Tag: People

Nana

Having not been back in NZ for almost 2 years seeing my 93 year old Nana was high on the agenda and I decided to pester her for an hour or so and photograph her.  It was no surprise that Nana had not lost any of her independence, she was busy as ever going about her morning routine while I clicked away around her.  She was a real natural in front of the lens.  I wanted to capture her how she is, the real deal so to speak.  Capturing her like this is how I see her, no bells and whistles and straight to the point!  It was also nice to capture Nana and Lucy together and it wasn’t until afterwards I realized we had 4 generations of family sitting around enjoying the sun. It was a great day! I recommend that everyone have a go at capturing their older family members, it’s very rewarding.

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For over 40 years this is how we are greeted by Nana. Very matriarchal!

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A favorite spot for my sister and I.  We spent many hours surveying Nana’s farm from this viewpoint.

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All the ingredients for a hearty breakfast….porridge, milk, sugar and cream.

img_People_0385We used to have breakfast in this same spot everytime we visited. Nothing changes!

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After breakfast it’s all business to make sure Nana doesn’t miss anything….glasses clean, check! hearing aid clean, check!

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Now on to the requests for family tree info. A wealth of information!

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Nana is not alone on the farm.  The ‘Boys’ more or less pay the bills and the cat is a bit of company.  There is also an amazing amount of native bird life around.

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Roughly 87 years between these two.  One wise old lady and one little rascal!

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Ethnee Mollie Simpson or Mollie to her friends.  But to us she is Nana.

 

Kate and Nyk get Married

Gabi and I were invited to a friend’s wedding in a small English village on Dartmoor. Kate is the teacher at the local village Primary school and the whole village came out for the wedding, it was a real local affair! It was a beautiful day and I was glad I had gone to the effort of taking along my camera and a few lenses to capture a few informal shots for the bride and groom. Despite the striking blue sky it was extremely cold and I struggled to shoot whilst shivering uncontrollably, but I was pleased with the few shots I did create. It was a fun and relaxing day for all and we wish Kate and Nyk all the best for their future together.

Winifred Ella Hope

Our close friends Victoria and James Hope welcomed wee Winnie into their little family on 1st September 2011. I was asked to shoot Winnie when she was only 3 weeks old, before James’ fears are realised and she turns into a ‘giant baby’, so that Victoria and James could share their little bundle of joy with all their family and friends across the seas.

We had a little bit of trouble getting some of the shots Victoria and James wanted as Winnie is still so small but I hope you’ll agree that overall we got some memorable shots that capture Winnie in her newborn state and can be treasured and enjoyed by the Hopes and their family and friends for years to come….until they can be unraveled again at her 21st!

 

Cannasia-Cannondale: Tim Clarsen

I’m currently working on a small project to document some of my team mates in our road cycling and mountain bike team Cannasia-Cannondale.  First up is Tim Clarsen.

Tim was the joint leader of the team but has recently moved to Norway with his family – I managed to squeeze in a shoot just prior to him packing up his bikes and heading off.  Tim is a very talented rider with years of experience both on and off the road, having raced in many countries around the world.  This experience enabled him to lead the team through training and ultimately onto the podium many times.  Some recent results include 1st Masters Men OCBC Criterium, 1st Open Men Cyclone Race Series Road Cycling Ranking and 1st Open Men Cyclone Series Mountbatten Criterium.  We’ve already heard he has had a couple of real “leg busters” in Norway, so here’s hoping he gets his climbing legs back real soon.

Harle Family Shoot

It was strange for me to be getting up early on a Sunday morning and not be going cycling. This particular Sunday I was heading to Singapore Botanical Gardens with my partner, and photographers assistant for the day, Gabi to do a family shoot for my cycling buddy Lee.

It’s a comment I hear a lot from families, ‘we just have no photos of the four of us together’ and Lee informed me that his wife Sophie had been looking for an appropriate photographer to take some informal family shots for ages…no pressure!

We decided to spend the morning at the Botanical Gardens so that the kids could play around and just have some fun. I much prefer the results when taking candid shots with children and they had so much fun playing games and kicking the football around. I was pleasantly surprised at how natural the children were in-front of the camera once they got used to me being around, note the first picture in this series took very little direction on my part and you can just tell that they’re pretty good mates!

The proof is in the pictures – as you can hopefully see below, it was a breeze to shoot this fun family and I was really pleased with the results. I particularly love the colours of the surrounding greenery against the kids colourful clothes!

Broken Road

Broken Road is a four piece band comprising of Phil, Chris, Lorna and Tony based in Devon in the UK. They play a mixture of covers and their own material taking inspiration from across the musical spectrum, from Americana to folk, from rock to country, from Bossa Nova to jazz. Check their myspace page out here.

With a last minute location change I had to quickly re-visit how I was going to undertake this, now challenging, shoot.  It was a beautiful evening in Devon but the light was fading fast and the new location of the local pub car park was a little less inspiring than the original dramatic Clapper Bridge in Dartmoor.

The initial group shots that were taken in the car park outside proved a bit tricky but once we retired inside for the rehearsal – after a couple of ales – everyone seemed to relax into their rolls. We got into the groove whilst Broken Road rocked out some numbers and managed to capture some of the bands unique personality.

Thanks to my light girl Gabi for running around the rehearsal room with my flash on the end of a pole!

Scandinavian Beauty Weds Welsh Lad

Turning down an invitation to attend a friend’s wedding in Sweden was not really an option. After 24 hours of non-stop travel via taxi, plane, bus and rental car from Singapore we arrived at Hovs Hallar in the district of Skåne in Sweden. The wedding took place on a beautiful, sunny Monday afternoon at Hovs Kyrka church overlooking scenic farmland and out to the sea beyond.

Duncan scrubbed up well but Anna looked absolutely stunning. The whole event was stringently planned into 5 minute intervals (courtesy of the bride) but the hard work paid off and everyone, from all corners of the globe – Wales, Sweden, Belgium, Scotland, Spain, England, Afghanistan (& of course Singapore), – had a fantastic day.

Anna and Duncan had asked me to take some informal, candid shots throughout the day and here’s a small selection.