Category Archives: Events

2022 Shoots, Events, Lighting

Last Photo Booth

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December 2022 marked the end of an era for The Kings Arms church in Trentham . The church had been going for 25 years. However, it was closing down because the lease of their premises was ending. Despite an effort they had not been able to find alternative accommodation.

A final lunch had been organised to mark the occasion. We had photographed various activities over the years. Therefore, we were asked if we could set up a Photo Booth.

The idea was to create images as a record for the church. They were also meant for people to use for their Christmas cards. A large wreath had been created onto which lights had been wrapped. 

We set up a rough canvas backdrop in an alcove and then hung the wreath over the cross bar using nylon ties at the back.  The wreath had coloured Christmas lights on it.

This was a set up where “safe” lighting was needed, not dramatic lighting. I positioned my two Elinchrom D400 strobes at a 45 degree angle both left and right of the camera. This gave a very even light across the area and could accommodate any family sizes. 

We set up a computer and tethered my Lumix G9 camera to it. This meant that we could show each family the images immediately after they were taken. All images were taken at f8 1/125s at ISO200 with a focal length of 32mm.

I generally took two or three images of each family and then we got them to chose the one that they liked the most. This meant that I only had to edit one image for each family which saved a lot of time. 

The shoots went without any really issues, and the families seem to enjoy what we sent them 

2021 Shoots, Events, Workshops

Shooting sparks

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One of the benefits that comes with belonging to a camera club is that occasionally you get given the opportunity to shoot somewhere where you would not normally be able to.

At the 2021 Photographic Society of New Zealand National Convention in Christchurch one of the offsite options was entitled industrial photography. We were taken to a fabrication factory that was closed for the day but where a number of staff had come in to use the tools that they do every day for us to photograph the sparks that they generate.

All that was asked in return was some images that they could use in their marketing and promotion. (the final image on this page is the one that presented to them).

In many of these shots they were deliberately making more sparks than would happen in normal use. Obviously having pieces of molten metal flying around is potentially dangerous so we will given plenty of advice of where to stand and importantly not to stand.

We were also told to focus the camera without looking through the lens as some of the bright light particularly with the welding torches could damage your eyes.

This was a perfect opportunity to try long exposure to capture the sparks and flight. The images were captured on a tripod at 1/10s at f16.

I did want to capture one particular image for the set I was submitting so I took long light stand and a Lume cube so that I could light up the worker. The Lume cube is pretty indestructible so I knew that it could handle the situation.

The final image of the welder was actually a composite of three images put together so that we could maximise the effect of the sparks.

2021 Shoots, Events, Fashion

WOW Shoot

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The World of Wearable Arts (WOW) is an annual event in Wellington that attracts thousands of people. Designers from all around the world submit outfits made from the most unusual materials.

Designers who have never entered before have to go through a pre-elimination round but those that have been successful in the past managed to skip the step. They are still required to submit images of the design plus a video showing how it is fitted to the model.

Through the connection with previous collaborations for a number I’ve been providing photographic services to a number of the designers. We would set up a simple studio that enable them to show off their designs in the best possible way.

In 2021 I worked with outfits creates by Jenny (above), Fiona and Vicki (below) all previous wow finalised. In fact the back Fiona was a previous category winner.

The requirement was a simple look-book shooting the garment from all four sides against a plain background. To achieve this are used two lights on the background and a main light and reflector on the subject. The background lights used my Elinchroms 400 while my Godox 600 provided the key light.

The Elinchroms and Godox lights use different triggers however this is not a problem as the Elinchrom also have optical slaves enabling them to fire when the main light goes.

Once the look-book images had been completed we were able to shoot more creative images which again was to demonstrate how the cost the outfit blocked.

The amount of detail that goes into these outfits is truly amazing as shown with this closeup of the dress.

Events, Makeup / Hair, Models

post covid get together

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For my readers outside of New Zealand, our country response to the Covid-19 pandemic was to go into lockdown hard and early. While the economy has taken a hit, our health system didn’t, and we ended up with around 1,500 cases and 22 deaths. The vast majority of those deaths occurred in two aged demetia facilities.

Kate

The benefit of these action is that we last had a case over 20 days and last Sunday (June 7) the last active case recovered. That meant that from Tuesday we could enter our new normal.

Kimbre Viviers

While the borders are closed life within New Zealand could return to a sense of normal. So much so, that over the weekend 60,000 people attended two rugby games, something that other countries can only dream about.

Kelly Kim Harrouk

For portrait photographers to lock down was hard as rely on interacting with our subjects. So as soon as the restrictions were fully lifted a Sunday Club for the Fashion Collective was organised. It was great to be able to meet up with people with no need for social distancing.

Nicola removes the hair arrangement from Kimbre

Adding to the afternoon was the fact that Charlotte Kelleher of CKFilmDesign had brought along some period costumes that her team had made. Combining those items with hair by Wei Jiang and makeup by Nicola Robinson and you could not help but take great images.

Jordan L Rivers

While the studio is full of lighting, the triggers that it used did not work on my camera so I could use them. I had taken my own lights but that was a bit of hassle with so many people present. So with the exception of the image of Jordan above, all of the others shots were taken using the ambient light in the room. Fortunately my G9 is pretty good at handling lighting conditions.

Neen

In addition to Charlotte, one of the other regular’s, Neen also brought some costumes so I shot her in one of the outfits.

It was great being able to socialise and shoot without any restrictions or fear. I have joined in with Zoom sessions with photographers in the USA and I know that they are far from being able to do that.

Events, Models

In the chasm with moana

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Towards the end of last year I joined up with a number of other photographers, makeup artists and models for a day trip over to the Patuma Chasm in the southern Wairarapa.

This is an amazing open cave system in the middle of a farm.

For my shoots I was teamed up with Moana (who I had shot before). Over the course of a hour she went through several costume changes as we worked ourselves deeper into the chasm.

She never complained once even though the water was fairly cool.

Given that we were walking through water to get to each spot I was travelling very light. In addition to the camera I brought a single Lume Cube to provide light as I knew this was water resistant.

In the final image we had ventured a reasonable way into the cave and it was quite dark. I then spotted a point in the water that was being lit by sunlight coming through a small gap in the walls and trees. This produced a natural spotlight to use.

Events

Pugs and strippers

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Occasionally a job comes along that sounds to both have the potential for a lot of fun, but equally stressful.

Venus Star is a Wellington entrepreneur, who has a range of business ventures, one of which is organising male strip reviews. The original brief was to shoot the show on the Saturday night, and then on the Sunday to shoot the performers with a group of pugs.

As it turned out I had to pass over the show to another photographer but decided to keep the shoot with the boys and dogs.

Venus had booked a hall for the shoot, which I had not seen so it meant that the car was loaded with a while of gear just in case. As it turned out it had a large stage with black curtains at the back.

I set up three lights all in the row across the stage so that it would have fairly even lighting while the dogs raced around.

I thought that we may have had problems with the dogs but as it turned out they were really easy to deal with.

We shot both individual and group images with them, and the advantage of the lighting position was that I didn’t have to move them. This was a major bonus as it meant the whole shoot was fairly quick.

 

 

Events, Models

Glitter Boobs Shoot (NSFW)

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This shoot happened quite some time ago, but in my slack attitude to posting blog updates got missed. Anyway better late than never.

Sometimes an idea is suggested that sounds so crazy that you just have to get involved. That was certainly the case with the glittery boobs shoot. It started when one of the models involved in the GTC posted in the private Facebook Group that she would keen to do a glitter boob shoot. Basically these are semi-naked shoot where glitter of various size is attached to the body, with larger pieces covering the nipples.

Within the space of a couple of hours she had quite a number of models and photographers all wanting to take part. As the Trentham studio was booked on the day we converted the “Powder room” into the shoot area. The girls and two guys spread a large tarpoline on the carpet and used that area to apply the glitter.

I set you two lights in a standard 45 degree angle and we all took turns using them along with taking the models to other parts of the venue. It was a fun day and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Glitter is a strange substance in that it seems to expand significantly more than what is in the bottle and by the end of  the day it was spread far and wide.

Concept Images, Events

World Photo Day with Nikon

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Saturday 19 October is World Photo Day, and this year Nikon New Zealand organised three events around the country each hosted by one of their ambassadors. Fortunately  one of them is Esther Bunning who lives just over the hill in Greytown. She is a grand master photographer who runs a studio along with her husband Terry.

She is known for a very etherial style of shooting using natural light, double exposures and textures mainly captured in camera rather than in post. At the 2017 NZIPP Iris awards she took away the highest print score for one of her images.

Esther has organised three models for the day. Justine is a choreographer dancer who has been Esther’s muse for a number a shoots. With her were Keziah and Aislin.

She is mainly a natural light photographer so when the weather delivered a much better result than was forecast we all headed outside into a car park where some large blue containers provided an interesting background.

The idea was simply to play with different settings such a multiple exposures, and also putting stuff in front of the lens to see what would happen. This is really experimental shooting as you are never really sure what the result will look like before you shoot it. It is also stuff where you will be fooling the cameras metering and focusing so it all done in manual modes.

Double exposure as Justine danced

Double exposure with Aislin

Using a small piece of glass to create an interesting effect with Keziah

Aislin in full leap

We then headed back into the studio where they had set up two full backdrops. One was right by a large window and so used natural light, while the other was using continuous light.

The shots in the studio were more controlled  with the more constant light. I started out with more classical looks.

Creating double exposures using the lensbaby creates some interesting effects.

It was a great day and I hope that they do something like this again.

Events, Fashion, Models

Jess in the Bath

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The final shoot of the day was with Jess Boyack. By the time of thinking about the shoot I think everyone was exhausted. With no outfits booked we decided to make it a bath shoot and use a simple length of material for cover.

The bath in question was on wheels and it was moved into position in the carpark mid afternoon with the hope that the sun would warm the water up. That was of limited use and despite the addition of a couple of jugs of hot water it was fairly cold.

I ended up grabbing left over flowers from another shoot and by the time we shot had quite a number of people helping out.

Credits
Model: Jess Boyack
MUA:

Events, Fashion, Models

Hayley in the attic

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I had shot Hayley before as part of my honours set. When she arranged to use a gothic style dress then it was obvious that we were going up to the attic as it was the ideal location for such a shoot. That of course meant lugging all the light gear up four stories. I set up a small shoot area and decided to add in a couple of props of my own.

After working through several of the rooms up there we moved down to an open space at the top of the ramps where the ivy was changing colour. We also tried a number of images with falling leaves.

Credits
Model: Hayley
MUA:
Dress: Deranged
Headpiece: Black Widow Fascinators