Maree T Photography

Last night I had the pleasure of being part of the Canterbury Children’s Earthquake Trust fundraising dinner and auction. I donated 1/15 limited edition prints of the Cathedral captured on 22 March 2012. It was purchased for $1500 which was a great price and I’m absolutely delighted. Guest speaker Steve Hansen and Sam Johnson were fantastic, poignant and entertaining. The evening raised about $40,000 for the trust.

The Canterbury Earthquake Children’s Trust has been established to

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Here are a few more teaser shots for Karine and Chad. The gown that Jane Yee designed for Karine set her apart from any other bride I’ve photographed this season. Some of these images Jane is using in a spread for NZ weddings. Enjoy!

I have created some great opportunities recently and have quite a few projects I’m working on so I thought I’d share some of these with you. Here are a few images as a teaser from a shoot I have done for Boss Construction Ltd to produce a calendar for them. 

I’m looking at taking this idea further by creating both a National and International calendar. My aim is to show Christchurch as it is today and to help keep the devastation, needs and what Christchurch has been through in the

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Marissa & Matt love the sea & all the fun that can be had especially from a boat so it was fitting that they arrived at their reception on a beautiful launch to the Royal NZ Yacht Club. 

(outside the RNZYS)

What a special venue that is. I have to say though that the Zen Gardens in Whitford were a photographers dream with a unique range of backdrops that were stunning.  Sadly we didn't have enough time there which is often the case but I'm sure you'll enjoy the images

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I have to say not all grooms would be so game to accept such creative direction.  One of the wonderful things about having the pleasure of shooting Abi & Gaz's wedding was that they wanted to have some fun & do a few crazy shots.  Love these kind of outside the square clients.

They had also found a private car junk yard that gave some really cool backdrops.

I absolutely loved the venue they choose in Hamilton which was  the Vilagrad Vineyard. It was just beautiful & the thought

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Not everybody wants a happy smiling studio portrait,

For those of you that know my work and portrait ethic, anytime i do a shoot i strive to portray the character and personality of the subject. My focus this year is targeting clients who better suit alternative more real environments. Most importantly creating images that when looked back on by future generations really shows the subject and the space they were in and tells a more complex real story. I’m looking to market this new

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My son was born on Waitangi day.  Prime Ministers get threatened there every year!  The wedding of Karine & Chad gave me  new & rather beautiful memories. Awesome landscape, wonderful backdrops.

As always, never enough time, moving around it pretty quickly & didn't do all that we wished too but what a fantastic bridal party to work with & as you'll see the bride was always laughing & there's a pretty big smile on the grooms face too.   I figured pretty quickly the brides tickle spot

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What I love about shooting weddings is the pleasure i get seeing the dynamics of the couple during the portrait session. The one day in your life to let your love show, of course this is it. Laughter is the warmest emotion and the one that nudges those endorphins to great places. The boys were a hoot & enjoyed giving each other a hard time about there really tight pants. But girls, they were quite cute butts! I absolutely love the venue which was Settler’s Country Manor Waymauku at Kyumyu

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When we're shooting brides getting ready, not always in your own homes, our challenge is to find elements that will make interesting backdrops to complement the beauty of the bride and to add something to the over all image.  A  feature I always enjoy finding are staircases because they can offer some really interesting converging lines and can become a frame within themselves. You get the perspective of shooting both up and down and there are often interesting features at the bottom. And

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I had a pleasure last weekend surrounded by brides to be held at SkyCity an event put on by Astra Bridal raising funds for Endometriosis New Zealand. What a fantastic excuse and opportunity to mix and mingle with a range of Auckland wedding experts which of course included myself.

 Brides came with their friends and mums, they got an early taste of the hens night by having to done the party veil and enjoyed bubbles, afternoon tea, fashion parades, prize draws, mystery prizes, wedding

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Every year on Jack's Birthday he has a shoot with me and & his parents order an album to celebrate his journey through childhood.

Last year was crazy with dozens of three year olds in McDonalds. The shoot this year was at Cornwell Park, the perfect place to capture his adventurous, mischievous, and fun loving side.

From these few images, I'm sure you'll agree that his personality and character have been caught creating memories that he will look back on and I'm sure laugh at. I look

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Last week I did a shoot for Kylie from Pret-A-Porter Hairdressers in Howick for a Wella competition. I love working with Kylie, as well as her awesome hair styling she does she's so much fun to work with. A big thanks also to Jess Collier for the fantastic make up. While at this point I can't share the competition entries (watch this space) I did want to share some of the other shots I got of these beautiful young ladies.  I love the strong colours of Wella, so enjoy these.

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Oh it’s been a crazy old week of shooting but for privacy reasons I am unable to share these shoots with you.

 I do have an update on the Kodak Awards though. I won three Kodak Awards. Two Silver Merits (almost Gold’s) and one Gold.

The Kodak Awards are recognition for outstanding photography in New Zealand. It is such an honour to receive three awards this year and I’d like to share my winning entries with you.

The Album and The Bride leaning on the train won the Silver Merits. The

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Crazy couple of weeks with a mix of family shoots, updating websites, computer stuff and generally dealing with all the work that goes on in the background of any small business.

These images that I’m sharing with you are a mix of some of the family work I’ve been doing. I hope you enjoy them!

Newly in love, Ana and Darryn wanted to capture some beautiful, traditional images that reflected this. Anna especially wanted some great shots that she could send home to Mum (who lives in Spain.)

You’ll see I’ve done most of these in a vintage tone, as much as I love black & white and sepia it’s nice to have something a little bit different. Enjoy!

Jackie and Nick are Ex Pats who have recently returned home to get married, settle down and raise a family. I teased you a couple of weeks ago with some shots of Jackie (our Brides) gown at the abandoned Hobsonville Air Base. As I work through their wedding post production I’m going to do regular blog showing you the different aspects of their day and some of the stunning imagery that so well reflects their love and commitment to each other. These images are of Jackie and the girls just

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Nothing says you love somebody more than giving a gift voucher for a photo shoot. Giving the gift of memory says how much you cherish who they are today.

The images here were captured for a Mum in celebration of her birthday. She was delighted to receive such a unique and special gift.

A few more Fathers Day shots to share. These were actually taken on Fathers’ Day. My favourite from these I’ve got to say is the dudes’ shots. Boys being boys!

But there is always something special about Daddy’s and their girls as well.

Recently at the 6th Annual Black and White Spider Awards I was a finalist with two images in the categories of Advertising and People. This prestigious awards show received thousands of entries from around the world and was watched by 40,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the climax of the industry's most important event for black and white photography.

The awards international Jury included captains of the industry from Sotheby's, Magnum Photos, and Tate.

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Had to share these images with you taken last week that represent Fathers Day so well. This was this Dad’s first Fathers Day with his new daughter.

As I think you’ll agree these images represent beautifully the importance of relationships Fathers have with their children.

Carrying The Most Precious Gift Of All.

Outside the wedding day with the celebration of our love and commitment we make to each other nothing else surpasses the experience and emotions of giving birth to a child that is the result of that love for each other.

Amongst the many fantastic elements of my job is the relationships I develop with my wedding couples that allows me to capture all these other precious moments in their lives. 

One of

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Oh no! Another Fathers Day. What on earth are we going to get Dad this year? He really does have enough hankies and undies.

The most precious gift that you can give any family man to represent the love he has for his family and create some fantastic memories of who he is today/ this year is a photographic shoot with an award winning Photographer.

·        Dad & the kids,

·        Granddad & all the kids,

·        Dad, Mum and the kids,

·        Dad and his best friend

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Mandy and Greg have been very patient waiting to view their photos while I have been busy over the last couple of weeks with exhibitions and awards so here are a few more teasers for them and I look forward to showing them all of the images later this week.

But no I only got married this last decade so no chance. Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to a special evening by Astra Bridal introducing the up and coming seasons designs. Along with photographing the event for them I had the opportunity to share some of the vast knowledge I have on Wedding Days (need to know often don’t, invaluable tips.)

All in aid of making Brides look and stay looking fantastic and a mix of other elements that ensure a smooth running day. So any Brides

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A lovely Engagement Party for this gorgeous Indian couple with the exchanging of the rings with their full three day Indian Wedding later on in the year.

Being in Wellington this weekend I had one my super star Photographers Stephen Mare’ from my Anything But Ordinary Team photograph this wedding with great results.

My Anything But Ordinary Team is Wedding Photography for the budget conscious Bride & Groom.  For more information on this please check out the following link..

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I did this Wedding for a local couple a few weeks ago, at this time of year you’ll never know what the weather is going to do.  This Bride came well prepared with not just an umbrella but the gum boots as well. While they were both needed we also had bursts of sunshine and the good luck of a rainbow or two.

This was a nice small intimate Wedding but certainly one of celebration with lots of love and emotion.

It is with great difficulty and many hours of indecision that I present to you my NZIPP Iris Award entries.

Every country has its own Photographic Professional Institute. It is well known that NZ is the toughest when it comes to the awards. The standard being so jolly high which certainly in one sense is great but deciding which images to submit is very difficult.

It’s not about your favourite photos or the ones your like the most. But it’s about choosing ones that the judges are

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I’ve just finished working on these two modelling portfolio shoots and as I’m sure you’ll agree they deserve to be snapped up by an Agency as they photograph very well!

If you or anyone you know is an aspiring actor or model I’d love the opportunity to create a portfolio for you. So book your photo shoot now.

Another week of celebrating women and the beautiful form that their bodies create. Now ladies if the thought has crossed your mind to treat yourself to a beautiful fine art portrait celebrating who you are today – be not afraid. You don’t have to be nude. In all of these shots my women were wearing G-Strings that I post produced out in the editing phase.

These are some of the images that I have been working on this week. I hope you enjoy them.

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Quite a few of my clients from the Wedding season just past are ex-pats who fly home to the land of the long cloud for a quick Wedding. This morning I had the pleasure of showing Jason and Janelle via Skype (who sat in their living room in London with a glass of champagne at 10 pm at night their time) the images from their special day.

Old memories, new memories, forgotten moments all relived. This couple had a very wet Wedding but boy did the make the most of it. You might remember

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One of the many things I love about this job (and title) is the pleasure of helping new models who haven’t been in front of a camera before. I enjoy teaching them how to move and smile and work the lens. It is always satisfying to see the results of that direction. All in aid of making their images stand out from the crowd of modelling faces. Sunny’s going to do particularly well if Bollywood comes to town (as promised by John Key.)

It was an absolute pleasure to shoot these shots. I

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A few shots from Kellys shoot

I had the pleasure of photographing a superb couple in the weekend where the wife had bought a shoot voucher for her husband for his birthday. As you will see I managed to convince her to join in some of the shots. The dynamics of their relationship together was fantastic. Lots of laughs and quite clearly a couple in love.

A long with the fun shots of them we did also capture some business profile pictures as well. And a perfect finishing off shot of them leaping around, being silly

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Celebrating women, we should do this more often. I had the pleasure of creating some beautiful images for a Mum of one over the weekend. A mix of shots including Fine Art nude. These are beautiful images where I created art with her body as a canvas. Images that make any women feel sexy again with our post baby bodies. Celebrating the new us. I have the secrets for posing you in ways that kinda hide the bits we might not like so much and emphasise the ones we do. So celebrate who you are

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 I had the pleasure last evening of showing Kylie & Michael all of the images captured & created from their wedding day. A small sample of which are in the below blog. It's my favorite part of the job. Getting to give my couples a memory blast. It's the next best thing to the actual day. You get to look back on the day from a whole different prespective. From the outside. You get to laugh, maybe cry, it's all a surprise. And you go home with a smile on your face & love in your heart:) Mmmm

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While the Wedding season may be over for shooting I’m still in the depths of post production. As I’m working on images I am reminded how lucky I am to share this special day in peoples’ lives creating memories for them. Nothing does the soul better than being around a couple that are in love and the celebration that a Wedding Day gives. Here are some of the images that I have been working on this week. Enjoy!

We ran a Mother’s Day competition this year. Entrants had to say why their Mum deserved a photo shoot. There were a lot of deserving Mums out there. But our lucky winner was Kelly-Thuy Tran. This was her story. “My Mum deserves a photo shoot because she lost 90% of her photos during the Vietnam War when she fled with my Dad and Sister. Family photos were lost or burnt. My Mum loves taking photos and I know she would love this!”

Kelly’s Mum is one lucky Mum to have two beautiful

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The NZIPP Annual Iris Awards are almost upon us. It is always hard trying to decide what entries to make for these Awards. I get so close to the work as the Artist that I can’t always be that objective. Then of course we are always also trying to pick ones that the panel of five judges is going to award (hard to please these kick arse buggers that they are, getting any award is like pulling dinosaur teeth.) What it does mean though is that any images that do get awarded certainly have

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As promised some more of the images from last weekend’s shoot. Forget New Zealand's Next Top Model, Kate was absolutely gorgeous to work with and a true natural.

This mix of images moves more into my Fine Art Nude genre in celebrating the female form and the way that the light plays on the lines and depth of body shape. To see more of these images check out my Celebrating Women categories by clicking here. Enjoy!

I’ve had success with my first entry into an International Photography Competition. I did not receive any of the big prizes but out of the thousands of images submitted from around the world I’m proud that this image “Five Generations” made it into the final nominations.

Celebrating its sixth year, Black and White Spider Awards is the leading international award honouring black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur

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I had the pleasure of shooting some boudoir shots over the weekend. I am passionate about creating images that capture the glamour, beauty and sensuality of every woman.

No matter what gift wrapping we come in it’s as much about your inner beauty and personality type I strive to capture for you.

Boudoir shots can be just for you or for you to share with that special someone in your life. These shoots are not intended to be x-rated but give you an opportunity to be as frivolous,

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Just when I thought my Wedding season was over I got this last minute shoot to do for Sonia & Remainder who decided at the last minute to tie the knot before heading over to Sydney this week to live.

I've photographed Sonia before so it was a great pleasure to capture these special images for her & her new husband. Enjoy!

The last wedding of the season... Yay! Despite the forecast for rain it stayed fine but being so late in the year we did run out of light very quickly and spent the last forty five minutes of the shoot depending entirely on our flash.

Mandy & Greg got married in the very gorgeous St. Patricks Church in the city. They were a fun group to shoot although at one point we lost the Groomsmen in traffic and had to shoot without them for half an hour or so but it’s all part of living in

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Last month I did a portrait workshop for the Auckland Camera Club. I was invited to share my expertise on portrait photography. I showed them some of my own work allowing me to describe the essential elements involved in creating Anything But Ordinary portraiture. This included some before and afters to demonstrate the benefits of post production. I took in some of my studio lighting, set them up with a model so that I could demonstrate the different ways of lighting to create different

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As you can see Emma did just that. Full credit to this courageous Bride who stepped under the freezing waterfall and then clamoured back down the hill side and walked straight out into the surf (and the crazy Photographer with pants rolled up to her thighs further out in the tide trying to keep her bum and her camera dry) all in the name of art!

The other really cool thing about this shoot was while it was predominantly focused around the Bride it also included the Groom. It wasn’t just

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Emma wanted to get the most out of her self designed gown and decided to book a Trash the Gown Shoot combined with that though was another new category of mine (one that you don’t often have the time to achieve on the wedding day) that is a Bridal Fashion Shoot. Great for those Brides that maybe don’t want a trash but want the fun of dressing up and wearing their gown again and to be a model for a day. Shots that make you look like you have stepped straight out of a Bridal Fashion

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It’s pretty much the end of the Wedding season and what a pleasure it was to finish with Melanie and Lloyds. It was also nice that it was in my local area and I didn’t have to drive as far as I’ve had to for most of my other bookings this season. It also meant that they were able to have their ceremony at Musick Point where they spend a lot of time and where most of their portrait photos were taken.

We also took photos as the sun was setting at Cockle Bay a significant spot for them as

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Every family shoot is different, as this one certainly was! Four well loved dogs were a big part of the dynamics for this family.

Shooting pets in a studio is always a challenge. Having four dogs smelling out the territory and exploring the space was entertaining. But what four perfect little models they were when it came time to photograph them. It’s like they were born for the camera. And as you will see, were perfect little posers. All credit to Jasmine and Mum for having such well

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It’s not very often a couple get to be married by a family member as Michael our Groom did and it was the first wedding to be held in this Church and what a Christening it was. A beautiful and fun ceremony with some fantastic ‘lift the rafters’ singing that had me dancing behind my camera and the guests rocking in the aisle. The Brides walk down the aisle started with a line of honour by her young gym students.
 

There were lots of personal touches to this very special day for Michael &

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I love saying that. People always look twice at me until I remind them that my weapon is a lens, not a barrel. The hardest age to photograph children is between 1-4 (the ages of these models) when they are in that stage of life where they don’t like being told where to go, how to stay and what to do. They’d much rather be exploring and using the space around them. But as all good Family Photographers I always enjoy a challenge.

You need to try and relate to kids on their level, find

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The prospect of shooting my first Kawau Island wedding was one I was looking forward too. I’d gone over with the Bride and Groom earlier in the year to do a reekie. We picked out some amazing spots that were going to make beautiful backdrops (and show the Island off to its full potential) and came away with a fantastic plan for the photo shoot on the day.

As is often the case on a wedding day, plans had to be changed to suit the dismal weather. The planned garden ceremony in front of the

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This is part of my appreciating men genre that I am enjoying this year in my Fine Art work. And as much as these shots are for the client they are part of me building up my fine art portfolio and my award work. In fact I’ve entered some of these images into an international competition. With the view of doing a New Zealand exhibition in the future.

This kind of work really allows me to be an artist with a blank canvas to create on. From this shoot I wanted to create a series to

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Being a member of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers has many advantages. One of which (in the otherwise isolated nature of our business) is being able to spend time with other like minded professionals sharing the same industry challenges.

The very first NZIPP meeting I went to years ago featured one of New Zealand’s Highly Awarded Top Wedding Photographers, Steve Sharp. Steve was doing a presentation of his work and his creative processes. I found myself not only

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Sam and Tony didn’t have such a great day a couple of years ago at their original wedding for all kinds of reasons. They wanted to replace those memories with a whole new set, so they decided to have a renewal of vows ceremony followed by a beach PARTY!

I can’t tell you quite where we were although we were well past Muriwai we had to be driven in by four wheel drives (a pass time of the Bride, the Groom and their friends.)

Sam planned the ceremony and the photo taking meticulously

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The focus for the last couple of days has been putting together the entries for the inaugural Bridal Fashion Week’s Bride of the Year Competition. The organisers asked for recent Brides which has helped me to narrow down the selection process somewhat (as I would love to enter all of my beautiful Brides.)
Bridal Fashion Week Auckland 2011 introduces a glamorous world-class Bridal Fashion and Couture event taking bridal fashion design to showcase levels never before seen in New Zealand and

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One of the things I love about doing model portfolios over my other genres is that you have the freedom of time (unlike weddings.) Being big people and knowing what they want also makes it easier (unlike the wee ones who you mange entirely differently.)  The fun thing about this shoot is it’s a mix of portfolio, great personal shots and Drew has kindly donated his body to me for my creative Fine Art work that we will be shooting in the upcoming weeks. Tomorrow I’m shooting him in his Hip

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Fresh off the plane from the UK winter in need of a spray tan Janelle & Jason had a fantastic celebration of their love and commitment to each other with a  intimate group of family and friends from here and overseas at Delamore Lodge on Waiheke Island over the weekend.

As far as weddings go this one had some fresh elements in it for me. Firstly, the rain which meant the ceremony had to be held inside; but what a beautiful venue for it. Oozing elegance and style both inside and outside.

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This week I had the pleasure of working with professional Models brought together for a photo shoot to create images for a new salon on Remuera, Kensington.

What an incredibly talented team of hair dressers and Makeup artists. Young people wanting to make their own statement. Rather than just slapping up some product branded posters on the walls for promotional material they decided to create their own, showcasing their own talents. So what you will see is what you can get.

This is

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