This wasn’t a trash the dress shoot either – Sarah was keen as to get right into the waterfall on the wedding day itself! Commitment!

Congratulations guys – that is a beautiful image you have there, and it’ll look great as a framed print on the wall – which is your prize for winning

Thanks to all who voted!

If you didn’t see the original post – here’s the Top 10 Photos of 2009

And here is the winning image:

The day began (as our days usually do) with some shots of the boys – all looking very suave! It was so bright outdoors – even under the shade of the lovely trees in the garden it was so hard to see because of the glare – so well done to the boys for managing to keep your eyes open in (most of) the shots!

We then traveled over to Cambridge, where the girls were getting ready – at a beautiful place called Thornton House – not only do they have a fantastic house & great gardens… but they know how to put together yummy lunches too!

Rhonda’s sister Victoria made the beautiful bridesmaids dresses – and got a little teary when she first saw her big sis in her wedding gown

Karen (if you are getting married in Hamilton & don’t have a florist yet… now you do) arrived with the flowers – and we were set to go!

After a few shots with the girls, we headed back to Hamilton, where St. Peters Cathedral awaited us.

I have to say, this is my favourite church in Hamilton… good light inside + big, epic arches + only 5 minutes from the reception venue (and my house) = win

Down at the Hamilton Gardens afterwards, we found some great light & a convenient wall to sit on – and got some fantastic shots!

These last few shots were down by the Ferrybank – where the reception was… for which we stayed on & covered speeches & the start of the dancing.. you’ll have to wait for some of those shots though!

It was a fantastic day (and night) – thanks heaps guys for inviting us along to share a part in it with you!

Isaac & Amber

From the moment we arrived (and saw Jon shirtless, practicing a song with the Ukulele band) we knew things were going to be a little different!

They went with a beach / caravan theme – inspired by their fantastic little caravan (in which Gemma arrived at the ceremony, towed by a tractor) – and along with the theme went mis-matched kitsch plates, and cool little folded paper caravans for each table. It was obvious that a huge amount of time & effort had gone into setting it all up & making the decorations, but totally worth it! It was the Kiwi summer holiday – down to a T.

Then it was off to see Gemma – who was looking stunning in her beautiful Kate Dowman dress – and a few pre-ceremony photos…

Gemma arrived in style at the ceremony..

But Jon – not to be outdone – countered with a poem he had written about the two of them & their caravan, which had pretty much everyone crying (including us).

Afterward, we headed down to the beach (with the bridesmaids & Jon’s “Man-tourage” in tow) for a few shots – the light was beautiful coming through the trees… and as usual, Holly got some of the best shots of the day… this girl just keeps getting better!

On the way back to the reception, we stopped for a few photos with the caravan – I think these look great with a bit of a vintage tone applied to them.. almost like old holiday snaps.

Last (but definitely not least) we grabbed a few images at the base of a huge pohutakawa tree – strategically avoiding the Daihatsu Sirion that was convienently parked about a foot outside the frame here… romantic.

Their speeches were off the charts – it was more like watching live comedy than listening to wedding speeches!
We headed home buzzing – such a fun day… and pizza in Thames on the way home wasn’t even too bad.

Thanks so much Jo-Gem for inviting us along to share a part in your day – we had a blast

Isaac, Amber, & Holly.

On Sunday, we had our third lovely wedding of the weekend, this time Hannah & John’s wedding at Sarnia Park.

It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day – and Hannah looked absolutely stunning in her Anna Schimmel gown – very elegant & graceful! (In fact, I asked her whether she had ever done ballet – only to find out that in fact she played hockey!)

Their ceremony was on the lakefront, which was the first chance we’d had to shoot across there – it was lovely and intimate!

Afterwards, we headed around the grounds with the bridal party for some photos – these two look great together, and made our job easy

It’s now 4.30am and today’s trip to Christchurch has moved a little closer – so I’ll sign off & get into the pictures.
Again – the Photoshop action to make logos & fancy doubled up vertical shots isn’t playing the game tonight, hence the more “plain” layout!

Enjoy the photos

Isaac.

On Saturday, we headed up to Matakana (an hour past Auckland on the East Coast) – to a beautiful little venue called “The Castle” – to photograph Phil & Annabelle’s wedding.

We kicked off the day with some pre-ceremony photos with them down on the beach, and then after their ceremony we took a few more with the bridal party, finishing up with that lovely late afternoon sunlight!

It’s now 3.45am & our trip to Christchurch is only a few hours away, so without further ado – pictures!
(if you didn’t see below on the previous blog post, my Photoshop action to put the logo / borders onto the images isn’t working at the moment, so these will do in the meantime!)

Enjoy!

Isaac.

When we scouted out this field earlier in the day, we saw that there was no lock on the chain… OK’d it with the owner of the property… and then arrived to find there was actually a sneaky chain at ankle level with a padlock on it. Not to be deterred, Annabelle climbed over the gate & into the field (we have pictures to prove it!). It’s being adventurous like that which results in getting awesome photos!

Annabelle wanted to try & get a photo with some of the black faced sheep in the paddock down the hill from the venue… unfortunately, they were quite elusive & not interested in coming close!

You can see them in the next shot, down in the bottom paddock. When we were finished, while I packed the gear into the car, Amber sneaked down the hill and got this last one just for Annabelle

On Friday, we headed out to Woodlands to photograph Brad & Kim’s wedding.

It was an awesome day – beautiful, golden afternoon light to play with!

It’s 3.30am and we’re flying to Christchurch in a few hours, so I’ll stop waffling and show you some pictures!
Photoshop stuffed up my little action that puts the fancy logo & boxes onto the images, so until I get it fixed a bit later in the week, these ones will suffice!

Enjoy the photos

Isaac.

Today, Amber, Holly, and I headed over to Tauranga to photograph Jace & Sharnee’s wedding.

It was a fantastic day – the rain from earlier in the week had well & truly cleared up – with glorious blue skies to be enjoyed by all!

This is a slightly more condensed “sneak peek” than usual – as we’re flying out to Sydney in one hour, so in a few days once we’re back I’ll pop a few more images up!
It’s also the reason that there are more of my own images than the others – because when you’re in a rush & looking for fav shots, you tend to gravitate to the ones you remember loving on the back of the camera display when you took them!

I love this next shot of Sharnee – such striking eyes!

Holly took this fantastic first kiss shot

Then we headed off for a few photos with the bridal party – we found some shade, which was very welcome – especially for the guys in their suits!

The water in the harbour was incredibly still & smooth – the blue just jumps out in these shots! I love Amber’s more zoomed in one – Sharnee’s eyes just sparkle in the sun

Finally, we headed to Omokoroa beach, for a bit of variation & sand… the light was perfect by this stage – take note… if you have your bridal party photos from 6 – 7pm you get GREAT late afternoon light!!!

Little Angelo was so shy in front of the cameras at the beginning of the day… as you can see, that changed!

It was a fantastic day – thanks for having us along to share a part in it!

Isaac, Amber, & Holly

Some of you already know Holly… but for those who don’t.. an introduction

She’s been working with us for over a year now (although there was a 6 month stint just before Christmas where she was traveling the US & Europe and we missed her terribly!)

Anyway – technically, on the pricelist, Holly is the “lighting assistant” – she’s there to help out with holding things & knows how to work & set up our lighting gear.

But she’s so much more than that.

First & foremost – a photographer. When Holly isn’t holding lights (which is about 95 % of the wedding day) she’s shooting.
This presents an interesting challenge – as Amber and I usually have what we like to think of as the 2 “best” angles…. which in turn means Holly needs to think outside the square and shoot something totally different. Which is why we love her shots so much – because they’re always from a cool, unique angle.

Here’s a few of her shots from Kat & Simon’s wedding in Pauanui last Friday…

As you can see – she is hugely talented as a photographer in her own right!

Second… Holly is a very good light tester. This makes Amber happy, because it means she doesn’t have to get in front of the camera.
It maybe doesn’t make Holly quite as happy, but she never complains!

Thirdly.. a model!
Holly has come along a few times to model – once for our NZIPP group on a workshop day of shooting, and once for a bridal shoot that we did a while back

Finally – Holly is learning the process of editing the images, which is a great way to grow as a photographer – as you begin to edit your own work, you can see areas for improvement – and it has been cool having her in the office this week, showing her the ropes.

So there you have it… our so-much-more-than-a-lighting-assistant, who works wonders every weekend

Thanks for all your hard work Holly – we really appreciate everything you do, and your shots just keep getting better & better!
xoxo Isaac & Amber.

I’ll preclude this post by mentioning that yes Holly came along too, and yes, her shots were fantastic. So much so, that she’s getting her own blog post – maybe tomorrow. Or maybe later. But soon. And there’ll be more of Kat & Simon’s photos in that one.

Anyway – we arrived. There were clouds – which made us happy. Then they went away and left bright blue skies – which at least reassured us that Murphy’s law is still well and truly in control of the universe. Then the clouds returned for their ceremony & photo shoot on the beach – hurrah!!

The boys were getting ready at Simon’s parents – right by the airfield. This was because Simon’s dad has a plane – hence photos with the plane. I love that you can fly places & taxi right to your front door – awesome!

I also loved the fact that the guys were dressed in shirts, shorts & jandals – sensible decision when you are getting married on the beach, in summer. Much more comfortable than 3 piece suits, for sure! The guys weren’t afraid to play up to the camera a bit either..

Then it was off to the girls, where Kat & bridesmaids were getting ready in a lovely apartment building – filled with all the good kinds of light & quirky bits that photographers like. The girls had jandals too, again – good decision, as anyone who has walked on the beach in heels before will know.

Kat’s fascinator (and the bridesmaid’s hairpieces too) was fantastic – so classic & elegant!
The girls weren’t afraid of playing up a little for the camera either..

Just before we headed out the door to the ceremony, we had the chance for a few shots in the cool staircase of the apartments – I find it interesting that although we were shooting totally different angles (Amber was down the bottom, I was up top) and different zooms, we both went for framing with negative space at the top!

We caught up with celebrant Marilyn Holmes – who does beautiful ceremonies, and Kat & Simon’s was gorgeous. Very personal, and real.
I don’t usually include shots of “signing the register” in my blog posts, but something about this one grabs me & it just had to go in…

We headed down for some shots with the bridal party, beginning with the rocks. Punchy black & whites are great for these kind of conditions – it really brings the contrast in the skies out.

The thing which really struck me about Kat & Simon was that we didn’t really need to direct anything – they were just naturally looking at each other, stealing kisses, and all we really needed to do was keep shooting!

We then wandered along to the dunes, where the fluffy grass things made for a nice soft foreground (I’m sure Amber will berate me for not knowing the actual name of said fluffy things) – and then finished up down by the Pohutakawa trees & bridge.

Enjoy the photos – and keep an eye out for the “Holly special” blog post soon, with her shots from Kat & Simon’s day

Just got back from Simon & Kat’s wedding up in Pauanui – what a stunning couple they were! So photogenic, and just a pleasure to work with I think what made it even better was that they were just so … for want of a better word… in love. It meant that we didn’t really need to direct anything, as they were always looking at each other, sneaking kisses, all we really did was show up & take pictures!

Proper sneak peek coming tomorrow – but I just couldn’t resist playing with this image a bit tonight, so thought I’d share… mainly because I’m impatient!

I really like the tones & narrow band of focus in this one.

Stay tuned for more soon.