2011 NZIPP 2011 Epson Iris Awards and Infocus Day 1.

Wow is all I have to say, what a buzz it is to sit, listen, learn and view so many epic prints. I myself had no prints up in front of the judges today but still found time to head down to Rotorua Convention Centre to see what it was all about.

The emotion and nerves in some of the people who had their print there was just awesome to witness, the little jitters as a judge might try to talk up a high bronze into a silver.

The judging rooms are next to each other and you can walk 5 paces and see the next print in room too, this I thought was very cool and the funny moments are when someone is getting marked as gold and the flurry of bodies from one room to the next in order to see a gold image awarded. The emotion and nerves in some of the people who had their prints there was just awesome to witness, the little jitters as a judge might try to talk up a high bronze into a silver…….. and it will be my turn tomorrow as I have 5 prints up for judging. After seeing the level you need to be at for the awards I would be happy with just getting one bronze, so hopefully tomorrow I can. Again if you are in Rotorua over the next two days then drop into the Convention Centre and check out some amazing work that is there on display. Take care out there and will blog some updates tomorrow as the results come through.

There are also three other photographers reporting from Infocus 2011

http://www.karynflett.co.nz/blog

http://www.nicolainglisphotography.co.nz/wedding-blog

http://www.lamode.co.nz/

hope you enjoy a good read.

Ready to learn

I have been sitting in front of my screen for far to long tonight thinking about the next 6 days, three off them will be sitting and listening to the judges comments as they go about their way through the large volume of photographic art presented ona mounted 16×20 inch foam board. The other three will be listening to those sharing the greater knowledge they have for the lesser off us to soak up and use in some way for our own benefits.

Why the image of my little girl painting my finger nails, simple really, if by some chance I do get a bronze or better I will let her choose a colour and I will sport such colour from sunday onwards. So if you do see me and wonder why is that guy so happy about having pink finger nails the answer should be clear, remember I said clear not queer ha ha ha.

Thursday being tomorrow and I do not have any print’s up for judging at all, I do not even need to go but for some reason I will go and spend the day listening to the judges, I think it’s a great place to learn and see an image from someone else’s eye and hear what they have to say about it. The morning will start of with the students getting judged and I am looking forward to this, these people are the future image makers and may just be the next big thing. I can’t wait to see how they have captured something and how they have then in turn decided to interpret that as a print for all of us to see.

I will blog tomorrow night about my first day at conference and then I will blog each day from Rotorua as the day passes and how I feel sitting and waiting for my print to come up and then be judged. So if you are near Rotorua or feel like a drive then the next 3 days are open to the public to come sit and view with me some of the most talented photographer in this awesome land we call NZ. Hopefully I will be the one wearing pink polish, ha ha.

The Epson Iris Awards and Infocus 2011 are being held at the Rotorua Convention Centre, see you there.

The Box Goes Gold

Well it goes to Gold FM here in Waihi if you want to read about the story of the box then click here

And so the journey begins.

NZIPP Iris Awards 2011 and so the journey begins. Well to be honest the journey began about two months ago with the total confusion as to which prints to enter. You have the option off submitting 10 images over various category and for me this was the easiest part, chosing which category to enter. Classic Portrait, Wedding and Landscape is the path I have chosen to enter this year being my first year for NZIPP Iris awards.

As I sit here typing away, my wife is driving the images that we have picked, printed and matted to their first destination for their journey as hopefully a chance at getting at least one award for a print at what I would call New Zealand’s most prestigious photographic awards.

This time next week I will be sitting in a room with many others listening to the thoughts and score’s from the judging panel and thinking like many others, did I make the right choice. For me on a personal note I already have many thoughts about sitting in this room, am I good enough to even be in this room, is my work good enough to be judged or am I just kidding myself. Should I have made my prints smaller, bigger, glossy, matt, Colour or B&W but this is all by the side now as I have chosen my prints, paper and have not one image in B&W which surprises me as this is my favorite medium when viewing and printing. Then there is the thoughts about my ability to cope with the judges comments, this is the hard part as photography is such a subjective nature that what one may dislike another may love, after all this is me show casing who I am as a professional photographer and I am about to put my heart on the line by submitting my prints.

I love the feeling this whole NZIPP Iris Awards 2011 is giving me, my nerves are like noodles not steel. I feel fragile and lacking in confidence which to me seems so new but strangely familiar in ways. I remember a couple of years ago that I felt the same way with shooting weddings and portraits. Now I have no nerves and am confident in my work, but this has been learnt with experience gained over the years. I love the feeling of being scared but still doing it no matter the out come, what is learned from these pushing of boundaries is invaluable and hence the reason for entering the Iris awards this year. Experience can only add to learning and from there, confidence to move forward.

So there we have it, the journey begins and I will share each day what the experience is and how it feels first had to be entering the 2011 NZIPP Iris Awards.

Mel & Campbell sumed up in one shot Love & Laughter.

Mel’s smile and laughter is infectious, each time I started to edit their wedding it made me smile. When you spend so much time with a couple on their wedding day that being one of the most emotional times in their lives you can’t help but get some of the buzz of the day rub off on you. There was plenty of laughter at Cambells while he was getting ready and then it was off to Mel’s. I love meeting new people and meeting those that were at Mel’s house was very cool indeed. Mels Mum wanted to slap me for being so cheeky, she should off hahaha. Then there was Mels dad who turned the tables on me by trying to see how many photos he could take of the photographer, it was a fair bit of fun that was for sure.

Mel and Campbell decided to have a first meeting before the wedding, we did this out at Taitua Arboretum and this is where the image below came from. For me this image sums up Mel and Campbell, love and Laughter. Some people think that having a first meeting before the wedding could take away some of the emotional side of the main event being the ceremony, this was just not the case. The ceremony was at the glass house at the Hamilton gardens and you could see how Campbell eye’s sparkled as Mel walked down the aisle and how totally glowing Mel was as she walked arm in arm with her Dad.

As soon as the ceremony was finished everyone moved outside for kisses and hugs, my favorite part of the day and all I can say is WOW, this almost brought me to tears as there was just so much feeling in the hugs, it was awesome to see and capture such coming together of two family’s and the loved they shared for each other. Another huge thanks to Mel and Campbell for entrusting us with the honour to capture your wedding day. Thanks from Mike, Andrea and Fintan, the team at Mike Hill Photography.

Just pick one with Ruth and Nicks Wedding

Been a while since I have caught up with my blogging and editing at the same time. This was ou second to last wedding of the season with Ruth and Nick, I really can,t say it enough about how awesome it is to be able to see and capture people on their wedding day. So much emotion and so many thoughts about a day that seems to start out slow and then move so fast it rushes by leaving you in its wedding wake. So this image I love is because of all the above reason, ruth is walking out the door to the car to start the journey into the church for her walk down the aisle. As she walks out this door the thoughts of what she has done so far during the morning with her bridesmaids is now replace with the rawness of the such an occasion. In less than an hour she will be Mrs instead of Miss. Awesome wedding Nick and Ruth and an awesome evening with you, your family and your friends. Thanks again from the team at Mike Hill Photography.

EPSON/NZIPP IRIS AWARDS 2011 and Infocus 2011 in Rotorua.

Deep breath for me, seems each time I think about the Iris awards I take a deep breath more so in fear of putting my feet into the water so to speak. Iris awards for those that do not know is the panicle of awards for professional photographers both here in NZ and Ozzie as well.

Now I hear a few moans and groans out there that the awards are just a big wank for those with some serious Photoshop skills and that it has little to do with professional photography. Four years ago I went to have a look at some of the entries and I thought exactly the same that the awards should have been for the use of Photoshop rather than photography.

Last year being my first year involved with being a qualified member in NZIPP I had a moment of clarity that left me thinking the awards are all about photography rather than Photoshop. I think the biggest point people need to remember when viewing the images that have gained awards at Iris is the fact that these are works of art, timeless and have creative use of vision. This is not an awards for professional standards, rather an awards for creativity and more so pushing your own ability beyond that of your own everyday high standard of work.

So back to the iris awards and the fact that this will be my first year entering, I am scared shitless at sitting in on the judges and listening to what they have to say, yet at the same time I am wanting to hear what they have to say in order to gain a better understanding to further my own personal growth as a professional photographer. So this little rant is just to let you know that will the awards are on I will update you all as to how a first time iris awards entrant is doing. I will let you know the results and the feelings that being the highs and the lows that go with presenting your work to those that are far more proficient than myself. One f the great things about the iris awards is that it part of Infocus which to me means meeting many new people that are like-minded and talking about all the news and so forth with out boring my wife to sleep, ha ha ha.

So there we have it, stay tuned for the first weekend in August where no doubt you will read about the tears that rolled down my check either in elation or depression as I brave the waters of my first major awards.

New Life waiting.

We have had more than our fair share off new expectant mums into our studio over the last month and with this abundance of new life beginning it has brought me back to thinking just how awesome it is to start over again. I mean this in the terms off what you had before your first child will never be the same. It will be better in so many ways, not easy but worth the joy, pain and unexpected learning curve that is being a parent. I look at both off my two little girls and see how life is so much fun for them with out the restraints off what we are expected to be as we grow older. When did we grow so old and forget to have some fun, just yell at the top of your voice just for the hell of it, as we traveled back in the car today our two little girls were yelling at the top off their vocal range, loud and proud and above all happy as could be. I on the other hand was starting to let the noise get to me and was about to ask them to be quiet and then thought better of it and joined in the commotion and started to laugh as I reliezed it was ok to yell and do all the things that a child would love to do. I proudly let my girls paint my toenails and fingers, help them with their dolls and drink and eat the pretend cups of tea and scone’s. So here I am, a father wanting to teach his kids the way off the world while they grow up and all along I am learning what I have forgotten. Life for the child is so simple and yet we as adults have made our lives so complex, so money orientated and all our children want is our time. So to all those who have children, forget who you are and remember who you were as a child and be sure to enjoy plenty of time with your little ones. As a parent I think the biggest learning curve is the fact that you can’t do everything, once you come to that point in time as a parent you then reliase that the dishes can wait, the washing, and a lot of the little things and your best course of action is just plan and simple time with your children and all this is just what I have learnt from my two little girls over the past 4 years.

This image is of Belinda and I love it as there is so much ahead of her and her partner and no amount of books, friends or Mums and Dads can prepare you for what lays ahead. But it is beautiful, emotional and rewarding, it is love on a whole different level.

Anna & Jono tied the knot at Redbarn.

Anna had sent our contract back to us along with many pages of images that she had printed out from our website and blog. On these pages she had said which images she loved and which images she didn’t like at all. Andrea my wife had seen the paper work first and was slightly upset that someone had gone through and rated our images to like and unlike, I on the other hand could not have been more happy. In fact if I could have done a flip in the air I would have, but looking more like a beach ball kind off makes it hard for anyone to notice such a flip so decided not too, ha ha ha. We get a lot of brides that like to cut images out of wedding magazines and bring them along to show us what they like, so when Anna sent me images that were mine I was stoked, it is quit possible the best compliment to give a photographer to show them your own work and what images turn you on and what image don’t. I was now excited and looking forward to Anna and Jono’s big day.

The big day was here and we had just finished the getting ready shots with Jono and were on our way to see the girls. We had been informed that a truck had rolled and there were now diversions in place and the shortest possible route was not available anymore, ahhhhhhhh not what you want to here when you are keeping to a time line. We pulled up at the road block and spoke to the women holding the lollie pop that we needed to get just up the road and that it was for a wedding, she did not have any compassion for us at all. I had all ready decided that I would just gun and deal with it later, but after a little more conversation with her I managed to get the go ahead at our own risk to deal with the police at the other end. By the time we got to the crash site it had just been cleared and we drove no more than 100 metre’s past it to where Anna and her girl friends were getting ready. From here on the day went very smooth and we did a first look with Anna and Jono at the Red Barn drive way, we then dodged in between rain drops again while getting location shots and then headed back to Red barn for the ceremony under grey sky’s with a slight drizzle where the two big Oak tree’s made a perfect setting for Anna and Jono to declare their love in front of family and friends. Another awesome wedding with awesome people, thankyou Anna and Jono for letting us be apart of your big day.

Nathalie & Troy’s wedding in the clouds

Again long time between posts to the blog, too much time sitting on my arse gaining pounds while editing the last few weddings of the season. Nathalie and Troy’s wedding was the most epic venue I have been to all year. Nestled at the top of farm land high above the little town of Kati Kati and the city of Tauranga was a view that was so stunning, with views out to the ocean and beyond and to our backs was the mighty Kaimi ranges. The morning had been perfect and with the ceremony drawing near so did the threat of impending rain. With tractor rides up into the hills to the scenic views of where  these two gorgeous people were to be married it seemed as nothing could go wrong. Umbrella’s and saturated shirts and dresses set the final scene as Nathalie and Troy exchanged rings, a kiss and signed in a new beginning. Not one drop of rain changed the feeling and mood, absolutely amazing to witness such an awesome attitude towards a day filled with rain drops instead of sunshine. This was an easy image to pick as part of my just pick one series, a tender moment with a smile while the drops of rain add another dimension to this image. Massive thanks to the both of you for letting us be apart of your day.
Huge thanks and lots of love for your future from the team at Mike Hill Photography, Andrea, Mike and Fintan.