2026 Calendar
My 2026 calendar brings together a curated collection of my favourite images from the past year — moments under the stars, sweeping landscapes, and scenes that reflect the beauty of Aotearoa through my lens. Each month features a photograph chosen not just for how it looks, but for the story and feeling behind it. I’m excited to share this series with you and hope it brings a bit of wonder and inspiration to your year ahead.
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The Sun
January
A close up image of the sun taken through a Lunt Solar Scope specially designed for viewing and imaging the sun in Ha (Hydrogen Alpha) you can see the large sunspots (the darker regions) which are visible due to being cooler than the rest of the suns surface. These are the areas that can generate flares and ultimately Aurora if all conditions align.
Chinese Space Station Moon Transit
February
A series of images combined into one of the CSS (Chinese Space Station) passing through the moon as seen from Tauranga.
Bioluminescence
March
Bioluminescence glowing in the waves at Papamoa beach.
This is caused by various organisms reacting to being moved
(a defense mechanism in which they glow blue) causing the stunning displays along the beach either side of high tide. Its bright enough to easily be seen with your eyes and is often named "The Aurora of the Sea"
Celestial Cascade
April
One of my all-time favorite images, not just for its beauty, but for the adventure behind it. Perched on an 80-metre cliff in near-pitch darkness, overlooking waves crashing below and a waterfall spilling into the small bay, the whole scene felt surreal.
Road to the Aurora
May
One of my first ever Aurora images, taken during the May 2004 Aurora in the Taranaki Region . The Aurora had died down and most people had already headed home when we got a burst of life again with beams that looked like giant search lights that starting shining from the top of the mountain. A night to remember!
Stoney River
June
My first time imaging a milkyway panorama. 200 degrees of view from left to right. Stoney River is a location I had wanted to image for a while, ever changing with heavy rain its and interesting spot that is rarely the same twice. On arrival a heavy cloud rolled through but perseverance won and it cleared to reveal the milkyway arching overhead.
Lake rotoiti (nelson lakes)
July
While in the South Island there was a chance of an Aurora, so I got my gear sorted and headed down to the Nelson Lakes to line up on the Jetty looking south in the hopes of seeing the Aurora. While I didnt get any Aurora that night I was able to capture the startrails with the foreground illuminated by the moon. A stunning spot I look forward to returning to.
The lagoon
August
Another of my favorite images and one I had been wanting to get for some time. But either the weather, the moon or my timing didnt work out. Knowing this lagoon (which is often just grass) had recently had a bit of rain we adventured off in the hopes of a little bit of water still being present. What we found instead was the boardwalk before evening reaching the lagoon was under water. After a fair amount of convincing myself I waded out in the ice cold water along the boardwalk to the viewing platform, waited for the ripples to stop and captured the image. I have stood in ice water down south thats wamer! This image hangs in my office.
Lunar Eclipse
September
The lunar eclipse as seen from Tauranga. With sunrise we didnt get to see the full eclipse as the day got to bright. but It did provide an oppertunity for a unique image with the sky getting brighter as the moon became more orange. A neat experience in which we got to witness the moon set while eclipsed at sunrise.
Guardians of the aurora
October
This was one of my more relaxed images in terms of planning and capturing. A very chilled evening exploring the beach below before the incoming tide forced us up the hill to the lookout. There hadn't been much auroral activity so I left the camera imaging while we had a bbq on the back of the ute. As we finished packing up from dinner the sky starting to shine, strongly visible to the naked eye even with a full moon. A night to remember.
Astro Deer
November
Captured on a farm in the Waikato, I couldnt resist the oppertunity to get a photo of the farmed deer silluetted on the horizon. perfectly aligned to then capture the milkyway in the same location.
Queenstown lakes
December
I took this photo while on a working camping trip around the lower South Island, its hard to find time to sleep when your working all day but have scenery like this all night! The tent was almost more of a display item. An epic adventure exploring some of the rugged beauty the South Island has to offer.