7th May 2010, 9:44pm

By the time I get an i-phone they'll be old school...in the meantime I'm playing with Stu's...

26th Apr 2010, 10:24pm

Hmm?  It's true isn't it?

Any opinions about the new logo?

24th Apr 2010, 1:49pm

David Oliver is the kind of photographer I really admire; his wedding images (actually all of his images to be honest) are simple and emotional and beautiful.  He is the master of the decisive moment which he describes as the moment when emotion, expression and light come together.  Check out David's website and you'll see what I mean. 

And since it's always good to hear about other photographer's ways of thinking and working, and since Palmerston north isn't that far really I decided it was time for a road trip :-)  I was lucky enough to have Mike Hill and Kelly Comins to keep me awake on the drive (not to mention my apparently lousy taste in CDs!)

And the seminar was great...nice to catch up with some photographers from a different part of the country too.

We went next door to the seminar venue to All Saints where David stepped us through how he positions himself to get the best ceremony shots.  And the Vicar, John Hornblow (who is also Palmerston North's deputy Mayor) gave us a run down on wedding photography from the celebrant's point of view.

So with a fresh dose of inspiration I'm now looking forward to a busy 'personal work' season (rather than thinking of it as the wedding off-season). 

21st Apr 2010, 8:43pm

I get to meet the coolest people doing what I do.  And of course some of them are the vendors so I thought I'd make it a semi regular blog feature to give a shoutout to some of my favs.

This is Karen, of Wedding Flowers by Karen

I often meet Karen's work at weddings but she's usually gone by the time I get there.  I always know when she did the flowers though because they are sitting packed in their plastic crates with a spray water bottle or two nearby to keep them fresh. 

So I don't necessarily see Karen in person very often but I hear a lot about her.  I remember one wedding late in the season last year, the day was blustery and cold and wet and of course the bride, Tanya, was worried.  But when Karen had arrived to deliver the flowers she'd also brought an armful of white umbrellas for the bridal party and the gentle reassurance that the day would be fine (even if the weather wasn't!).  I was really impressed by Karen's thoughtfulness. 

And of course her flowers always look beautiful...

Check out a few more pics of Karen's work over on Facebook (I'm trying to keep the page loading time reasonable on the blog)

20th Apr 2010, 10:04pm

I have been an NZIPP member in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region for the past 5 years and I have been the regional secretary for the past 4 years.  And I happily tell anyone who will listen that it was probably the single best thing I've done since I started in this biz.  I am a bit of an NZIPP fangirl :-)  So I was really honoured to be approached by Steve Sharp about following him as Wedding Director on the NZIPP board.  The board of five directors (including specialist directors for wedding, portrait and commercial) is responsible for the governance of the Institute.

Talk about a tough act to follow!  I have a huge amount of respect for Steve; initially because of his stunning wedding imagery but more recently I've been blown away by his passion for the craft of photography, his willingness to share so openly and his enthusiasm for the NZIPP.  He has been instrumental in setting and maintaining an unapologetically high standard for wedding photography in New Zealand through the Q (qualification) process.

As Steve will no doubt explain for himself via the next ProReport he is resigning as Wedding Director for entirely personal reasons.  And he will be sorely missed.  I for one hope he'll be back in the future as I know he has a lot more to contribute.

So here I am stepping into some pretty big shoes as Wedding Director.  But I'm excited about the possibilities.

The way I see it professional photography, and I think particularly wedding photography, is going through possibly the biggest period of growth and change ever. And I am really excited about the role NZIPP can play in this. 

NZIPP is all about relentlessly driving up standards across the board; through education, through the awards and through the Q process.  We're about being a community of professionals dedicated to continual improvement.

Where in the past most photographers worked for or owned studios with more than one employee, most of us now work alone most of the time.  More and more we work from home offices.  And some of the wonderful things about those studios are lost; the opportunities for mentoring and teaching have changed.  The peer support and opportunities for collegiality have changed.  I see NZIPP having a huge role to play in meeting these challenges.

So wish me luck!

Completely unrelated pic...just coz I can :-)

19th Apr 2010, 8:28pm

I was just working on Siobhan and Phil's album and was reminded about these littlie cuties...

Their favours were little jars of homemade lemon honey...

Very cool idea I thought :-)

17th Apr 2010, 8:26pm

These guys were here in NZ on a flying visit to catch up with family and plan their Christmas wedding...we squeezed in a quick family portrait session (literally, it was their last day in the country) and they were off.

Young Mister Hugo got mobile while they were here (hope the flight home went ok!)

I love these duck feeding ones...to be honest I think the ducks were a bit ripped off...Hugo ate more than they did :-)

I'm SO looking forward to catching up with you guys on your next visit (because the next visit is the wedding visit and that venue has me just about salivating already!)

14th Apr 2010, 2:30pm

Joanne lived in Australia and William lived in New Zealand.  They met at a holiday camp in Australia and fell in love. And then William went home.  And this was the beginning (even though it kind of sounds like the end).  They developed this long distance relationship and some time later (I'm condensing this hugely) he made up his mind that he'd had enough of long distance and he was going to ask Joanne to marry him and steal her away to NZ.

Her friend Rachael helped him plan everything and so he arrived in Australia secretly and surprised Joanne on her lunchbreak with this beautifully romantic proposal. 

I just love the way these two are so appreciative of each other.  Joanne blew me away when she said that she thought the long distance part of their relationship had been really good because she sees how some people take each other for granted in a relationship and she would never do that to William because she knows how hard it is to live without him.

Joanne's Dad described his daughter as "beautiful inside and out" and I think that is a pretty awesome description...here he is having a wee proud Dad moment...

While I love the gardens at Sarnia Park too, the building is just gorgeous and really a huge part of what makes it unique as a wedding venue.  Love the balcony for this shot...

meanwhile at ground level Rach was capturing this...

Thanks so much to Karyn Flett for her mad skills co-shooting! (and Karyn, I can't wait to see your shots, hurry hurry!)

10th Apr 2010, 11:59am

Check out my new toy!  It really does look like a toy camera and the funniest thing is how the picture pops out the top like toast!  But it's a Fujifilm Instax camera...kind of like a polaroid only better because you can buy film for it lol.

Poser!

I heart new toys!

9th Apr 2010, 9:36pm

New babies are just amazing aren't they?  Two weeks ago all you could see was a bump and now he's a whole little person...

And already he can eat when he's hungry and sleep when he's sleepy and complain when he's not happy.  And now he's found his fingers to suck he's totally in his happy place.

You can't help but look at him and think about potential y'know?

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

    - William Blake