Roget In Kiwi Land

In Studio With MG

2011-03-27T11:36:00.000+13:00

In Studio With RebeccaL

2011-03-27T11:35:00.000+13:00

Queenstown, New Zealand

2011-03-27T11:30:00.000+13:00

Chillin' In The Studio With Big Mac

2010-04-26T11:18:00.004+12:00

Hanging out in the studio this past weekend with a friend, testing some lighting setups.

Maya

2010-02-18T00:28:00.003+13:00

What can I say, gorgeous looks, great figure, SUPER nice! Doesn't get any better than that.

WOW...it's been a while!

2010-02-09T17:48:00.003+13:00

Haven't posted anything here in AGES! ...chalk it up to work, holidays, and general laziness. New year brings a new studio space shared in town with a couple colleagues, so time to have fun and play around with studio shoots...portraits and fashiony stuff. Some shots from the first full shoot in studio. You may recognize Bex but she's gone back to brunette again. Styling by my friend Jacki. Hair and makeup I haven't gotten the names of the girls yet.

...maybe more to come...

Random Work BWs

2009-11-28T18:28:00.003+13:00

Canon S90.

HeeHee :)

2009-11-24T00:00:00.001+13:00

Digital Camera magazine (UK), December 2009 issue :)

Scorching Bay Triathlon

2009-11-15T20:39:00.010+13:00

A friend was competing in the Scorching Bay Triathlon today so I went out to offer some support and take a few pics. Steph doesn't work at Weta, but she does attend our Tuesday/Thursday circuit and boxing classes coached by Shane of Specifics Training.

Karim Sahai: Photography For Samoa Relief

2009-10-02T11:41:00.009+13:00

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend, colleague and fellow Photographer. He is an established Travel Photographer and has been to Samoa in the recent past. In lieu of the recent earthquake he is offering to donate full proceeds of his Samoa prints to the New Zealand Red Cross, one of the groups heading relief efforts.

Karim Sahai: Less than 48 hours ago, the small island nation of Samoa was devastated by an 8.3 Richter-scale earthquake, followed by an extremely powerful tsunami. Samoa suffered heavy loss of life and saw 90% of its housing destroyed. The consequences of this tragic event will be felt for many years.

For having visited this beautiful and humble country and for having been touched by the warmth of its people, assisting Samoa is only natural. I hope you are able to help too.

In the image gallery below, you will find a small selection of photos taken in Samoa three years ago. Large format prints of these pictures are available at an affordable price. By ordering one or several prints, the full amount of your purchase will be transferred to the New Zealand Red Cross, one of the organisations spearheading the aid effort.

The Samoa gallery is here.

Los Angeles September 2009

2009-09-11T05:08:00.002+12:00

LA pitstop en route back to New Zealand. Views from Griffith Observatory (click these two skyline images to see more detail in a slightly larger file size).

Baby G :)

2009-09-03T04:55:00.008+12:00

So it's been a loooong while since I've dropped anything online here...partly laziness, partly being too busy. I'm got a big gap of missing photos which I'll try to add at some point, but for now I'll just put up some stuff from a recent shoot here in LA (while in town on vacation) because I love what we got and I'm still working through some of the shots.

I was VERY fortunate to work with an AMAZING Makeup Artist Stephanie Elise. Her natural looking makeup is the bomb, and all the models want to work with her, which is good for me too since she's opened a few doors for me and added some cool people into my network! All that and she's super cool, fun, and extremely helpful/generous as well.

Our first shoot was with a model she had referred me to, Lauren May...we call her "BabyG" cause she looks like a baby Giselle Bundchen :)

Portfolio Updates: Actor Ben Fransham

2009-06-17T15:16:00.002+12:00

Last minute shoot for local Actor Ben Fransham.

...more to come...

Light Testing With Renee

2009-06-17T15:09:00.003+12:00

I wanted to try some outdoor lighting techniques with some new gear so I asked my friend/model Renee if she'd like to help me out by sitting for me. Since she'd be my muse for the day we decided to go the extra step to make the images at least useful for her portfolio, so we went out to a couple shops in town that let me borrow stuff...thanks I Love Paris and Moochi :)

The weather didn't cooperate though so we ended up staying indoors and just played around with the gear in other setups.

...more to come...

A Very Busy Weekend

2009-06-14T23:42:00.004+12:00

Three back to back to back shoots this weekend. My original Saturday shoot got postponed, so I decided to setup a very last minute lighting test with a friend/model Renee. Then add in a VERY last minute request from a friend to get some new headshots for her husband who is a local actor...my gear was already set up so I didn't mind playing a little more. An 8 hour shoot on Sunday and I'm spent. Three shots from three shoots. I'll sort them as I add respective images.

...stay tuned...

Portraits Of Ida

2009-05-31T02:31:00.003+12:00

Hanging out this morning with a colleague and fellow photog, taking turns snapping pics of his partner. What a crazy afternoon...you don't wanna know...

...more to come...

48 Hours

2009-05-11T23:07:00.007+12:00

This weekend was the 48 Hours film competition, a short film competition where you must create an entire film from scratch (maximum length of 7 minutes including credit roll), within 48 hours. There are common elements that each team must incorporate into their film (character name, a prop, and a line of dialogue), these are created each year by the organizers. Each team is assigned a film genre at random, for example there may be 10 different film genres that the judges come up with, and each team will be assigned one of those genres. It is the teams' job to then write, film, edit, and put to tape, a film of that genre that incorporates the mandatory elements. This year the character's name was Alex Puddle who is an exaggerator, the prop was a rock, and the line of dialogue was, "It doesn't fit". Our team's genre was "Romance". Our team decided to film the entire short on canon 5DmkIIs which 6 of us "photographers" owned. Our short was titled "Lilith", kind of a sci-fi romance, starring a few actor friends I had met on the set of First Light.

Throwing rocks into the harbour...Matt, Matt, and Lonnie filming insert scenes.

Matt shows us his "Blue Steel" as he works the catwalk.

Just hangin' around in between takes. The basement had some pretty cool lighting. We filmed in a fiberglass prop factory that had a workshop upstairs and downstairs.

Rehearsals...yes it was cold that morning, hence Renee wearing a jacket during walk throughs...

...and the real thing.

Our 'robot' hooked up to some 'hi-tech' cables and wires :)

"Alex Puddle" (aka Dr. Phil) our crazy Scientist/Inventor/Doctor, gets to work on his 'perfect woman'.

Oooohhh...just look at all that hi-tech stuff...thanks Intergen! :)

Who says making movies is all about glory and fame? Sarah graciously holding a space heater to try and keep Renee's toes and legs warm.

Shortly after Dr. Phil lost his licence to practice Dentistry...

"...that's not a knife..."

...no it's not odd looking letterboxing, it was shot between some shelving :)

Horst re-enacting Moses parting the sea.

...uummmm...no comment...

007...is that you?

This is what we do to Actors when they screw up their lines!

Daniel composed an original score for us on his magical flute the Smurfs gave him.

Cameraman Matt wearing the latest in on set protective gear.

Crew shot...minus a few editors and musicians and 1 cameraman in Singapore.

5DmkII-a-thon

2009-05-04T01:49:00.004+12:00

Just a bunch of boys playin' with their toys...preppin' for an upcoming shoot we're doing together.

Hot Rods And Sails

2009-04-24T14:36:00.006+12:00

A couple of weekends ago there was a Hot Rod car show on at TSB Arena and Queens Wharf under the sails. A couple friends and I swung by to check it out and as usual nerd out with our cameras.

Sassy And Sexy With Sush-Nuts

2009-04-21T18:39:00.020+12:00

Not really a model or a wannabe model, but she looks just as good on camera! "Sush-Nuts" is her nickname, I think she said it doesn't have any direct meaning. Since she's not a model she doesn't really care to shoot anything "model specific" for a portfolio, so we're just having fun together shooting some sassy and sexy images cause that's what she wanted to do...don't hate me...it's still hard work :) And I don't normally post so many from one shoot, especially when they're so similar...but these are Sush's choices so I'm posting them here for her to see before she gets them on disc.

...new as of may 31...

latest from june 9...

...final batch...

Los Angeles March 2009

2009-04-07T23:38:00.017+12:00

Pics from vacation...my one week stopover in LA en route from Miami back to New Zealand. Hanging out with my Canadian peeps south of the border...and an honourary Canuck named Johnny. A lazy and relaxing week of yoga classes, Baja Fresh, a bit of shopping, photowalks, a hike through Solstice Canyon in Malibu, and a day at the beach.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Downtown LA.

Solstice Canyon hike, Malibu. In the middle of the canyon was this huge burned out property with lots of eccentricities like a waterfall feature and shrine of the Immaculate Mary. I didn't get to read the plaque that described the owner and the house...maybe I'll google it.

Don't ask me why Alex is patting John's bum...cause I don't know...and I don't wanna know either...

John doing his favourite Sailor Moon impersonation?

It's like a Toyota commercial :)

Two Girls, A Whole Lotta Fashion, And Some Fun

2009-04-07T13:29:00.004+12:00

This weekend I got together with my friends Sunny and Raqi to do some fun photos again. With closets full of fashionable wardrobe and some quirky items too, it always leads to some interesting photos.

Caribbean Cruise 2009 (Part 3)

2009-04-05T11:58:00.025+12:00

Caribbean Cruise 2009 (Part 2)

2009-04-04T22:46:00.026+13:00

The main reason for the entire cruise/vacation...Mom and Dad's Golden Anniversary and quality family time.

February birthdays.

Mom, Alessa, and 'Ma' (aka Marissa with two "S"es from South Philly).

Monte Carlo night and one crazy Canadian (Guelph, Ontario) Cruise Director.

Dave gets close to some BVI 'ass'...err..I mean a mule...

I THINK this is looking towards the Caribbean side of BVI? I can't remember...I'd suck as a tour guide.

...it's a tiny sailboat...click the image to see a slightly larger version.

...budding photographer...it must run in the blood :)

Picking up the kids from school! ...ummm...sorry we were late, we went to the wrong school up the road. Justine, Malia and their teacher.

...mmm....curry goat...

...so it's an easy walk up the driveway to your house eh?

Balcony with a view.

...haha...this expression makes me laugh every time :)

Malia chatting up Thomas.

Building sandcastles and then trying to build defences around them to protect from the waves...

...oops...

haha...everyone noticing the little Supermodel.

Mom getting eaten by a wave.

Antigua.

D'yam tief ah try fi steel di intahnet signal.

"Excuse me Sir...are you paying for that?"

Sunny And The Hutt Orchestra

2009-04-03T00:27:00.006+13:00

This past weekend my friend Sunny took part in a community orchestra concert, and a few of us from work went to support her and to watch her "air bow"...just kidding Sunny...you were AWESOME! :) I also went so I could take some photos for Sunny to send back to her mom. I took a couple short videos too but damn those files are HUUUUGE and vimeo seemed to choke on uploading my HD video clips...meh...

Portraits And Headshots Of Signy

2009-03-30T20:05:00.005+13:00

A couple of weekend pics of my colleague Signy Bjorg Gudlaugsdottir (Iceland). The original plan was to take some personal portraits of her as a Photographer, but then she told me she used to model back in Iceland and wouldn't mind getting a few new headshots for her portfolio as well. So we worked with what we had at hand in terms of outfits, lighting and location and came up with some pretty good images. Not that you can tell from these images, but yes, being Icelandic she does have blonde hair and blue eyes.

Signy is also a Photographer so I wanted to do a Photographer's Portrait of her.

Portfolio Shoot: Shane Boulton

2009-03-22T15:29:00.003+13:00

Portfolio shoot with local Actor Shane Boulton.

Back In Cali'

2009-03-09T20:25:00.006+13:00

After my week and a half at sea I stopped off in LA to hang out with friends for a week. I figured if I had to go through crappy LAX I might as well stay for a bit. It was awesome to be back in town after nearly three years! Strangely enough I never liked it as much when I was living there as I did when I returned this time....??? My most nostalgic moment being back in LA...my second evening in town after a late yoga class I decided to stop off at the Ralphs supermarket in Marina Del Rey...my old stomping ground. Not the big Ralphs just a couple blocks down, but the one tucked into the highrise condos. I used to shop there when I lived in LA. I stopped off to buy cereal and milk for breakfast, not knowing that I had booked into a full service 'bed and breakfast' at my friends Katie and John's place in Hermosa Beach...haha. They treated me to tasty healthy options every morning...DIY oatmeal with bananas and almonds, none of that prepackaged crap, yogurt cereal and fruit bowls, and what I think was my first experience with Cream Of Wheat? Hey Mikey, I think he likes it! Anyways just walking through the supermarket aisles in my yoga shorts and flip flops felt sooooo comforting and familiar. I never knew I had missed it so much until that moment. Everyone says that you need to live in LA for years before you can find YOUR neighbourhood, your niche, your lifestyle. I was on borrowed time when I lived there so I had my routines but I don't think I had my own life. Being back this time on 'vacation' I think I was able to quickly settle into my own little world, even if only for one week.

So I spent the week going to yoga classes at my old studio, eating lunch at Baja Fresh (hahaha...yes, we don't get much good Mexican food here in NZ and I've had cravings for a Fajita Burrito for years!), visiting friends at all the CG Animation shops in town, cruising Samy's camera store every other day, hiking Solstice Canyon in Malibu (top photo) and just generally wandering around. I got to visit my friends Sacha and Joanne and their two one month old twins Luca and Holly. Sacha pictured above with Luca...sadly I wasn't able to grab any family shots...next time.

On my last Sunday in town we hung out at Hermosa Beach. Katie and John live about 4 houses away from the beach, and David lives about 2 blocks down the beach...rough life eh? They try to play beach volleyball on weekends. I'm not a big beach volleyball dude, so I just hung out people watching with my camera. We were on the beach next to these guys. That's Dante the human skipping rope. Cute little guy. No matter how much they did to him he just kept laughing and smiling and asking for more. He was getting some serious air on the blanket and towel tosses! He'll probably grow up to be an Astronaut or Pilot. Dante's mom Lydia was kind enough to permit me to snap these photos of him and also to let me blog them. In return though I'll be sure to email her copies of the pics :)

This little guy was just hilarious. I almost missed it as I was facing the other direction talking to someone else when my friends yelled at me and pointed him out. He was playing baseball with his dad and older brother...I guess it got a little boring for him and fancied just walking around with a bucket on his head instead...

Caribbean Cruise 2009

2009-03-09T20:23:00.037+13:00

There's a lot of pics still to come...this is only from the first 4 or 5 days.

...more to come...

Portfolio Shoot: Bex Connor

2009-02-08T23:47:00.021+13:00

I first met Bex last year when I was doing some portfolio work with Dana. Dana wanted a Makeup Artist to do her hair and makeup, so I went out and found Bex. She has a somewhat regular day job in Promotions, but has also set up a Makeup Artist business for herself on the side. In addition to all that she also models. We have a somewhat loose working relationship where I'll ask her to do makeup for me when I need a MUA for a shoot, and likewise she sometimes asks me to take some photos for her when she does promotional work or wedding makeup. She recently changed her hair colour from brunette to blonde and needed new portfolio material, so this past weekend we got together and did our first shoot together.

This one ranks at the top end of my 'great shoots' list because we were able to put together all the pieces. Makeup was solid, and wardrobe was awesome (she brought it all with her with many vintage pieces belonging to her mom or nan). Her friend Emily who is a Hair Stylist (and a very good one at that) agreed to do her hair, but also let us shoot in the hair salon which was the bomb! I couldn't have asked for a more awesome space to shoot in. Tons of great areas to shoot, different colours and textures, good props, and great light.

Overall I think we did 4 maybe 5 hairstyles and a few more outfits than that. We did some shots that were inspired by reference material Bex brought with her, and the rest was pretty organic just making use of the environment we were in. Overall I'm pretty stoked with the shots that we got and will look forward to shooting with Bex again for sure. These photos are just some of her selections from our shoot...except for the last black and white at the end, that was just an 'artsy' shot I processed for myself.

...a couple of outtakes that I really liked.

Portfolio Shoot: Laura Surrich (Part 3)

2009-02-08T21:44:00.007+13:00

I don't know what it is, but this was another case of "blonde going brunette" and needing updated portfolio photos. Plus Laura is trying to get voted into this year's Tui Beer calendar and so some 'sexier' photos were in order.

I didn't end up shooting this one how I initially intended. The setting was completey different and thus so was the lighting style, and the pose wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Portraits of Jenny

2009-02-03T23:04:00.006+13:00

On Sunday I hung out with my friend Jenny for a couple hours. Originally we were going to do some fun shots around town and then head up to Waikanae Beach to wander around and take pics...I was going to take some portraits of her and she was going to take photos with her camera as well. Unfortunately the weather outside wasn't that great so our photo walk didn't turn out as we planned. In the end we did some casual portraits indoors, and then went for a quick, cold, and windy walk at the beach.

...couple more pics to come...

Portfolio Shoot: Renee Cataldo (Part 2)

2009-01-31T21:42:00.015+13:00

Second session with Renee. The empahsis on this shoot was to do a bunch of headshots and then do a shot down on Lambton Quay with her running in the dress. In the end I didn't want to rush the Lambton Quay shoot, plus traffic in the city was pretty heavy that day due to several events along the waterfront and it being an awesome day weather-wise, so we ended up just staying indoors doing headshots and other fun shots. I couldn't have asked for a better location to shoot than her apartment as it's totally amazing for photos. Big, lots of clear wallspace to shoot against, BIG, amazing light in every room...even the bathroom had wicked light!!! Did I mention BIG? Plus it was just so convenient for the both of us to be able to be in our own space with nobody bothering us, and the comfort of being in her own apartment with all her wardrobe and makeup options.

This is now one of my favourite processed black and white looks for headshots. While processing a black and white shot from one of Laura Surrich's shoots last year, I ended up with a look that resembled a pencil sketch that I thought was interesting. The shot above is a further refinement of that style.

Man I love Renee's long hair, there's just so many things you can do with it :) Unfortunately I didn't remember to try any of the other quirky hair shots I had wanted to do...maybe next time.

Slightly alternative colour toning. I like it as a 'stylized portrait' but I'll have to wait and see what she thinks of it. No she's not naked, it's just cropped to look that way for a clean and uncluttered headshot.

I had mentioned doing a compilation of different expressions but this isn't it, we didn't really shoot any specifically, these are just some that I caught along the way.

For the past year or so I've been in love with backlit shots after seeing a couple really talented photogs on flickr rocking them (Kevin Russ and MGM). There's just something very etheral about them. I don't get to shoot them very often though as it requires either very early morning or very late afternoon sunlight, low in the sky which means you also need a somewhat clear line of sight to the horizon or at least no downtown office buildings or local mountains getting in the way. You can do similar things in studio but it usually requires a lot of light output. In the case of Renee's apartment though, an entire west facing wall of floor to ceiling frosted glass will do the trick! So nice how the blown out light source from behind wraps around all sides of your subject...except in this case there's no bonus lens flare...oh well.

Alternate processing of two nearly identical shots.

...more to come...

Portfolio Shoot: Renee Cataldo

2009-01-22T01:07:00.012+13:00

It's been quite a while since I first met Renee on the set of Simon Brown's short film First Light, almost one year ago, and I've wanted to do a proper photoshoot with her ever since. She's super nice and totally fun to shoot with...and I guess it doesn't hurt either that she's pretty and has gorgeous long brown hair :)

Beach Volleyball: McEntee Hire NZ Tour 2009 (Wellington)

2009-01-11T21:35:00.006+13:00

Congratulations to Susan Blundell and Anna Scarlett for winning the women's division at this weekend's McEntee Hire NZ Tour beach volleyball tournament. This was round two from Oriental Beach, Wellington NZ. Blundell and Scarlett are the number 1 ranked Kiwi women's team and have won the first two stops on tour so far this year. After all their press interviews and prior to the mandatory drug tests for winners, they were kind enough to pose for me for a couple minutes.

...more photos to come...

Random Pics (January 2009)

2009-01-06T20:53:00.005+13:00

Just cleaning up my desktop and getting rid of some random photos I took over the last couple weeks but didn't end up posting anywhere...til now.

I went to see the Leonardo DaVinci Machines exhibition in town a few weeks ago. Modern reconstructions of many of his inventions. This was a miniature version of his "mirror box", an octagonal contraption which allowed the artist to peer through a small hole and see "all" sides of an object at once. This was me peeking over the top, there was no peephole on the miniature.

Leftovers from Christmas Holidays. This was my Christmas card to my family...written with a small LED flashlight.