Nice Day for a White Wedding

The wedding season is in full swing and the roads are graced with shiny white ribbons flapping across polished bonnets and shimmering in the bright summer sun. Smiles, laughter and confetti can be see in all corners of the bay as happy couples exchange vowels and kisses in front of those whom they love the most.

This weekend was no exception as Caleb and Amber came together for there day in the sun.

I hope to be married with in a year or two to my partner of 6yrs and could only hope for a day as amazing as Caleb and Amber's. Magical day with fantastic people.

It's always such a privilege to be included in a day where a couple bring together family and friends to share in such a special occasion so being as outsider standing with the rest is always a great experience.

Wedd in 2010

The first wedding of the season is under my belt and it was a great one to kick off with. Some weddings are damn hard work but this just flowed thanks to a couple who really made things easy and great fun.

Above are four great reasons why I love this job.

Many thanks Matt and Sarah for a great day.

Koreen PtII

Sunday was a great day for a photo shoot. Koreen did a great job modeling for this set coming out with a series of punchy images for her modeling portfolio.

Moving through, hard times and finding ones self identity was the theme with the location representing a void landscape or transitional space within our selves that we have to endure before we can discover yet another piece in the puzzle which is who we are.

Photographs by there nature are made to be shared and will hopefully promote discussion so please feel free to comment and / or critique.

Koreen

Its Saturday and good weather for a photo shoot. Its time for some modeling shots with Riini Mora. She acts, dances, sings and now models.

That's stage one completed with a location shoot sporting a more conceptual twist as stage two yet to come.

Exhibition Opening.

Nga Manu exhibition opening was a success. There was a great turn out and response to all works on display. The exhibition runs from the 25th Sept to 31st Oct and is well worth a look. My contribution is below and comments are welcome. My partner is a bird nut so her work has left me informed about the plight of some of our native species and there struggle to survive. This was to be the approach I took when I made these two pictures with a quote from Perrine Moncrieff to help express there meaning.

"One feels inclined to write an indignant protest at the ghastly manner in which lovely birds have been twisted into grotesque shapes to adorn women throughout the ages.... for every bird killed to provide warmth, hundreds have been slain merely to trim dresses, or worse still, stuck in hats".

Many thanks to all who attended and also Tasha for being yet again such a stunning model.

Nga Manu Exhibition.

The Nga Manu exhibition opening night is this Friday at 5:30. The artists with works on display are Mandy Hague (Works with paint), Grant Whibley (painter), Raymond Ching ( Arguably one of NZs best painters), Ian Davie (Great work with swan feathers), Jonathan Campbell (Bronze Sculpture), Fiona Gedson (Mandela work with feathers), Jo Ogier (Print Maker) and myself.

There are some names here that are new to me but produce work that is a must see.
This is not just the opening of an exhibition but also the opening event on the Birds a plenty Calendar.

To see great work and enjoy wine and nibbles, come along and enjoy.

Keeping Busy

Note to self:

Up and coming photo shoots - Claire. Portraits.

Claire has her eye on some beauty portraits and is a bit nervous in front of the camera but I don't think she has anything to worry about. This will be great for her and fantastic for my portfolio.

- Riini. Creative photo shoot.

I am looking forward to this shoot. Riini seems to have her eyes on the entertainment world. She dances, acts and has a modeling portfolio to fill.

- Wedding of Sarah and Matty.

This will be the first wedding of the season for me so can wait to get out there and photography a magic event with a great couple.

Looking Back.

I had a photo shoot scheduled with a first time model, Queree. The location was an old rundown homestead which made a perfect backdrop. I think I may have to venture inside sometime for a further shoot. Its a fantastic and spooky place like a trip back in time. One of the vines caught a foot on the way out the front door resulting in a rather ungraceful tumble onto my butt. Great start to a shoot.

I really tried to capture the essence of the environment I was working in. The house, the past, the stories the land and building hold but never to tell, its all there and it left me wondering.

I saw a music video by Johnny Cash today called "Hurt" which is a reflection of his life and his feelings of regret and the song is now generally seen as his epitaph. A person such as this has had his life's story documented for all to see and would make fascinating reading. This house may contain equally fascinating stories about the people who lived there but are lost to all but the house itself.

Who Got The Power

We all have to rely on batteries to keep things going so if your like me you may have a mountain of AA rechargeables lying around. I stumbled of this site and the great thing about it is the fact its aimed at photographers.

http://dpanswers.com/content/equip_batteries.php

There is alot of conflicting information out about battery care so if you have ever found yourself running flat half way through a wedding ceremony, you may want to give check it out.

Speaking of power, there are a few times i'm sure we could all do with a bit extra juice so decided to give one of these babies ago. She holds 6 batteres and runs both the SB800 and 900s. So far it seems to do the job rather well. The only downside I suppose is it increases my relience on those blasted AAs

Nga Manu II

This is Nga Manu Part II. Well I wasn't totally happy with my last portrait shoot so decided make a few more pictures to keep my shutter finger happy. It was supposed to be a short shoot to re-capture what I felt I hadn't got the first time but as usual ended up being hours when my mind takes over and the camera wont stop.

Nga Manu

For all you portrait lovers out there, here is a little treat.


Below is Sashka who used to have long flowing locks. Since her head shaving stunt to help raise dosh for cancer she now has a more modest due reminiscent of a 14 year old lad and is in my opinion the holder of many great image.



Many of you may be familiar with this young lady as she has made many an appearance here before. She just goes from strength to strength so I think you can expect a few more and better pictures from her in the future as she extends her portfolio.

News News News.

Check out the latest issue of Pulp magazine. It features the results of the 2010 Pulp Sony Photographic Competition in which I managed to acquire a gold medal for a portfolio of four images. I must admit I was rather surprised at the result but I suppose that's a confidence thing. There were entries from all over the world so that really makes thing just that bit sweeter.




A second piece of new is the great result from my North Shore Saloon of photography entries. I can now add a silver medal and a highly commended award to the mix. Its not just me that wins but the models and all those who help out so thanks to you all.

Hit The Road

Well I have been on holiday for 2 weeks now and have one glorious week to go. It all began with a bit of a road trip around the bottom half of the north island from Whakatane to Featherston then on to Wellington. The next stop was the mighty Taranaki and we held up there for a couple of days. Its a fantastic piece of coastline with an amazing history. There were 15 old Moari Pa sites surrounding immediate location so one could almost feel the Moari spirits walking around you at times, so it was a little freaky to see this on the beach






We were told that a piece of ancient Moari Waka had been found not for from where I took the above picture and was dated at around the 1300s.





I haven't seen this mountain since I was 3-4 yrs old. It was the first time I saw snow and was totally in kid heaven. I also remember my Mother sliding on her butt down a snowy bank, not watching where she was going. That was a little scary for me due to the fact a 4yr old sees his parents as all conquering protectors and the idea of them as being vulnerable to such mistakes just never enters a childs mind. I suppose the fact it is one of very few memories I have from that trip means it must have taught me that if grown need grownups to help them then whats going to happen to me? Needless to say I have survived so my fears were unfounded.

Above believe it or not is a bridge in New Plymouth. As solid as it looks, it acts like a suspension bridge and move as you walk on it. A fantastic example of how this area is making a name for itself as an open minded and artistic region and the people just love it.

I couldn't resist. Pukekura Park, New Plymouth.

A brilliant sunset at Urenui.

One Hoop 2 Far?

Sometimes we get invited to things we would otherwise never get to see. Here is a guy from Canada who is a traditional hoop dancer. Cant say I had ever heard of such a thing but hey, here on is. He was great with a max of 30 hoops hanging off him as he danced around for a group of delighted primary school kids.

Hot in 60seconds.

Well, a dull can turn at any moment. One minute your cleaning the dust off the back of the desk and counting the loose paper clips and the next there's smoke on the Horizon and your off like a rocket and today was no exception. Its important to be ready for anything, have the batteries charged, memory cards clear, and spares loaded into the bag just in case. The last thing a reporter wants is to wait for the photographer to get his stuff together when something happens.

I cant say I have ever had a desk job and would avoid one like the plague. I love what I do and to be able to work in such an unpredictable environment suits me down to the ground.

The above pics were from a car fire in an industrial scrap yard. I managed to get there before the fire service which was a bonus. Details are sketchy but it seems as though someone was cutting parts off the car when fuel ignited resulting in facial burns to the guys face.

Water Water Everywhere.

For those who don't live around here, we have had just a little bit of rain lately, not quite enough for a repeat of a few years ago to cause the destruction Matata suffered, but enough to mess things up a bit.

The unlucky owner of this Mobil servo has had a rather muddy beginning to his day twice in the last week. That's enough to really soil your mood.

Well, I guess she's going no where fast.

The water level may have dropped but this once sedate canal has caused more than a few headaches once logs block the water flow the water spews water and mud into surrounding properties with disastrous results.

All in a days work aye!! Looks to me like a vain attempt to improve drainage on King St.

Uleash the T Bomb.

Well it has been a while but I thought I would treat you all with a few pics from my favorite Model, Tasha. I managed to shoot a few different scenarios and I hope she sees these as welcome additions to her portfolio.

I love using light and sometimes the lack of it to give simple portrait setups some real punch.

Tasha has been begun some training with one of NewZealands top modeling agencies so as time goes on, expect some stunning images from this young woman in the future.