The Power of Performance Photography

Last week I was priveliged to be able to shoot the final NZ performance of The Māori Troilus and Cressida - Toroihi rāua kō Kahira at the Auckland Town Hall.

It was awesome to share the photos on the facebook page and see the impact they had on not only the performers, but their families and all the people that saw the performance. For some it helped them relive moments in the play, for others they invoked laughs at memories of characters and mannerisms.

Here are some of the photos (for the full set, click on the facebook link on the right hand bar of the page):

Learning every day..

I have had a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the last little while with my photography, with a big low: my harddrive and backup harddrives failing and (nearly) losing ALL my photos, and big highs like working with Photographer David K Shields on a project that he and Kiri Nathan, along with her tane Jason are pulling together - He Kakano Ahau.(see link to David's Blog here)

It was my first experience out on a photo shoot as the 'talent' and instead of being behind the camera I was out in front of it with my darling Taupunakohe. It was a great first shoot for us and was the start to a great working relationship with David who is an Awesome photographer.

Since then the learnings have been huge - ALWAYS keep multiple backups of my work (I thought 2 copies were enough...) and keep reaching out for opportunities to work with awesome people.

Looking forward to summer with many more opportunities to capture the magic that surrounds us..

from behind the camera to out front..

As well as being behind the camera I have been told I should try out being in front, so I got in touch with Rene Naufahu at Red Eleven Management and am now on the books. It's awesome getting the training and support from Rene and the crew in a field that is completely new to me and I look forward to where things go from here. Check out the Red11 Blog here.

Inspired..

What inspires you?

As I move through the day to day of life i sometimes notice things that light me up, that spark something inside, that move me or excite me. These things vary massively from a look i see in someone's eye, to a piece of art on a wall, to a voice I hear singing or the feeling I get eating some tasty piece of food.

Some of these moments can be captured, can be shared, while some dissapear into the next moment that comes along. The thing that stays with me though is the feeling, the feeling that is: Inspiration.

What does this have to do with photography? For me it is one of the things that drives me to take and share photos, but it's also one of the things that helps me open my eyes to see the world in a different way.

Muriwai Sunset - A heart in the sky

Quite often stuck in the grind of the day to day we forget to look up, to look out, at the beauty that surrounds us.

Just a random thought for the day. I'm updating the website and will be putting more photos up in the gallery, if you would like to get in touch with me, just click on the 'Contact' tab at the top of the page and send me a message.

Mauri ora!

Te Rawhitiroa

'Capture the Moment'

 E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karu pūkanakana, ngā karu whākanakana, ngā kanohi e āta tirotiro haere ana, e āta mātakitaki haere ana i ēnei whakaahua.  Tēnei rā te mihi maioha ki a koutou.

‘Capture the Moment’

Photography is about capturing moments. For myself it’s not so much about just getting an image of the subject but about capturing the emotion or the thought that a person was experiencing at that time, about capturing the perfection of the way that light hits the subject, about capturing the mood, the feeling that we experience when we see certain things.

I want to give a big mihi to all of you who came to my exhibition "Capture the Moment" at Matapihi Art Gallery in Raglan. I really enjoyed my first exhibition and saw it as an opportunity to share my passion for photography, to let people know what I do, and to test the waters around what it takes to be able to keep doing what I love...

I have a gallery of the images that were exhibited in that exhibition under the 'Gallery' tab at the top of the page. Check them out and let me know what you think via the 'Guestbook' tab.

You can also check out the Tu Mai Magazine article on the exhibition. Click on the link below and check out Page 39

Tu Mai E-Magazine December Edition

Mauri ora!

Te Rawhitiroa