Archive for category Architecture

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, 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 !!!

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, 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.