Looking forward to the big fella arriving

Wow what a crazy run up to christmas! I had hoped to keep a few more posts going before christmas, but with a new baby and crazy work schedule, I think I am going to take a break until the New Year. Something has to give and my eyes might be slightly more open by then! Our christmas is going to be all about enjoying time with our new little man, his big sister, and having a very relaxing family time with as little technology involved as possible!

It has been a great year with a wonderful variety of assignments, lots of travel and I have loved every minute of it. A huge thanks to everyone who has allowed me to capture images for them this year, I know you have a vast choice of photographers out there and am as always very appreciative that you chose me.

All the very best to you, your nearest and dearest, Merry Christmas, happy holidays and see you in the New Year! I will be back in the saddle again on 7th of January 2013.

A Walk on the wild side

I don't generally do a lot of event photography, not a conscious decision really, just not what most of my clients require. But when I got a call recently from a kids charity I jumped at the chance to be involved. They had been put on to me by another client and there is nothing better than a recommendation as far as I'm concerned!

Cure Kids is an outstanding charity who raise money to find cures for life threatening illnesses that affect children. I don't think there could be a more worthwhile cause to be involved with. I was asked to cover the Peugeot Walk on the Wild Side to Cure Kids, on the stunning west coast north of Auckland. Several courses up to 17kms long were on offer, as well as a family short course, and more than 300 people involved. The courses crossed both private and public land with diverse native bush, cliff top trails and rugged beaches, with the odd guerilla thrown in for fun!

Logistically it was a challenging event to cover. I wanted to be everywhere to cover all the facets from face painting, hot hula warm ups, pre-race characters, team shots, to the start, the finish and various points on the course, with very limited access. I had 2 cameras running hot for the two hours prior to the start and captured a good range of shots showing the flavour of the event. Then it was a mad dash back to the car for a forty minute drive back out from Bethells beach to get across to the next access point at Muriwai and back on to the course. This is where things went bit pear shaped… despite my best efforts and race car driving, by the time I reached the half way point on the course nearly all the participants had already gone through! I tried running down the course to see if I could catch anyone, (no mean feat with 15kg of camera gear on a rough trail!) but to no avail. So a mad rush back to the car and another hair raising drive back to the start, followed by a sprint up the beach, wading across a river to a good position between two bays. PHEW!

Although by this point all the fastest participants had reached the finish, (an amazing 1hour 54 mins by the super fit!) the remainder of the 'normal' people came through in a steady stream and I was able to get some great shots of them and the wild scenery. I take my hat off to everyone, who with a little encouragement, responded for the camera with nothing but smiles despite their tiredness.

It was thoroughly refreshing to do this style of photography and a wonderful atmosphere to be around. Many thanks to Daniel and Ruth from Cure Kids who got me involved, Rob from Angle who recommended me and everyone who put up with me sticking a camera in their face on the day!

The images were very well received so I hope I can get involved with more of these events… now where can I get hold of a helicopter?

Dropping anchor

Being a photographer is such a great opportunity to meet new people and see new places. Dropping in on other peoples lives, even briefly, is something I never cease to enjoy. I recently got to do a shoot at Bayswater marina on the north shore of Auckland. It is a great location with some stunning views across to the city and out to the Hauraki gulf. I had visited there many years ago to do some night photography of the city skyline, but not been back since. 

The good folks at Telecom NZ wanted me to get shots of their technology in action in this marine environment. Stunning sunny day, beautiful boats and a day out amongst it all, where do I sign up! Add to that the fact that the marina manager Ed, turned out to be just about the most helpful man I have ever met. I swear he would of rustled us up a submarine if we had asked for one!

We had previously done a site visit to work out where we could best catch staff in their day to day duties to get our shots with minimum interruption to their schedule. To say it was bright would be an understatement, so liberal use of the trusty polarizer, ND filter and a good dose of fill flash to open out the shadows was required. We could of done with a liberal dose of sunblock, that's for sure, mental note to put a new tube in the gear bag! The environment was so cool that we were spoilt for shot opportunities, my personal favorite being a mega yacht that Ed took us onboard, just stunning.

There were a few scary moments on the edges of some of the pontoons I must say. Caught up in the moment catching the shot, I nearly took my gear for a swim on several occasions!  In the end I enlisted the help of someone hanging on to the back of my belt to save me. I tell you It's a very fine line between being saved and getting a wedgy!

NEX6, small is cool

I had another shoot in the series for Sony New Zealand recently. This time the image was to showcase their NEX 6 camera and in a bit of a curve ball for me, they requested it to be shot using an NEX camera! No pressure!

Although it presented me with a few issues, not least the fact that I had to work my way round a new camera system, I was really excited to see how good this type of camera was. The mirrorless camera market is hugely popular and in vogue at the moment, with all the major players having models out there.

I only received the camera I was using a couple of days before the shoot and due to a seriously busy work schedule only got to sit down and give it a trial the day before. Did I mention I had no manual? Doh! Luckily I found the menus pretty intuitive and user friendly. Definitely way more features than I was going to have time to use. With the 24mb sensor being the same as in the Alpha 77 I knew that quality wasn't going to be an issue. I also had the bonus of a Carl Zeiss 24mm F2 prime lens, via an adapter which converted from the E mount to an A mount.

The location for the shot was a remote farm out in the Bombay Hills south of Auckland, home to a beautiful old sixties Land Rover we were using. This meant a seriously early wake up to get to the location in time for the early light to be perfect! 4am to be precise, thanks Dag!

So with the sound of banjos in our ears, Dag the art director, Reece our talent and myself arrived at the farm just as dawn broke. Quite a magical time of day really, the pigs in the field opposite definitely thought so, they were squealing like crazy and it was feeling more like deliverance by the minute!

The weather gods smiled on us, we got a good sunrise and after a quick shift of the Landy (read white knuckle ride for Dag) to a better position we started getting the shots at a good pace. As we couldn't get a hotshoe adapter in time to allow us to sync strobes, we worked with reflectors which also helped us work swiftly. The camera performed great as expected and I bracketed the shots to make sure we covered our bases. Within an hour or so the only complaint from Dag was that we had captured too many good images and selecting one was going to be a pain for him! A good problem to have!

Will I be rushing out to sell all my SLR gear… probably not…would I be happy to travel up the Amazon with an NEX camera around my neck, hell yes! Will my wife be letting me do that any time soon with a new baby, hell no!

Sony summer sounds

Well as much as I was tempted to post loads of pictures of my lovely new little son Zachary, I thought I better keep it about work!

Here are some of the shots I took earlier in the year for Sony NZ's new audio products. Always great to see the finished work out there, especially when it is received so well.
Bearing in mind we shot these in some very cold and wet conditions, I am extremely pleased with the summer feel we managed to achieve.

When shooting images like these with a lot of sun flare involved, Prime lenses come into their own. This type of light does give a very distinct and inviting feel to them and is a style I really enjoy capturing. Sometimes we used strobes as fill light and other times we got the result we were after with just some reflectors. To be honest at times we had to make the call on how much gear we could get set up in-between showers, and in the time constraints we had. More than once we were sent running just as we had got everything in position.

There will be some more shoots coming up soon with a similar feel to them and with spring, well and truly er… springing, the weather might even help rather than hinder us!

Special Delivery

You would have noticed it's been a bit quiet on the blog front for quite some time! As you can see from the picture above there was a good reason for this. My son Zachary arrived on the 24th of September and life has stepped up another gear on the crazy front! 

I thought things were busy enough getting things prepared for his arrival, but holy moly it was just a warm up for life since he came! He's an amazing little man with the incredible ability to get everyone in the house involved in his needs!

Of course working for your self means the show must go on work wise and it's been a busy run and looking like getting even busier. Sleep? Who needs sleep!

So hopefully I will manage to get the posts going again and show some of the images I have been capturing from some great recent and upcoming projects that I am involved with.

Watch this space, normal service should resume... I use the term 'normal' very loosely!

Journeys

It was a quieter week this week so I thought I would take some time off ...only to get caught up with decorating the house! So much for downtime!

In between covering myself in paint, I did manage to continue the on-going task of processing more stock images from recent (and not so recent) trips. Its always good to re-discover shots you had virtually forgotten about and find yourself instantly transported back to that moment and place. The shot above of the road up and over the Crown range in the South Island was instantly one of those occasions! It was a crisp morning with mist hanging in the valleys and even a hot air balloon sailing away to the horizon. I had an interesting time dodging vehicles with bemused drivers negotiating the switch backs as I ran from bend to bend to get the perfect vantage point... which of course was just about the furthest point from where I could park! I really like the colour palette of this shot, the freshness and clarity of the light jumps out at you.

There are only so many hours in the day and keeping up with the backlog of images can be a bit of a challenge, but it is a great use of downtime and keeps the stock side of things growing slowly but surely.

The week ended with a whistle stop trip down to the South Island over the weekend, to finish off my recent Telecom project. I jumped on a plane Saturday morning landed at Nelson lunchtime, drove a 250km round trip to Blenheim and back. Got up at 6.30 the next morning shot 3 more locations and back on the plane to Auckland by 11.20am. It is amazing what you can fit in to 24hrs! I do love the short hop flights as you fly at a lower altitude and see so much more on a clear day and even have a chance to grab a shot out of the window. Just remember to take your polariser off first,  otherwise the double skin windows leave you with strange purple UFOs all over your shots!

A taste of the high life

Had a slightly different assignment at the end of this week. I don't get asked to do too much architectural photography but every now and then a job comes my way. This one got me into a space I probably wont have the pleasure of owning anytime soon - a luxury penthouse!

My own house has a floor area of approx 170 sqm, but these places were in the region of 400 sqm, in the centre of Auckland with panoramic harbour views! To say they have a lot of zeros in their price tag is an understatement and they sure had a lot of feaures - plush fittings, views to die for and the odd baby grand piano thrown in for good measure (how did they get that up in the lift?)

Lighting the apartments in the allocated time meant sticking with small flashes to supplement (rather than trying to overpower) the ambient light. It also meant bracketing exposures to allow for those amazing (but very bright) views through the windows. Its amazing what you can achieve with this combination, even when dealing with such large spaces. To me, an important element in this shoot was the lens. I was using a 17mm tilt/shift lens, which not only provided plenty of width to the images, but the shift feature prevented everything leaning in at crazy angles. Its a fantastic lens, but a little slow to use with everything being manual. Plus metering goes straight out of whack once you start 'shifting' of course.

I think its one of the great perks of this job, to gain access to areas you would never normally see...unless of course your get your 6 numbers and the bonus ball come up!

River deep, mountain high

Another couple of high mileage weeks thanks to the good folks at Telecom NZ. Cambridge, Matamata, Rotorua, Taupo, Gisborne, Masterton, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Johnsonville, Paraparaumu and finally Wellington! Phew! This project has certainly allowed me to fill my boots with New Zealand scenery. A shame I can't say the same for the weather!

While I managed to complete my scheduled shots, It was criminal that for the best part of the first 750km, rain stopped play as far as getting landscape shots enroute. Oh well I have a few more locations to add to the 'list'. You often have to wait years to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right light. It's good to have a little black book full of locations and ideas which you can pull out each time you are heading out on the road.

I did manage to squeeze in this shot of the approach to Huka Falls between the showers. All the rain meant plenty of water flowing. It's hard to get your head around how much force there is. Even more unbelievable is that I have seen kayakers ride the falls! Sadly none on this occasion though... that would be because I had all my gear with me!.

The other shot included above is of Te Mata Peak just outside of Havelock North on the east coast of the North Island. A truly impressive slab of rock with outstanding views out to Cape Kidnappers and a rather interesting road up to the peak, which naturally I grabbed a few shots of too.

Had a rather bizarre end to my trip while in Wellington, when typically blustery weather whipped a strap into my eye. It was such a random injury, but after being in pain for 24 hours a trip to A&E confirmed a cut on the lens of my left eye. Honestly it was like having a razor blade run across my eye every time I blinked! not a happy camper! Luckily it's meant to heal itself over the next week and the pain killers sem to be working well. On the bright side my daughter is delighted that I look like a pirate!

Bring the noise

I was given the opportunity to get involved with a great project this week, thanks to my good friend Dag Young at Platform29. It was a series of shots for a Sony NZ campaign showcasing new audio products. Can't show you too much at this point, but can tell you we put noise control to the test and nearly gave a model hypothermia! Changing the season to summer had it's challenges, but despite some very wintery temperatures and changeable weather we came out with some great shots.

It was a lively couple of days across four locations, made all the more interesting with video footage being captured at the same time. Despite both Guy from Vertigomotion and myself having to get our footage from the same viewpoints, we helped, rather than hindered each other. It worked really well as far as sharing lenses and assisting each other with reflectors and lights, not to mention making things very cost effective. 

A very happy client and a great experience for all of us... except maybe the frozen model and now-hearing impaired neighbours!