Winter photography -- Bring on Summer

Winter in my part of New Zealand has been one of the coldest and driest that I can remember. We had the coldest July on record and some days you felt like staying indoors all day. It's also hard with photographing any type outdoor photography as you are looking at the forecast hoping for a break in the weather and some sun shine. I had one photoshoot for Real Journeys, photographing a new boat tourist boat at sea and we were lucky to catch a fine day and a little sunshine to make reasonable pictures that we were happy with.

To add to the frustration of organizing a photo shoot without the rain and wind we have had a recession in New Zealand to deal with and people and companies aren't spending the money they normally would. I think our economy follows the Australian economy and they're right behind the US. But I read we are climbing out of it. I'm hoping the next few months get busy to make up for August which was bad in all sectors. However, September was the busiest for me yet with work every day. Lots of Advertising photography and some in studio work for Invercargill Breweries photographing beer and other smaller clients. I'm wanting to start an email newsletter before Xmas to keep in touch with my existing clients but coming up with regular copy and interesting stuff will be a challenge. I've also started with a new web designer and will ad more fresh content to my website www.maheno.co.nz more often. Summer in my part of NZ is beautiful and with an improvement in weather people become more optimistic so here's hoping for a great summer with lots of fine days and fine pictures to keep the magazines and publishers and advertises in New Zealand and Australia happy.

It's been a while - but.

It's been a while since my last post. However, I have been working very hard in my photography business in Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand. A famous British musician once described my beautiful town as "the arsehole of the world", more fool him as our air has been described as a fine champagne and Britain has the smog and vehicle congestion problem. A new addition to my business is a website I've been working on for a while
www. maheno.co.nz It's a work in progress and along with this blog , which I plan to update more regular will give my customers a more personal feel for my business and what I do. I've tried to make it as simple as possible so my client can see (A) easy navigation (B) he can take good pictures (C) for contact details.
My business is geared towards advertising photography as more and more work is coming from that sector. Especially, the advertisers with the small to medium budget.
I'm off this week to the far north of New Zealand to a small Maori settlement called Pamapuria to a family members 60th birthday, it's my dad's family area. I'm taking my camera and I hope to get some good pictures of that areas rural Maori community so I hope to post a couple of pictures. My wife and I are staying on a marae with family and can't wait to see everyone.
The whole week I've been weighing up my options with what camera gear to take. Do I take digital which is heavy and means a lot of weight or do I take analog and a bit of film. I do like the the instant results of digital but I'd have to take my laptop and a couple of lenses. But I'm traveling light so I've settled for a small Leica M6 rangefinder and a 35mm lense.
I'll just have to wait until I get back to get the film processed.
I live in a small city of 50,000 people to get away to a small community of less than 100 will be great.

Don't Stop Me Now

"Lest we Forget" 2003

The above image won an award for me last year. It was my first award and first slice of recognition. Hopefully not my last award either. Although, I think I could be more proactive in entering more art awards and competitions. I try to keep my photographs, at least the ones I exhibit, as simple as possible. The photo was taken at an Anzac Day commemoration close to my home. Anzac stands for, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which served together in Gallipoli, Turkey. Thousands of Kiwis and Aussies died and this is our way of remembering them. "Lest we Forget"

Welcome To My Blog

Good morning world!
Today is a good day. So, far be it that I write pages and pages of babble that are not worth a pinch of salt and slide off the bottom of the screen and into the ether that is the Internet.

Oh no I don't have a lot of time. My posts will be short and sweet and have very little meaningless drivel.
I would like to use this forum to post some comment on anything that I think is worthwhile and post photographs so my clients can come and view some of my work. It will be a work in progress as I value my time and won't be able to write for hours on end. I do have a young family and time at their young age is precious so sitting writing all day for no reward is not high on my agenda.

What I would like to start a discussion on is travel, hunting, politics of other countries, small business strategies and literature. I'm far from being an expert on any of these topics they are interests and I am willing to listen and learn from people that know a lot more that I do.


I shot the above photograph of my son at the after match function of his rugby game. It was taken inside the clubroom and he'd just acquired a bottle of fizzy and a pie from his coach.