Now that the Bride & Groom have seen the photos I can show you some of the best images from their wedding day held on Saturday 6th July.
Misty Morns
One of the things about Winter in the Hutt Valley is that the mornings are often misty especially around the river. Unfortunately I normally get to see these on my way to work without a camera. Therefore on Saturday when I woke up to discover the mist I decided it was time to go out and get some shots.
When we got down to the river the conditions were almost perfect for the shots that I wanted. Lots of mists moving slowly around and with only the slightest of breeze. This was important because the other thing you find on such mornings are dew laidened cobwebs, but you only shoot these if there is little wind.
Wedding Bliss (on a rainy day)
On Saturday we had the pleasure of shooting the wedding of Catherine and Mark. Images from the wedding will be loaded once the bride & groom have had a look at them as I feel it is not appropriate to let other people see the images first. So you will have to be content with the front of the wedding car at this stage.
I really enjoy shooting weddings. While they are incredible tense in terms of the fact that you have to get the shot, the event is so full of joy and it really shows in the images that come through. The combination of killer hair and makeup mixed with an inner happiness that just glows through the skin, it is very easy to achieve great results. Wedding are something that I will never shoot alone so on this shoot I was joined by my wife Vicky and our daughter Samantha.
I have known Catherine for a number of years and she was one of the first models I ever shot, so when I heard that she was getting married I was only too happy to offer to shoot the wedding. Being a winter wedding meant that we had to plan venues that could accommodate any weather, and more particularly rain.
Although we were shooting a full documentary style coverage Catherin was doing her own makeup and did not want that covered so we started later in the day that we have with other weddings. So it was arranged that I would go to her house at the time she was finishing her mother’s makeup and then shoot her getting her dress on. This was laved up the back and it turned into a three person exercise (including me) to get it laced up tight.
They were getting married in an old church in Upper Hutt. I had previously videoed two weddings there so I had an idea of what it was like, but just to be sure we attended the rehearsal held on the Thursday. While this is not something that all photographers will do, I find it is very useful to get an appreciation on any special or different things that may occur in the service. It also lets you look at the angles. If you are shooting part of the service outside it is a good idea to go to the venue the day before at the same time to see what direction to light is predominately from.
It was at the rehearsal that we discovered that the Minister would not allow flash photography for most parts of the service. Finding that out two days before is much easier to cope with than on the day of the wedding.
We had hoped for good weather but unfortunately that was not on the order and by the time I went to Catherine’s house there was an inch of water on the ground. The rain continued through the service but by the time it had finished there was the possibility that it may go away. It was still too risky to do the family photos outside of the church, and therefore they were moved to later on in the day at the reception.
The reception was being held at “The Back Bencher” which is a pub in Wellington opposite Parliament. As Mark was MC for the night and wanted to be there before any guest arrived we decided that the formals would be shot in the grounds of Parliament. It had the advantage that there were a number of covered areas available should it rain.
As I turned out the rain appeared to be very localised and when we got to Parliament we were under clear blue skies. However it was not much warmer than 10 degrees and with both the bride and bridesmaids in strapless dresses we had to move quickly to get the photos.
Fortunately the venue had a room away from the main dining room so that we could set up an umbrella and shoot the family groups. As with lots of wedding after I thought I had finished shooting the groups (and has started packing the gear away) a cousin showed up who wanted photos.
You can view other wedding we have been involved with from the weddings link at the top of the page.
Of Rainbows and Ghostly Houses
My wife’s family arrived on one of the first settler boats into the Wellington harbour in the 1800’s and the family then spent five days walking over the Rimuataka’s to settle in Masterton. Right up to her mother the family lived in Masterton and ran a farm just north of the town. They are buried in the oldest part of the Masterton Cemetery.
As our daughter was out of town we decided to spend the day over the hill and see if we could find the graves, and the old farm. Both proved much more difficult than anticipated. While we could find the plots and grave markers had long disappeared. Also while we found the area that we understood the farm to be on, the land had changed so much that we could not be certain.
The day was marked with sun and rain and at times the road seem to delineate the two. As a result there were a number of extremely bright rainbows.
In the afternoon we drove out towards Gladstone so that I could find a derelict farmhouse that I had seen several times in other’s photos. Fortunately it was not that difficult to find as no one was around I jumped the fence and actually went up to it. It’s only inhabitants now are a large flock of pigeons.
I understand that the house was moved to the property in four pieces in the 1980’s and the farmer had intended to turn into a family home. Its sits right on top of the hill and commands million dollar views over the valley below. Unfortunately soon after his wife left him and in the midst of a farming recession he had neither the money nor the will to complete the renovations. So the house has continued to deteriorate.
Saturday markets
After being at ImageNation and also looking at the works of other great photographers I have come to the conclusion that I was being too anal in trying to stick to the “rules” of photographer and that the way to improve was to take images wherever I was of things that I find interesting.
Yesterday we were at the riverbank market in Wanganui and I took these images of the people and sites.
Acceptance at North Shore Salon
The North Shore Salon is a nationwide photographic competition organised by the North Shore Camera Club. All of the images that are “accepted” in it appear in a book that is published so there is quite a lot of interest in taking part and the judging selection is tough.
For the first time I entered four images in the digital set category of “imagine”, and was successful in receiving an acceptance for the image below. This is the second award for this image.
ImageNation 2013
This was the second year that I attended the ImageNation conference organised by the Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association (AIPA) which is held at the Unitec Campus in Mt Albert Auckland.
The 2012 event had been such an inspirational event to me that I had high hopes of a repeat this year. For the most part the conference did live up to what I was expecting although I do admit that several of the speakers on the Saturday afternoon did not really impress me.
I have listed below some the gems of wisdom that I gleaned from the various speakers.
- Learn how to edit your images because if you do that you will work out how the shots before you take them.
- Don’t try to shoot stills and video at the same time. All you will end up is two average outcomes.
- Find the ideas or people that excite you and follow them. Try to recreate their images.
- You can learn a lot about lighting from studying art paintings (especially the old masters).
- When charging for work, charge as much for post production work as for shooting.
- In putting together a portfolio, show what you have a passion for rather than putting in one example of each style. This will show your style. Be brutal in your editing and if you are not completely happy with an image, then leave it out. A portfolio should only contain 10 to 15 images at maximum.
- If you know how to control daylight, you will know how to control any light.
- Try to shoot images so that the viewer feels that they are in it, rather than simply looking at it.
- Get in close and make it feel close.
- A style will only develop through lots of repetition of what you are obsessed with. Repeat but make subtle variations in the repeat.
- As soon as you have the shot, move onto the next one.
And my personal favourite, when asked to the Art Director what makes a good photographer he replied
“Take good photographs, and don’t be a prick doing it”
Nudes, Nudes & More Nudes
Of all of subjects in art, the nude, is often the most controversial. Not sure if it started with the Victorian era, or the teaching of puritanical churches, but many people cannot separate the notion of being naked with sex. As such they get confused between an artistic image and pornography.
Despite all the negative attitude, there is actually no better way to teach someone how to see and draw light than to use the naked form as a subject and for hundreds of years we have been doing just that. It is why every art course involving teaching drawing humans will have some with the model naked.
It is also true for photography, where if you want to learn to light the body well then the best way to do this is with a naked body. You see it is not the lines but rather the interplay between highlights and shadows that really define the subject.
The life drawing group at the Hutt Arts Society has a biannual exhibition of their work but they were concerned that they did not have enough work to adequately show in the gallery. So they approached the Camera Club to see if we had photos that could complement the paintings. The exhibition was titled “Nudes, Nudes and More Nudes”.
In the end only three members of the club could supply images, and in my case I submitted 8 pieces shot over the last three years. Most of the images that I did submit where either shot in low light or were bodyscape images (where you are using the form to create shapes rather than the whole body).
While all of the images were up for sale I did not have high expectations of selling anything. Marianne Muggeridge (who is a very good Portrait artist) said that
“Nudes were a self indulgence, as they did not sell”.
I had taken the advice of James Gilberd for Photospace Gallery in pricing the images and it must have worked because it turned into a very successful venture selling 3 images as shown below.
Down in the Basement (slighty NSFW)
I enjoy doing session with other photographers because it enable you to build off each other, because even when you are looking at the same thing we will be seeing it from a different perspective.
So when Christchurch photographer Paul Willyams asked if I was interested in doing a shoot in the basement of the Wellington apartment I was only too willing as he had arranged the models . I just needed to help with the props which turned into a bit of effort in bringing in a very large chaise lounge. That presented a bit of an issue when it was discovered that it would not fit in the complex lift and had to be carried down the stairs. Fortunately we managed to achieve the task and the studio was transformed.
Our models for most of the shoot went by the stage names of Salacious Sugar and Optimus Fine. Both were great to work with and the shoot went very easy. Later in the day we were joined by John and a second series of shots was done involving him and the girls.
Paul achieved the look that he wanted using a little extra photoshop magic. I prefer to work more in camera and so the images below have minimal post production added to them.
Fashion on a Saturday Morning
Every two years the church we go to runs an all day event for women called “Body & Soul”. It contains a number of elective sessions, entertainment and inspirational speakers. I was asked to document to day for them.
This year it contained an additional item with a fashion parade by Upper Hutt designer Rasha Taylor, with a showing of day, ball and wedding dresses.
Now the main issue with photographing a run way show is generally light. In some shows there is too much and at others not enough. Fortunately with the show I knew in advance what I was dealing with and being the official photographer was able to bring in some of my own.
I initially thought about a speedlight but discounted it as it gives a very harsh light and the spread is very uneven. In the end I set up a strobe and umbrella on a boom arm. This enabled me to light up the last 2 metres of the catwalk with a reasonable consistent soft light head to tow at around f8.
In order the ensure a proper angle on the girls I brought in a small step ladder and shot from the top. I have been really pleased with the images shot.
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