NZIPP PRO REPORT - October 2017 by NZIPP NZ Institute of Professional Photography

PRO Report BE INSPIRED, BE SUCCESSFUL, BELONG

NZIPP MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2017

NOT A MEMBER OF THE NZIPP YET? As an Accredited member of the NZIPP you have the support, networking opportunities and camaraderie of your peers within your industry. Becoming a recgonised professional also adds to your credibility with clients. Belonging to an institute that represents all areas of professional photography in New Zealand, with our focus on education, advice, and a wide range of membership benefits will help you improve the success and vitality of your business. Your accredited member benefits will include: · · · · · ·

Epson NZIPP Iris Awards (member rates) Infocus Conference (member rates) Meeting and Networking opportunities Professional Development Membership Discounts PRO Report eMagazine

Come along to your next regional meeting to check out what becoming a member is all about! Contact info@nzipp.org.nz

MISSION STATEMENT To champion, embrace and communicate excellence and professionalism in photography.

CONTACT NZ Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) P O Box 133158, Eastridge, Auckland 1146 New Zealand W: www.nzipp.org.nz E: info@nzipp.org.nz

We welcome your feedback and thoughts. If you have something to say, send it through to:

Cover Image:

info@nzipp.org.nz

Image © Justin Aitken

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

CONTENTS Executive Updates 04

Presidents Report

Member Profile

Honours Report

Directors Report

NZIPP News 07 Central Districts Photo Retreat

Justin Aitken

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s In My Bag...? 50 Roger Wandless

Accreditation Programme

Events & Useful Links

Mature Cheese

Member Story

Regional Updates 19

Auckland/Northland Region

Canterbury/Westland Region

Waikato/Bay of Plenty

Otago/Southland Region

Get Clicking

Regional and National Sponsors 59

Thanks to our Regional and National Sponsors

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

EXECUTIVE UPDATE

Presidents Report Katherine Williams, F.NZIPP, Accredited Professional Photographer

Over the past four and a half months I have had an unexpected opportunity thrust upon me. One that at times has left me feeling isolated, it has felt like an enduring adversity and in all honesty has caused me great emotional disruption. Along the way, despite the times when my perception of my situation drifted towards a negative self-pity party, mostly I have acknowledged that I have been given a gift and it is entirely my perception of the situation which will determine if I utilise it as such, or not. “Through our perception of events, we are complicit in the creation – as well as the destruction – of every one of our obstacles. There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means. That’s a thought that changes everything, doesn’t it? Just because other people say something is hopeless or crazy or broken to pieces doesn’t mean it is. We decide what story to tell ourselves. Or whether we will tell one at all. Welcome to the power of perception. Applicable in each and every situation, impossible to obstruct. It can only be relinquished. And that is your decision”. - Ryan Holiday from ‘The Obstacle is the Way’. It was a significant injury that served as an abrupt halt in my usual way of life, and the control freak that likes to reside within me has been forced to let go, surrender. It has been time to focus on what I can control and not that which I can’t. Loving the bad things that happen does not come easily, but it is a choice that is possible to make. In my unplanned, undesired and forced sabbatical self-reflection and clarity seeking have taken me to a place where I am now enjoying the perpetual feeling of a child at Christmas time. Beyond excited for what lies ahead. The truth is I won’t be showing up to my work, my life, my passions as I did before as I have chosen adversarial growth. That previous life was suffocating me from being my best and I was getting stuck in a cycle of counterproductivity and distraction. By the time my body has healed enough to pick up a camera again, there will be things I will be unlikely to pick up my camera for.

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Not because I don’t love the photography, but because the interaction and detail which forms part of specific overall business experiences is not serving me to be my best. Leaving me without the energy to focus wholeheartedly on where I want to be. I have been a photographer by heart literally from the moment I picked up a camera at the age of 15. In the 26 years that have followed, I have spent the last 12 as predominantly a wedding photographer. In the last two years I found myself saying “I feel its time I moved on” and “It’s probably time I redirect my focus a little”. Because I wasn’t listening to what I already knew the universe decided to deliver me an abrupt reminder and made it physically out of my control to continue with something which was no longer serving my growth. Now just to avoid having my words misconstrued here, this is not writings on work life balance, as I feel balance is something that occurs when we choose a path most in alignment with our being. And therefore purpose focused and at our most productive and effective with our time. Re-alignment can be little or large and reap tremendous results. I look forward to returning to my path of photography with heart ferocity! “We all must either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out” – Theodore Roosevelt Perhaps by now you are asking how is this story, my story relevant to you? It is more than an exercise in vulnerability, but encouragement to you to dig deeper. What are the adversities you face within your business? And are these adversities outside of your control, or are they merely an example of poor perception which you may choose to redirect? Perhaps that obstacle you are facing has all the potential to be a tremendous opportunity. Lets look at some common examples within the photography industry;

Lets take the all too common saying “people don’t value photography” Is that real, or a perception? And most critically whose perception is that? Typically and sadly it’s the perception of the photographer, as it is not in fact factual at all. So when we change our perception and look inwards towards self-value we know that the answer is within. Many prospective clients have never engaged in photography services before and confident education to your prospective clients of the value you provide will be the very thing that impresses on them a sense of value. Being elusive with your pricing rarely tends to serve you well – of course a client will be surprised if you only spoke of prices in the hundreds but then they walked away spending several thousand – their struggle with value may be real as they are feeling duped. Or they may have had bad experiences with another photographer in the past – you are the one who can change that for them, with your presence and your words. Ask yourself of all of your clients who has valued your photography? And the answer will likely be - most of them. I’ve rarely had a client who didn’t value photography, and when I have it has always been my fault. What we need to remember is that each and every time we take action that is unsuccessful our clients (or prospects) provide feedback and instruction on how to improve. That is provided we embrace it as feedback and are prepared to not let our ego get in the way of what we need to do going forward. Listening and hearing what is said verbally and non-verbally is beyond a doubt one of the most important skills we can utilize to garner growth. Rose-tinted glasses of yesteryears have no value in business progress. The truth on technological advances within this industry is that this is out of our control. And lets face it, most of us love the technological advances but just enjoy less the accessibility this has promoted. Ultimately we cannot change the accessibility of photography to the masses today, we can however choose to look at this with a negative or a positive perception. Bad may be - everybody is taking their own photos and ruining the industry, or good may be - wow, with photography being so accessible there is a greater demand for quality photography than ever before. As whatever you perceive, you believe, and you are choosing to project your beliefs onto your clients willingly or not. How often we hear about people undercutting the professionals, or working for unsustainable and unrealistically low fees. Yes, this is real. This exists in most industries. But there is no value at all on focusing what you can’t control, which in this case is the actions of others. Whilst a gentle nudge or a word in the ear may well have a place perhaps the best focal direction for your business is ensuring that you are firmly focused on offering service, product and results that differentiates you significantly from those charging little for their expertise. An investment in your continuing development to bring you to a higher skill level, an audit of the start to finish service you allow your client to experience, or start a new or innovative signature style. There will always be a place for great service and quality results, always.

Our playing field, today’s marketplace, dictates some of the rules. But let’s not waste time working against things we have no influence or ability to change. But what is up to us – so much. Our creativity, the way we project ourselves, our service values, our perspective, our ability to evolve, our attitude towards every interaction we engage in and our choice to involve emotions. Too much or too little, our judgments of others, our choice to believe we know everything already or our choice to acknowledge that we can and should always proactively learn, our desire and our determination. When you want something enough and success is the only option it is your determination and persistence that will take you there. But beware, if you persist with fear your determination will take you straight to your place of fear. Energy flows where attention goes. This is my last report here as NZIPP president, evolution goes hand and hand with progress. I’m very excited for the team going ahead, I’ll be cheering from the proactive sidelines by still helping on some specific tasks…many hands make light work. When we can all be a little or a lot proactive as members of the NZ photography community that’s true success! The NZIPP Board over the past four and a half months have not had it easy, a board of five with two Board members including myself on leave. It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge to you all just how grateful I am that Claire Birks, Kaye Davis and Gino Demeer have carried on with our goals of progress with great focus. Ollie Dale joined the board a month ago in preparation for succession and, just as we could all anticipate, shows he was born to be awesome in this leading role as he now goes on to be NZIPP president. A warm welcome also to Mike Watson who joins the new board. Thank you also to all other staff and volunteers on the NZIPP team. Whilst I have heard rumours in the past of the role I undertook being a burden, I have found it to the contrary. Yes, a massive challenge, yet in giving I have been gifted more than I ever could have wished for. I have received great personal growth, significant business development, priceless friendships and allies. Thank you, for the honour of serving you all. My last words is on the value of community and an encouragement for us all to strive to be the best we can each be – to the collective betterment of us all. In the beautiful words of Zen Shin; “A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms”

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

EXECUTIVE UPDATE

Honours Council Report Kaye Davis, G.M.NZIPP, M.AIPP II, MCGD, Accredited Professional Photographer Shar Devine, M.NZIPP, Accredited Professional Photographer Paul Daly, F.NZIPP, Accredited Professional Photographer Harry Janssen, G.M.NZIPP, Accredited Professional Photographer

What Does NZIPP Mean For Me? Twice in the last 24 hours, I have come across comments (from around the globe) on what affiliating yourself to a professional photographic organisation means and what the value is in paying fees. This led me to have a quick peep at some responses from the recent NZIPP Membership Survey. We had a fantastic level of input from members and we now look forward to collating the results from it. But to kick things off, relating to the topic of “value in belonging”, top of the list was “Friendships gained” and “Iris Awards”. These rated first equal as the two factors that brought the most value to being a member of the NZIPP. Second to this was the Infocus conference. Alongside this were comments around the need for more regional workshops, events, etc. Did the outcomes to this question surprise me? To be honest I’m not sure. In many ways I thought “Accreditation” may have been higher (which came out in the middle). Now I’m certainly not going to pre-empt anything as this is only one isolated part of the picture, as the who we are, what we do and where we go as an organisation will be in the hands of the incoming Board. The information gathered however will be invaluable for helping forge that direction - SO A HUGE THANK YOU for giving us your voice, we are listening and working for you every step of the way. I now want to turn the tables back on YOU, the members of our (your) organisation! On both a regional and national level there has been a lot of time and effort invested organising events within the regions, some focused on members, others also open for non-members to attend. Reminding myself that this is what people are asking for (yes, this came through in the Member Survey strongly), it is disheartening to see minimal take up in attendance at some of these, with the need for significant last-minute pushing to drive attendance in order to run the event.

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Any event put on within the regions is educational, informative and inspirational and attendance shouldn’t be dictated by the genre of photography you may or may not specialise in. You will only ever get something out when you are prepared to invest the time, and yes money, to be there and make it work for you. Some of these events will also be opportunities to develop and grow friendships. I want to reiterate that this was deemed the most significant value members are wanting or seeking with their membership. These same events are also time to enable experimentation and to broaden your scope of capabilities and experiences. So what I am saying here is PLEASE support regional events, use them to network, grow lifelong friendships and to better your photography and business. There will always be people and opportunities at these events from whom you can gain knowledge, information and advise that will be of benefit in your own business, no matter whether the event is promoted as wedding, portrait, commercial, landscape ... Ultimately it’s up to YOU to seek out what you need from any event - so some sage advise from me is just go for it, have some fun and the learning will come from it!!!

SUMMIT

THE

AMAZING SPEAKERS

P&P

CENTRAL PLATEAU 16-17 OCTOBER 2017 AUCKLAND

AGM

PHOTO RETREAT 3RD-5TH NOVEMBER 2017 Hosted by:

CENTRAL DISTRICTS Join in with members of the NZIPP Central Districts for an incredible 48 hours of photographic “indulgence” Registration includes accommodation & all essential meals (breakfasts, lunches & dinners). Your only additional costs will be travel to and from the venue and BYO drinks of your choosing.

This is a weekend where attendees can learn, share, try something new and of course most importantly socialise. Attendees will be sharing all sorts of tips and tricks, with such things as light painting, creating time-lapse, astrophotography, on location portrait, etc.

or use the following URL:

Head to Eventfinda for full details and bookings: Search for: NZIPP Central Plateau Photo Retreat https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2017/nzipp-centraldistricts-central-plateau-photo-retreat/tongariro Any queries contact:

So many options!

Kaye Davis - kayedavis.nzipp@gmail.com Rachael Smith - raheraphotography@gmail.com

The aim is to spend as much time as possible outdoors, with so many amazing locations nearby - including Tama Lakes, Silica Rapids, Ridge Track, Meads Wall (to see Mordor and Mt Doom), Taranaki Falls, Tawhai Falls, Ruapehu itself and for the eager beavers there’s always a trek up to the South Crater. We’re looking forward to welcoming Canon, CRK and Nikon, where you’re highly likely to get the opportunity to experiment with some gear (and pick their brains). PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

EXECUTIVE UPDATE

Directors Report Ollie Dale, F.NZIPP, Accredited Professional Photographer

TL;DR and the age of the short attention spa... oh, look, a bird!

So what does that mean for us? Well, if you’re still reading, you’re not a goldfish, and perhaps you’re superhuman?

TL;DR or TLDR - too long; didn’t read I have noticed recently that I just don’t have time to commit to reading an entire article. I guess it’s humourous that I’ve been asked to write one... I’m not alone though. In 2015 the U.K. publication “The Telegraph” reported that humans’ attention spans have reduced since smartphones were introduced. According to scientists, the age of smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish can hold a thought for longer. Researchers surveyed 2,000 participants in Canada and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms. The results showed the average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, to eight seconds. “Goldfish, meanwhile, are believed to have an attention span of nine seconds.” Credit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attentionspan-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

Our potential clients view our websites now with even less commitment. Our friends won’t likely be listening at the end of our first sentence, and people may not be reading your emails in their entirety. Take Pro Report, for example. In our recent Member Survey, which is a tool we’re using to better understand and serve our members, we asked members’ preferences around how they would like us to communicate with them. This isn’t a coincidence - the NZIPP Board is always looking to improve, and one of the ways I’m interested in improving is how we communicate with our members. I personally think that video is fast surpassing most other forms of communication in terms of preference, the speed of delivery, amount of information passed on, and in simply being easier to consume. Perhaps one day the Pro Report will be a video on YouTube, on a channel that you, the member, subscribe’s to. You get an alert on your device when a new video is available, and you can watch or listen to it in your own time, potentially not even looking at the screen. This article is already TL;DR, so pat yourself on your back for making it this far. Just don’t do it for more than 12 seconds - you may forget why you started...

Are you so distracted by your smartphone that you struggle to concentrate, and you miss out on things? PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

NZIPP ACCREDITATION

Accreditation Programme Sarah Beaufoy M.NZIPP, Mel Waite F.NZIPP & Shar Devine F.NZIPP Accreditation Coordinators

ACCREDITATION

“”

We are very passionate about NZIPP and adhering to the professional standards of the organisation and industry as a whole. It is important for you to become Accredited, which is a recognisable professional business standard and is valuable for your ongoing growth as a professional photographer and NZIPP member. As a guide we would expect that members have a vast portfolio to select from when submitting. You would consider getting assessed for accreditation after completing at least; 30 weddings OR 45 portraits shoots OR 45 commercial shoots as the lead photographer. For any questions please contact your Accreditation Advisor or Accreditation Coordinators. PRE-ACCREDITATION CHECK

Please remember before you can submit for Accreditation you must speak to an advisor. If you don’t have one already, simply email us or contact your Regional Chair, who will help find the right advisor for you.

The strongest path to assured success, is together

For those already on the path to accreditation, remember your Accreditation Advisor is there to help you; they have been chosen because they have great knowledge and skill and have a good understanding of what the judges are wanting to see in a submission. While they can’t guarantee a successful submission and we can’t make you use their advice, listening to their feedback, recommendations and suggestions will not only help your chances of a successful submission, it will also strengthen your photography practice overall. ACCREDITATION DATES November 2017.

For any questions please email nzipp.accreditation@ gmail.com

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

SPECIAL UPDATE

Mature Cheese Mike Langford G.M.NZIPP, Hon.F.NZIPP, GM. Photog. AIPP, FAIPP www.mikelangford.co.nz

Mature Cheese A series of on-going Interviews by Mike Langford. This column is dedicated to those who are the building blocks of the NZIPP and who are a part of its history. Through understanding what happened in the institute before many of us were born, is to have a greater understanding of the value it offers us today.

Fay Looney My start in photography in the 1970s was a little by default, as I was initially employed to sell photography shoots for an Australian school photography company called Photoex but quickly worked out that I could do the photography part of the job as well, so started photographing classes and individuals in the lower North Island as well as the upper South Island. My first shoot for the company was photographing all the schools along the Wanganui River Road. At the start of my photographic career, I used a Maymia 645. The aperture was taped to F8 and everything was shot on colour negative film, which was then processed by Charters & Guthrie in New Plymouth. Even if I must say so myself, I got good at it all and by the 1980s, I decided to go out on my own, doing everything myself and even managed to photograph fifteen hundred boys at the Palmerston North Boys High School in one session. When I started working for myself I did a little bit of everything including weddings, portraits and even a bit of commercial work. With the advent of digital, I started using PCL in Auckland and with expert advice from Peter Bush, purchased my first Nikon kit.

When I first started working as a professional photographer, I was told that my work wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t of a high enough standard to become a member of the institute but through a chance meeting with the then NZIPP President, Eddie Gibb, while on my way to an Australian photography conference, I was eventually accepted into the Institute in the mid-eighties. I also met Nick Servian at that same conference, who became a great friend and mentor. In my first year of entering the NZIPP print awards, I managed to achieve two awards and so started to get accepted into what was a very much male-dominated profession at that stage. By the mid-1980s, I became the Central Districts Chair and then quickly moved on to being a board member of the Institute. In 1994 I was elected as the first female president and along with a very strong team of helpers ran a very successful and highly profitable conference in Queenstown, which gave us the finances to be able to explore many other needs within the industry. We started to fight for the copyright of our images, as at that point the copyright was owned by the commissioner of the work. This group was headed by Craig Horricks and started by addressing a select committee in government. Things learnt from this era continue to strengthen our ownership of imagery if applied correctly, which has benefitted both me and every other photographer in New Zealand since then. In 1994 I won wedding photograph of the year as well as Champion Print for that year. By this stage I had become very good friends with Anne & kel Geddes, (again through a chance meeting in the early days at an Australian photography conference). Just recently while staying with them in New York, I was lucky enough to be introduced by them to my all-time hero Sebastian Salgado who sat down beside me and even gave me a hug. I was totally beside myself!

ÂŠ Fay Looney

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

In 1999 I published my first Photographic book titled ‘First Light’ which has sold over sixty thousand copies. I’ve done five more books since then but none have been as successful as that first one. Retirement is not a consideration for me. Just today on Facebook a young local photographer working now in Sydney, messaged me and told me I inspired her. I’m not sure how but it made me reflect on the enjoyment I have in watching the successes in another generation of photographers who I feel have a very tough road to travel to achieve financial success.

husband two years ago. This is an exciting project which keeps me in touch with young emerging artists, (several who are photographers). This encourages me to push the boundaries a bit with my own work. I print mainly on glass or acrylic now. It is my hope that in the future, photography returns to a more professionally respected industry in the eyes of the buyer and public. A return to real photography as seen by the creator, embracing a moment in time. It’s the ability to reproduce raw emotion from a human connection as seen through the lens. You must “Be there to understand that”.

My focus now is on promoting local and New Zealand art in my refurbished purpose-built studio on my property in Oakura, a decision made after the sudden death of my

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Â© Fay Looney

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Â© Fay Looney

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

MEMBER STORY

Tara Lemana

Gratitude Back in July, I wrote this post reflecting upon my experience this year. It’s my first year as an NZIPP member and the support and friendship I’ve been offered by the group of people who inhabit this organisation with me in my area is incredible. When I was asked to contribute a column to the PRO Report for this month, I could think of no better topic to share than an NZIPP newbie’s experience of being embraced into the fold. You may not realise it, but our warm and supportive culture is very special, and many have not experienced the same kind of warm welcome elsewhere. “I’m sitting here feeling grateful, today. I spent an hour or so talking to a fellow photographer yesterday. She works in a different geographical area and had photography related questions that no one in her area was willing to help her with. Everywhere she turned, she was rebuffed: No, I don’t share suppliers with my competition, No, I can’t talk to you about this, No, No, No. That kind of competitive, isolationist attitude makes for such a lonely, hard road working for yourself. My own experience has been vastly different. In my area, even in my little town, there is no shortage of talented photographers. But rather than putting up walls and being secretive, the majority of us have connected, become friends, referred clients to each other, done projects together and so forth. I consider more than a few photographers who some would say are my competition, my friends.

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

In recent weeks, I’ve put my big girl pants on and done something I was terrified of doing: I submitted images to our NZIPP Iris Awards. This is scary stuff. And you know what? My biggest champions, outside of my family and close friends, were several local photographers who are all also submitting work. They helped me choose, talked me through the technical requirements and all the ins and outs. Complete strangers helped me make it happen when technology fell over at the last-minute and things weren’t working the way they should. People to whom my only connection is our mutual love for this thing called photography. These people have been so generous with me and have taught me so much, I will always be grateful to them. And you bet, I will do the same for anyone who asks for help. There is more than enough for everyone. There are enough clients, enough projects, enough income, enough jobs for all of us to work side by side and support each other. It is a lonely road to figure everything out by ourselves, and a far more lonely one doing so while looking at every other photographer with suspicion and mistrust. And of course, this doesn’t apply just to photography, but I can only speak to what I know. So thank you to all those amazing photographers who share their knowledge and their time so freely. You lift others up and prove that together, we are stronger.“

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

REGIONAL UPDATES

Auckland Region Words by Chris Traill F.NZIPP

Our September event was standing room only if you were a bit late, with a turnout of around 40 people. It’s amazing how one of those big 5 letter photographic brands can attract the numbers. CANON were our hosts for our Auckland event this month. They treated us to some delicious catering and after a period of mingling, we were given a presentation by photojournalist and Fairfax photographer Lawrence Smith. He had recently attended and documented an eclipse festival held in the desert in Oregon, USA and attended by 40,000 people. His work (video and stills) were very powerful and it was interesting learning the ins and outs of shooting a gig of this nature with the back stories behind the imagery and the problems faced taking on a job in such a harsh unforgiving environment, not to mention the endurance required to capture a 3 day dance party. Thank you Lawrence for sharing your trip and stunning work with us. This event was live streamed for/to our Northland members who can’t usually get down to Auckland. Thank you Ollie Dale for setting up and executing that. No doubt many enjoyed that luxury. We may do that more often, as long as it doesn’t kill physical attendance of events. Thank you to Genevieve Senekal, Tom Duncan and Brodie Poole of Canon for being great hosts and especially for those personal escorts to the bathroom.

The committee are a few members less now with Michelle Garland, of Queensberry fame leaving the industry and moving on to another profession. Thank you, Michelle, for your help making these monthly events happen. On behalf of the committee and all your photographer friends, all the best for you in your new position. Also, Holly Spring has resigned from NZIPP for a year off. Thanks Holly for your time in the committee, when you were able to. Your design skills will be missed. Holly is a powerful image maker and we will see you later, no doubt. So we are requesting for anyone interested in helping out and getting more involved, by joining the committee. It’s not about attending boring meetings anymore, I promise you. It’s fun organising these events and getting to know people within NZIPP and our industry a bit better. Have a word to myself, Keri Anne, Ilan or Ollie, if you’re interested and we can tell you more about what’s involved.

See you at The Summit.

Chris Traill PRO Report / Magazine of © the NZIPP

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

REGIONAL UPDATES

Canterbury / Westland Region Words by Craig Bullock M.NZIPP

Our Castle Hill Retreat certainly lived up to expectations. It was a fantastic opportunity to relax, take a break from our businesses and spend a weekend with like-minded folk. Oh and feast like we were royalty! Having the chance to just enjoy taking images without the pressure of creating something for a client is really quite refreshing. There was no shortage of new gadgets and gizmos to try thanks, Gen and Tom from Canon and Blair from Nikon, as well as our fellow NZIPPers. We tried out new lenses and camera bodies like Canon’s awesome new 35mm lens and the Nikon D850. There were drones galore, plus we tried our hand with highspeed flash, colour gels, steel wool, astrophotography and a dog! Trips out to Hawden Hut, Cave Stream, Castle Hill, Arthurs Pass and a couple of other picturesque spots all proved perfect for a bit of inspiration and creativity.

But let’s forget the photography for a second and talk about the food… Lagagne and chimichanga’s on the first night, followed by homemade chocolate and caramel brownies with salted caramel sauce and gelato, Cheese and wine (thanks Canon), roast lamb, pork AND chicken with all the trimmings, followed by roast peaches, Greek yogurt and Amoretti biscuits the following night, and those were just the dinners! We had cooked breakfasts and plenty for lunch too, the thanks must go to Richard Linton, Shar Devine and Clinton Lloyd for feeding us so well! With all that going on, there was still plenty of time for a bit of R&R before the weekend was over. Coming up next for NZIPP Canterbury/Westland, we’re lucky to have Tony Carter give his ‘A Life Unseen’ talk for the first time next week, more about that next time. When’s the next retreat? I miss the food already!

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Â© Craig Bullock

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Â© Shar Devine

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

REGIONAL UPDATES

Waikato Bay of Plenty Region Words by Marama Shearer

Vaudeville Bar at Mount Maunganui set an amazing scene for our portrait event with Emma Hughes. Thanks to Alana Dresner for her hard work, we had a fantastic workshop at this quirky little bar with Emma as our guest speaker. It was about finding the connection, laughter, and love with clients while keeping sessions relaxed, happy and real. Emma’s calm and approachable manner, along with her willingness to share such great insights into her business provided all of us with the confidence to try new approaches in our own work. Emma had a jam-packed workshop filled with lots of hands-on experiences. We were led blind, got to draw from memory, shared pieces of ourselves with others that we hadn’t met before and we were made to think a whole lot! Reflection is a great motivator! We were also able to put the theory into practice by taking turns at shooting in a manner that we may not usually have done. The results were hilarious as you can see! Following dinner at Vaudeville and The Pizza Library - highly recommended if you’re heading to The Mount - we were invited into the studio of Bob Tulloch for our monthly get-together. Bob introduced the evening with an insight into his lifetime of experience within the industry and his valuable and lengthy involvement with NZIPP. It was great to have many of our most experienced members in attendance to show their support for Bob and it was neat to also have a few new faces amongst the crowd.

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

We were then fortunate to have Emma Hughes provide us with a presentation on her wedding photography and her wealth of experience in this genre. After many years of providing wedding photography on Waiheke Island, Emma has decided to concentrate on the portraiture side of her business so we were lucky to gain an awareness of how she has got to where she is right now. Seeing how her trade has developed over the years was very humbling and it was really interesting to see how she has created a happy work/life balance for herself and her family. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Emma’s presentation was when she shared her personal work in the form of her selfportraiture. She gave us the ability to observe her thought processes and how this is generated into visually appealing works of art. Thank you for your time Emma! We really appreciated you coming and for sharing so much with us.

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

Â© Marama Shearer

PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

REGIONAL UPDATES

Otago / Southland Region Words by Nicola Wilhemsen F.NZIPP

We had two lovely events in September, firstly we had the Te Anau overnight trip which we were lucky enough to have some wonderful snow to enjoy and the lovely hospitality of Tina and Duncan McGregor. We had meant to plan this trip for a while to visit TeAnau and to see Tina and Duncan’s military museum. They have a lovely home just before TeAnau in the gorge. It’s like they have their home-built in a little microclimate all to themselves, the roads were open but the snow was aplenty!

Tina showed us her lovely home studio and showed us through some of her wonderful portrait work, including her coverage of the New Zealand Kapa Haka group in Brazil. We then enjoyed a delicious lunch put on by our generous hosts! Thank you so much, Tina and Duncan you blew us all away with your kindness and generosity to share your passions with us.

We were treated to a tour of Duncan’s military museum which he has put his heart and soul into over many years.

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Â© Nicola Wilhelmsen

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Our second event for September was our regional exhibition that we had worked towards for a few months. We had hired the Dunedin Community Gallery space which is a lovely space in the city. It’s a huge space and wanted to show off some of our regions talented photographers! In the end, we had over 100 Iris Award prints over the walls and a special space at one end of the gallery to show the RSA project, which included the book, framed portraits and a digital slideshow of the veteran portraits. (A Huge thank you to Janyne Fletcher who kindly donated the framed prints) Over the six days, we had the gallery space we had around 350 people through the gallery space. We had one of our members there the whole time the gallery was open which we learned was a great way to interact with the public and answer any questions they had. We had some lovely interactive visitors and I believe this will do a lot to raise the profile of the NZIPP locally.

We were honoured to have Rachel Green attend the opening as a representative from the Dunedin City Council she spoke wonderfully about how much she enjoys photography and was blown away by the calibre of work that was displayed on the walls. We also had the very important job of announcing our Otago Southland Regional Photographer of the year at the exhibition opening. A huge congratulations to Jackie Ranken! Sorry you couldn’t be there on the night Jackie, Emily accepted the award on your behalf. Thank you to all the members who contributed and helped set up and break down the display. Also, those members who gave up their time to sit in the gallery space and interact with visitors. We couldn’t have run the event without you. Also a huge thank you to the Dunedin Photographic Society who very kindly lent us their print hanging system, it looked fantastic! I’m so proud of my members! It all came together in the end and looked so so good!

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Â© Megan Graham

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MEMBER PROFILE

Justin Aitken F.NZIPP III

Accredited Professional Photographer www.justinaitken.com

I have been a photographer Since 2005, so around 12 years now. It was a part-time thing at first while I had a 9-5 job, as a Graphic Designer. It all started with live concerts. I love live music and was mainly interested in photographing gigs and musicians. I just enjoyed the challenging lighting and the buzz I got from it all. A few close friends and family saw my photos and I guess through their persuasiveness, and my declining ambition (that never really existed in the first place) to work for anyone else, it all fell into place. I was always attracted to working for myself and having a flexible lifestyle I would describe my photographic style as quirky, grungy, gritty, contrasty and colourful! That’s the end product anyway. I love documentary, and landscape photography too, so I use it a lot in my work. Every now and then I have to remind myself that close up photographs are just as important.

Wedding Couple in the Te-Awamutu Sunset

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The word style means many things to me though. I try to have a calm and attentive approach at a shoot or on a wedding day, mixed in with some fun, silly humour and my general craziness. I was a lot more serious about my work and personality in the beginning. As I’ve got older (and had kids) things have changed a lot and I’ve realised that the more ‘real’ I am on a wedding day, the more fun my couples and their friends/families have. I shoot with Canon bodies and lenses mainly, and a few Sigma Art lenses, but also use a little Nikon Coolpix. A point and shoot for family and daily life stuff. I enjoy my FL 55mm f/.2 film lens from 1968, it has a brass mount which makes it useable on modern digital EOS cameras. I also have a DIY Helios Tilt Shift which is interesting especially when doing multi-exposures. Otherwise, I don’t really care about gear, to be honest, give me anything and I’ll try to create something with it. It’s really less about the gear and more about the moments lately for me.

Whakatane Sunset Wedding Couple

Reminder that close up images are great too

ÂŠ Justin Aitken

ÂŠ Justin Aitken PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

I’ve always struggled with the business side of things. It’s the part I enjoy the least and I’m sure I speak for many. Learning how to run my business has been the hardest part for sure, but years of doing it (and making mistakes) has helped a lot. I’ve never really given too much thought about a ‘target market’ if I must be honest, fortunately I’ve just seemed to attract the clients I want. One thing that helped I think was that initially I was open to any genre and photographing anything. I do weddings mainly now and the odd family and portrait shoot but I learned so much by trying everything out. Awards are cool as they give us an opportunity to push ourselves and grow, to try create things differently I guess - but I have a love-hate relationship with them. Part of me thinks that awarding any form of art is the biggest lot of nonsense and the other part of me enjoys the process of printing and learning. We’re all learning still. All of us. Every single day. Networking with other photographers has helped a lot too. I have some pretty honest friends, who I really appreciate.

Pouring rain in the Rotorua Redwoods

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My wife also helps, not with the actual business part as she’s busy with our kids and her own dreams but she’s my stability and the calming factor through everything. Without her support and patience, I don’t think I could do this. My most successful marketing platform is word of mouth. It still carries the most weight. When I can be bothered looking back each year at where the work came from – it’s always good old word of mouth that wins the race. I have never really advertised in a magazine, and I have never attended an expo. There have been times when I thought about it because I’ve received a promotional email or similar, but I’ve always booked up the dates and had work coming in, so I guess I’ve never really given it much thought or needed it.

Being a little crazy and silly

Hairdryer attack, kids at a wedding

ÂŠ Justin Aitken

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Multi exposure with the Helios Tilt Shift Lens

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43 Â© Justin Aitken

ÂŠ Justin Aitken

James Hetfield from Metallica

Lars Ulrich from Metallica

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ÂŠ Justin Aitken

My most memorable shoot was photographing Metallica live at Vector Arena in Auckland back in 2010. The energy was just incredible! I grew up in the 80’s/90’s, enjoy rock, heavy metal and the 90’s grunge era music, but Metallica has always been a band I grew up loving and still do today. There were about 8 of us running around the pit and we were only allowed to photograph the first 3 songs which was totally cool with me because Metallica songs are each about 10 minutes long anyway. I forgot my earplugs on the night and couldn’t hear properly for about 3 days. I ended up watching the whole gig and listened to nothing but Metallica for about 6 months after that until my wife asked me seriously, and very nicely one day, to please listen to something else. If I had not chosen photography for my career I would have become a musician.

Fun times on the trampoline

My ingredients for success with photography have to be whiskey/wine/beer, morning coffees and the odd Whitaker’s chocolate slab works too! I guess good oldfashioned hard work is still important. Success for me started when I could feed my family and pay the rent. Everything else has been a bonus. I have never really come across any big challenges as a photographer. Deep down I knew I would make it work somehow, so self-doubt never really bothered me or maybe I was just too blind or dumb to see it at the time? Regarding equipment, I started out with a second-hand EOS and a 50mm. It was really simple and I was happy with it at the time. As I made some money here and there I would buy a new lens or other piece of gear. I really just made do with what I had at the time.

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The below image is my favourite photograph. I shot it on my Nikon Coolpix A. It bombed in the awards, got a high professional standard. I can see why though. It’s the perfect example of becoming too attached to your own photographs. To a judge seeing it for the first time it doesn’t mean much, but to me it means the world. This is my wife changing my son’s nappy, he had a huge #2 and had also peed through his pants, and it was pouring rain outside, I mean really raining hard. There were child carseats, bags and shopping, etc. in the back so no space to change a poo nappy. My daughter was jumping all over the place, while all I could do was laugh hysterically and try to capture this ridiculously funny situation. Location was up in Russell, in a car park outside the Four Square. I had 2 weddings in a row so I took the family up and we stayed in the Northland for 10 days. It was quite cloudy, rainy and getting dark too so the light was very low. I’ve really been enjoying photographing my family and kids lately. Each day seems to be a new milestone for them and the days seem to fly by. “Ain’t it funny how time slips away”

My favourite image. My family.

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The 2017 Iris Awards went really well for me, and I was pretty stoked with the results I got. I never actually set out any goals if I must be honest. I had a shocker the year before, I became a Dad so life changed a lot, and I ended up entering last-minute in my lack of sleep state, I never really gave it all good thought and it showed in the results. So, this year I spent a bit of time thinking about the images I wanted to enter and through that process a few ideas were born, while up at 2 am sipping whiskey. I guess my only goal was to do better than I did the year before, which wasn’t hard. I still entered last-minute (as usual) but was stoked to have walked away with Wedding Creative Photographer of the Year and won the 2017 BOP Waikato Regional Photographer of the Year too. My advice for aspiring photographers would be to try everything. Ask questions. Be proactive. Be curious. Embrace change. Focus on being a photographer rather than having a business. Listen to lots and lots and lots of good music. Photograph everything, rain or shine. And buy a comfortable pair of shoes!

ÂŠ Justin Aitken

Wedding documentary image. Who does their own makeup?

ÂŠ Justin Aitken

First Look at Hotel Debrett. Iris Silver Award PRO Report / Magazine of the NZIPP

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Puzzle Head. Iris Silver Award-Wedding Creative

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WHAT’S IN MY BAG

Roger Wandless F.NZIPP IV

Accredited Professional Photographer rogerwandless.co.nz

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Think Tank bag

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Really Right stuff Nodal Plate for Panoramas

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Canon 5d Mark 4 Body with 70-200 L Series 2.8 lens

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Canon 5dSR body with 24-70 lens

Really right stuff alum key for tightening the camera base plate

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Selection of other lenses but typically 24 mm tilt shift, 16-35 L series.

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Lens brush

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Selection of SDs cards

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Also I may squeeze in or substitute a Canon 100-300 F 5.6 lens or a Sigma 50 mm prime.

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Face cloths and lens cloths

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Selection of filters: Heliopan 3 or 10 stop filters and polariser

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Head torch

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Shower cap

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Cable release and spare

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Bungee cord (to help strap on tripod

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Spare Batteries

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Battery charger

Chocolate (for those times when you’ve skipped meals!)

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Umbrella

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Also waterproofs

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In all honesty, I am not a good role model as I am (in my opinion) a bit too disorganised, I chop and change my gear and I don’t spend enough time going through my gear. I have legitimate excuses but ultimately choose to spend my time trying to create images. For the landscape photography, the dilemma is choosing between: •

Quality

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Versatility

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Weight

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Simplicity of use in what is often a moment

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Ease of use in challenging environmental conditions.

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Ruggedness and reliability

Despite technology these are often competing challenges and so each photographer makes their own choice and in my case, this evolves and changes depending on my own agenda and expectations. For example, I may be going to somewhere for a particular shot that is high quality. In this situation, I may use a Prime lens and high-quality sensor. Alternatively, I may be overseas (as I was in Antarctica) where I have to deal with the unknown and want various options. Here I sacrifice some quality for versatility and use zoom lens.

However, if I was forced to keep it simple I’d take the following: 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses plus probably the tilt-shift as I love the perspective this gives and you can stitch with this giving you a wider angle option. These three lenses are sharp and versatile and cover 90% of what I’d need to shoot. If I have room and weight I’d take any of these lenses: The Sigma 50 mm lens as it is beautifully sharp and clear, Canon 100-300 zoom for the extra compression helpful for picking our details in the landscape, but it is heavy and requires a heavier tripod, a 16-35mm lens which is useful for foreground details and high and close backgrounds e.g: Icebergs and mountains at Tasman Lakes (but actually I don’t use very wide often). If I was going super light or simple I’d do the Mark 4 body and 24-105mm lens e.g: for overseas travel. My sense is that this is a good lens though not as sharp as the other lenses but it would cover probably 80% of what I’d typically shoot. In the moment as a landscape photographer it can be extremely time pressured so simplicity of gear is really important. I prefer to have two bodies as it avoids the risks inherent with changing lenses and it allows you to use different focal length quickly. There are always choices to be made and tradeoffs to do. My advice (which I struggle to keep) is simplify, know your equipment and work with what you have. At the end of the day, it is only the tool to your expression. That is not to say that you should get stuck in a rut. You should critically appraise your gear and systems and try to improve. For example, I am going back to carrying a light meter, and am considering more use of Prime lenses and also graduated filters, much as I used in the days of film in the hope of improving my capture.

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Filters:

Ruggedness:

Although I carry a polarizer, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t shoot in sunlight often, but like to use the neutral density filter for water, skies and simplifying compositions.

A quick story and plug for Canon!! Whilst in Antarctica, I lent a filter to another photographer just as I was packing up to go, so I reopened my pack, gave him the filter and laid the pack unzipped but closed on a rock. I picked out of my pocket a hand-held camera and shot a nothing picture of a penguin. The filter was returned I put it too in my pocket and then (now distracted by the surrounding penguins and the fact that we were late for the last boat) grabbed my bag and swung onto my back. Of course, it was still unzipped and of course, 2 cameras and three lenses were thrown onto a very hard rock. One lens was damaged and another had minor damage, otherwise, everything else was fine. The cameras never missed a beat. So whilst perhaps inferior to other brands in some specifications the camera proved itself rugged in an extreme environment and that it is worth its weight in gold! Thank you, Canon! (and Really Right Stuff, their plates are on my cameras and offers protection also)

Other accessories: Cable release: a must for the landscape photographer, SD cards having had cards fail I prefer to carry smaller sized cards and more of them. There are various other accessories that relate to operating in the landscape, which involves weather, darkness, and terrain. For example, food, light and a toothbrush in case of overnight trips.

ÂŠ Roger Wandless

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