Inspiration
Im so glad I still love the simple act of making a photo even though I spend a lot of time shooting as my job. I know plenty of other photographers who just dont find the time to shoot for themselves anymore.
Today we were out for a walk up Bastion Point and the late afternoon sunlight was shining straight through these beautiful poppies and I just had to get my camera and head right in amongst that colour.
Awesome to spend a night last week shooting for the NEXT magazine Woman of the Year Awards. Some pretty amazing woman there getting recognized. Made me feel proud to live in a country where we have such strong driven woman. And as for the overall winner Kristine Bartlett, such a legend I had to force my way in there to hug such an amazing lady!!
When you don't want it to rain, it rains....... when you want it to rain, it won't.
To celebrate Maori language Week I thought I'd post some shots of a friend and beautiful artist Natasha Keating. Super nice to have had the chance to spend time with Natasha while she worked.
Well I've been making the most of what suddenly became an awesome summer here in New Zealand. Trying not to spend so much time in front of my computer, and be out in the beautiful sun enjoying all the awesome and beautiful places close to Auckland.
Just got back from a couple of days at Muriwai Beach 45 mins drive from home. Some good surf, good people, way too much sun and an awesome place. Here we are walking to check out the gannets at night! Wish I didn't have to come back, I think I've found my new happy place!
A friend sent me a link to an awesome documentary about photography and photographers. It explores a subject I've been thinking about a lot recently, looking at the blurry space that photography exists in halfway between fact and fiction, art and documentary and all of the above at the same time
"Reely and Truly" is a recent documentary(2014) directed by Tyrone Lebon and features images and concepts from 30 photographers from around the world.
Throughout watching the film I was really challenged to explore my own definitions of words such as truth, fact, fiction, reality and perception and how these words apply not only to my photography, but to my perceptions of my life. How I see a person or a situation, and the impressions that remain with me afterward, how I form my own memories. All of these concepts are particularly relevant to photography and the feelings and memories my and other photographers images create.
These concepts are of course applicable to any art form, but I find them really interesting when related to photography which is quite often perceived as a factual or visual record of a moment. Since the birth of photography there has been an ongoing discussion about whether or not photography is art, and the comments in this movie continue to challenge both sides of this argument.
There's a lot I could say about what I got from this film but I thinks its best if you just watch it yourself and challenge your own ideas......
I like to shoot things, but I'm not a big fan of guns.
I love to take photos, and I enjoy the processing them afterwards with different software to bring out the details that attracted my attention. I get excited when I take that SD card out of my camera and plug it into the card reader on my computer. I feel impatient while I wait for them to download and I have to wait and see if that shot I hoped for is really what I got.
I'm not your average landscape, sunsets and cute puppy photography. Its not that I don't like these subjects but I find I'm just as fascinated by the beauty in little things that other people miss. I enjoy exploring the dirty spray painted alleyways we rush past without a second glance, or the sharp corners and angles of a building.
For me photography is all about taking time to stop and appreciate the little things we miss in this world. For a long time I became so busy working, racing around fixing problems, building systems, always going somewhere. I loved my busy life and the excitement and satisfaction that went with working hard. But I felt like I was missing out.
It's so good to have a reason just to stop, take a moment to really look at things. To really examine the shapes and lines of an object, check out how it was designed and constructed, or to consider what makes that person beautiful in their own way. Even if they aren't a super model or some luxury item we can find beauty in everyone we meet. Sometimes it's hard for me to find the words to describe something and so that's why I choose to use a camera.
