This website was born out of a need to properly express how I felt about places I had visited. Whilst traveling, photography provided a method of documenting my journey, but left a space that needed to be filled with words. The combination of mediums on Beyond the 42nd Parallel, hopefully do their part to convey what it felt like to be present in these incredible places. At the very least, it will prevent me from forgetting everything when I eventually hurtle towards my dotage. 

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The first two entries will bring you along with my wife Victoria and I, on a journey through the two main islands of New Zealand, which provided such an abundant variety of textures, tones, and colours. It was quite overwhelming how many environments can be found across two relatively small landmasses. Our travels were by no means comprehensive, but we were fortunate to experience a great contrast of places, over the course of two and a half weeks, in summer 2020. We will take you south from Auckland to Wellington, and then north from Glenorchy to Christchurch.

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The photographs were taken with a Fujifilm X100F. The journey informed the writing and photography, rather than the inverse. So this small and durable camera was there when I needed it, and allowed me to make do with what I had, in terms of time of day, frame, subject, and available light. This restriction was enjoyable, and meant photography never distracted from connecting with locations firsthand.

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If you wish to contact me for any reason, please do so below, and I will respond in writing to you.

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Hugh

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