So where do I begin? This photo came out nice, but this was not my first attempt at taking it. Three weeks earlier I went up to the Ruapehu District so I could get a shot like this. I was up there for three days. And in those three days, I had bad weather, rain and a bunch of low clouds. Making it hard to see a view of the mountain. So since my time was up, I left without taking any photos. After I left, I was thinking this was a big mistake. One of the early mornings, I think I had an interesting moody shot of the mountain but, I did not take my gear out of the car. In my head, I was looking for the nice clear shot of Mt. Ruapehu. So this clouded my mind and I could not see another shot to take. I felt bad once I left and started thinking that I should have tried to get something, even if it was not the shot I was thinking of. I went back three weeks later, and I was happy to see nice open clear skis. At this point, I did not care if it was clear or not, I just wanted to take a photo. This taught me to look for other shots when the one you are searching for is not appearing.
I explain a lot more in the video if you are interested in the area or how the photo was taken :)