16 NZPhotographer
RICHARD, TELL US WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT
YOU DO...
I work as an Oracle database administrator for
enterpriseIT, a Wellington based IT company with
large ambitions. Outside of work, I am a father
to four boys, ages 9 to 16... who now run for their
lives whenever I bring my camera out. Work keeps
me pretty busy during the week, but when the
weekend rolls around, I like to go and photograph
whatever I can.TELL US ABOUT YOUR GEAR...
I have been quite lucky with the camera gear
that I have had over the years. Moving from a
cellphone, my father bought me my first DSLR, a
Canon 60D in 2014. I had two kit lenses with this
camera, an 18–55 and a 55–250mm. Riiiight up
until water entered the camera body while I was
shooting my son on the high ropes at his school
camp (he did very well by the way!).
Insurance came to the party at this point with
a replacement Canon 70D which I augmented
with an EF-S10–22mm wide angle lens. This combo
lasted three years and thousands of k’s until my
grandfather passed away. My grandfather was
an exceptional man and in his infinite wisdom he
left some money to each of his grandchildren,
enough to begin quite a nice kit so this is what I am
currently shooting with:- Canon 5DMk
- EF 16–35 f/2.
- EF 50 f/1.
- EF 85 f/1.
- EF 100 f/2.8 Macro
- EF 70–200 f/2.
- EF 2x Converter
- Nisi Filters
- RRS panorama head
Over and above this, I have 2 Godox AD200 studio
lights (the wee ones) while I learn studio portraiture.
WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A CERTAIN
PHOTOGRAPHIC STYLE?
No, I do not believe I have a certain style. I can
never decide which ‘look’ I prefer and so, from
a single shoot, I often produce images that look
totally different; each edit suiting the photograph
but no two photographs looking the same. I look
at other peoples’ work and can see the similarities,
or their signature, but I am still looking for that
something that is uniquely ‘me’.SO HOW AND WHEN DID YOUR
PHOTOGRAPHY VENTURE BEGIN?
Photography for me started in 2012 when Instagram
was released on the android platform. My first ever
Instagram photo was of a sock, hanging on the
corner of a washing line. In typical Wellington style,
the sock had blown off by the time I had my phone
ready to take the picture.
Borrowing a DSLR from a friend for a roadie
way back in 2013, I developed a penchant for
photographing abandoned buildings. Purchasing