Nichola & Mike's Wedding 15/05/2010

Nichola and Michael were married late afternoon (3pm) in the middle of May - towards the end of autumn here in New Zealand. So I knew the bridal party images were going to be shot in the early evening, as the sun was setting. A gorgeous time of day - but one that I don't get to use all that often for weddings.

There had been quite a bit of rain during the morning, but this cleared up nicely towards the afternoon. A rainy day with clear evening means one thing around here - a beautiful sunset! And I wasn't disappointed.

The service itself was at Shantytown, where we stayed for the family formal's and a few bridal party images, before heading out to catch the sunset at the Blaketown Tiphead. The sun was already sinking fast, so all the shots were taken using an off-camera flash, shot through a large umbrella, with the able assistance of my photography assistant Nikki.

The combination of setting sun, location, amazing couple and off-camera flash allowed me to create some of the most amazing wedding images I've ever taken! A real highlight for me of the 2010 Wedding Season.

Kelly & Brent's Wedding 13/03/2010

Kelly and Brent were married on a beautiful day out at Shantytown - a local Heritage Park.

Brent has a gold claim, so was keen to have an historic gold mining theme running through the images of the day. Shantytown was obviously the perfect place for this, but we also managed to get some shots out at his own claim with modern machinery.

Kelly and the girls were a lot of fun, and the whole day was a blast. It was great to shoot around a theme and it helped to make the kind of mood needed to create great wedding photos. Thanks guys.

Aasta & Martin's Wedding 27/02/2010

What a glorious day for a glorious wedding. It was hot (maybe too hot) and sunny (maybe too sunny), with not a breath of wind. For an outside garden wedding, Aasta and Martin couldn't have asked for a better day.

Aasta's mothers garden overlooks a beautiful stretch of beach along the Coast Road, so we didn't have to go very far for the bridal party shots. Wasn't much shade on the beach though, and it's one of the few weddings I shot this year where I ended up getting sunburnt!

Donna & Murray's Wedding 25/02/10

This was my first ever mid-week wedding (on a Wednesday), shot at one of the most beautiful locations on the West Coast - Punakaiki. Donna and Murray are a fun loving, nature loving couple who were very keen to get as much of the natural bush and coastline into their images as possible - and I was more than happy to oblige. We had a blast - and came away with some amazing images. I hope that all the weddings I shoot from now on could be this much fun!

Melissa & Phillip 13/02/10

Had a fantastic day with Melissa and Phillip and we were really lucky with the weather. The rain followed us around, but we managed to dodge it when we got out to shoot at each location.

Phillip's parents own the coolest activity to do when visiting the West Coast - 'On Yer Bike'. So we had to go out there and shoot at the replica model village 'Little Earth', as well as along the coast road. Great natural soft light and a cool young couple. Thanks guys.

Shelley & Joshua's Wedding 06/02/10

A very hot day for Shelley and Joshua's wedding at Shantytown. Then it was down to the Paroa Beach
for some beautiful location shots.

Shantytown is one of the West Coast's best locations for wedding photographs - under any weather. So many different places to shoot at, so many great images.

Laura & Shawn's Wedding 09/01/10

A beautiful day for a beach wedding. Laura and Shawn were married down on Barrytown Beach, which made a fantastic backdrop for an amazing wedding. There were helicopters, micro-lites and vintage cars converging from everywhere!

Afterwards we shot at a garden location along the coast road - and captured some great images - even if I did get lost and drove around for an hour trying to find everyone! Oops. No harm was done though - and some amazing results with my infra-red camera made up for the lateness. Thanks guys, you were wonderful.