On New Year’s Eve of 2012, I boarded a plane in Los Angeles, California. Thirteen hours later, I touched ground in New Zealand for the very first time. I was embarking on a solo adventure around the country, the fulfillment of a decade-long dream. I brought a journal, tripod, and my camera to record the experience.

I spent 109 consecutive days in New Zealand and traveled some 9,783 kilometers (roughly 6,079 miles) throughout both islands. Along the way, I endured some of the most challenging trials and was blessed by some of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I had the fortune of becoming closely acquainted with an unbelievably beautiful part of this planet and with the people and wildlife who call it home.

Legend has it that when the Māori – the earliest settlers in New Zealand – first espied the North Island from their waka (canoes), it appeared to float upon the horizon like a low-hanging cloud. It must have seemed ethereal to those voyagers, a long white bridge between the heavens and the earth. So stirring was this sighting that it gave the newly-discovered country its Māori name. Centuries later, this name still holds a powerful meaning for those who have come to know and love New Zealand on their own journeys across the water.

This gallery is my homage to Aotearoa: the Land of the Long White Cloud.