Oh Christmas Tree!
The Auckland City Council decided to make a seasonal statement with rather large Christmas tree. The big tree, given the Māori name ‘
Te Manaaki’, (in English Hospitality) stands in the downtown square of Britomart Place, also known as ‘
Komititanga’ – (Junction): a nod to the fact that the square is bordered by the main train station, bus terminal and, behind the tree in this image, the ferry building. The tree has a dynamic light display that cycles about every 20 minutes or so, and is very popular for selfie-takers and vloggers, whom I normally prefer not to include in my images, but did so this time for scale.
Being the start of summer in the antipodes, the problem has always been that one cannot really appreciate the lights and display until it's dark, which occurs around 9:00pm, and in this case, I took the shot at 9:10pm. That late evening requirement was made complicated as the train system (my preferred mode of transit) is in total disarray with frequent faults or passenger issues (misbehaving or trespassers on the tracks) disrupting normal operation and major works going on to install a rail loop extension through the city – something that has plagued Auckland commuters since 2018. These planned shutdowns meant that the last train left for home about 8:45pm when it was just too light for a photo. Driving in was also complicated by numerous road works and blocking of parking areas logistics were really the biggest issue. The whole thing is rather a mess... In the end, I circumvented the city centre and parked where I knew I could get frequent bus access in and out of the CBD.
Anyway, here is the result: the tree has a dynamic light display that cycles about every 20 minutes or so, and is very popular for selfie-takers and vloggers, whom I normally prefer not to include in my images, but did so this time for scale and out of desperation as there was a continuous line of them.
The shooting angle was constrained by bright, tall buildings and some very bright lights (see shadows cast) that I wanted to avoid shining into the field of view. I finally went for the ferry building as a backdrop, which is a bit more picturesque! Both images hand-held, available light
A detail the Christmas: 18m tall+2m base = 20m or 66ft, over 10,000 LED lights, 4,000 Pohutukawa blossoms, and 200 giant baubles, not to mentions serious circuitry to control the display.
Nikon Df, Nikkor 24-120@105mm, f/6.3, 1/125sec, ISO-200
