Portrait

I took this photo of this young lady yesterday... a bit of a departure from photographing Brides!

We were trying out new lighting techniques & this was the result we got.

My new assistant is still at high school so am making the most of the holidays to get out & train her & get some practise of my own in.

The other good news is that Adrian now his own blog featuring our videos.... he can be found here

http://afpnz.blogspot.com/

He is going to embed all the latest Movie Trailers on his blog so you will have more access to the wonderful world of AFPNZ.com :-)

Well it's a bit of a slow news day here ... practising more lighting today so tomorrow I should have something new to show you.

Cheers for now,

Faith.

Home Town

I took this picture yesterday morning.

I shot out of bed at the crack of dawn ... literally I woke up & it was light & I was panicing a bit as I thought I might be too late...

You see we have a Farmer's Market every Saturday on our town square & I wanted to take photos of them setting up...

Anyway I get down there at 5:45 & theres no-one there.

So I took a photo every 15 minutes for an hour & a half & I was still the only one there !!!

What I didn't know was that yesterday one of the neighbouring districts had their big yearly fair & most of the farmers went out there instead.

So what the hell... I got this great photo of the sun coming up over the town hall, which was better than nothing :-)

Adrian thought I'd truly gone mad ...

Oh well , never mind.

Cheers,

Faith.

More Favorites

Well... this first one was from a great wedding at the Mission in Napier. They were a really fun young couple ... first time we have heard "Highway to Hell" as recessional music!! We all had a fantstic day with them & their families, it was the second in a cluster of weddings for the same group of families. They had this picture done as a huge canvas.
The second one was a lovely wedding on New Years Eve last year at Taupo.What a beautiful couple ... it was one of those wedding where you could really feel the love ... awesome.
Adrian & I really enjoyed this one & once again the families were great ... we have been so lucky most of the weddings we have done the families have just made the day by being so nice. Maybe it's just a natural part of being a Kiwi.
We had a beautiful day for this multiculural wedding. They had a Catholic service & then at the reception they had Cook Island dancing & Nuiean dancing. This picture is one of my all time favorites as I caught it when they didn't know it was being taken & it just captured their essence perfectly.
This Bride was so excited to be getting married ... she was almost beside herself! It was also our first traditional Maori wedding & what a wonderful experience. It was a really moving day seeing all the emotion that everyone in family had put into making sure that these guys had a truly wonderful wedding. At the reception everyone that spoke had to also sing a song & some of the singing was just fantastic, especially the bridesmaids & their brother.
We have been so lucky to experience so many peoples big day & to share with them the joy that they have felt.
Then to be given the privelege of capturing those moments forever is truly an honour.
This would have to be one of the best jobs in the world & I can honestly say we don't do it for the money.
If you wanted to go into wedding photography with just the money in mind you are probably not going to last.
It is one of those things that you have to put your soul into & by the end of the day you are absolutely exhausted & just want to crawl home.... then when you get home you just can't wait to download the footage & see what you got :-)
Well that's it for me.
Cheers,
Faith.

Action Shots

Well I was going to post more favorites & then as I was looking through my folders I found some great action shots of the boys from the last wedding... So here we go :-)
First one is Adrian showing the Groom how to do the dip which ended up resulting in a great photo ... both this one & the actual one of the couple.... wedding photography is a crazy career !!!

The second one Adrian is adjusting the off-camera flash before he gets into position for the photo. He ended up standing off to the side of the bridal party so he could throw in some side lighting.
Last one I took to show how the team works together on the day.... so any photographers reading ... don't panic the video guy is not in the way :-) This is how we work taking turns to get the shots we need for both video & photos.
Hamish is getting walking shots of the bridal party & Adrian is getting into positon with the flash light for when it's my turn.
Movement shots generally look better on the video than in stills, so I tend to hang back & let the boys do those & just grab the odd one that looks like it might work well.
We work this way at every wedding & have found it makes it a lot less of a trial for all involved as we have to remember that the people in the photos are not professional models & it is THEIR big day not ours. So we try not to drag the photos out for too long as they really want to get back to the party ( especially the boys !)
So that's me for today.
Cheers,
Faith.

More Favorites

Ok... so more favorites today :-) The first one I just love ... it was one of those things where everything was just right... I have also done it in Black & White & have it as a big canvas ... awesome!!!
This second one ... well this young lady was such a beautiful Bride & as a couple they were just fabulous. In this picture it was one of the first times I have tried getting the girls to do more fashion model poses & this just worked for her.
Number 3 ... we had a great venue with lots of different options & I saw this bridge & thought "Got to be a good one here" & this is what I got. Again just a fabulous couple, she is an aircraft engineer, so being all dressed up & having her make-up & hair done was a real treat for her.
Last one ... animals & weddings always unpredictable .... the usually well trained horse got stage fright & was VERY reluctant to co-operate. However before it all went pearshaped we got this one & a couple of others that were also what the Bride had in mind. They liked this one so much that they had a huge canvas done of it.
We have also had weddings with dog ringbearers, dog flowergirls, several horse & carts etc
This is what I love about wedding photography you just never know what you are going to get!
Well that's me for today ... I think there may be more favorites tomorrow ... I still have lots :-)
Cheers for now,
Faith.

Some of My Favorites

So, something different again today...
these are 4 of my favorites from weddings in the last 2-3 years.
I like them for different reasons... none of which is their technical excellence ( which is quite often lacking)
They are mostly favorties either for the emotions they captured or how they well represent the day we had with that particular couple.
So....
In the first The Doves ... this was shot at Willow Glen near Hamilton & straight after the service they ring a bell & all the doves come & land by the couple.
Photographically it makes for stunning pictures ... for the bride it makes for a bit of a worry about dove poo on her dress :-) But they all love it as symbolically it is so cool.
The second one I love for it's colour, the bright blue, the reds & the greens ... awesome.
The balloon release idea was a really touching way to remember loved ones who have passed on.
We had so many great pictures from this wedding ... it was one of those days where everything goes just right.
And she was the most laidback Bride we've had & that's saying something as our Kiwi Brides seem to be of the laidback variety on the whole. Third one ... this was from our first big traditional Samoan wedding, & it just tells the story of the day perfectly. Such a happy Bride she spent the whole day laughing & being so happy to be getting married. Considering that they had to start their hair & make-up at 5am in order to get it all done for the 11am service she did really well.
Last one ... this I took at my very first wedding, I was so lucky they were an absolutely beautiful couple both inside & out ... Just wonderful to work with & they had a stunning venue near Tauranga. We all have great memories of that day as it was so lovely.
Well that's it today ... I might try & find some more for tomorrow .... I seem to get a new favorite every wedding ... It is my goal to shoot a new favorite evry time that way I know that I am constantly trying to improve.
Cheers for now,
Faith.

Sunset Over The Desert Road

So ... here a couple of photos I took going up the Desert road at sunset.

This was just before the mountains came into the shot.

I was really pleased with them, especially as I took them out of the van window as Adrian was racing along :-)

We were very lucky to strike it at that time when it wasn't raining!

It's such a beautiful place & we'd love to do a wedding there just for the scenery!

Well that's about it for me today, I have a couple of weddings to finish so I really should get on with it.

Cheers for now,

Faith.

More Rotorua Wedding

So here are some more form Saturday's wedding...
In the first one the sun had just gone behind the hill where the gondolas & luge are & the light was awesome!!!
The second I took at the Bride's Parents home ... I just really like the compositon with the tree & the sunlight coming through her veil. I could have stayed there all afternoon ... but I was getting "Faith, hurry up, we have to go" from the boys!
The night shot we did outside the reception.
They had hired these 2 huge searchlights which apperantly you could see all over Rotorua.
So we just had to get a photo with them.... I love low light photos you need some patience but so worth it if everything goes to plan.
So that's probably it for this wedding... maybe some sunset photos tomorrow.
Check out www.go4photos.com for more weddings.
Cheers,
Faith.

Rotorua Wedding

These are some of my favorites from Saturday's wedding...
What a great couple .... they were up for anything & even when we went & dragged them outside halfway through the reception for MORE photos they were so obliging.
The cool as photo of the Bride with the veil flying out was done at her parents place which was probably THE best garden we've ever had to do the before photos in.
Holden's are the Groom's passion so we had to have photos with their cars & this one of them with him dipping the Bride was just fantastic.
We were also so lucky at the timing of the photo shoot just on sunset .... & the one of the 2 of them with lake Rotorua & Mokoia Island in the background made my day.
There were so many great ones I'm going to add some more tomorrow... as we did some night shots that I really love.
Both their families were awesome, her parents were as funny as a fit & his Mum was just lovely.
So...
Cheers for now,
Faith.
PS To see more photos & the Movie Trailer of this wedding check out www.afpnz.com

The Desert Road

These photos were taken out the window of our van as we drove home from Blenheim...

I was so excited I have been dying to get pictures of the mountains for ages & every time we've been down the Desert road it's like 2 am so you can't see a thing.

So..... now I think the only thing cooler than the mountains with snow on at sunset would be the mountains with snow on under a full moon .... AWESOME!!!!!

I just love the one of Mt Doom with the liitle streak of cloud over it ....

The only thing about getting these pictures is the freaking power pylons ... how hard would it be to put them under ground?????? There's a prison full of guys with nothing to do just up the road, the army base is on the Desert Road ....

Come on Transpower .... these mountains are a tourist attraction & it's so hard to get a decent photo of them.....

Lucky Peter Jackson he got to go the other side of the pylons .... but then he is special the rest of us just have to Photoshop the damn things out!

Rant over till tomorrow.

Cheers,

Faith.

Blenheim Trip

Hi again,

here are some more pictures form our Blenheim trip..

In the first one we are outside Wellington harbour, having just gone through the heads.

It was remarkable still & calm on the way down there ... which I didn't really apperciate until we were coming back & it wasn't so calm :-0

The second one is just before we docked at Picton ... I got lots of photos of the Sounds ... but they just don't do them justice.

I just loved this one with the little sailboat to the right & the powerboat to the left.

Picton was a lot bigger than we thought ... it's quite a reasonable sized town instead of the little fishing village we all thought it was.

Well, that's it for today next time will be photos from tomorrow's wedding, & then next week I have have awesome photos of Mt Doom that I got on the way home from Blenheim.

Cheers,

Faith.

Fun Wedding

This was such a fun wedding.
It was held at the Howick Historic Village, which is a really cool place.
A great family outing could be had there.
Anyway we had the best day with these guys.
The bride was a lot of fun & they really enjoied the portrait shoot.
Then they had their service in the church at the Village, it is a really cute little old chapel thing.
Then on to the reception at the Homestead Cafe which is also part of the Village.
The Groom gave the funniest speech we've heard in a long time & the best man was almost as funny.
It was a great day with their family & closest friends ... awesome :-)
More photos to see here www.go4photos.com
Cheers,
Faith.

Blenheim Trip

These are a couple of pictures from the half-way point of our trip to Blenheim.

We arrived at the ferry at 4am .... our ferry arrived not long after we got there.

A helpful hint ... if you go to Wellington & arrive there early hours of the morning .... there is NOTHING open !!!! We wanted coffee & the only place that had anything resembling such was the Shell service station.

Anyway we got on the ferry about 8:30am & there was coffee there.

We had a great trip over the Cook Strait it was nice & calm all the way there & the scenery is spectacular.

I will post some of those next week.

We have a wedding in Auckland tomorrow, fingers crossed for the weather as they have picked great locations for the portraits & a really cute venue.

Cheers,

Faith.

More Blenheim Wedding Photos

Here are a couple more photos from our Blenheim wedding.

These were done at Pollard Park ... which was a great place for taking Bridal party photos as there is so much variety.

It has camellias, rhododendrons, a little stream & heaps of nice walk ways.

After this we went out to the beach which was whole different scenery agian.

I love the way the girls pink jackets set off their teal dresses... who would have thought pink & teal would look so stunning together!!

Cheers,

Faith.

Blenheim Wedding

Well, we are all back to normal after our big excursion to Blenheim.

It was a wonderful wedding... the couple were just fantastic & we had perfect weather for the photos.

The girls were getting ready at a converted woolshed on a vineyard... & inside it had the most amazing light in every room, so we got some stunning photos of the Bride.

Then after the service we went to the park & got some great pics of the bridal party ... then out to the beach where it was cold but everyone was so good about all the photos we wanted to capture.

We got so many good shots I will have to put more up tomorrow!! :-)

Also heaps more on the websites & a Movie Trailer at http://www.afpnz.com/

Cheers,

Faith