Amy & Rewi’s Wedding 8-10-2011

It’s those little moments between a couple that I love. Simply soft while conveying the love they feel for each other. At the end of the night while we were packing up to leave I could not help but feel the strong sense of family values I got from this wedding. Listening to Amy and her mum laugh out loud to seeing Amy’s dad have tears stream down his face while walking his little girl down the aisle was awesome.
Watching Rewi so proud and tall let a few tears roll down his cheek as Amy came closer, this is why weddings are so awesome to be apart of. Emotions are what it’s all about, The wedding day should never be a place to hold back tears or laughter, I myself held my tears back on my wedding day and wish I never had, to do it again would be so different. To Amy and Rewi, thank you so much for letting us be apart of your day, it was awesome and I walked away wanting to be a better person.

Its been a while.

It’s not as much as not having the time to write a blog but more about what my role as a Professional Photographer is. I have sat down many times to write about each wedding and also to give you a little more insight as to how I see whats in front of me and what I want to shoot as well. For me weddings and life is about having fun and showing the love. I am learning this every day.

Sonia and Ted wedding down in the good old Naki was an awesome couple of days away to capture two awesome people in love and also it was a great time to chat to a fellow professional photographer in Jake Thomas who came down to the Naki with me to second shoot.

The image attached to this post for sums up an awesome couple and to some extent life “Dancing into life with love and laughter” and it got me to thinking more about the way we approach weddings in general and how we should leave our clients not only with timeless images but more so with an overall experience. When I say experience I mean it in a way where you enhance the couple’s day with intruding upon their day. I am not sure as to what I am trying to say but more so the fact that every wedding or portrait shoot I do something changes with in me in a better way. It could be something as simple as giving more of myself to my clients as we tent to forget how much we ask of them.

Samoa, Apia Park. Palangi in the stand.

At the end of August I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Samoa shooting images for friends and a business they own there. I love Samoa, it was the third time I had been back and each time I learn more and enjoy my time.

Today is the start of the Rugby world cup in New Zealand and it got me to thinking a little about rugby as I am a league fan and do not find the game of rugby that interesting for me. I thought to myself when was the last time I went to a rugby game………………. I had to think hard about this as I had played when I was at school and when I had left school but I could not remember ever watching a rugby game live in the stands. It then dawned upon me that I have never been to a rugby game in my life, jeepers I kind off feel as though my national pride might be slipping. So here it is, thanks to Kev and Lil for taking me to my first game of rugby ever, this Palangi in the stands was out of his element. Here I was watching the mighty Manu Samoa pound the Western Force into submission on a hot day in Apia – Samoa. I have only ever been to league games, the might Warriors so that was the only experience that I had with big crowds. When a big tackle or hit is made in league many of the fans winch or let out the collective ohhhhhhhh! When a big tackle went down at Apia the fans all laughed collectively, in fact one western force player was left on the ground and the fans could not stop laughing at all. All I could think was how much the Samoan culture really enjoyed a good laugh after witnessing some of the half time antic’s by some of the fans, it is something else to see a Fa’afafine dancing around the field while the crowd is bending over with laughter. For my first game of rugby this was a true experience and one I wont forget, but I do think I might have to venture out side of the league stands to watch some more rugby and I think I will even turn the channel on the TV and watch Manu Samoa tackle and pass their way to a few wins.

2011 Epson Iris Awards / Infocus warp up.

2011 Epson Iris Awards / Infocus 6 days of goodness or as I now refer to as stepping off the edge and into the unknown. While in the car driving to the first day of print judging I had the feeling of fear of what was in front of me. Not fear of failure, that I can deal with but more so the fear of success and the road that turns in a different direction. My goal for the Iris awards was to get my Associate and at least get a silver award. It’s good to have goals but this time as I sat down during the first day of print judging I felt that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. To get 4 silver awards and 4 bronze awards has allowed me to feel more comfortable in my own ability to produce work at a certain level and also has given me the urge to push past what I am currently doing and try to produce new levels of capturing and post in Photoshop. Every time one of my prints came before the judges my stomach began to fill with butterflies ( those that have seen my stomach will think, wow that’s a shit load of butterflies lol) and nervous energy, it’s a feeling I use to hate and during these 6 days at NZIPP I have come to love as what I use to think was fear has been understood as passion. It has taken me some time to reliese this, you put your all into a print and the image to be judged by your peers in order to show them the passion you have for the art of photography.

At the start of the Epson Iris Awards / Infocus I had asked myself what was NZIPP doing for me. During these 6 days I came to understand that what you put in you get out and at the end of 6 days I was asking what can I do for NZIPP. I can not shout out loud enough how awesome this whole event was from those that worked so hard behind the scene’s, to the sponsors and the people and positive energy I felt every day. I left on Tuesday night after Sue Bryce’s masterclass wanting more, it felt wrong that this whole event was only once a year, the energy and inspiration was like nothing I had ever counted on. If I had not joined NZIPP in November 2009 I am sure I would not be where I am in terms of image making without them today. The networking, though shyly on my part  was worth it alone and to meet those I have looked up to for the past ten years as professional photographers and see they are all down to earth Kiwi’s was awesome.

If you are thinking of joining NZIPP, stop thinking and just join. It is worth it in so many ways. Click here and you are only a step away from meeting other like-minded professionals.

NZIPP day 6 Workshop with Sue Bryce.

When NZIPP announced the key-note speakers for Infocus 2011 were The Bebbs and Sue Bryce I was so excited to be able to go and see the Bebbs finally as they are an amazing couple with a wealth of knowledge both marketing, business and image wise. On the other hand I thought to myself who is Sue Bryce! Being in what I will call my infant stage of Professional Photography I had no idea who Sue Bryce was, I didn’t even know she was a Kiwi. So I followed the link to her website and blog, whoaaaaa…………. time seemed to fly by and here I was an hour and a half later still looking at the images and reading the words from Sue Bryce. The way she has captured people and more so women looking absolutely beautiful was outstanding, to me she seemed to add that inner glow and you could see that those she captured had given Sue there all. I went from about to book The Bebbs masterclass to booking in to a Sue Bryce masterclass by the time I finally pulled myself away from her website. I thought if I can just get any little amount of wisdom from her to help me with my clients then that would be money well spent.

Tuesday afternoon and I walk into the Rotorua Convention Centre for what is to be 4 hours of drop jaw, non stop talking from Sue Bryce. It is almost too hard to put into words what it is that Sue has to offer and I am still thinking you had to be there to even get close to the experience that we all had. Here is a woman who knows she is a woman and boy O boy Sue is totally gorgeous and for me totally intimidating with it, but the way she spoke and all that she spoke about was just enlightening and refreshing as well. So much information to digest and bring to use in our own work space, not only with regards to images but to how to get the most from your clients and remind them how beautiful they are as being’s inside and out. All I can say is a Massive thanks to Sue Bryce for sharing with us and even more thanks to NZIPP for what has been the best seminar I have ever been to. I walked out of the convention centre buzzing.

Check out Sue Bryce Here www.suebryce.com or her blog here

2011 Epson/NZIPP Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 day 5 Gala Dinner

What a nervous wreck I am, the awards dinner is still 2 hours away and here I am in the warehouse looking for pants to wear as, and this my come as a shock to some but I do not own pants, I am a shorts person all year round. Stop laughing as I am not as hic as you may think, umm Ok maybe just a little hic I am.

Now I am back at the motel where I am in huge indecision as to whether to ware pants or shorts as the pants just seem far to foreign to me and just I wanted to be comfortable as I knew that my biggest fear was to come true and I would be up on stage to receive my associate award.

Pants on, pants off. Shorts on, shorts off and so the cycle continues for about 40 minutes until I make the bold choice that shorts would be good enough to enter the stage, it is now ten minutes until we are leaving to be at the dinner and all of a sudden I decided that shorts suck and pants it will be tonight, so on they go and out the door we leave and off to the Convention Centre.

So here I am sitting at our table enjoying good conversation and food when it is announced that the honours awards are about to start, I was feeling good until this point, now a little panic starts to set in as that fear of being in front of so many people really freaks me out which is kind of weird as I don’t think twice about it at a wedding. First up is the Associate awards and out comes my name and I start the walk to the stage meeting fellow Associate award friend Karyn Fleet along the way, she enters the stage and shakes the hand and poses for a photo and exits at the far end of the stage, great it’s now my turn, I am thinking to myself “don’t fall over you tool” but thankfully I received my award, shake hands and might have even managed a smile for the camera and made my way back to my seat with no troubles. I was stoked it was over and I could now relax and enjoy the main course of the meal.

With the main meal now finished it was now time for the Main awards for the night, They start with naming the finalists in each category and then announcing the winner, each winner is well deserved and a total inspiration to me in every way. Next category is the Creative portrait and Richard Wood gets the win. Now for the Classic Portrait category and the finalist are Esther Bunning, Emma Hughes and Mike hill, shit that’s me. My heart goes from slightly sedate to and thumping drum, ………………………..and………………………………….the ………………………………winner ………………………………………..is……………………… Mike Hill………….. um did I hear that right, is this a dream, holy shit I have to go back on that stage…………. shit I will have to say something as well……. ahhhhh oh no are those tears I can almost feel welling up inside me………………..hold it together and find that inner man and harden up son. So much going on inside my head, yet I also feel I have a very big stupid grin on my face like I was a small boy and have just been given my first bike. I am now on the stage, shaking hands and getting a very cool trophy and now its now my turn to say something, just anything would be good. To be honest I don’t remember saying more than thanking my wife for putting up with me as I feel a slight trance going on and don’t really come too until halfway through desert. Wow what a feeling and totally un-expected. I was now the 2011 NZIPP Classic Portrait Photographer of the year.

There were many great people who won awards on this night and far to many to name so I urge you to check out the awards and images here, you wont be disappointed. Thanks again to my Wife Andrea and Nicola and Karyn for making me go to the awards, scary as hell but loved every minute of it.

2011 Epson/NZIPP Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 Day 5

It is Tuesday morning and I am sitting in our Hotel room and I can’t stop smiling. I have decided to do Day 4 in two parts. Part 1 is about learning and listening and part 2 will be named Cloud 9.

Monday morning and I leave home at 5:45am and as I pull out of the drive there is Chilli waving goodbye from our bedroom window, not a sad face but a happy one with an ecstatic wave hand.  My plan this morning is to spend an hour looking at the prints that are up in the gallery, it was nice to have some time to soak in everybody’s work and see the different styles and media used. It has taken me a couple of days to except that my work is on these gallery walls with some of the most amazing prints I have ever seen. The student wall is totally amazing, and it was awesome to see a few prints from those I have met through face book and see how they see the world through their eyes. As for the rest of the of the gallery, I feel I was lucky there were no flies in the room as I am sure I spent most of the time with my mouth wide open in amazement. Creative Portrait and you are able to enter up to four prints in this division but remembering that you only have 10 prints to enter over all. So here I am looking at creative portrait and I count 4 gold’s for Sue Bryce, wow talk about a great hit rate there and very well deserved.

I have never been one to be star struck; I have met a few famous people in my time and have never had the feeling that I have had while at Infocus. Looking around and seeing these greats of the NZ photographic scene have rendered me speechless at times.  I feel honoured to have meet and talk too many of them but still feel out of sorts as words get stuck in my throat as I try to find something to say instead of a girly little giggle and almost a squeal in the presence of greatness. I am soaking in the this new-found feeling of what it is to be in awe and loving it.

Lots of mini seminars today kicking off at 8:30am, what a day of fun-filled learning it is going to be. Between each session is time to walk the trade show and mix with other like-minded people, well I thought we were all like-minded but I was wrong. After chatting with many I see our only common theme is looking through glass and what is on the their side of that glass is a very different view in each other’s mind. I won’t go on about each of the people who spoke today as they were all good and I walked away with something from each of them, but for me Sue Bryce just stood out streets above and what was an hour and a half long seemed to fly by in only minutes. I am so glad that I have master class with Sue Bryce on Tuesday afternoon. What is ironic for me is that as a 14-year-old I was asked to leave school as soon as I turned 15 as it would be better for all involved and that I did not have the desire to learn and now here I am learning everyday and wanting more. If I knew now way back then I would have stayed in school and maybe I might have found the y way to use my camera early. But it’s all about the here and now and what you do now, so here I am looking like a sponge and soaking it all in and wanting more.

2011 Epson/NZIPP Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 Day 4

Today is the first day of Infocus and as much as I wanted to be here I have decided to take the day off and spend it with my wife and two girls Aaliyah and Chilli. It was an easy choice and for me family time is most the important to me. We spent the day laughing, playing and reapplying nail polish to Daddy’s nails, lol.  I will take this chance to thank our parents,  they have given their time to help us further our business and have  always been there when we are away with weddings and our two girls have the best grand parents they could ever possibly have. Thanks again.

2011 Epson/NZIPP Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 Day 3

Up early and of to Rotorua for the third day of viewing, listening and soaking in all the information about what it takes to get your prints and images to the next level.
After yesterdays awards I was informed that all I needed from the 4 prints I had entered today was 2 points to get my “Associate” . Being my first year entering I did not have too many hopes and it was more about the experience than getting anything award wise. So here I was Sitting in the room and my print is the first to be judged for the day, this is not as bad as say following a Gold award print but still not the best start to the day. It gets awarded a bronze and I am now freaking out due to the fact that I am so close to getting my associate and yet so far away at the same time. Three prints left to judge and just 1 point needed. I am sitting down with my wife Andrea on one side and friend Karyn Fleet on the other, my second print is next and I get up and walk off towards the door, I am freaking out and trying to hide behind a little plant with all the nerves I have. The judges are looking long and hard, time has slowed down and it seems to be taking forever to log in the scores. I am crapping myself, I don’t even hear the score and then it is announced as a silver merit, massive grin and I walk straight out the door and into the main hall where I sit down to soak it all in. It felt good and I was buzzing. From here it felt like anything else would be a bonus.
1 hour later and my third print for the day is up and the judges start to debate the good and bad side of the image, It is sitting in at bronze and one judge wants to take it to silver and so the banter begins between the judges and the print stays at bronze. Still very happy with the result and with another 1 until my final print I decided to take a look through the trade show and see what was new and what I might need to buy. I spent plenty of time talking about papers for printing more than anything else. I am still a firm believer in putting it on the wall than viewing it on a screen. Epson has got a few new papers out, hot and cold press fine art papers and I am excited to have a look and to use these as they seem even better than the Fine Velvet I use, can’t wait to get these new papers into the office and put them through our printer. The great thing about the trade show is the specials they have on the products, the sad thing is the constant abuse my wallet is now taking lol.
Enough time has passed and I am back into the judging room for my final print, now I am wanting this print to score more than the rest. First score comes in at 70, yay it is a bronze and I am starting to count my chickens and then there is a challenge from one judge. Ahhhhhhh after much debate and a re-score it drops to 68 which is not a bronze and is held at high professional standard. I am gutted and slightly pissed off, not at the score or what the judge had to say about the print because this all serves to better my learning into making better images. I am pissed because I have just realised how competitive I am and not getting 9 out of 9 for prints entered has got to me. After a little but quick reality check I am back on the totally stoked high way as I see my final count of 4 silver medals and 4 bronze medals which has given me my associate in my first year entering.

How to celebrate I wonder, some I know are buying new printers, some new camera’s but for me it was to take Andrea out for dinner at our Favorite Kitchen “The Porch” which just happens to be at Waihi Beach our home. So proud to be from Waihi Beach and happy to go back to celebrate a shy beach boys success.

Now we have 3 days of information overload from the best there are, this is going to be awesome, I just love learning and listening to what others have to say, anything I can apply to my own work is a positive to me.

2011 Epson/NZIPP Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 Day 2

What a difference 24 hours makes, from the lows last night of witnessing a fatal motorcycle accident to the elation of winning 5 awards today. Waking up this morning I was still very much still in the moment last night of watching someone die before me in a tragic accident, the awards and Infocus had no meaning or significance for me and all I wanted to do was stay at home with my two girls Chilli and Aaliyah. But they say behind every man is a better woman and this is so true for me, my wife Andrea with words of wisdom and encouragement sent me on my may. Even the drive over to Rotorua had thoughts of turning back at the thought of how fast life can change.
So here I am at the Rotorua Convention Centre pacing up and down listening and waiting for my prints to have their turn. It was my turn to feel the heat and second guess the prints I had chosen to be judged in Classic portrait and the one print I had in landscape today.
As my first print comes up in classic portrait, there is much talk from the judges and I get awarded a silver, wow I am freaking out a little and at the same time want to jump of my chair and do a little dance, well wobble in my case but it does feel pretty awesome. It feels very strange to be here in a room full those I have always looked up to and am still too shy to talk too and getting a silver definitely didn’t give me instant confidence that’s for sure, ha ha ha..
Within 3 minutes of getting silver my next print comes up in landscape and instantly gets judged as silver and with one judge wanting to take the print high into distinction I was becoming very nervous indeed. This is where it gets interesting as one judge points out the prints merits while another might pick out the flaws. This is the learning curve I love, I feel like a sponge and soak it all in instead of looking like one. The final word is silver and I am still a very happy man.
30 minutes later and my third print is up and I am still in the landscape judging room separated only by a thin partition and 3 short steps. I moved closer to the judging room, but still far enough away not to show my nerves, Emma Hughes came out to tell me my print was up only for me to say that I knew it was but I was still too scared to enter the room for the result. A bronze is awarded and I and feeling pretty good.
Another 30 minutes later and my 4th print comes up in portrait and this time there is another challenge from the judges and great debate about the merits of the print, with one commenting on how great the printing itself is. This print gets silver and I am totally stoked with the award and the comments on the printing as we have printed all our own prints and mounted them.
Forth print in classic portrait and my fifth and last print off the day. Bronze is awarded and I am slightly overwhelmed at the results and awards I have had during the day. 5 prints and 5 awards, the perfect result and start for my first NZIPP Iris Awards. The awards for me are about being judged by my peers and not about the people’s choice, this is most definitely about creating art and going above the normal every day professional image making for you clients, it’s about raising your standards and then holding them there only to raise them again a year down the track for the next NZIPP Iris Awards.
I will sign out thanking Andrea my Wife, love you and thanks for putting up with my shit without you I would have never had the chance or thought of every entering awards at this level of photography. Oh and lastly my 4-year-old girl Chilli has had some fun with her finger nail polish, shocking pink should make me an easy target tomorrow lol.