I’ve lived in Auckland for eight years or so now. Because I’m unashamedly a bird person, and seabirds are my passion, Muriwai gannet colony is one of my most-visited places. I’ve written so many blogs about it before! Tākapu are likely to be my most-photographed bird.

Constant exposure to something results in a bit of desensitisation. I don’t notice the smell of guano that drives many people away from the colony after a brief viewing. I don’t mind being the victim of a fly-by pooping (so much of my work involves getting pooped on anyway!).

But I’m also guilty of maybe being desensitised to the spectacle. I know Muriwai is phenomenal. Our access to a thriving seabird colony on the mainland, an easy walk from a car-park with a view is so so special. I’m lucky to experience it as often as I do.

So I struggle, when I go there, to make ‘new’ photographs. Everyone photographs the gannets at Muriwai – it’s fish in a barrel for birds on the wing. They soar right past you. I’ve felt the ridged silk of a wingtip brush my ear. They nest so close to the platforms now that you’re aware of curious eyes watching you as much as you watch them.

I’ve had some truly amazing evenings at Muriwai. The light is glorious on the west coast at sunset. I’ve had a few blustery mornings there too, trying for different light. I’ve had promising evenings that have descended into flat grey light with a heavy band of cloud obscuring the horizon. I’ve been soaked to the skin. I’ve been baked in the heat. Salt encrusted by winds whipping spume from the swells below. I think I’ve experienced just about every permutation of weather possible out there, and I’ve shot through all of them.

It takes a lot now for me to be happy about my photographs, and only truly unique or special ones give me that flare of excitement that I used to get from just capturing a flying bird in a good pose. Sometimes it feels like hard work, and I have to remind myself that if I’m not having fun – there’s no point in it. That sometimes just being there is enough, and the unexpected will happen and there’ll be that golden moment when a photo comes together. Or doesn’t. I find myself more and more content just to watch and let the life of the colony wash over me. I don’t worry about missing moments, because in a colony that size there are always plenty of moments!

This post has been a wander down memory lane through all the beautiful times I’ve spent at Muriwai. The breeding season is over for the year, and I can’t wait for the birds to return in July-August and start it all again – and I’ll be out there with a camera in hand, simply enjoying the experience.