Fox Glacier sunrise and sunset: when and where to shoot

Glacier Country, the regional tourism group, has a photography feature that spells out the timing. For the famous mirror lake it says the best times of day to capture the reflections of the mountains are sunrise and sunset,⁶ and for the reflection itself it says dawn or dusk is best.¹ The water of Lake Matheson is dark brown, which creates the ideal reflective surface on a calm day.⁷

For West Coast sunsets the same feature says autumn through winter to early spring is usually best, because the light is softer than at the height of summer and the sun sets earlier, so you do not have to stay up too late.² If you are asking what time is sunset in Fox Glacier, the month tool above gives the minute for any month. Winter also brings calm, settled weather that is perfect for reflections in lakes and rivers.⁸

Day length decides how much of this you can fit in. At mid-June the sun is above the horizon for 9 hours, and at mid-December for 15.4 hours.^9,9 Those figures come from NOAA records at Hokitika Aerodrome, a coastal airport 114 km from the glacier, so use them only as a guide to how the day length swings between seasons.⁹ In midwinter you can see sunrise, the ice and sunset in one easy day.

Glacier Country says the best way to capture the grandeur of the region is from the air, and that a guided heli-hike to photograph the blue ice formations of the glaciers is an absolute must-do.³ The operator agrees in its own way: each Flying Fox departure is described as a voyage of exploration with plenty of opportunities to capture incredible photos.¹⁴

The landing site shows Victoria Falls, the melt river from the hidden Victoria glacier,²⁵ and ice time is up to 3 hours, weather permitting.¹³ The operator gives no guarantee that specific ice features will be seen, so shoot what is in front of you rather than hunting for a picture you saw online.²⁶ The ice you photograph this week may not be there next month.

One guest in a group of about 15 noted that photo stops need patience. Group size is up to 11 on the tour of this site, so expect to take turns at the best ice arch. Take a few frames, move aside and let the next person step in, then return for a wider look when the group has moved on.

Flying a drone at Fox Glacier is illegal because it is inside a National Park, and the operator says a drone will be confiscated and the owner fined NZ$5,000.⁵ The Department of Conservation states that flying a drone without a permit is strictly prohibited on its south side walkway page.³¹ Leave the drone at home; the operator lists it under what not to bring.²⁷

Glacier Country adds a second reason: the region is the busiest for helicopter operations in New Zealand, so you are nearly always inside a no-drone zone.³² Helicopters fly the same valleys you would want to film, and a drone is a collision risk for them. The simplest rule is to treat the whole area as closed to drones and use the helicopter windows or the lakeshore for your wide shots.

If you still want aerial views, book a scenic flight, where a professional pilot flies the route and you only press the shutter. The operator's tour for this site is a heli hike, not a flight over the whole range, so the picture you get is of the ice from the inside. A longer lens on the valley track, from hundreds of metres away, also gives a stronger compressed view of the face.²⁰