South: Photographs From The South Island of New Zealand - by Petr Hlavacek

South: Photographs From The South Island of New Zealand, is a collection of the most stunning photos of the South Island you have ever seen.

These photographs provide a compelling portrait of the diversity and magnificence of the South Island, covering all of the main tourist destinations, but often from a new perspective and always to the highest quality.

As quoted on his website, Petr says this about our wilderness:
As the wilderness around the world continues to be relentlessly attacked for economic benefits of a few, it's our responsibility, and we as photographers have a great role in it, to protect these treasured lands for future generations; despite that this phrase became such a cliché. But it became a cliché thanks to callousness of the exploiting corporations, in spite of desperate, repetitive calls of the general public for protection of these environments.
Without even realising it, we take wild places for granted - because we need them. Subconsciously, in our mind we know they're there - somewhere, and that comforts us hugely.
They give us an option of an escape if we need to. But if we would ever allow to loose these places, we would have failed tragically as a human race and perhaps the life on Earth as we know it today, wouldn't exist anymore. We would all have chips and programs in our heads telling us what to do, living in a grey world, and, we wouldn't even realise that these wild places once existed.
We just can't afford to lose these re-charging stations, the soul healing wild environments, they're part of our existence.
But I'm positive as there are few good signals that suggest that we, as humans, are recognising the need for these untouched and hard to access areas. Their existence keeps us calm and comforted even without ever going there. It's a psychological perception of this fact, which has an enormous effect on our life. We are part of these landscapes and that gives us humility and thankfulness that this wild nature allows us to share this beautiful Planet with it, these places make us humans.

About the Author & Photographer: Petr Hlavacek is a photographer with a strong affection for the landscape of New Zealand's South Island. Based at Franz Josef in South Westland, he has built an impressive reputation for his richly coloured and beautifully composed landscapes.
Petr is a renowned, West Coast-based landscape photographer and founder of the image stock library NZICESCAPES. Originally from the Czech Republic, he arrived in New Zealand in 2001, and has been photographing the South Island since, with a particular interest in glaciers and ice images. His photographs have been used by many publishers, both in New Zealand and internationally, and featured in magazines such as New Zealand Geographic, Wilderness, D-Photo, Photoshop Use and many others.