Paul has been busy getting some promotional photos for Windhawk Helicopters, and took another flight this week.  He's soooo lucky :) 

I reckon this really looks like 'Lord of the Rings' kind of country.  It's easy to forget how beautiful an area this is when you live here - but view it from a chopper, and it's all new :)

I tell you what - you can't get to this by road!

They travelled down to the Kaikoura Coast - to Kekerengu "The Store", and had a coffee.  Not a bad way to arrive, certainly turns some heads!

I adore this shot.  Complete simplicity, and yet keep looking, you'll see the cloud relfections, the ripples in the water.  A magnificent use of negative space!

First a disclaimer: Photography is an art form - and art is entirely subjective.  So what I find beautiful, you may find utterly awful, so take anything I say with a grain of salt, use what works for you!

Right, so on to the answers to lifes most difficult and stretching questions.  My first tidbit addresses what most people do wrong, before they even press the shutter.  You want to take Sally's photo, so you put Sally somewhere in front of the camera and order her to "smile!" in your singsongy voice.  People don't know how to smile, unless Sally is a trained model, you're going to get a photo that may look something like this:

Some people are better at it than others, but generally, people are mortified in front of your camera and will give you a quick forced smile to get you out of their face.  The sides of the mouth may be forced upwards, but in their eyes you'll see anything but a real smile.  Often this will be the only photo someone will take, and poor Sally will have that photo in the family album for years to come.  No doubt, even though she's cute as a button, she will think she's unphotogenic.  We must stop saying smile, stop it today!  Most people can smile on cue as easily as they can cry on cue, it's just not natural. 

So that leaves us with a problem, how do I get someone to look good?  I get comments all the time of how people love my candid photos, why?  Because they're real.  We must work a little harder to let our subjects be themselves in front of the camera, give them time and stalk them if you must (in the nicest way possible.)

Watch people, because everyone has a beautiful side (wow, are they song lyrics?)  It's true though.  Give your subject the freedom to be themselves, they'll love you for it!

This photo was taken in an unguarded moment, same kid but I think it's much much nicer.  Of course there are other things that make it better as well, which I will explain as time goes on.  But for now, this is your project - go take photos of someone without asking them to smile or say cheese!  Go on, I know you can do it!

And yes, I realise that sometimes you simply have to do the 'sit and force a pose' photo, for whatever reason, just try and limit these times :)

Charlotte, a flowergirl from a recent wedding, wrote me this note at the reception.  I think it's up there with my favourite 'thank you' notes, of all time - this is what it's all about!

On a slightly different note - we're thrilled about the traffic that our little blog has had recently, and the interest and comments we get from it.  In the next couple of days, I will be launching a series of tips and tidbits for anyone with a camera.  Not boring stuff like f-stops, megapixels and complex formulas... I know the internet is brimming with those already.  No, this will just be the sort of thing that you can take and put into practise right now, with any camera.  Real life examples of how to make your photos spunkier, more emotion filled, and far more interesting to look at!

There are so many things we've picked up along the way in our photography - truly simple stuff that makes all the difference.....but you're going to have to wait - so watch this space :) 

Today I was lucky enough to be able to photograph this beautiful young family.  Ryan is just the cutest little guy, one of the most placid babies I've seen in a long time!

First we did some shots at home:

As long as he could watch his mobile, he didn't mind being in his cot at all!

Then we headed up to Harling Park, to take some more pics of them all together.  I love this shot - the dog looks like she's part kangaroo!

Ryan just cracked up watching her!

I spied a sweet spot at the top of the hill - perfect!  This will do just nicely!

Love the silhouettes!

I reckon this could be an album cover :)

My favourite photo of the day  - safe with Mummy :)

There are a bundle more that I love also, I'll add a few more here as time allows.  I hope you guys like the pics, can't wait to show you all of them!