautiful work, Steve.
elmdriveimages
June 18, 2017 at 5:25 AM
The work is natural. I merely recorded it.
Steve Schwartzman
June 18, 2017 at 7:49 AM
I love that scenery. My pockets would have bulged, too. Then I’d have to repatriate for sake of baggage weight. I like the crisp, gentle waves and aqua colors.
Dianne
June 18, 2017 at 7:25 AM
We spent time on several occasions looking at rocks along the shore of Lake Wakatipu and elsewhere. The best finds came home with us. When I made our plane reservation through Air New Zealand, we were offered an extra checked bag for just $1 each, so we didn’t have to worry about excess weight.
Steve Schwartzman
June 18, 2017 at 7:54 AM
What an interesting pair of photos, with the mountains at the bottom of one, and at the top of the other. The intricately patterned clouds in the first seem to serve the same function as the rocks in the second: adding pleasing variety against the backdrop of the mountains.
shoreacres
June 19, 2017 at 7:38 AM
You were better than I at noticing the reversed positions of the mountains in the two photographs. The bits of snow still on the peaks in the second picture got amplified for us two weeks ago in the Rocky Mountains, some of which hadn’t shed their white nearly so much even as summer was approaching. But nothing in the Rocky Mountains came close to those rocks on the shore of Lake Wakatipu.
Steve Schwartzman
June 19, 2017 at 7:50 AM
Lovely. Particularly the lower photo – the clarity of shot shows all the detail. I’ve bookmarked it as I can always use a little help with perceiving and colouring water (one of the things I always have to admit I’m pretty bad at!) That rock in the foreground – it looks a lot like a turtle at first glance, don’t you think?
Val
June 23, 2017 at 5:51 AM
A few years ago I learned the word pareidolia, which is the seeing of one thing as another—a rock as a turtle, for instance. Here are some examples:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/?s=pareidolia
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2017 at 7:42 AM
Thanks. The easiest thing for most people to see is a face because the part of the brain that processes language can’t see an abstract image as a form in its own right and tries to make sense of it so it sees (and interprets from it) the most familiar thing… unfortunately with mine (even though I am working on images of people all the time) I have a form of prosopagnosia (face blindness) so when I see faces in patterns they tend to look odd to me… also my brain retains images for too long so I’ve looked at a few in your tag pareidolia, but won’t look at very many because then I’ll be seeing face-shapes in the carpet, on the wall, in puddles, in fabric, etc, all day!
Val
June 24, 2017 at 6:23 AM
Oh, the complexities of the human brain. It sounds like you made a good decision not to look at too many pareidolic images.
I’d heard of face blindness but not the technical term for it, prosopagnosia. The first part of that word reminds me of Prosopis, the genus that includes the honey mesquite tree that’s so common in Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2017 at 7:07 AM
Fabulous images Steve …
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 23, 2017 at 4:05 PM
Have you been to either or both of those lakes?
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2017 at 4:06 PM
Hey Steve .. I’ve been to Lake Wakatipu which is a fav😀
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 23, 2017 at 4:16 PM
You can tell it’s one of my favorite places, too.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2017 at 4:22 PM
This seems like a spectacular lake. I will definitely visit it when I go there again!
Agness of Fit Travelling
June 29, 2017 at 12:40 PM
Lake Wakatipu is definitely worth checking out the next time you’re in NZ.
Steve Schwartzman
June 29, 2017 at 3:44 PM