Photo by Frank Gasteiger

Archive for category Architecture

Date: May 4th, 2011
Cate: Architecture, Commercial, Web-Design

APHomes website launched

The APHomes website launched today. Andrew & Michelle Pope, the owners of APHomes, have been building quality homes in Marlborough for over 20 years. They are proud to use 100% local suppliers and contractors and of course they decided to assign a local photographer to create magazine style photos for their advertising material.

We have been working with Andrew and Michelle for about a year and they love the images we produce. Sometimes the jobs have a very tight deadline of only a few hours until the images have to be delivered.
We work around around the builder who do the last bits and pieces, take some photos at dusk and do the post-production over night to deliver the images the next morning to the printer. And we never ever missed a deadline.

See some sample images below and check out the APHomes website for more photos and their houses and land packages and also check out their web developer Marc Newport and his stunning WordPress powered web-design.

APHomes - 6 Banksia Place

Date: April 6th, 2011
Cate: Accommodation, Architecture, Commercial, Real Estate

Professional vs. Amateur

Affordable prices have put DSLR cameras in the hands of many people. You will find many parents toting around these large cameras, snapping shots of their kids, or snapping advertising pics for their business. The truth is, most don’t know how to use these cameras effectively.

Even worse, almost everyone has a friend, an uncle Bob, or knows someone with a “big” camera these days and entrusts them with once-in-a-lifetime events, like their wedding. The results are often disappointing. Uncle Bob is also great in shooting inconsequential stuff like commercial-quality photos for your company.

Remember, the images you present in your advertising, brochure, website, etc., do reflect the quality & appearance of your business.

Photography is much more than just having a “big” camera!

When you hire a pro photographer, you are paying for their time investment more than anything else. Many hours go into creating quality images and delivering a polished product that you will cherish. It is this time spent after the shutter is pressed that often makes the difference between just another snapshot and a great photograph.

Let’s take Real Estate for an example. Estate agents generally aren’t trained in photography. But they’re in the business of marketing property and try to sell a product worth hundred thousands of dollar with those photos. Photography sells real estate.
Buyers use photographs to decide which homes to see in person. Homes with poor photographs are often screened out of the selection process. So, attention desperate home sellers. Don’t want to lower the price on your house? Consider better photos ! Read more >>

Below are photos taken by a Real Estate agent and our photos (shot without flash lights). The agent’s images are first, ours are second.

Time the shoot favourable to the sun.

Elevation changes the point of view.

Use the ambient light to your advantage.

A general photography rule of thumb is the closer the subject, the better the photo. But in these photos you can see the impact of taking a few steps back (or using a wide-angle lens to give that impression). It gives the viewer more context and makes the place seem more spacious.

Level the camera straightens the verticals.

When the Real Estate agent saw our photos she said:

“It is hard to believe that it is the same house.”

Date: February 28th, 2011
Cate: Architecture, Editorial, Virtual Tour

Christchurch Earthquake

Last Tuesday the Christchurch community was confronted with a terrible disaster of immense proportions. We would like to convey our best wishes to those affected by this devastating event.

A while a ago I created a series of 20 Virtual Tours for the Christchurch City Council. Many of the buildings I captured are now seriously damaged or gone…

Date: February 14th, 2011
Cate: Accommodation, Architecture, Tourism, Virtual Tour

Google sees benefit in Virtual Tours

You may have seen it last week on the TV News. Google is now offering 360˚ Virtual Tours of the world’s top art museums.

If Google sees a benefit in Virtual Tours, you may should too !

A 360˚ Virtual Tour is definitely a great way to introduce new visitors to your website. And for past visitors, they can show their friends and family and relive the moment. A Virtual Tour really does allow a visitor to get as near to visiting your venue as is possible from their home.

Whatever your business – a hotel or function room, whether it is inside or outside, use a panoramic tour to show it in the best light possible. Think how important this is for a wedding venue, where the bride and groom will want to get a feel for their special day. Show your facilities off.

Adding a panoramic tour to your website will allow visitors to walk around. They’ll be able to do everything from zooming in, to virtually walking round your venue.

A panoramic tour definitely makes a location and your website more interesting and worth returning to.

Virtual Tours have been around a long time, but not many businesses truly understand the benefits they can bring. However, you do now! So now you understand just how 360˚ Virtual Tours can attract more visitors. A Virtual Tour definitely pays for itself.

As a sample, below is the Virtual Tour of the entrance to the Lake Timara Lodge – one of the country’s most luxurious and private lodges.
Click here to take virtual tours of the charming rooms at the Timara Lodge.

Check out a few of our Virtual Tours and see how they got embedded into existing websites:

Date: December 3rd, 2010
Cate: Architecture, Real Estate, Video

Real Estate Video

We have had many requests for all kind of video productions over the past months so we have decided to add it to our services.

The video below was produced for HARCOURTS Real Estate. The owner of the house had moved to Christchurch and the house in the Marlborough Sounds was empty. To make the video more attractive we persuaded the owner to appear in front of the camera to talk about the place and its features to give it a ‘personal’ touch. A different approach to the usual Real Estate Video.

The video is now linked to a listing with HARCOURTS Picton website and has attracted within the first month more than 60 views from Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

UPDATE: After a total of 250 views, the house is now SOLD.

Date: July 31st, 2010
Cate: Architecture, Commercial, Real Estate

House of the Year 2010 Awards

Recently Tamara and I took architectural photographs for the owners of an impressive mansion close to Renwick. Quite surprised we discovered these images a few weeks later in the newspaper where the house got awarded a regional “Registered Master Builder – House of the Year” award.

Date: July 5th, 2010
Cate: Architecture, Commercial, Portraits, Wine

Montana photo shoot

The brief for the job was simple. A dozen shots of the new chief winemaker Patrick Materman at the winery between 9 and 10 a.m.

Hold on, a dozen portraits in 1 hour ? We are talking business portraits here and not snap-shots !?
That is 5 minutes per portrait and includes moving from location to location !?
Well…

Anyway, it turned out that we had not even one hour for the shoot because Patrick was busy with another event. But in the end we were able to produce enough images to make the client happy.

The day was grey and miserable with dark clouds over Blenheim but the client insisted on some architecture photos of the entry to the winery.

A bit of Photoshop magic did the trick and resulted in quite a dramatic image. Dark clouds all around and just a bit of blue sky behind the tower. Is that a sign from above…?

Date: June 6th, 2010
Cate: Architecture, Editorial, Portraits

Heritage Magazine – Autumn 2010

So, its been a long time since my last entry, I know. I have an excuses! I was just too busy … I swear !

Shooting for the Heritage New Zealand Magazine again, I got commissioned to supply images for four stories, with the renovation of Nelson’s Theatre Royal getting the biggest exposure.
It is the oldest operating wooden theatre in Australasia and fell silent when a geotechnical investigation found it to be unsafe.
However, in June it will reopen, better than before after a $6.5 million restoration project but with its heritage core intact.

Tamara and I used a mixed of ambient light and portable flash lights to create a “theatrical” feel for the images. Ben, the magazine’s designer commented on the photographs: “Frank, really happy mate. The theatre images are perfect, fill of drama and composed very cleverly.

Many thanks, Ben !!!

Heritage New Zealand magazine - Issue Autumn  2010

Date: February 22nd, 2010
Cate: Accommodation, Architecture, Photo News, Virtual Tour
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The Portage Resort Hotel

When the The Portage Resort Hotel in the Marlborough Sounds did a major re-design of the website, I got commissioned by Alison and Diana to supply Virtual Tours for the different room categories and shoot additional photographs for the already existing image library.  The main focus here was on architecture / interior and food photography.

Timing for the interior photography was problematic as we had to take photos of several rooms between departure, cleaning and arrival of guests but Diana co-ordinated everything very well and we were able to complete the photo session in the estimated time frame. Please visit the new Portage Resort Hotel website, designed by babelscribe.com and check out the Virtual Tours or for example view the Kowhai Room Virtual Tour.

The Portage - Restaurant

Date: September 26th, 2009
Cate: Architecture, Editorial, Photo News

Top job – Cob job

Shooting a restoration project in Nelson for Heritage New Zealand magazine, the briefing was to capture a variety of images and one “great opening hero image” to begin the story with.
The grounds around the historic Broadgreen House didn’t look great with a large area fenced off to allow the new lawn to grow.
So I decided to take an evening shot.  Because the building is not lit at night, Tamara and I went out to painted the house with light.
After the camera was set up close to the surface of the little pond in front the house, Tamara released the shutter and I painted the building and surrounding area with two hands full of SB-800. It took us around one hour to get the image in the box.
When you agree that the person who releases the camera’s shutter is the photographer we say kudos to Tamara for taking such a heroic story opener.

Shooting a restoration project for the Heritage New Zealand magazine, the brief was to capture a variety of images and one “great opening hero image” to begin the story with.

Cob-Job

The grounds around the historic Broadgreen House in Nelson didn’t look great with a large area fenced off to allow the new lawn to grow.

So I decided to take an evening shot. Because the building is not lit at night, Tamara and I went out to paint the house with light.

After the camera was set up close to the surface of the little pond in front the house, Tamara controlled the shutter and I painted the building and surrounding area with two hands full of SB-800s Speedlights. It took us around one hour to get the image in the box.

When you agree that the person who releases the camera’s shutter is the photographer we say kudos to Tamara for taking such a heroic story opener.