Matariki on Lake Wakatipu. A composite stamp design.
A Photoshop composite built to honour Matariki in a distinctly southern way. The stamp depicts a pre-dawn gathering on the shores of Lake Wakatipu - the Matariki star cluster reflected in the lake’s still surface, a marae rising from the shoreline as a symbol of community and coming together, and two waituna moving through the water below, a nod to Waitī, the star of freshwater and abundance.
The base images are my own photographs shot at Glenorchy and Wakatipu, blended with free-use imagery of the Subaru cluster and a marae to build the composite scene. The late afternoon mountain light was carefully matched to mimic a pre-dawn sky - both share those same pink, orange and gold tones - with atmospheric perspective, curves adjustments and blending modes used to unify the whole thing into something that feels like it could actually exist at 5am on a mid-winter morning in the south.
NZDP102 Composite Design.