new zealand PINPOINT COVERAGE BY CONNIE CHEN
I visit New Zealand last December because I can. Because that year I felt strong and healthy enough in my own body to take myself to where my favorite movie trilogy was shot. Because I wanted to feel like I was in Middle Earth and have the photos to prove it. But I soon realized I would not do this place justice with any of my photos. Being in New Zealand felt like something else, its own world, separate from all the places I’ve been or am familiar with. It makes sense since humans only settled on the islands around 700 years ago, New Zealand is one of the newest land masses to be “discovered.” It’s in a self-contained world, with humans populating some parts here and there. We get in a taxi to Queenstown in South Island and I’m surrounded by familiar things, my giant 56L backpack, my two friends. And although outside I also see things I recognize, like houses and cars, they’re set against the most unreal mountains, jagged and ominous and all encompassing. There are houses littered on the side of them, along with the shadow of the clouds, and faint rays of sunlight. I feel as if I’m almost in my own dream, and as I travel through the islands, there are moments when I don’t understand where I am.
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