Mount Taranaki Golden Sunrise Reflection

Meghan Maloney

Image: Mount Taranaki Golden Sunrise Reflection

Hey! I’m Meghan, a landscape & travel photographer based in Waikato, home of Middle-earth.

I’m head over heels in love with New Zealand and my great passion is to share this amazing country with others wanting to experience its beauty and improve their photography skills at the same time.

I love capturing the symmetry of reflections in nature, lush long exposure waterfall scenes and the vibrant colours of sunrise and sunset. I specialise in small group weekend photography workshops throughout New Zealand as well as private masterclasses for tailored one-on-one learning.

I really enjoy sharing my knowledge with others and making the learning experience fun. It’s so rewarding seeing participants master new techniques and how thrilled they are with the images they have captured.

What is in your camera bag?

Sony Alpha 7R V
Sony Alpha 7R IV
Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II
Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS
Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM
Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA
KASE K9 filters (CPL, soft grad 0.9 ND, ND64 6-stop)
Sirui N-2204x Tripod

What is your go to in your Alpha kit and why?

I love shooting wide open spaces in nature and the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens excels in capturing the vast beauty of the outdoors. But I have recently fallen in love more with the new 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II - now that it is as light and small as the 16-35, and I find myself reaching for this lens 80% of the time, it's great to be able to have more zoom to hone in on mountain detail and reach further into valleys for the shot.

The more time I have spent shooting astro, the more I knew I needed a dedicated astro lens. The 24mm f/1.4 GM lens is a dream to focus with and the results I get are incomparable to using my other zoom lenses. When paired with the dynamic range and resolution capability of the Sony Alpha 7R V, all these GM lenses are a match made in Heaven.

Steps to Kaiate Falls 1 / 10

Moeraki Boulders Moon Reflection 2 / 10

Whangarei Falls Quiet Dawn 3 / 10

Last light on Aoraki Mount Cook 4 / 10

Milky Way over Karapiro 5 / 10

Misty Routeburn Forest 6 / 10

Red dawn at Cathedral Cove 7 / 10

Pink Dawn over Rotorua 8 / 10

Lake Tekapo Lupins at Dawn 9 / 10

Nugget Point Sunrise 10 / 10

Most memorable moment shooting with Alpha?

That's easy! It would have to be morning I spent capturing Mount Taranaki reflected in the Pouakai tarn as the first light lit up the golden tussock during sunrise. I'd made the hike up the night before in the dark with no real idea of what sunrise would bring, so you can imagine my excitement when the day dawned both clear and perfectly still. Both sides of my family originally come from Taranaki so the mountain is one of the places I feel most at home. This image was later selected as a finalist in the Landscape category of the Sony Alpha awards for 2018.