Recent commissioned work – BRANZ Annual Report 2022

August 19th, 2022 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

A science background made shooting the BRANZ Annual Review an interesting undertaking.  Meeting and capturing the work of many of our top building and materials scientists dealing with applied real world issues in the building industry was fascinating, and working alongside an experienced and capable team of in house designers, writers and publishers was satisfying.  The final report we crafted has just been released here.

BRANZ Annual Review 2022, photographed by Rob Suistedw_2022_w

 

Below are a few example pages and a brief explanation of the design and photographic themes involved… > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Kea splashback is cooking up a treat

June 8th, 2021 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

We do a lot of kitchen splashbacks. Posting this one because we love our endemic native Kea, the true alpine expert, and this was a cool use.

Kitchen Splashback of kea Bird, by Rob SuistedHere’s the original photo file that was used to print direct to glass by Thermaseal in Christchurch with an advanced ceramic printer

NZ Geo assignment – Predator Free 2050

January 16th, 2020 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

My latest assignment for New Zealand Geographic Magazine. An in-depth look at the Predator Free 2050 initiative to rid NZ of introduced predators – being such a huge national initiative this was one of the largest articles the magazine has commissioned recently.

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Visit NZ Geo to read the article online now.  Otherwise, browse the gallery below to … > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Fieldays 2018 murals

July 17th, 2018 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Fieldays 2018 was on Rob’s agenda this year, and well worth a stop in. It was awesome to see so many of our photographs printed as large murals.

We have a large selection of stock images that work well at massive sizes (shot on medium format digital and professionally stitched into massive files) which are suitable for quality exhibition backdrops, and branding displays.

Rob does commissioned photographs too, and we did a couple of massive murals for Honda Power & Marine this year. Can you spot the celebrity in one of them?

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NZ’s first man of fishing checking out boat’s while Rob checks out a mural we created to sell outboard engines to commercial users

Nope, not Clark Gayford, although Rob let him know he wasn’t stalking him, he happened to be in shot of one of the professionally stitched panorama’s we did for Honda. Kate the Corgi made her debut appearance, a little know fact outside the breeding clubs, Corgi’s are a cattle herding dog breed.

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Kate the Corgi – Rob’s fearsome cattle dog was added to the frame – a great distraction for kids while mum and dad talk gear, at Honda Power and Marine’s Fieldays stand

NIWA’s stand was very eye catching with their clever use of one of our large panorama files:

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NIWA’s simple but beautifully designed stand created with an image we created to fit dimensions. Simply cropping a photo to shape and enlarging just ‘doesn’t cut the mustard’. Here we worked with the designer to create a huge image file to fit ratio specs – thereby minimising cropping and maximising output resolution

 

We had some great feedback from The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), who were very happy with the quality and feel of our images. It was great to work with Adam from Station Creative on the MPI stand this year, he’s very much into quality too, so a successful Fieldays for 2018 across the board.

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Check out feedback we’re recieved from some of our mural clients.

NZ Geographic feature done – NZ Land use

February 15th, 2018 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Been a manic but terribly exciting week on the F800GSA around NZ shooting another feature for New Zealand Geographic Magazine on land use in NZ.

Rob Suisted, Nature's Pic Images

I’ve learned a heck of a lot more about our big picture agriculture, appropriate land use, precision farming and adding value to our exports to get out of our traditional ‘commodities from the colonies’ history. Stay tuned for the next issue coming very soon – in fact real soon – I had to ride like the wind from the Manawatu late tonight to make deadline for press!

Splashbacks – adding nature to our homes

December 8th, 2017 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Sharing a few recent client photos of installed glass splashbacks in kitchens and bathrooms that we commonly do.

We especially love the NZ kelp seaweed cell structure image used in a shower splashback (bottom left). Click on image for a closer look:collage_w

And currently we’re working on a very large 5 metre wide kitchen splash back that we think is a stunning use of graphics. Can’t wait to see final images of the install. A link to the image is here: https://www.naturespic.com/newzealand/image.asp?id=52320
Thermaseal_w It’s a massive file, over 190 megapixels, being a join of 5 medium format digital camera files, so will easily go the nearly 5 metre span at a close viewing distance (a critical factor with kitchen splashbacks). Click on image above for a closer look.

Foxton’s Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom. And our murals

November 28th, 2017 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

We were commissioned to create large murals for exhibition use at the new Foxton experience, Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom. Given the large size and close viewing distances, we created specialist large files by stitching multiple medium format digital camera files to make truly huge files for stunning reproduction values. Here are some of the images used. Visit https://www.teawahou.com/Home. We worked with Workshop e, and they have photo credit for these images….

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Exhibition: “Aotearoa New Zealand – The Story of New Zealand’s National Parks”, Beijing China

October 24th, 2017 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

A huge project has taken much of our time lately. This remarkable exhibition about NZ’s National Parks has opened in Beijing, China, carefully created by Landscope DesignLab at Lincoln University and driven by Dr Mick Abbott

The Story of New Zealand's National Parks, China Exhibition

Over 60 of our images were used in the exhibition, and many of them produced in large mural dimensions.

We work hard to create massive image files for large murals like this, from medium format digital cameras, often professionally stitched to make very large image files that are far superior to normal files.  It’s a terrific honour to have those efforts recognised like this:

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Shots from the opening are below (btw, that’s a photo of me by the tent, freezing bits off to get the dawn):

Check out feedback we’re recieved from some of our mural clients.

PHOTO CREDIT: The Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture.

In my sights – a controversial portrait

October 29th, 2016 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Jamie Steer questions the status quo around introduced species to New Zealand. Its fair to say his views are controversial, but he’s willingly made a target of himself.  I was commissioned to shoot his portrait.Janie Steer portrait, by Rob Suisted 55485QF00_w

Playing around with the idea of hunting introduced species, and how Jamie is happy to be a target for debate, this is the work I did to make a very strong literal ‘story portrait’ to illustrate the interview for NZ Geographic Magazine:
And here are a few of the options supplied for the editor to consider:Janie Steer portrait, by Rob Suisted

Portrait of an environmental guardian

July 29th, 2015 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

I’ve twice been commissioned to shoot Dr Jan Wright’s portrait while she was the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.  I like making strong ‘story portraits’ – images that capture the essence, work, passion, or message of the subject.  Dr Jan Wright was a perfect subject for this style.

Here’s the ‘official portrait of Dr Wright while in office. I wanted to put Dr Wright into nature, not just make it her back drop.  The colours are very pleasing to my eye:Dr Jan Wright portrait by Rob Suisted 52859QF00_w
New Zealand Geographic commissioned me to record her portrait for the magazine. Here’s Dr Wright in her natural environment, with a carefully placed nod to the halls of government power, to signify the relationship and influence of her role. Here’s the link to the article.Dr Jan Wright portrait, by Rob Suisted 49002QF00_w

Kakapo portraits

August 30th, 2013 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Been lucky to spend some time hanging out with Kakapo, both in the wild and captivity, including one taking a major liking to me head.; a major treat in life.  Another treat was seeing one of my Kakapo portraits used by Air New Zealand recently:

Kakapo-Air-NZ-billboard-600

Kakapo-Air-NZ-billboard 2-600

Check out our other Kakapo bird photos here, and check out feedback we’re recieved from some of our other mural clients.

Blenheim gets a new Information Centre – using our photos

May 24th, 2013 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

I supplied many images to outfit the Blenheim Information Centre, and recently got the chance to view the final result.

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It’s always great to work on a project that uses images that make you proud, and this is one of them.

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Pop in if you’re passing through Blenheim – it’s a great building with nice interior and exterior design.

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Images were from my wide Marlborough District collection.  We do a lot of large image installations and murals like this. For example, you’ll see my images used in Auckland and Christchurch International Airports. Check out feedback we’re recieved from some of our mural clients.

Of human bloodshed and fascinating photo jobs

August 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

I love most the unexpected nature of photography.

Yesterday Garry Glynn contacted me to photograph a family heirloom piece. Other photographers he’d contacted weren’t interested; I assume it being a small paying private job. I had a hunch that there was something more interesting about it, took it on, and luckily I was proved right.

89 year old Garry arrived and delivered to my hand a small simple heavy brass drinking cup similar to many I’d used in India. Nothing special except it had engraving around the outside. It carried a story that I’m still thinking about today; a story of history and horrific human bloodshed.

From the Battle of Mahajapore. Scroll down for result

From the Battle of Mahajapore. Scroll down for result

Turns out Garry’s relative (Col Sgt J. Barry, 39th Dorestshire Regiment) was present at the Battle of Maharajpore, India, on the 29th December 1843. He was lucky to make it. 5000 people did not make it that day! In a nutshell, Central and Northern India had fallen to British forces in 1818, but Marathas in Gwalior saw the failed British campaign in Afghanistan as opportunity to regain independence. The battle ensued. It’s believed that nearly 800 Bristish soldiers and 3-4000 Marathans were killed; an unbelievable slaughter of human beings in one day. The significance of this event for the British is remembered with the Gwalior Star campaign medal.

Garry is passing this family ‘war trophy’ or heirloom down to the next generation and wanted a photo showing all the cup’s text to give to his relatives. My job was to attempt that. Given the circular object with concave face, and the highly reflective nature of the surface, the job wasn’t straightforward. But I love a challenge, and I reckon it could be done.

First up was to prepare the vessel. A good polish brought out a good shine, and a closely held candle flame sooted the surface up nicely, and another shine left a little soot in the engraving. Next was figuring out how to light the face of the vessel with even light. No problems there, get an Elinchrom studio light out and pop on a softbox, but trouble is that you can’t get a camera in there without interrupting the clean lighting. I tried a couple of tilt shift lenses attempting to shoot off the central axis, but this just distorted too much. Then I figured the concave front face would let me lower the softbox and shoot over the top without breaking the clean reflection – great.

Camera shooting over studio flash and softbox

Camera shooting over studio flash and softbox

Once a nice even light was sorted, next was to carefully rotate the vessel and photograph ovelapping images. Another lens base proved to be the perfect stage.

Photo slices ready to be worked up

Photo slices ready to be worked up

I ran this through a panorama stitching programme and gave it a clean up. Garry just called around today and seems very happy with the result:

The final result

The final result

But I’ve been thinking about the cup since: what horrors and good times it has witnessed, and what route it has taken to arrive in my hands? Garry tells me that a number of ‘retired’ seasoned British soldiers were offered land in New Zealand in exchange for being willing to fight in the NZ land wars if necessary. They become known as ‘The Fencibles’, and this is the route in which the cup arrived in NZ.

I also found this gritty, stiff upper lip, description of the battle by Henry Man. It’s a short honest read that gives you an appreciation of how gnastly that day must have been. Please take a moment to read it if you can.

So, all in all, a photo job that paid for itself in not only in dollar terms, but that was also rich in knowledge, experience, and technical challenge.

An inspiring woman and inspiring photo job

December 20th, 2010 § 2 comments - add yours

Bianca Edwards doesn’t do things by halves.  But her back was broken in halves.  Her story is as remarkable as her attitude.  Several weeks ago I shot the New Zealand Geographic Magazine article on ‘Happiness’.  Bianca was part of this story.  I enjoyed meeting her, and thoroughly enjoyed working together on an image that captured her remarkable spirit.  On the drive back to the office, my assistant Aliscia Young spoke about the inspiration we’d both experienced.   Let me tell you about it.

Bianca was a top athlete, competing in multi-sport events, and while training, was hit from behind by a van at 100km/h.  Her back was shattered and she was lucky to survive.  What followed is a remarkable recovery led by determination, optimism and, I think above all, the unwillingness to be a victim to her situation.  The article by Dave Hansford focuses on how Bianca was able to readjust her expectations; from expecting to win events, to making simple steps, like wiggling a toe.  A trait that some research suggests is key to being happy.

So, knowing this, how do you approach a photo shoot that gives dignity to the subject, captures their spirit, and avoids creating another cliched photo of a disabled person toiling against obstacles? 

Discussing angles on the phone with Bianca was a joy – full of ideas and keen to give it her best, we threw around ideas about the things that were important to her – fitness, swimming, study, Ducatis…  Motorcycle riding was key, especially with her friends and fellow Ducati owners Carla and Fiona (friends like this that Bianca rates in her recovery) .  Hang on….from not being able to walk, to riding big motorcycles?!  The angle fast became clear.  But, how to shoot a portrait that captured this story? 

Carla, Rob, Bianca & Fiona. The Ducati women of the Wairarapa.

After the shoot. Carla, Rob, Bianca & Fiona. The Ducati women of the Wairarapa.

Bianca’s story in the happiness article for me is one of ‘freedom’ – freedom of movement, but also freedom of mind.  So, it was important that we had a very dynamic image to portray freedom. We tried to accomplish this with an open face helmet, but the freedom died.  With considerable care we took this without the helmet.  I think we caught Bianca’s spirit in the image below. What do you think?

Bianca Edwards and her Ducati, with Fiona and Carla

Bianca Edwards and her Ducati, with Fiona and Carla

TECHNICAL SPECS: We pottered very slowing along with a 1/8th sec shutter with ND filter, while using my aerial photography gyro stabiliser to maintain sharpness but achieve a blurred movement.  I super-clamped and magic armed 3 strobes to the back of the vehicle, and shot from the rear hatch.  Canon 1dsMk3, 16-35mm, ND filter, 3 canon flashes, Kenro gyro.

‘Rob’oCam – The art of spying on birds

March 12th, 2010 § 1 comment - add yours

New Zealand Geographic featured a nice article about Rob’s TankCam, otherwise known as RoboCam (nice touch guys!). If you’re interested in a behind-the-scenes look of the Fairy terns shoot please check out the article here and Rob’s video here.

Let us know what you think, it’s always great to hear your feedback!

New Zealand Geographic RoboCam article

> > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Helicopters and cameras behind the scenes in Fiordland, wow

February 8th, 2010 § 11 comments - add yours

I’m doing a lot of commercial helicopter photo work at the moment, mainly for Tourism New Zealand. I want to take you along behind the scenes in Fiordland New Zealand, on a job I just got home from.  Spectacular!  Things don’t go as forecast so it’s an interesting day with some interesting sights and some interesting blokes. You have to watch this:

The day started in a run of perfect weather, but mysteriously a thick layer of fog/cloud filled Fiordland making filming tough for myself (stills photog) and the HD Cineflex video helicopter team to operate. What happens next?

You’ll see a lot of the equipment we use, several helicopters, and… > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Shooting New Zealand’s RAREST bird with a TANK

December 15th, 2009 § 12 comments - add yours

TANKCAM (‘Rob-o-cam’). Tough assignment to film NZ’s rarest bird – the Fairy Tern for NZ Geographic Magazine.  Less than 40 birds known, they nest in the open and human disturbance may stop breeding.

Solution was to build a remote control ftcam_tvehicle that I could very slowly inch towards the nest over an hour while we monitored the birds’ reaction and leave it set up to capture intimate scenes (very, as you’ll see below!).  So that’s why I built TankCam. We’ve kept the highly successful assignment under wraps until now.  This video tells the story and gives you an idea of three days worth of filming, behind the scenes.  Please view and post your comments – it’s great to get your feedback:

Why not use a large telephoto lens you might ask? … > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Make love, sorry PHOTOS, not WAR

November 5th, 2009 § 2 comments - add yours

Check this out. Latest specialist camera build for an interesting job I have coming up. Want one?
 

> > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

A nice welcome home to NZ…

October 15th, 2009 § 0 comments, Add the 1st

Saw the new arrivals hall inside NZ Customs, at Auckland International Airport, when I got back. I’d supplied a special shot made of 10 high resolution digital files merged to make a very large photograph.  To see a shot of mine welcoming us over the threshold onto NZ soil is a great feeling.

Arrivals Hall, Auckland International Airport

NZ Customs got a bit excited when they saw me taking photos in this area, but I’d already asked, and they joined me with a nice compliment. The shot represents ‘Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud’. > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Speed and beauty, NZ falcon shoot up close

July 5th, 2009 § 16 comments - add yours

It was a privilege to work with the rare and little know native New Zealand Falcon this month… New Zealand Geographic Magazine were running a feature on the rare NZ falcon, but didn’t yet have the wow shot to sell the story, so asked if I’d have a crack at it. Knowing that these birds are amongst the fastest on earth, very cryptic, and not particularly large meant that a challenge lay ahead.  I love a tough assignment that pushes thinking beyond the norm; the satisfaction of success is very sweet.  Here is part of the result:

New Zealand Geographic Magazine Cover this month

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100 year photo event, one chance – don’t blow it!

March 25th, 2009 § 2 comments - add yours

JOB: Once in 100 year event, 3-5 seconds to get photo, commissioned work for client, weather iffy, precarious platform…. Are you up for it?

Always in for a photographic challenge, here is an anatomy of an interesting photoshoot, and the creation of a very satisfying image that will live on……
The 100yr Hapuawhenua Viaduct shoot - a nervous wait...

The 100yr Hapuawhenua Viaduct shoot - "a nervous wait..."

> > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

Monday morning image use – Greater Wellington Regional Council mass mail-out

March 23rd, 2009 § 1 comment - add yours

Got the mail this morn.  GWRC photo work by Rob SuistedAgain the postie bought a nice surprise with several photos I’d done during a commissioned photo shoot for the Regional Council appearing in a discussion document on the 10 year Regional Plan.  I’ve spent several days commissioned shooting recently adding to a series we’ve done with the Regional Council profiling their different operational departments.  Very satisfying work meeting a variety of folks connected to the land and their obvious great pride in the jobs they do. > > > Continue reading : full post + comments > > >

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