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One month without posting a single photo, completely disappointed in myself. However I do have an excuse, during house renovations my Canon 7D charger went missing and the replacement has been on back order for three weeks now. 

Alas some famous person once said “The best camera is the one that’s with you” — so instead of whining about my crippled 7D you’re going to be seeing shots from my iPhone 4 until the charger arrives!

Consider this photo #2 in my Auckland Is A Cool Place To Live™ series.

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Another black and white photo, I’m clearly hating on colour at the moment.

This is just a quick shot I took of James while we were waiting for our luggage at the Wellington Airport. Speaking of Wellington — I would like to spend more time there. The bars, cafés, and the people are all superb; you can’t ask for much more than that can you?

1/100 / ƒ1.4 / ISO250 / 50mm

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Not the most glamorous shot I took of Rarotonga, but still makes we want to go back for another holiday.

1/200 / ƒ 5.6 / ISO100 / 50mm

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Auckland City, my home and one of my favourite places in the world. It’s a beautiful city and I want to show people that, so I think over the next while I’m going take more shots of Auckland; how about we consider this shot as the first in the series? Sounds good.

Anyway, this shot was taken a few months back on my crummy Canon 350D from Devonport at 1am in the morning. The following morning while slaving away at work I regretted being out that late. That was until I saw this shot, made it all worthwhile, at least I think so…

20.0s / ƒ5.6 / ISO100 / 55mm 

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Turns out family portraits are really hard. Who would of thought getting three people to look at the camera and smile at the same time would be so tricky?

In the end I certainly learnt a lot taking the photos and some of the photos seemed to come out pretty well, so in that respect the shoot was a success. I don’t think it’s an area of photography I’m going to be pursuing though.

1/100 / ƒ4.5 / ISO100 / 53mm

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Yes — it’s another shot of Natalie! I can’t help that I dig some of the photos from that shoot. Only things I’m not too fond of in this shot? The water being choppy and the wind moving her scarf a bit too much, apart from that I really like it.

I did the family portraits with Natalie a couple of weeks back, and is it very different to single portraits or what? I struggled to get the lighting I wanted on all three of them and getting a shot with everyones smile and eyes right is mission impossible. I might post a shot or two from the shoot, but I don’t think family portraits are my forte.

Definitely an experience though.

1/650 / ƒ4.5 / ISO100 / 53mm

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In Rarotonga there are dogs everywhere. They roam free on the beaches, playing, relaxing, and chasing coconuts that you throw for them. This fella here was on the small island opposite our resort fishing with his mate. He would stare at the water, dead still — until he saw a fish dart in front of him, at which point he’d attempt to pounce on it.

I didn’t see him catch any, but I’m not sure that mattered, it looked like he was having fun.

1/800 / ƒ5.6 / ISO100 / 50mm

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Another photo of Natalie from the same shoot. Even though she wasn’t really expecting me to take a shot at this moment I still like how it came out, it just feels natural. A candid shot if you like.

Natalie has also asked me to take some family portraits for her so that should be interesting, since I’ve never done family shots before!

I’ll let you know how I get on.

1/500 / ƒ2.5 / ISO100 / 50mm

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I’ve known Natalie for a couple of years now, and she just so happens to live exactly two minutes walk from my house. Yet, last weekend was the first time I’ve taken a picture of her which in hindsight is pretty damn stupid.

Natalie just has one of those faces that works in front of the camera and to make it even better she’s just genuinely awesome. Expect to see more of her soon!

1/500 / ƒ5 / ISO100 / 65mm

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Taking pictures of a person who you work with for 10 hours a day and is also the co-founder of your business is a strange experience. I can’t put my finger on why, but it’s just not as relaxing I thought it would be. Probably something to do with knowing that if you take crappy photos he’s going to make your life hell next week.

Seriously though, this is James. He’s pretty awesome and turns out he makes a good model too. This is from a shoot we did a few weeks back that involved swords and a dark, empty warehouse. Long story.

1/60 / ƒ3.5 / ISO2500 / 28mm