Queen Elizabeth Park, New Zealand

Located on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand, Queen Elizabeth Park is a Wellington Regional park open to the public. The park has many great spots for photos.

The park runs from the beach up into the dunes, with views back down over the ocean and Kapiti Island.

Down at the beach there is a small stream which runs into the ocean. There can be a lot of driftwood on the beach. At sunset, or just after, the small stream can reflect the beautiful colours in the sky.

The beach itself is definitely best for photography at sunset. Because it's on the West Coast the sun sets over the ocean. If the tide is on its way out the sand is left wet and reflects the light beautifully as the sun sets.

There is a nice walk up from the beach to the higher points in the dunes. The path up in itself looks great in photos.

Towards the top of the dunes there are some good vantage points to look out over the landscape. There is also a spot with a bench seat from where you can sit and look out over Kapiti Island.

There is not really any shade in any of these locations, so time of day will make a reasonably big difference in the quality of the light in the photos (unless it's cloudy in which case it doesn't matter what time of day it is, yay overcast!). Queen Elizabeth Park is an amazing photography location at sunset but only an ok location in the middle of the day if it’s a bright sunny day.

One of the great things about Queen Elizabeth Park is you can get multiple different looking photo locations all within walking distance of each other. And of course West Coast sunsets are pretty unbeatable.