The Waiheke Photographers Collective exhibition is showing at Toi Gallery for one more week so pop on in and check it out!  The show is a mix of professional and amateur photographers so is quite varied and well worth a look…

[Thanks to the lovely Linda Young for taking my photo]

Click on the image below to view the video highlights clip of Sylvie and Luke’s lovely wedding last February, filmed by talented local Waiheke wedding videographers, Capture Productions.

Check out Capture Productions other work  HERE

I received this lovely email from one of my brides last week… it made my day so I thought I would share it!

I kept meaning to tell you at the wedding – Just after I booked you a year before the wedding, I was in this gorgeous designer bridal store in Dubai called Frost and the Lebanese owner was asking where I was getting married. Long story cut short – when I said New Zealand she said the most stunning wedding photos she had ever seen had been of a bride she sold a dress too who got married in New Zealand, but she couldn’t remember where or any of the details.

Even though I was telling her I’d already booked my photographer (didn’t mention your name) she keep persisting that I find this “amazing photographer” and so she ran off back to her office to find out the details. Mean while I standing there thinking “There’s hundreds maybe even thousands of wedding photographers in New Zealand… what’s the chance…” A few minutes later she appeared with her laptop and a shot of this bride at Mudbrick by Emma Hughes!
I nearly fell over!

Just thought you’d like to know how amazed people are with your photography – worldwide!
Have a great day!
Pepita

Lovely.

And since a post is not really the same without a photo, here is a studio portrait I shot recently of my dear friend Selina Tusitala Marsh…

Selina is an exceptionally talented poet, whose live performances are just amazing; evocative, emotive and downright moving.  She was wonderful to photograph.  This portrait is part of a group exhibition from the Waiheke Photography Collective which opens at Toi Gallery on Waiheke Island this coming Friday at 6pm… all welcome.

Lisa and Graeme’s wedding was our last for the ‘season’ and what a lovely way to end.  I am not quite sure how we manage to attract these cool couples but long may it last!

We were SO lucky with the weather which threatened to fall and fall heavily but in the end it held off until the following day before bucketing down.  Instead, on Lisa and Graeme’s day, we were treated to beautiful soft light and really quite warm weather (for late April, anyway). They were staying at Casa Del Mar in Palm Beach, which is a rustic Mediterranean style beach house which I LOVED shooting in – rustic charm to the max!

I was tasked with tying the double windsor knot, you know, because that’s the sort of thing that wedding photographers know how to do (sorta).  If pictures could speak, and we all know they can, this particular image below would say, “Lance, if you take another photo of me attempting to look like I know what I’m doing, you’re going to be in BIG trouble, mister!”  Graeme was obviously not helping matters.

Our lovely bride Lisa had been getting her hair and make up done at a friend’s place in Oneroa.  She arrived back to Casa Del Mar and Lance caught this little balcony moment before Lisa got into her stunning dress.

Ahhhhhhhhh, the first look meeting… love it!

Lisa and Graeme decided to have their creative shoot before the ceremony due to the shorter days of Autumn so after a few photos at Casa Del Mar, we headed down to Palm Beach to carry on shooting.

Love this one…

And on to the ceremony at Mudbrick… Lance took a couple of photos of Lisa’s cutie-pie nieces who were official ring bearers on the day while I was doing some ‘visual eavesdropping’ on Lisa and her Dad as they awaited the signal for the ceremony to begin.

We had a little time up our sleeves so spent around 10 minutes in the vines at Mudbrick Vineyard before the light left us.  It’s one of the lovely things about Mudbrick as a venue – there are so many great little spots all around to zip away for a few photos which makes it nice and easy to get a good variety of images on the wedding day.

This one below is Lance’s shot and I completely adore it…

Thanks so much Lisa and Graeme for being such a dream to photograph – it was a pleasure to spend the day with you both and share in your very elegant and beautiful wedding day. xx

Such a lovely wedding… many more to come!

Last Monday I went along to another of the inspirational seminars from The Image College, this time the work of New York wedding photographer Heather Waraksa.  Her work is dreamy & lovely and it was great to hear her chat about her methods and experiences within the industry.

In the second half of the day we did a model shoot which included projecting images onto the subject – very ‘art-school’ as Heather put out, but a bit of fun.  We also did some shooting around the Ellerslie Events Centre although rain prevented any real exploration of the grounds so we stuck to the stairwells and undercover stands. All poses/model direction by Heather…

I always enjoy partaking in workshops and seminars like these; it’s a great chance to hang out with other members of New Zealand’s professional wedding photography community and especially great to put some faces to the names of photographers I haven’t met yet.  Will be squeezing a couple more of these seminars into my ‘down time’ this winter I hope!