Dave Dobbyn 30 years of hits...

Oh Dave, you loyal, beside me, naked flame, slice of heaven, shaky isle-singing legend. It was cool photographing you last night at the St James in Wellington...
And, almost as great as taking pics of Mr Dobbyn was ... talking to the quantity surveying phone meat salesman in the second aisle who waved me over ... (you didn't think they existed did you?!). He chatted away to me until the concert began... when I could have been taking pics, but really, talking about the ins and outs of the meat world was far more interesting...errrrrrrrm.
A few more piccies from the concert can be found here...
http://www.photoshelter.com/c/catbrownphotography ... just click on Dave and you'll be away laughing.

Sweeeeeeeet shot: Dave Dobbyn singing naked flame for his daughter ...

Queen Bee

Did you know that right, right, right in the centre of the Beehive (that's NZ's iconic parliament building that looks like a ...beehive), right at the very, very bottom there's a circle of marble floor tiles surrounded by a Stone Henge-like circle of lift shafts .... and right in the middle, middle there's one solitary circle of marble tile that is the centre, centre, centre of the building. I'm a shape person and I find things like this fascinating!
Yesterday I was visiting a buddy Moana, who's an opposition MP, and after having a coffee in the Beehive (because she wasn't allowed to leave because of imminent implosion, or some such government rule of urgency), we walked through the bottom lift shaft area and I exclaimed, 'oh my god, what is that stone?! Is it the exact centre centre centre of the building?' And she said yes. So I made her stand on it for a photo. Bless.
Occassionally I have an, 'I'm only going to use one solitary prime lens day,' and unfortunately this was it and my wee 35mm couldn't really handle the magnitude of the coolness of the solitary circle tile in the centre of an entire circle of lifts. But I got a nice picture of Moana at least.
This is definitely my sweet shot of the day: Moana and the super cool tiny circle tile that holds the entire Beehive together.

One (sweet) shot for glory

Instead of one sweet shot ... you can view a whole bunch of sweet shots from the Bahrain vs All Whites game right here... See if you can spot the Bahranian David Beckham lookalike ...

Bahrain vs All Whites = sweet shot

I'm just back from the All Whites vs Bahrain game: 1:0 to us, so yay for NZ! It's going to be super exciting going through to the world cup ... I look forward to many sleepless nights watching our lads playing the world's best!
Only 28 years in the making...!
But, back to the sweetshot of the day ... before I went in to the stadium, I spent a bit of time hanging out with the Bahrain supporters and snapped this little guy = sweet shot!

PS soon I'll put up the link so you can check out all my pics from the match.

Skater girl and some news

I snapped this chicitita cruising the skate bowl today in Welly...and where was on my way to when I spotted her on the halfpipe?
I was on my way to finally pick up my long long long awaited 3Dman tshirts.
Whoooooooo!
So, just to you know ... everyone that ordered them ... I will be sending them out tomorrow. I have the baggies all ready to go into production mode and pack them up and straight out the door to you. You'll defo get them Monday ...but maybe even on Sat if the postie is on form!
Anyway, just wanted to give you that news and...I even got Ali to do a wee pose in the bush outside our door in one of the shirts to show you how they look...
Here you go:

Believe it or not, this little house is in our backyard which backs onto the Wellington Green Belt in Thorndon. It's super super old and must have been an old dolls house for the kids who were here when the house was built at the turn of last, last century.
Anyway ... I've got mine on now. I LOVE a new Tshirt!

Thanks ali and skatergirl for being my sweetshots of the day!

Photo tips for the young and restless

A couple of changes ... one is the blog layout. A bit fresher, crisper and lefter ... is that an adjective?? Anyway the column of extra info...gallery, cat brown photography facebook crew and the rest are down the left side now, things are a bit clearer and easier to navigate...AND for a change, I thought instead of a sweet shot, I'd write some sweet tips today.

I will write some general tips in the future (and perhaps I'm doing this the wrong way around), but today I thought 'what do most people I know have in common?' - and at my age, it's babies and children!
So for everyone who has their own kids, or for those aunties and uncles, friends, cousins or grandparents amongst you this is for you. I hope you find some of it useful.

Oh, and another quick thing, I'm writing this for people who use stock standard compact digital cameras - because that's what most people have. But if you want some digital SLR (that's single lens reflex - or the larger cameras which let you change lenses and do more more stuff!) tips, just write a comment to let me know and I'll write some details about that specifically another time.

So, here we go:

Number 1) Try taking your photos of little ones from a lower angle than usual. Get down low, crouch, sit or lie on the floor and shoot across at the baby or child's eye level. This will look much better than shooting down at them.

Number 2) Spontaneous shots are fab ... but sometimes even better is working out when the 'spontaneous' shots are going to happen and then being in position ready to shoot the opportunity when it comes...eg if grandma is coming over and you know there'll be a cuddle on arrival, be ready for the shot. Photography can be spontaneous ... but a lot of the time it's capturing spontaneity within calculated realms ... and if you start thinking ahead and positioning where you need to be to get a certain kind of shot, you'll start to get better 'candid' piccies.

Number 3) Try and capture contact between people. Humans love contact - and they love images of two people (especially a little one and a big one) sharing a connection especially shared eye contact or touch. Get nice and close, but not soooooo close it's fuzzy (unless you want that look) and don't be afraid to move into a position where you are capturing faces - not backs of heads. Actually faces is a good mantra with photography....faces, faces, faces .....and nine times out of 10 the photo's that people love are the one's where they can clearly see faces and there's some kind of emotion going on that engages them - a smile, a laugh, a yell, a scream, serenity ... something.

And talking of faces...

Number 4) Babies love smiling faces. However, if you are smiling and then boof! disappear behind a camera, babies may stop smiling because your lovely smiling face is gone! A couple of ways around this are: a) get two of you to take the photo - preferably mum is your smiling and cooing decoy to keep baby smiling, and other mum, or dad or aunty or grandad or friend is the one taking the picture. b) The second option is for the more adventurous and it helps if you have some sort of focus-hold button, but crouch down, frame up the shot , then very carefully keep the camera where it is but move you head away from the view-finder to above the camera and smile at baby, then when the baby smiles at you press the shutter with your finger 'click'. It can take a few to get the shot if you've moved your hands at all. c) And last but not least some people make round faces with cardboard or disposable plates and the lie and draw a big smiley face on it. Then cut out a hole for the lens to poke through and some blue tack and stick it to the front of the camera and voila a smiling face-o-flage that you can take the photo through.
And remember ... babies pooing tend to smile. I can't believe I'm writing this... but smiles are still smiles (no-one needs to know what was happening at the time!)

Number 5) Baby's face is looking a bit blotchy or even rashy? Take the piccies then on whatever photosoftware you're using change from colour to black and white. It's really good for evening out skin tones.

Number 6) Try to not use flash unless you really really have to. I don't mean take pics in the dark because that's no good either .... but if you have the chance use natural sunlight do it. So if this means setting up a play area in a sunny room where you can photograph the kids when they're at play, or asking a mother holding a sleeping baby to rotate around until the natural light from the window is coming flowing the baby then that's a good thing. I personally think that flashes just aren't flash around really young kids ... it can just give them a fright, make them unhappy... and there's even some talk of it doing some nasty damage to very young eyes .... so all in all I tend to steer clear of it if I can (or at least diffuse it so it's not so harsh).

Number 7) Some kids can get pretty grumpy about having their pics taken, or shy or something .... but one thing that seems to be the saving grace of digital is that you can show the kids their pics on the view screen straight away after taking them and in my experience they LOVE this. It can make the shyest little person into a little performer! (The complete opposite can be true for adults who tend to judge their own looks ... whereas children just love themselves for the sake of loving themselves - it's great!)

Number 8) Don't be afraid to use all your camera modes ... that's what they're there for. If someone's doing kiddy sports for the first time and it's nice and sunny then flick it onto sports. Light's a bit darker or it's getting cloudy or dim, put it on the lowlight or night time setting. If you're not sure what your settings do then make friends with your camera manual! Or ask me!

Number 9) This is another one about where you're shooting from to take the photo .... My advice is, where possible don't rely on your camera's digital zoom. Zoom can be optical (good) or digital (not so good) and digital zoom makes the image quality reduce and reduce and the photos are more susceptible to camera shake and blurriness. Instead do what I call a body zoom .... walk as close as you can to the what you want to take and go from there. If it's a school performance get in the front row! Don't sit in the back with a long zoom, trying to use your flash (compact camera flashes aren't that strong and only shoot out light to a relatively short distance away. You'll get much better pics from the front!

Number 10) And to finish here's another lighting tip..useful for kids or anyone. It's an oldie but a good but don't shoot into light (ie don't shoot at something that has the light behind it) because you'll just end up with a silhouettes. The exception is a) if you want a silhouette or b) if you can FORCE your flash. This means if you can set your camera so that it makes the flash go even though the camera's brain thinks there's enough light to take the picture without it.
The camera's right. There is plenty of light, it's just behind - not directing at what you want to take.
So, what should you do if bobby is standing in front of a massive sunset and you want to see bobby's face not just a black blob....?? Force the flash that that you can see the sunset behind AND bobby's face. it's what all the pros do!


Hope you find this useful. Cheers Cat.

Snapped!

I don't know if this is a sweet shot or just a funny shot.

Because I photographed the Men in the City Charity Bachelor Auction on Saturday I was really looking for a photo that summed up the evening for my sweet shot to start off Monday in the right fashion.
And although this wasn't quite the shot I had in mind I couldn't get past this one for fricken hilariousness.
To the left we have the super lovely Courtney L'amour who was at the event supporting her single buddies (she's actually already taken guys). Also known in the real world as Jayne, Courtney happens to be a fabulously talented burlesque dancer in Wellington and a super friendly fab girl ... and we had a lovely chat on the night about an upcoming gig she has which hopefully I'll be taking photographs at - so look out for them in a month or two. And on the other hand we have super abs Neil - who I think looks a wee bit like Clive Owen and is also British to round out that whole effect - who was pulling the best poses for me throughout the entire night. Zoolander has nothing. Nothing.
Anyway onto the photo... how much have I super snapped Neil ...
Ermmmm... naughty!
The camera's this way, helloooo ... over here....

Lucky Neil's a cage fighter ...

I love my job

I loooooove my job so much.
One day (ie today ...but not till after I've had at least one decent coffee with Ali and Anthea!) I'll be out on a muddy pitch photographing sweaty sportstars playing the beautiful game, and other days (ie yesterday) I'll be delicately snapping away at the cutest subject of all...a gorgeous six week old baby.

Babies and little people are just the best to photograph ... sure, they're a tad unpredictable, but man are they beautiful. Their little expressions, their little bodies .... bless!
And, if you add in some lovely natural light ... awwwww

Catherine Taylor aged 6 weeks holding on to papa Dan's finger.
© cat brown photography

Birds

I sneak up on birds.
And I love them.
I do.
And I especially seem to like very common birds.
Sparrows, seagulls, pigeons especially.
The thing about birds that I like is that a) they're cute and b) they seem to like people, or being fed, which makes them kind of friendly, but c) mostly the thing I like about them is that they're a little flying piece of nature in the city...and that can make a city just a little bit better.
Kind of more like the country.

They poo. A lot. I know that. But other than that small issue I think they're beautiful.

Ok, this is starting to get a bit like a session of Dr Phil, but it's true.
I LIKE SNEAKING UP ON PIGEONS.
There. I said it.

Cute, puffy pigeon sitting in the seating area beside parliament in Wellington...you are my sweet shot!

Mothers

Bless.
I have been sooooo busy this last week that I didn't have a moment to update my blog.
Did anyone notice?
Yes.
My mother.
After about five days I got an email from Gisborne Mother Central ...

'Helloooo, just checking you're still alive ... haven't noticed a new sweetshot all week...'


This is modern motherhood, and proof that even when you're all grown up a kind touch of the keystroke is only a nano-fibre-optic-wave-length away...

Pic of my mum with my uber cute nephew Jeremy Charles Brown

So for a quick catch up, I've been super busy with weddings photos, lighting courses, portrait shoots, sports photos and more sports photos coming up ... and of note, for all those Wellington girls who think this place is in a man drought there's something coming up just for you ....'Men in the City'.
Yes, 30 guys are being ruthlessly auctioned off by event company Evention and radio station ZM90.9 to raise money for autism research this coming Saturday week...my buddy Brook is organising it and it should be a hoot. I'll be the one behind the camera! See you there!

Sweet shot!

Are you a T-Shirt Connsoisseur or do you know someone who is?

(Did you know when you click on these images you can then press control or apple + or - to make him bigger or smaller in your browser...so handy!)

I like tshirts a lot.

I especially like rare tshirts that other people don't have.

To share in my slight obsession I've created this very special tshirt '3D Man', and made them available to you guys so you can share in the tshirt love.

There's only 50 of these in the world and they normally cost NZ$70.00 each .... BUT if you're a member of my facebook page (you can become one by clicking here and then pressing 'become a fan') you get the super special deal of $30 off - which makes them only $40 bucks each.

Sweet!

The close off date for this deal is Oct 22.

To order, send the size, number you want, and if you want a men's or women's fit to this email:

Don't forget, Christmas is just around the corner, and this might be just what the doctor ordered for that tshirt-lover in your life.

Remember, there's only 50 of these babies created and each comes with it's own special limited edition copy number so don't miss out, once they're gone they gone.

Locally designed and printed here in sunny Wellington. Bless.

xx Cat

Swinging fun!

Hello Mr Alex Randall: new big brother and all round fabulous kid!

A swing, a cute wee boy, some lovely greenery and great natural light ... a perfect combo for taking photos!

Sweeeet shot!

Bex is best

This one goes out to the one I love.
My hairdresser.


Bex Fennessy is the coolest person I know.

Not just because she flies down from Auckland every 5 weeks or so to cut the lucky duckies on her special lucky ducky hair cutting list in Wellington, at the most fabulous salon location in the world....ie a Moa Point beach house's front sunroom where you sit with no mirror, just a view out to the Southern Alps across the Cook Strait to stare at while she snips away ... , but because she doesn't REALISE just how cool she is.
Bex is completely fearless and makes choices based on what feels right and what makes her happy.
Tick in the cool box.
She also says things like; (and I'll put this in some context, her current day job is as hair and makeup artist on a new show aimed at American audiences and not on air yet called Spartacus which is Lucy Lawless and John Hannah's (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Coldcase etc) latest project)
...just had to fill that bit in. Right, she says things like;
'I've got this new animal print jacket and I was at work the other day and John (Hannah) said 'I saw you in Ponsonby with that cool jacket', and I was like. Yay, somebody likes my jacket.
I looove my jacket.'

I was thinking, errr, yeah the jacket, I'm sure it's great but HELLO you're hanging out with John Hannah and he's star spotting you, and you're not even realising how cool that makes you.
That gets a tick too. Tick.

She is also the best hairdresser. In the world. Seriously. TICK.
Thanks Bex, you're the best....and you're my sweet shot!

Bex isn't a big fan of posed photos but I made her do this one.

Bex in her favourite barber shop chair and my and Ali's hair on the ground.

Winners... plus how to look pretty, save lots of coin and get cool stuff in the post ... mmmm

Congratulations to T-shirt competition winners Fiona Shrapnell and Paul Vance who will be soon be kitted out in their very own '3D Man' limited edition CBP design printed tops worth NZ$70.00 each.
Mmmmm nice.
It's always good to win stuff.
Paul and Fiona were super stoked about being the winners and I am super stoked to be able to send them out the Ts.
I think the tshirts are pretty nice, and they're100% locally designed and printed in Wellington NZ which makes me feel fuzzy and warm on the inside.

But what about everyone else!?!

Well, never fear there is something special for you too!
Because of popular demand I will be extending the run of '3D Man' tshirts to 50 (that's 50 only ever ever ever to exist in the world and then there's no more printed !) - each with there own limited edition print number - and for Cat Shack crew members (that's members of the Cat Brown Photography facebook page) you can order one of these rare shirts for only $40 each, giving you a big fat $30 bucks saving, and you can spend that money on something else and not feel guilty because it's kinda like free money.

This offer is only open until 22 October so you need to order kind of quick smartish so you don't miss out.

How do I order?
Well, firstly to get the special deal you need to belong here (when you get there click 'become a fan')
Then just flick me an email with your name, dets and how many you want and what sizes and I'll send you the account details to pay and then once you've done that it will be posted to you.
Don't you love getting stuff in the mail!

This is exactly what the 3D man Tshirt looks like if you have bendy arms.

There's only going to be 50 of these babies in the world...with the first 2 already gone ... shivers only 48 to go...

Order now

Salt and Pepper

Liz and Jodi are two designers I used to work with at Learning Media in Wellington, and who I nicknamed salt and pepper because they are inseparable and taste nice on food. Ok, I'm not sure about that last bit, but they certainly are inseparable, they do everything together and even finish each others sentences.

No, really.

It's Pepper's birthday today so Lizzy loo these pics are for you!

Liz Pepper (left) and Jodi Salt (right)...

What were you guys laughing about again...?

Win win win a super exclusive cool tshirt - but be in quick, you need to get in before Oct 13!

All you gotta do is click here and then become a fan (or other air-conditioning unit ... I know it's an old joke!) here before October 13 and you're in the draw.
Simple huh.

Wet feet, fishy treats and hidden treasure

So there I was all snuggly and warm in my little photo studio when I received the emergency call:

Ali had walked to work in the rain and got wet feet.

I looked out of the window at the horizontal storm that was buffeting Wellington and did what all good partners do; packed up some dry fluffy socks and new shoes ready for the drop off mission, although to be honest I didn't feel at ALL like going out into the storm!

Fifteen minutes later I was in town and Ali's feet were freshly ensconced in their new safe and warm surroundings (aka dry socks and shoes) ... and here I am now in town, having REALLY had no intention of even leaving the studio on this miserable day ... so I decided to walk around to my fav local sushi bar to pick up some lunch before I went back home as a kind of treat to myself for doing my good dead.

Here, 2 things happened: I took what turned out to be my sweet shot of the day...

(click on the pic, it looks much better nice and big) ... and then secondly, for the first time ever, I went to somewhere which I just know is going to turn into one of my favourite Wellington photo destinations!

So, here I was post sushi and having taken this photo I wanted to print it out straight away. Usually I have my regular places that I think do good printing in Wellington, but today I couldn't be bothered walking even a block in the rain, so I looked directly across the road from the sushi joint and saw the most fabulous thing.

A photo lab and coffee house all in one.

Photoespresso (down the Embassy end of Courtney Place) is somewhere I've never been into before. I had seen it but had kind of turned my nose up to be honest because it all seemed too commercial and mainstream ... but hey, today was raining and really I was feeling a bit impatient. So I went in and - oh my god! I'm in love!

Fabulous service, nice prints and HELLO fabulous coffee! It was almost too good to be true!

The guy serving the coffee said it was pretty quiet that day - but for me that was great because I got everything I wanted in about 10 minutes, not to mention enjoyed playing with their little printy machines sipping a decent coffee and chatting to the staff who were super nice.

So, anyway, just wanted to mention that.

If you need good prints pretty quickly and good coffee too I'd recommend the place.

Yay for Friday, have a great weekend :)

super freeze

All I'm saying is that the rest is yet to come!
This is a still from a wee movie I'm making for the mighty Wellington United Clash footy team for their end of year do...I can't say much more as it's top secret...but watch this space!

Sweeeeeeeeet shot!

It's Wednesday...

...and it should be Tuesday if my a 'sweet shot everyday' catch-cry is to be believed.
Whoops - that's right, I missed yesterday dang it!
I've been so busy (busier than a little beaver (marlies that joke's for you!)) the last few days, editing photos from various jobs, and my poor little sweet shot blog has fallen behind!
But, to make it up to you I've got some great news!
I'm about to run a fabulous competition which is going to be super easy to enter...and the prize will be a very cool limited edition designer cat brown photography tshirt.
That's right...not a shitty tshirt, a cool tshirt....ie you will want to wear it out rather than sleep in it.
So watch out.
You'll need to be part of the facebook cat shack crew to enter, but that's as easy as clickity click and you're done.
The information about the competition is coming up very soon...

And...here's today's sweet shot!
Downtown brown at Parliament city

Chrissy and Marlies

You know that U2 song with or without you? I think that was written for my two friends Chrissy and Marlies.
The two have been, in varying degrees, work-mates, best-mates, soul-mates and polar opposites for the last number of years.
Of all the pictures I have seen or taken of them, this is the most perfect in its description of their relationship as I know it. Together and apart, going in different directions but completely symmetric, rough and smooth, city and country, yin and yang...and always joined at the hip!

Come on in and welcome to my new shack

Today has been busy busy preparing for a wedding shoot tomorrow, but besides that work, I have had the fun of of two good friends Marlies and Chrissy staying - which is fabulous!
I've also got a new special page on facebook which I'd love to come and check out and tell me what you think ... and if you like it please click to join so that you've got another way to see photos which I don't put here on the sweet shot!
So today's sweetshot ...

I think the irony of a paparazzi hand up at a photo exhibition is just too hard to pass by... Jess Maccagno put that hand down!

New watermark

I wanted to show you my new watermark/logo, and what better way than with a beautiful East Coast water view...
I'll be updating my website with it soon...along with the entire site courtesy of my new favourite place Photoshelter.
In the meantime enjoy the lovely Tokomaru Bay wharf vista...('you know what I did last summer'....kind of like the film but less scary and more sand in your sandwiches).

The silent treatment

The Chinese Embassy is at the bottom of my crescent and everyday on the footpath directly opposite, protesters silently meditate towards the huge red flag whipping about in the Wellington breeze.

Sometimes there are lots of people sitting on the street, sometimes just one, but everyday, they're there, and have been for the whole time I've lived here (that's over two years).

I have a lot of love for the Chinese people, but the Chinese government has a history of being very dangerous, especially to groups who do not share their view.

I've always thought these silent - but very public - Falun Dafa protesters are very brave. I'm not sure I'd have the guts to do what they do. In fact, even sitting on a public street for an hour with my eyes shut would be pretty daunting ... (although that said, Tinakori Rd has to be one of the safest places in Wellington, what's the worst that could happen? ... licked to death by a poodle!?)

This man was sitting here when I walked into town and still sitting here when I walked back past about three hours later, I love his peaceful, earnest face and shoes so neatly placed beside him.

Sweet shot

Little boy blue

I walked into town today to meet a client and then walked back home through the botanical gardens with the intention of perhaps a sweet shot appearing and .... hello!
The gardens were PACKED with people all swarming to see the spring flowers, budding trees and other assorted greenery. Right at the entrance to the gardens there are two quite cute little-cheraby-boy statues standing about a metre or so high and this dad had popped his little boy up to hold onto the statue so he could take a cute photo of little cheruby boy/little son/yellow tulips behind, which was a super cute pose.
Halfway through though, the little tot found the height a bit much, bless his wee face, and had to be rescued .... awwwwww sweet shot ....

I just had to put this shot up too.
You tell 'em tree! Just because you're a tree you don't have to be green!

Noice one Paul and Meeegs

My friends Megan and Paul have just got engaged and last night we went to their house for dinner and to watch Paul wrestle with his fancy pasta maker. On this occasion the pasta maker won ... but next time ... watch out pasta machine! Paul will be all over you!

Paul and Megan are both those kind of people that photographers love so much - the kind that 'hate getting their photos taken'.
I quite like people like this because it gives me the opportunity to say outrageous things - just to make my subjects laugh and relax - of course.
Otherwise I wouldn't do it normally at all. At all.

I got lots of fab photos of Paul and Megs (at the dinner table between courses) - which was quite easy really because they're both cute and photogenic.
Most of them were smooogy ones (that's a very complicated technical term).

But, my very favourite shot of the night was this one...caught off guard and naturally engaging each other. Which was kind of perfect. (Note the mirroring for the psychologists amongst you...)
Sweeeeeet shot!

My fav

I put up a few behind the scenes photos earlier in the week from a photoshoot I did last weekend...and here is one of the end products.

As we're getting to the business end of the photo editing I think (of over 800 photos!) it is my my favourite shot...
Love to know what you think...

Sweeeeet shot!

All images © cat brown photography

hey baby!

Welcome to the world little Toby George Randall ... This little fellow has only been on our planet for a very short time and I was lucky enough to take some shots of him for his mum and dad yesterday.
What a little stunner, and very peaceful with some lovely natural Wellington light coming through the window ... awwwwww sweet shot!

Go kiwi go

I went to the Bledisloe on Sat night and watched the kiwi's mash up the aussies. Way in the back stands watching her first ever game was this wee girl sitting on her dad's lap, totally engrossed in the game.

What a cutie and definitely a sweet shot!

Yelling tiger, crouching model

It's been a busy few days! This is me during a lighting test for a shoot yesterday. I just had to get around to the other side of the camera because I have a new tshirt that I LOVE and I wanted a picture of me in it with my mouth open like the tiger! (Thanks Jess for taking the pic and being an awesome help during set up!)


Hehehe....anyway...moving on... my client hasn't even seen the pics yet, but I'm going to be sneaky and show you some behind-the-scenes shots I took during the day...

I love this pic, it's fabulous model Catherine (who also happens to be a champion fencer!) and her equally fabulous boyfriend Julian (you might recognise him as the hairdo dude from the ANZ commercials). Julian can also do a fantastic Zoolander pull-the-undies-out-of-your-pants impersonation...

Anyway, I just turned around, and between shots he was quickly touching up her makeup.

How's that for a cool boyfriend!

This is the most wonderful Esther - the co-owner of boutique bridal and evening gown design studio Angel's Wings - doing some final fittings to her sister Bebe's creation. Esther has to be the sweetest person I ever met, and she also has the sweetest tooth. Candy, candy, candy everywhere!

And this, well how could I resist. We were doing lots of beautiful weddingy poses but Kung Fu fighting was on the stereo and I was like 'come on catherine give me a punch'

Wooo cha!

Turned out pretty cool I think.

11 hours later and we're still standing - although poor Catherine had to leave slighty earlier for another four hours of catwalk practice for some event .... shitbags! She must have been tired 'cause I and everyone else was wacked!

Here's our team pic doing the Chinese 5-10 finger signs, designer Bebe, model Grace, me, owner Esher, cheeky monkey and general props and grip crazy girl Tina, and makeup magician Vincey.

Thanks guys for a great day and some gorgeous photos! You can check them out at the Wellington Spring Wedding Show on Oct 4 at the Angel's Wings stand.

Ruff

These guys pulled up in the car outside Aro cafe when I was having brunch with some buddies today.

Love it! Cruising with two bruisers in the back - that girl is in safe hands!

Sweet Shooooooooooot!

This one's for my dad

The thing I love about Wellington is that it's beautiful.
And not just the natural amenities either - the gorgeous views, rugged hills, sparkly harbour and amazing sunrises - no, it's all the little bits added to make it extra lovely.
The curly little bronze - don't drive through here - barriers in the city could just be ugly barriers. But they're not. They're totally cool little koru spirals that happily sit looking friendly and comforting along the streets,, the roading drain covers have amazing designs carved into them, the library roof is held up by a line of steel nikau palms, the entire waterfront is a homage to amazing nz poetry - even if you have to be a little adventurous in trying to find all the sneaky little places the word have been hidden - and scuptures... Hello! The most amazing sculptures EVERYWHERE.
My favourite installation is the fern globe which floats in the air above civic square.
Everytime I see it I just have to stop and stare.
And that's pretty cool.
When I was young I didn't really see the benefit of being an artist.
My dad was an artist and he painted amazing paintings. But surely it was all a bit frivolous, just drawing and painting all day? I even asked dad once why he did what he did...and he said because emotion was the most important thing in the world (and what's more he loved painting more than anything!) But I still didn't get it.
It wasn't until I grew up that I realised that beautiful things make people feel better and that's important in itself.
That artists create things that make people happy, or more importantly they create things that make people feel something is amazing.  Creations that move people, change their consciousness even if only for a split second, just by looking at them, or listening to them, or watching them, or feeling them .... or tasting them if you're a food artist, are a key to us being happy humans.

For me, whatever is happening in my life when I see the floaty globe, for just that moment I always feel inspired and free.
So then, how nice for me to be in the square looking at my favourite globe and taking a piccy when this bird flew past.
A perfect pair - and my sweet shot of the day :)

Stella and Tallulah

This is Stella and Tallulah and I love this picture because of the intense discussion and concentration that's going on ... the girls could be 11 or 66.
In fact, I'm sure they will be having the same type of animated discussions AT 66!
This conversation was about the intricacies of a particular music video.

Their mums are great buddies together and the girls are like sisters - constantly laughing and fighting and teasing and crying and making up and laughing and ... well, it's my sweet shot of the day.

Sweet shot! Kapow!

Always take the keys

So, occasionally at the end of the day, Ali and I will sit on our balcony and have a quiet beverage and talk about the days we've just had. In my mind I like to think of it as the final moments before the end credits of a weekly drama where the main characters have some inane conversation before the narrator uses their current life stories to sum up the moral of the episode.
I shouldn't be telling you this should I, because perhaps you'll find that a little weird, but to be fair, it's more to do with the amazing view we have rather than our lives being something that might constitute a weekly television program. (I think it's a kind of 'who knows what the future might hold in the next installment' kind of view. Kind of vast and beautiful in a city sort of way.)
Anyway, tonight our flatmate Ruth joined us and told us how it had started to spit on her way home, so she'd turned around and decided to catch the bus instead of walk, leading her to need to take out money from the ATM, and in turn leading her to spend too much time away from the busstop and miss the bus.
Hello, did somebody say Murphy?
Anyway, that in turn lead me to tell Ruth and Ali a story that was told to me by Neil Roberts, then head of TVNZ about a time when he had a bunch of intern kids follow him around the station, and then he took them home for a juice and BBQ or whatever as a special treat to end the day. During that time one of the kids saw his car keys and was like 'wow man, have you got a Lambourghini?' and he was like 'yes I have it's parked outside,' and held out the keys saying, 'do you want to take it for a drive?'.
The kid hesitated and said 'oh, errrr, oh...I don't know,' in a shy, is-this-too-good-to-be-true kind of way, at which point Neil Roberts takes back the keys and says 'ok, too late'.
And before the kid gets to say, 'oh my god of course I'd love too', Roberts turns to the others and says, 'this was a lesson that opportunities come just once, and if you don't run and grab them straight away, you miss out'.
Tough lesson kid.
While we were sitting on the balcony, across the way in a house a little bit below us the curtains kept flapping and a little boy who was clearly meant to be fast asleep was standing up on his bed in his jammies looking out at the strangers on the balcony of the house along the way.
And I thought - dammit Neil I'm going to get my camera and tripod - this one is too good to miss!

I never thought it would never happen

And especially not so soon after starting this blog.
In fact, I promised myself I wouldn't do it.
No one wants to see pictures of a photographer's pet in an online blog.
I mean, the world has had enough of that kind of sappy, rubbish, and really, to be honest I find the idea completely vomit-inducing. No animal shots. Never. Never. NEVER!

And then, this morning, my dog jumped up into my bed, flopped down beside me and did this.

Damn you dog for your cuteness!

It's my sweet shot of the day.

My latest facebook ad ... what do you reckon?

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Cat Brown Photography

Someone's up the duff and you need a photographer for the wedding? Call Cat, she makes bad jokes but she's quite good. (P-Diggs & Cat)

 

Happy Monday sweet shot

And hello to you today!
I love this shot - it's mama Anne, and kiddies Rosa and Eve looking super cute on their porch together.
Mother-daughter portraits are always gorgeous and Anne's sure got an armful of fun and energy right there! Phew! Kinda like taking photos of wiggly worms!
On another note, it's almost spring festival time here in Welly and as I'm literally across the road from the Botanical Gardens I have been peeping at the blooms coming up over the week. I actually captured the very very first tulip that came up in the garden which I've posted below. See I AM greedy with my sweet shots of the day - I can never stop at one!

On a technical note the link above says Sunday - but it's actually Monday in Wellington, NZ! Hmmm I'll have to work out how to fix this technical calendar thingee! (**a little bit later** OK! I've fixed it!)

First tulip of 2009 at Wellington Botanical Gardens ...

Coffee - Friday 11 Sept

Ok, clearly coffee is on my mind today because I went to get some beans from the kitchen cupboard to make myself a fresh brew and I'd run out of beans!! Nasty!
My favourite beans in Wellington (by the way) come from Emporio and are ground by my friend and grind master Regs Bang ...I know...a name doesn't actually get any better than that does it~! (It's his real one too.) Anyway, I digress... so here I am, craving a kwaffee and remembering Friday when I was walking down Woodward St and HELLO there was a new cafe having a 'free coffee' day. Sweet!
So, anyhoo - they certainly deserved the sweetshot of the day. Lucky I had my trusty Nikon on hand!

Snapped!!

Rarer than a rare bird, my friend Nathan is near-impossible to photograph.
I think I could dig up about four photos of his hand - blurred out and pushed towards my lens from four separate occasions between the ages of 16 and 33 ... so I don't normally try.
Well, that's not true. I do, but without success.
Until today.
Ah yes...in all his glory, at the French bakery opposite his his work.
(Where no doubt he is subsidising the entire's staff's pay with his short black consumption...)
It's my sweet shot of the day...

And ... I just can't resist ... here's another pic ... this is the swing outside my house.
I was playing around with a grungy texture and digital manipulation to capture a bit of a dark, enigmatic mood ...

(All images © cat brown photography)

HDR fun

Playing around with HDR techniques at the moment ... and I love the sky in the top shot. I pulled back and took a longer distance one to capture the sky and building tops. Underneath is a closer one so you can see what caught my eye to photograph in the first place ...
(All images © cat brown photography)