Dropping in up north

The weekend before last was my first weekend off in 2010. Something I haven't done much of over the last busy six months is shoot personal projects, not commissioned or paid shoots, just things that I think will look good, will be fun and photography that will hopefully keep the creative juices flowing. It's an important part of the process and something I'm hoping to do more of this year. This video was shot over two days near Ninety Mile Beach as a big swell attracted hundreds of surfers to Ahipara for the weekend. Big ups to Border Records for the soundtrack too.

Dropping in up north from Mike Heydon on Vimeo.

From the whiteboard to the water

Here it is, the finished image from the Rowing World Champs campaign shoot. Photographed over 2 (early) mornings at Lake Karapiro including a couple of pretty cold boat rides, 11 different NZ rep crews, 25 rowers including a bunch of world champions and over a day of piecing it all together in post-production. The image will be used in promoting this years World Champs in October in press and outdoor advertising. A real team effort onsite so it's great to finally see the final image long after we did the initial sketch on the studio whiteboard weeks and weeks ago.

Risky business

This week I've been at Lake Karapiro shooting the NZ Rowing Squad for the 2010 World Rowing Champs ad campaign. We were scheduled for a two day shoot although day one was a write off: I've never had weather turn bad so quickly on a shoot and we were left scrambling for lights set up right next to the water and rowers were scrambling for their boats. The weather and the brilliant sunrise on day two made up for the stress and carnage and we got through it and thankfully all the gear stayed pretty dry. Once the final image is all pieced together, I'll be sure to post it here.

The steep part of the learning curve

We've just finished production on a short promo video for the Wairarapa Balloon Fiesta as part of our new video production service. It seems shooting video with a photographers perspective is a real benefit, especially since we can combine video and stills during a shoot so they both have a similar look and feel. For this project, an early morning was endured, fun was had, characters were interviewed and lessons were learnt. It's the fifth year I've shot this event and capturing it with video adds a whole new dimension of planning and work needed. Leaving a camera virtually unattended amongst a crowd of thousands to capture the night glow time lapse was indeed an exercise in stress and paranoia. I'm pretty happy with the results though, take a look.

We're working on another couple of video projects at the moment which'll be finished soon. Be sure to check back as they'll be posted here.

Wairarapa Balloon Fiesta 2010 from Mike Heydon on Vimeo.

The good word

News of our second place in the Spider Awards earlier in the year has gotten around the printing presses. In this months issue of ProDesign and D-Photo magazines there's a bit of a mention of our success. Who says you shouldn't believe everything you read?

No two days...

Every job has it's own unique set of challenges and a shoot last week for a meat processor and exporter in Southland is a good example. The first challenge: to photograph inside the meat works without showing any meat or any obvious machinery, just to portray the clean and sterile environment. Challenge number two: to photograph a big Southland landscape with blue sky on a week when it was raining most of the time. The third challenge: To photograph true blue Southland farmers and plant workers who you'd expect to what their photo taken like a hole in the head.

Challenges are what sometimes makes my job interesting and no two days are the same. In the end, we shot the plant between shifts when things were absolutely spotless, the clouds parted long enough to shoot some fantastic blue sky and rolling hills and everyone we photographed in the two days was a natural in front of the camera - plenty of latent modeling talent out there in the rural sector.

I do not eat green eggs and ham...

The latest issue of Idealog magazine is out now and I shot TradeMe founder Sam Morgan for the cover. We were lucky to get Sam at a weak moment as he doesn't do much press and seems to do a great job of staying out of the limelight. It was great to hear what he's up to post-TM. I photographed him in studio and we were all really happy with the results and Sam was a trouper - a fun shoot.

Hurricanes 2010 - behind the scenes

We've just wrapped up production on this years Hurricanes Super 14 team poster and ad campaign for the Wellington Rugby Union. A big effort over three shoots including two hours spent on the Lyall Bay breakwater during a storm where everything got totally soaked. Check out the behind-the-scenes video:

Hurricanes 2010 team poster shoot from Mike Heydon on Vimeo.

Last wedding of the decade

On New Years Eve I shot a wedding in Gladstone in the Wairarapa. It was a big day - around 8 hours of shooting which I think might be a record, at least for me. It had all the elements of a great day, brilliant weather, cool people, a great venue and plenty of good times. The guys wore kilts, the wedding dress was spectacular, the church was small and the sky was big. Fun times all round and a great way to see out the decade. Congrats Jon and Georgie.

Giving an old girl a fair go

I photographed broadcaster and all round top bloke Kevin Milne for the latest issue of NZ Life & Leisure magazine. Kevin has overseen the restoration of a 1936 Tanner Deluxe vintage caravan and she's a beauty. Throughout the process, he basically learnt the entire life history of the caravan and met a few interesting people along the way. That's pretty much what the caravan lifestyle is all about - an excuse to live out some nostalgia and talk to people you normally wouldn't meet... and to take revenge and hold up long lines of traffic on long weekends!