Debi and Simon's big day

A week ago I was privileged to be chosen to photograph Debi and Simon as they joined together in marriage. It was a wonderful day and here are some of the many images from the day. Congratulations guys. Thanks for choosing me.

There is no such thing as an original idea

There is a saying that floats amongst the world wide photographers community that there is no such thing as an original photo. Up until now I haven't really taken much notice of this. I thought all my great ideas and concepts were my very own, my creation.

However with millions of cameras on this planet there will inevitably be someone, somewhere who has already used your brilliant idea and you have no idea till someone politely congratulates you for replicating with great precision a famous shot of this or that.

I have very recently been in this very situation. Today in fact. And it has occurred within a much closer community than I would have ever imagined.


On my recent trip to the Tongan Island effected by the Tsunami, I captured a really intriguing image of something I found in the wreckage of what was left after the Tsunami had ripped through a village. You may have seen it in my 2nd to last blog. Well here it is again.



Now this afternoon an old colleague of mine emailed me, with an extremely freaky revelation.

He quoted what I said before about 'no such thing as an original photo', and revealed to me that he had in fact seen an image almost completely identical to this one in the past. And he wasn't talking about one he had seen in a book of famous or historical photos, in a newspaper or on the web. It was an image that our very own Ex Boss had taken himself in the 1990's in Kuwait. I myself have absolutely no recollection of ever seeing such an image or hearing any stories about it. On talking with my old boss later on today it was revealed that he had it on the wall in his office while he was working with me but not once did I take any notice of it or recall it in any way in my memory bank while photographing my version of it in Tonga.

It just goes to show that either our photographic 'vision' is very similar or there truely is NO SUCH THING AS AN ORIGINAL IDEA.





True coincidence is my verdict.





Here is my Ex bosses photo.


Credit for this image to Paul Stein.

Cheers for the great training Boss ;-)

A day out + lightroom 2.0 test + fifty mil test = Great fun

I caught up with a friend for coffee and then went shooting today.

I am finally using ADOBE Lightroom 2.0 people. FINALLY. And I am so pleased with the post production results. Just take a look below. However I am still very confused with the layout of the software at this stage. Might take some getting used to.

Plus I am testing out my BRAND NEW Nikon 50mm F1.8 lens. She's a teeny weeny thing and I love it so much already.

Please click on the image above and take a look at the guys behind Laura. I love that moment. Please leave your favourite caption for that photo in the comments at the end of this post.











Please give me feedback on this stuff. I would like to see what you think.

Cheers

.....and the wave that did come. With horrible force

This post is basically to share with you the devastation left by the terrible tsunami on a remote Island in the Tongan Islands group, called Niuatoputapu.

All photos belong to the NZ Defence Force. This is the work I was performing while on the the Navy's Multi Role Vessel when we travelled to Tonga and Samoa just last month. All photos here were taken on a tiny remote island of Tonga called Niuatoputapu, where 9 people lost their lives.

Please take a moment to remember those who were lost in both countries by looking through these images.








The above image appeared in the NZ Herald along with a few others during our trip.














It was an honour to be able to help out these people in a time of such need, and they were very grateful for our presence.
Below are two shots of yours truely.

I am standing on a slab of concrete where a house used to stand tall.