Perspectives Wedding Photography

Hey guys,

On Saturday, we headed out to Sarnia Park in Cambridge, to photograph Blair & Louise’s wedding.
It’s our last wedding of the official “wedding season”… only 2 weddings over the next 4 months, now. It’s going to be strange not heading out once (or twice, or occasionally 3 times) every weekend to share people’s special days… but at least we got to farewell the season with a bang!

We had an awesome time with these guys – kicking off with some boys shots earlier in the day…

Blair had written a lovely card for Lousie, along with some flowers – and we delivered them out to Sarnia Park when we headed out for the girls shots.

Out at Sarnia park, Lousie was all ready to go, and looking gorgeous!

Concentration. Focus. Drive. All important characteristics when you’re a flowergirl / pageboy.

Their daughter sang BEAUTIFULLY during the signing of the register.

Then it was off for some shots around Sarnia Park with the bridal party…

Whoever said weddings are all about the bride…. was wrong.

Autumn weddings are just the best. It isn’t too hot. The colours in the trees look amazing. And you get beautiful afternoon light like this… at 4.30pm!
During the mid summer, this lovely warm light doesn’t arrive until 8pm or later… which is when we’re driving home, wistfully gazing out the car windows & saying “man, I wish we were only just starting the photos now!” So yes, we love autumn – and the light just got better & better!

We were even treated to a lovely sunset…

By the time we finished, it was nearly pitch black… luckily, we turned on the lights…

It was an awesome day – thanks to you both for inviting us along to share a part in it!

Isaac & Amber

Hey guys,

Autumn is upon us – my favourite time of year!
The colours are amazing, the light is beautiful – perfect for portrait photos.

You can update your family photos.

You can get great shots of the kids, playing in the leaves.

You can do a romantic engagement shoot.

You can get some beautiful shots of yourself, just to celebrate being beautiful.

You can put your wedding dress on again & get creative.

You can invest in something that will give you a lifetime of enjoyment.

You can capture this moment, in your lives, and preserve it – for ever.

A session with us is only $150… about the same cost as a new outfit. The clothes will last a few years. The memories you capture, will last a lifetime, or more.

Beat the cold, race the rain, catch the colour while it’s here. Book in a session with us.

And what blog post is complete without pictures??

My sister & her husband.. a few years ago..

And my beautiful wife.. (also a few years ago, with longer hair!)

Hey guys,

Yesterday, we headed out to Sarnia Park in Cambridge, to photograph Mark & Jo’s wedding.

The day kicked off visiting Mark at his parent’s place – they had no bridal party, so it was just a few quick shots of him getting ready, and looking very suave in his suit..

We then made our way out to Sarnia Park, where Jo was in the final stages of makeup, and looked stunning!
The first thing I noticed about Joanne was her beautiful smile – which stayed on her face the entire day.

It was just so genuine, and I can’t help but smile myself looking back through the shots.
Even getting makeup done (by fabulous Suzie Rutz from “The Makeup Room”) – Jo had that gorgeous smile

Having no bridal party was a rare treat for us, plenty of time to just quietly float around & take in all the details.. beautiful flowers by Karen at Wedding Flowers by Karen

Jo’s Mum & Dad both helped her into her dress…

And we then sneaked a few glamorous shots of Jo around the equally glamorous Sarnia Park setting.

One of the coolest things at Sarnia, is that you can sit on the seat & watch all of the guests arriving below! And they can’t see in (just in case you were wondering).

This was on the walk between the main house, and the chapel where they had the ceremony. See where she gets that smile from??

This was the first chance we’d had to photograph inside the little chapel on site at Sarnia Park, and we were really excited!
It didn’t disappoint

The chapel was especially significant, because it used to be the family chapel of Jo’s father – before it was shifted onto Sarnia Park.
I love it when people are able to incorporate such things of significance into their wedding. Amber & I were married in the same hall that her parent’s had their wedding reception in, 25 years beforehand!

Mark also couldn’t stop smiling most of the day (but judging by the massaging of the cheekbones later in the evening, he possibly regretted this!!)

Proud parents.

The cloudy weather made for beautiful, soft light for us to work with. I love their expressions as they leave the church for the first time as husband & wife.

There were petals.

And plenty of hugs.

When you’re little… and you discover a hole in the ground that you can jump in… it’s way cooler than your auntie’s wedding. Sorry guys.

After some family shots, it was time to go for a wander around the grounds. It was so lovely just having the two of them, and they needed NO prompting whatsoever, they just naturally did all the things we were going to ask! So we just sat back and took photos.

It just wouldn’t be one of our weddings if we didn’t drag all the lights out (Mark was making kitchen sink jokes when he saw me stumbling along the grass gear-laden) – and catch some epic skies…

The sun appeared – once – for about 15 seconds – during the photos. It was enough time to catch this lovely backlight.

The autumn colours are starting to come out too.

It was starting to get quite chilly outside – so we headed back for the house.

Inside, there was a nice warm fire & a snuggly couch

And back at the reception, sugar levels could be replenished at the lolly bar!

By the time we arrived back, the mountains of lollies had been significantly diminished by the guests, so I’m guessing they proved popular!

We then left them to enjoy what I’m sure was an awesome night

As we left, I grabbed this shot of Sarnia Park all lit up, with the last fading remnants of light in the sky.

Enjoy!

Isaac & Amber.

*** Disclaimer*** All the images in this blog post were edited after midnight, on my laptop – which isn’t the most reliable for brightness, colours, or contrast. So if things look to bright, or too dull, my apologies!

******

So here we are in Queenstown. And it’s raining.

We flew in on Monday morning, where we caught up with Lorene & Darren, and headed out to Arrowtown for some nice casual portraits… the autumn colours were just starting to come through – give it another 2 or 3 weeks! Still, it had that great Arrowtown feel… so much yellow!

Fast forward to Tuesday.. and we wake up to rain. Heavy, pouring down rain that we can hear on the hotel roof.
Damn. Shoot is scheduled for 3pm – so we sit & hope it clears.

It doesn’t.

We head down to the airport – Lorene looking gorgeous in her dress, with hair & makeup done at a salon earlier in the day, and Darren in his suit. The plan is to head up to “The Ledge” on Cecil Peak – a stunning drop-off way, way, up there.

Half way up though, as we swing around the corner of a hill, we can see that Cecil Peak is totally covered in the clouds.. so a snap decision is made to check out the ridgeline of the Remarkables. It looks promising – so, with a minimum of bumpiness, the pilot sets the chopper down at the peak, and we all jump out.

It’s 5500 feet up, and freezing!

Then the cloud rolled in well & truly, and visibility was reduced to 20 or so metres. Not really the epic views we came for… but enough to get cool shots like this..

Then the cloud broke – and the sun showed it’s face for the first time in the entire day!

We decided that this break in the weather, and the arrival of the sun, meant it was a good time to shoot our air-to-ground stuff.

So Amber jumped in the front seat of the chopper & slid open the tiny window, while I had a harness rigged up, so that I could basically hang out of the open door in the back. It was quite windy.. but the view was perfect – and everything fell into place.

Here’s a bit of what we got from up in the air…

Then it was back down to collect a shivering Lorene & Darren, and off to Queenstown airport again to get warm!

On the way home, we detoured to a field (which, while asking for permission to shoot there the day before, we found out was owned by Peter Jackson!) – where we finished up with some great shots in the swishy (but very wet) grass.

It was one of the most exciting shoots of my life, and we got some great shots!
Thanks so much to Lorene & Darren for bringing us down here, and for being so easy to photograph, and for being so willing to stand in the FREEZING air on top of a mountain!

Big thanks also to “Over The Top” helicopters – who managed to manouvre us into all the angles we wanted to shoot, and being such great operators!

We think it was totally worth it

And now, it’s 2am – and we fly back to Hamilton in the morning… so I’m going to get some sleep.

Over & out

PS: When we landed, it was cloudy again.. and as soon as we finished shooting in the field, the rain returned – and hasn’t stopped since! Talk about meant to be! It can rain all it likes now though, and I won’t even care.

Hi guys,

On Saturday, we headed up to Auckland, to photograph Murray & Naketa’s wedding.

Our day kicked off early at 9.00am (although not as early as the girls’ 7am makeup start!!) so that we could get off for some pre-ceremony bridal party shots out at Karekare beach, on Auckland’s beautiful West Coast.

We met the boys out there…

Then Naketa arrived, and the couple shared some wonderful private moments as they saw one another for the first time.

They were joined by their bridal party – which consisted mainly of their brothers & sisters – and also their 4 beautiful children

It was obvious that family really meant a huge amount to Murray & Naketa… and while we captured many beautiful “family” images… I also love the more cheeky side of the kids that shone through..

Mia decided to draw a picture in the sand of Mum & Dad on their big day… I love it!

The beach was beautiful! We had to cross a stream to get into the shaded side of the cliffs, so that we could avoid the sun. Once we got there, it was nice and cool too, a welcome relief from the growing heat of the day!

The boys left to get down to the venue on time, and we stayed for a few last shots with Naketa

Then it was off to Landsendt, a tropical paradise right here in West Auckland!

Videographers… if you can’t beat em… them take pictures of their cameras!!

Seriously though – Green Apple Videography are brilliant to work with – they are lovely guys, and so courteous – just awesome

We managed to sneak a few quick shots after the ceremony too…

At the reception, there were many cultural items – and Murray & Naketa’s girls did an amazing dance:

While the boys… were more interested in blowing bubbles!

After the performances, we left Murray & Naketa to enjoy their reception… part one.
They actually had another reception in town, later on that night, where all the guests from the wedding headed to another venue, and they met up with a whole lot more people for a big party!

Which meant… they had a tiny window of time in between, so we caught up with them again for a 10 minute blast of night photos down by the waterfront – with the picturesque harbour bridge lights in the background.

It was such an awesome day – thanks for having us along to share a part in it with you all!

Isaac & Amber

Hey guys,

If you’ve been trying to get in touch with us over the last couple of days and haven’t heard back… it’s possibly because our contact form isn’t sending the emails through to us!

While I’m sorting out what the issue is, if you could please just directly email us – info@perspectivesphotography.co.nz – that’d be great.

Will aim to have everything all back up & running smoothly again in the next day or so.

Peace.

Isaac

Hi guys,

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of photographing Andrew & Kathryn’s wedding – a fantastic, cruizy, family orientated day

We started off with some shots of the boys – Andrew’s 3 brothers were his groomsmen, which was really cool.
He looked very suave all dressed up in his suit…

Max wasn’t really interested in the wedding at all… as long as Andrew kept throwing the ball, he was happy.

Then it was off to the girls, where Kathryn had the most beautiful smile on her face – and kept it there all day.
It was easy to tell that she was genuinely having the best day – and made it an absolute joy to photograph her!

Even when we tried to get some more ’serious’ shots, she had a gleam in her eye – perfect!

Puppy came to play too!

Their ceremony was in their nana’s backyard – beautifully intimate & personal.

Amber got some great shots of the parents during the ceremony

We then headed down to the Hamilton Gardens for some photos with the bridal party..

The autumn leaves at this time of year are just starting to get the beautiful, burnt orange tones – a week earlier and we couldn’t have got these shots..

Then we headed around the theme gardens…

And some cool reflections…

Before getting this last grab shot as we walked back to the Garden Terrace restaurant, where they had their reception.

It was an awesome day – thanks for inviting us along to share a part in it!

Isaac, Amber & Holly

Hey guys,

Last Thursday, we headed out to KareKare beach in Auckland with the fabulous Jo – to do some dress-trashing.

We kicked off with some cool tree / rockpool shots….

And then headed down to the beach.. where we started off with some (mostly) dry shots.
These weren’t overly dry, as Jo had just come from sitting in a rockpool… but “dry” in a relative sense, based on what was to follow!

Then it was time to get into the water. About a split second after this shot..

Jo pretty much dived headlong into the water, and it was all on!
The dress, once soaked through, became ridiculously heavy – so sitting / lying down was a great option!

The whole shoot, we also had Amber’s brother – Tam – filming. He’s doing a film & television course at South Seas, and his lecturers had given him the day off to come along for work experience. Which is great, because at this point was when Jo started making sand angels (they’re like snow angels, but messier). No photos – but video will come one day

It was starting to get quite dark – so we helped Jo get back to her feet (harder than it sounds with so much wet material around you) – and grabbed a few last shots…

Much sandier than we had arrived, we trudged back to the car – getting some weird looks from the last few stragglers on their evening walks. On the way back, Amber stopped Jo for a final shot on the sanddunes (which didn’t really work because it was nearly pitch black by this point) – and Jo then proceeded to “roly-poly” down the dune! If there wasn’t sand EVERYWHERE before, there most certainly was now!

So there you have it – some awesome shots, great laughs, and a whole heap of sand.
I hear that Jo has now finally managed to clean up most of the sand (including vacuuming out the bath tub) – and the dress is recovering.

If you’re keen to book us in for a TTD shoot – it’ll only cost ya $150 (which isn’t really much at all)… so make the most of your dress – and trash it!

xoxo

Isaac & Amber

Hi guys,

On Saturday, we headed off to photograph Trent & Angela’s wedding at the Auckland Zoo.

For the week leading up to their wedding, I hadn’t been able to get the “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… How about you, you you?” song of my childhood out of my head… and it was the same story on the day. I think Amber & Holly may have got sick of me singing it.

We began around at Trent & Angela’s home, for some shots with the boys..

Then it was off to the Stamford Plaza hotel in town, where we caught up with Angela and her bridesmaids.
I learned that there actually is a valid reason for having those little sprinkler heads dotted down hotel hallways… obviously they’re for hanging dresses on!

There was a little bit of jewelry deconstruction / rebuilding going on too, along with the necessary implements.

Angela & her bridesmaids looked amazing.

The hotel also had a cool patch of light… we love those (being geeky photographers and all)

We then headed down to the zoo… I love this shot of Kathy (the celebrant) reassuring Trent as the cars arrive and Angela is just about to walk down the aisle.

We had extra access to areas of the zoo not usually open to the public, which was really cool.
This one is called “Willow Island” – we shot the immediate family photos down here, which was beautiful with this soft backlight. Then a few more shots with the bridal party, and just the two of them

For the bridal party photos, we wandered around a loop circuit of the zoo (well, some of us wandered, and others got to ride in the zoomobiles!) – Trent got his wish of a shot with the groomsmen imitating the monkey… you can see him hanging in the background, wondering what’s going on!

I think the monkeys might have been a little threatened by these 4 guys moving in on their turf & dancing around… because pretty soon after this shot was taken, monkey backup arrived – and we could still hear them screaming from halfway around the zoo!

The Sealion didn’t come right up close to the glass while we were standing there, but I still love the silhouette shot (and you can see him in the distance, near the surface).

The grounds around the zoo are gorgeous too – we needed to climb a fence to get into this tree area, but the keepers said it was OK, so off we went!

The keeper then asked whether Trent & Angela would be interested in feeding a giraffe… which is definitely the first time we’ve had the pleasure of incorporating both a giraffe and a bride & groom into the one photo.

There was a lion too.

But they weren’t allowed to feed him.

Our lovely walk around the zoo finished up at the Pridelands, where we made use of the cool lines & architecture of the boardwalks in the images…

We had such a fun day – Trent & Angela were just so laid back & relaxed, and very much in love… and all we needed to do was enjoy the ride!
Thanks so much for having us along – you guys rock

Isaac, Amber, and Holly.

Hey guys,

On Friday, Amber, Holly and myself headed up to Auckland to photograph Tamara & Daniel’s wedding.

We headed around to the boys place first up – where we caught up with Daniel practicing his guitar (he sang Tamara into the ceremony as she walked down the aisle – so beautiful!).

Then it was off to the girls – where we found hair & makeup nearly all finished (well done!) and everything laid out just so – all we had to do was arrive & take photos of it!

Tamara and her girls looking gorgeous..

Next, it was back to Tamara & Daniel’s house (where the boys got ready) where they would see each other for the first time – as we were doing the bridal party shots pre-ceremony.

Daniel stood in their garden with his back to the entrance, and Tamara walked across – and he turned around & saw his wife-to-be for the first time.
It looked like this.

Next stop – Cornwall Park.
We went for a drive around Cornwall Park earlier in the day to have a look at the ceremony location, which was on the Kauri Steps. We had assumed that the Kauri Steps were the big, main steps at Cornwall Park – where we have photographed quite a few ceremonies in the past.

As we drove up, we noticed a smaller set of steps, leading down to a grove of trees with beautiful autumn colours. It was the best place in the entire park – and we just had to get some shots there before heading off to the planned locations.

Well, it turns out that these smaller steps were in fact the Kauri Steps – so the one spot in the whole of Cornwall Park that we loved the most on this particular day, was in fact Tamara & Daniel’s ceremony location! How perfect is that

Here’s what it looked like..

After finished up here, it was back to Ellerslie for some shots next to an awesome graffiti wall that Tamara had scouted out and found.
By this time, the overcast cloud from the morning had mostly gone – and with the wall in full midday sun, we had some tricky light to work with.
The solution? Absolutely blast it with the studio lights, and overpower the sun! The result = bright & punchy colours, so cool and suit the location perfectly!

Amber had a play with the fisheye lens..

This next wall / building was on the other side of the carpark – about 3 metres away from the graffiti wall. Gotta love versatile locations!

Our final stop on the photo shoot was Ellerslie Racecourse, where the contrasting doors make for a really interesting background!

The girls then headed off to touch up, and the boys went off to the ceremony (with a quick stop at KFC en-route – ahh, it’s good to be a guy!).

Daniel’s father was the minister for the ceremony… I think it is such an honour to have your marriage officiated by a parent (Amber’s mum was our celebrant when we were married) – so personal & special, both for the parents, and the bride & groom.

The ceremony was beautiful – intense & emotional.

The bubbles were overlooked by most of the guests.. but the little ones didn’t miss a thing, and made good use!

Afterwards, we had a few minutes to sneak just the two of them up to the summit of One Tree Hill for a few more shots…

The last stop on the wedding tour for the day was Butterfly Creek in Manukau, where they had their reception.
When we arrived, we got some shots of the room before everyone headed in…

Tamara had made the lanterns by herself, out of tissue paper – and they looked fantastic! I wish we were there late enough to see them all turned on!

The tables were named for concerts they had been to, with the name of the album that the band was touring at the time.
This idea really resonated with me – as Amber & I go to every concert we can, so it was awesome finding another couple for whom music plays such a big part!

Finally… what Butterfly Creek wedding would be complete without some photos involving butterflies??
The Butterfly house is so humid, that our cameras fog up nearly instantly going in there!

After unsuccessfully chasing butterflies for 10 minutes of so, we thought that this was as close as we were going to get…

But then, the lady in charge managed to catch a butterfly in her hands, and pass it along to Tamara & Daniel. You can see it’s wings blurring in her hand as it takes off.

It was a beautiful, honest, and fun wedding day – thanks for inviting us along to share a part in it!
Enjoy the photos, and enjoy Raro!!

Isaac, Amber, and Holly