Trees and stuff.

Happy new year y’all.

We’re back in the swing of things at TMP after having some much needed R&R up North (ish) over the holidays. Time was spent in Kerikeri and around the local area including some of the kauri forests there. What a fabulous place to head to when you’re a bit over time spent in the city and although the weather was tumultuous and turmoiled it did the trick of recharging batteries.

So this isn’t some big fancy shoot with wardrobe stylists, makeup people,  deadlines, any of that stuff, just a dude with a camera walking around forests. Which, for me, is almost how it all began except replace forest with city and you pretty much have it. I’ve done these photo walks all my life, or ever since I had a camera I should say – just grab a camera, a lens, take an open mind and see what you see.

When I was in college we studied Flâneurism a little bit. Basically, and if I remember correctly, it’s looking objectively at a city or urban environment you feel you know pretty well, instead of looking subjectively through the same old eyes. Forgetting what you believe about a space and imagine you’re seeing it for the first time, or removing any preconceptions and just seeing what it has which interests you. I’ll throw something in here which makes this look a bit more academic:

The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flâneur finds the world “picturesque.”

Styling by Louise Hall-Strutt, Wardrobe by Barkers.

This was the week before Joe’s fight with Daniel Martz. I had an exclusive shoot with Joe on behalf of a magazine running an 8 page article on him, his career, and his future. There was a 2 hour turnaround time for this, which included time for the interview at the end. On the drive down I had visions of a guy in a dusty ring in some industrial looking space, with bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and bruised punching bags swinging from girders. The reality was a little different. The shoot took place in an old garage converted into a gym where Joe has been training since he was a boy. Not grand by any means but honestly more suited to Parker and the space had that level of authenticity and life you just couldn’t plan for (or make in a studio). No ring, no fancy props, just a man training hard by himself in his garage in Papatoetoe struggling and fighting to realise his dreams.

I also had word this might end up on the cover and since I’m familiar with this magazine’s style and their usual choices for cover artwork it filled out one of the looks for me. As with most shoots you want a mix between efficiency and variety, so I aimed for 4 looks with 4 different outfits in about 90 mins. The first look would be the cover shoot, white background, suited and booted, and pretty much all about the face and the look. Looks a little like this:

The second one down was the image selected for the cover, and the third one down was used for the hero image on the opening spread. Lighting is just a big light in the back as a background and a silver umbrella around the front. I sometimes use softboxes around the front but a silver umbrella puts out a hotter, more contrasty light. I wanted some pretty deep shadows for some drama and maybe a bit of menace in some shots and a softbox would basically make it too pretty.

Look 2 was working the bag. Shots like this are really useful to flesh out the portrayal and by the shots above you wouldn’t necessarily know the guy was a boxer on his way to the top so I wanted to get some action shots of just working the bag, nothing crazy, and no suits.

And then sometimes you turn off a light and see what happens.

What I like about this location is that everything there is real. It’s been there for ages and serves a purpose. It became a portrait in a sense because by looking around at the things in the background you get a glimpse into the character you’re photographing. Everything is functional, used, maintained, and has a purpose to it. There’s a few personal touched like the Ali poster on the wall and some scripture quotes written on the mirror but the rest of the adornments in there are all about fighting: charts on movements, workout routines, different gloves, exercise equipment.

Onto look 3. Forgive me, it’s a tight space to work in.

Another change of outfit and time for some shots that would function as DPSs and I think would look really good with copy around them. Again, the background is as important as Joe himself and I wanted to showcase the gym as much as anything else. If you look closely, to Joe’s right is a stack of belts. You can see them in the mirror. I thought that having them openly on display, or him wearing them, would just be a little too heavy-handed and cheesily simplistic, but to his utmost credit Joe earned them and it’s only fair they be seen. This seemed like a compromise where they’re visible, but not the subject and for me, it’s the kind of thing that adds some depth to an image like the more you look, the more you see.

The light here is a bare strobe at the back (you can see it flaring in) and an octabox in the front. I wanted the light at the back to look like harsh sunlight and wanted those long shadows from Joe’s legs and feet on the floor. I shot a little upward too to make him seem looming and powerful – he’s like 6 foot 4 and in very good shape, so doesn’t need much help but still there’s a psychological element apparent when you shoot someone from below.

Do a bit of b/w closeups for added variety.

Look 4 was simplified and stripped back a little from this. I wanted to keep it natural looking, not so posey or dramatised, somewhat candid and there’s not a great deal to really say about it. I saw the ropes and asked if he could just hold one while looking at the camera. No glaring or stare downs, just look like Joe Parker when he’s Joe Parker. The first two are natural light through a side window and through a skylight in the roof. This was at something like ISO 1600 to get the exposure.

I lit a couple just to add an extra edge but I think I prefer the natural light ones.

And here’s a setup shot so you can see ‘the magic’.

   And that’s about it. 8 pages, 4 looks, 1 superstar supremely humble boxer and it’s on to the next one.

Styling by Juvena Worsfold: https://juvenaworsfold.wordpress.com/ one of the best stylists I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Good eye, great work ethic, easy to get along with, with a fine taste in movies! Everything else (photography, lighting, editing, whatever) handled by me.

So this is a little different in that it’s not portrait photography. Products are both easier and harder to shoot: easier because they don’t turn up drunk, have bad moods, or get tired of doing the same thing, and there’s very little chance of them running late for an interview and giving you 1/3 the allotted time. And harder to shoot because it’s clinical, precise, things have to look how they look (well, yeah) and occasionally products are infinitely finicky such as when you’re trying to lay a bag strap so it’s just right but never is.

The intent here was to funk it up a little, not do 100% birds eye views of top-down photography and do something a bit more structured with some layers to it. Juvena can take full credit for this, it’s my job to basically justify the hard work stylists put in (and man is it hard, it seems like only 10% of the job is the actual styling).

The lighting style/look for this was something a bit warmer. I wanted to give it a sort of dusty look, somewhat filmic, almost cinematic with some colour grading and hard shadows.

To get those hard shadows I just used a bare light – just a studio strobe in the reflector dish to channel the light forward and make it more efficient by minimising the spread. I wanted it to look hot, and hard, sharp like a desert sun yet toned like a dusty twilight. There was a bit of fine tuning with the position and angle of the light but it came out around 15ft away (almost on the other wall) and somewhere around waist height (we’re shooting stuff on the floor in a corner of an office room). Set the light for f/11 and ISO 320 (since Canon cameras are sharpest and most noise-free in increments of ISO 160) and you’re good to go.

The backgrounds are literally coloured sheets of cartridge paper taped to the wall and the colours were swapped in and out depending on the dominant colours of the products. You can be complimentary or clashing this way and since it’s rather small things a couple of A3 sheets is typically enough to use.

setup shot:

Which became this:

Another:

Get the right angle, zoom in, pay attention and:

I find it pretty cool that you can change the entire look of the scene by selecting the right paper colours to go with what you’re shooting. Kudos again to the stylist who makes my job very easy and means I can focus on doing what I do.

And that’s 6 pages done. On to the next one.

Wardrobe by Nicholas Jermyn, Styling by Lou Hall-Strutt, everything else by yours truly.

Hello there, and welcome to the latest installment of the blog. Last week I had the joy of shooting 2 well known personalities from the box in the corner of the lounge. I was commissioned to shoot a 10 page article which would feature these 2 gents, the wardrobe would be handled by Nicholas Jermyn and the shoot was at their new premises somewhere near Great North Rd in Auckland… Scanlan Street maybe?

When shooting busy people you get hardly any time to do anything, it’s pretty much a shake of the hand, a quick “how are you?” and then they’re off to do the rounds, shake more hands, get dressed and prepped before the shoot. This is the time when you can actually scope out the place for backgrounds or shooting locations because not only do you need something in the background but space enough for a couple of lights too. This shoot was wrapped up in 45 minutes front to back, with 2 or 3 outfit changes, different locations and lighting looks, and left with plenty of time for the guys to go and do an interview for the piece. Preparation goes a long way.

The way I worked this shoot was to shoot one of the guys while the other was being fitted and styled, then when he was ready, the first guy would go and get fitted out in a different outfit and we’d repeat this swapping over until we were done and I’d tell the guys that the next shoot, we’re gonna be outside by the big metal roller door, or upstairs near the pool table, just something so they’re not walking around looking for me and everyone knows where they need to be when they’re ready. Again this goes back to the time spent walking around beforehand, scoping out areas you want to use and basically trusting your instincts and your eye that you can make it look cool even though not every single detail is nailed down because, on shoots like this that happen this quick, they’re simply isn’t enough time.

The photographer’s input to the fitting and styling is occasionally substantial but often minimal – it’s the stylist’s job to pick the outfits yet they might hopefully consult with you about choice of background or what colours are present in a scene which gives them a slight palate to work with and/or avoid.

Anyway, this is apparently a photography blog. Pics.

This was just a single softbox a little up and in front of Paul and slightly pointed down. I like the hawkish profile and I just asked Paul to sit there and steeple his fingers, looks Presidential to me, or something from a book cover. For the finished article I removed the frame from the back in post, like this:

Move around slightly to the front and you get:

Pretty moody so needed to lift it a bit for the next set of Paul. Good ol’ white background (which was whited out for the mag)

Stick a big light in the background, soft light around the front and you’re good to go. Here’s Jeremy playing pool.

Lit with a massive octabox camera right which is handily big enough to cast light back behind him and light the whole space.

Corbett’s time in front of the light which was whited out completely in post.

Next we took a little stroll outside for a different feel, something cool but a bit gritty around the edges. You work with what you have.

All in all, 45 minutes of time, 10 pages blocked off in a magazine and a variety of looks and moods to augment the story and the layout. Not bad! Lighting again was just a big octabox and lenses used were between 24mm and 135mm.

I didn’t think it was his real name, or at least spelled that way. Jon Toogood is a bona fide rockstar. His band, Shihad, have shared the stage with behemoths of the rock and metal world including superstars like Metallica and Black Sabbath, ever since their arrival on the scene with Churn in 1993. 5 number 1 albums to their name, multiple world tours… suffice to say that Shihad are pretty big.

For some reason I was the guy commissioned to photograph Jon Toogood while he was over in Auckland for a few solo shows. The photos were going to be for a 10 page spread in a national magazine covering the man and his career. An important gig.

The styling was handled by the lovely and effervescent Mike at NZ Suit Source (http://www.suitsource.co.nz/) who always does a stellar job of making people look awesome and he’s got a very useful grasp of complimentary colours, shapes, cuts of lapels, and conveniently has access to all manner of props. Cheers, Mike!

If you read my Taika Waititi article recently this might look familiar: white background, guy in suit, softbox around the front. The white background is an octabox so it’s a light itself. It’s advantageous not only because it’s guaranteed to actually be 100% white but because it lights the back of the subject and has a wonderful wraparound glow that just seeps through the edges. The light round the front is a softbox pointed slightly down and around to the camera right. If this light is in front it looks just like a passport photo, which you might want but you probably don’t. Then it’s up to the camera-wielder to do the good ol’ direction so the subject knows what’s going on.

I was thinking about this the other day, that on photo courses you get taught a lot of the mechanics such as apertures and focal lengths, talks about hyperfocal distances and lighting ratios, but I’ve not come across one that addresses the issue of actually talking to the person on the other side of the camera and it’s like 75% of the shoot because, after all, if the person isn’t happy with you pointing a camera at them, or feels uncomfortable, the work is going to suffer. Lighting is cause and effect but direction is a bit different. It’s a habit of mine that the first time I meet someone I’m shooting, there are no cameras or lighting gear anywhere, it’s just 2 people chatting about whatever (music in this case). This way it’s just Tez talking to Jon, or Tez talking to whoever, which is a much more comfortable dynamic than photographer/subject, or photographer/client, and it also gives you the chance to establish a little bit of a rapport before the lights go up.

Before editing the shots look like this. See how the octa lights the right (our right) side of his cheek? That’s what I’m looking for. The editing then is basically a matter of painting white around the edges and watching the lines of the suit but masking that stuff out is way way way easier than masking around someone’s hair! If you want to test your patience, give that a go, it’s great.

And with the edits and some variations of pose:

There’s a lot more but you get the idea. In between every shot I asked Jon if he could move his head or his chin, or look somewhere around the store, and turn his shoulders this way and that. It just gives some variety to the shots and gives options to the layout guys at the publication since it’s very rare that I have any idea about headlines, lead-ins, text placement etc before the shoot happens.

I think I had about 90 minutes for 10 pages and 3 changeouts of clothing. I’ve done more with less and it’s times like these when you’re not just taking pictures, you’re talking with stylists and tailors about looks, backgrounds, colours, styles, thoughts about what you’re looking for and what you’re not looking for. The photographer on these kind of shoots pretty much calls the shots. The subject/client always has veto but luckily Jon was cool with all the suggestions and seemed happy to stand in certain places looking cool and suave.

The next look I wanted something different, something in situ, not the typical rock n roll back-alley stuff, or a brick wall, but something a little more dystopian, maybe a little western, something… drier maybe, like arid landscapes, not caustic wit… of which I have none.

It looked something like this:

To me there’s a No Country for Old Men look going on there with the harsh sunlight. Which I should explain: I had a helping hand from the PR agent on this case who was holding a light to camera left, emphatically ensuring the whole light didn’t topple over on what was a very windy day. It’s just the massive octabox camera left, around 7ft high, and set to about 2/3 power to balance with the sun. I wanted it to look like the sun so the light was backed off a little which makes the dropoff (that’s the gradation from light to dark) much sharper. So now you know, it’s all in the lighting, folks. There’s another, far more practical reason for the lighting too: you can’t have someone squinting the entire shoot or damaging someone’s eyesight holding their eyes open under a glaring sun. This way the look was achieved with just the right amount of squintage and everybody kept their eyesight.

Way back when I wrote an article about white balance and how it can be used stylistically, something to do with the psychological effects of colour and split-toning (it’s been done in films for decades). It comes in here because I wanted a different colour palette between the shoots, not just in fabric and shirts but with the whole ensemble. The first set has a warm tint going on, and this second set has a colder blue tint going on where the shadows are tinted blue, so hopefully when the page is turned it’s a whole different feel and mood.

The awesome PR agent/account manager struck again on the third look to help me out with the white balance. I mentioned in another post the $2 grey card from AliExpress. It looks like this in action:

That’s the spectrum of luminosity (white to black) in an image. There’s 3 cards – one white, one black, and one middle grey. In post, click on the white or grey card there to obtain ‘perfect’ white balance. No tints, no purple skin, it should be neutralised. I generally start with the correct WB and then ignore it because I’m looking for a certain effect or tone in a shot which can be achieved through manipulating the WB further. But, this is the starting point for 99% of my images (when it’s convenient).

This is a car park btw. I have a thing for concrete and breezeblocks and have something like 2gb of shots of industrial things for use as textures/overlays.

Here’s the man himself:

Get the lights out the way and the magazine can have some options for writing stuff:

And that’s about it. Obviously there were a lot more shots but variations on a theme rather than completely different looks since time was limited and the magazine definitely got enough to print and run a fully fleshed out article with a variety of looks, spreads, styles, colours, and moods. Job done.

Thanks to Jon Toogood for being a total legend and a gent, Mike for kicking ass, and Pead PR for sending a rep who was more than happy to get down and dirty to get the job done.

It’s brand new. Spick and span. Gleaming marble, colossal windows that frame the harbour and Rangitoto in edgeless glass. There’s a vague feel of an upscale airport lounge, or a high end conference center and unlike some of these venues it’s warm, cozy, personal, and friendly. This end of the Hilton hadn’t changed in 15 years and it showed, it was never ugly and it was never cheap but it did feel a little dated and worn and a brand like Hilton needs to not only keep up with the market, but lead it.

Suffice to say it’s a nice place. I don’t want this to sound like an ad but honestly they’ve done a very very good job and I think it appeals to a more modern crowd of a more modern age than the grey suited middle agers in their starched white shirts. It’s colourful, bright, open, and that view just dominates everything and every angle… except the ones I photographed.

I was here on behalf of a magazine talking about the Bellini and some of the cocktails (not only their namesake) and with jobs like this you don’t really know what you’re going to be looking at when you get there and your one of the first media guys on the case. Because of that I travel general purpose, which is the 24-70mm, a fast prime (a 135mm in this case) and a 580 EX II flash, just in case and since this place had white ceilings a bounced flash would be easy to work with should I need to do such a crazy thing.

If I can, I shoot at the long end of the lens. It flatters locations and pulls the background closer to the front (what we call compression) so the room looks cozier, better furnished. If shooting wide things have a tendency to look disconnected from each other due to the exaggerated gaps between things and if I shoot wide I try and put things in the corners of the frame to hopefully look a little bit nicer.

There’s an aspect of photography I should probably devote more time to: trusting your eye. I’ve mentioned before that before taking any shots I like to walk around a place and get a feel for the lines and what the architects had in mind when they designed something a certain way and to get my head in the right space to hopefully do justice to their intentions. Walking around the Bellini I loved how the pillars lead you around the space from reception, to the tables, and outside to that view where the sea awaits.

Nice orange/teal colour palette going on too and it’s nice to not see shades of grey all over the place. Speaking of which.

The maritime theme, and proximity to the sea is everywhere – the shape of the reception desk, the materials used, the shades of blue and green, and even the lampshades hanging from the cieling are miniature boats.

Everything here was shot at 70mm with the exception of that one wider shot from before. I kept the aperture wide open, not only for shutter speed reasons but for those hopefully artistic moments when you can pull something out of an area to draw attention to it. The out of focus areas are called ‘bokeh’ and is a Japanese term for the aesthetic quality of the out of focus parts. Every lens has different bokeh- some lenses render the bokeh beautifully well, others not so much. It can be distracting, or nervous looking, or it can be creamy and soft and rich and things just pop out of it. For me, it’s a crucial part in the lens buying decision and actually the reason why I bought the 50mm 1.4 and not the 50mm 1.8, but there we go.

And the cocktail itself! Skillfully prepared.

And that’s about it. I swapped the napkin for a coaster because napkins look a bit naff.

I had the pleasure and honour of shooting one of NZ’s finest. A highly acclaimed writer, director, actor, and now fashion model, from his humble beginnings having arguments over who left the $2 on the pool table to maybe directing Thor movies in Hollywoo (a horse stole the D), Taika Waititi is mercurial to say the least. Patient, energetic, courteous, polite, he’s one of my favourite subjects that I’ve ever shot and worked with and since this is NZ there’s zero ego or bullshit when a major deal in the film-making world walks through the door onto your set and shakes your hand. I really liked Eagle Vs. Shark btw, that one flew under the radar despite it being brilliant in a Napoleon Dynamite, misfit kinda way, and if you’re not counting horses on bus trips you ain’t living.

That’s an inside joke/reference, it wasn’t some random copy/paste from a different post.

This shoot was styled by the mighty fine dudes at NZ Suit Source. Mike and the crew are god-sends on shoots like this. They have an inexhaustible supply of suits and paraphernalia, props like pipes and vintage boxing gloves, parachutes, spectacle frames, sweet leather chairs with just the right amount of patina. Plus they know how to make people look good which makes them very helpful people to know. I’ve worked with them a couple of times and am in there again shooting Shihad. Mike (the owner) is one of those people who is always willing to help, and throws ideas into the ring and frequently has exactly what you’re looking for, be it a fedora with a ribbon around it or a vintage Brownie camera so Taika can take a selfie. Cool guys. here’s a link:

looks like this

That’s right folks. It’s all rock n roll. Ferraris, Hilton hotels, champagne, screeching tyres and product photography.

It’s a rush.

So, product photography. It’s one of those enjoyable things where you can kick back and studiously approach the subject. There’s not much room for interpretation, you’re representing a product to look how it looks but also trying to show it off and make it look pretty darned decent – you need to have your lighting on point and even, your angles consistent (massively important), your WB up to scratch and your cutout chops freshly honed.

Vast Interiors contacted me to shoot a range of product for e-commerce and for advertising/marketing reasons- images they could cutout and put on banners, web ads, mailshots, the usual fun places where product photos get their views. Who are Vast and what about their product range? They say: “Our premium furniture ranges are unique and exclusive to Vast.  Each piece has been meticulously created by expert craftsmen, designed to withstand generations of use. Our timber products highlight the natural beauty of the timber from which they were made and bring a sense of warmth and individuality to a home.” Warmth and individuality, people. And you thought a stool was just a stool…

The lighting on all these shots was the same (gotta keep it consistent) and pretty big since I’m normally trying to minimise the amount of stuff I use. The final tweaked setup was 3 lights – one on either side, and one on a boom up above and pointing down. Everything was softened with softboxes to spread the light into a nice wrap-around softness. Most clients don’t like badass rim lighting and smoke effects in the background for some reason. The lights to left and right were at around 45 degrees providing even coverage across the front and sides of the object and they would move backwards or forwards depending on how big or small the piece being photographed was. For the most part I’m shooting at ISO 200, 1/200, and getting around f/16. Shooting with a 24/70mm or an 85mm depending on how much space I have behind me to walk back into.

Once you’re setup with the lights it’s just rinse and repeat. Setup the product in the middle of the lights, click. Change product. Click. Change product. Click. We got through about 40 pieces in an hour which is basically light-speed considering the place where I used to shoot for the FMCG industry had a ‘1 product per 15 minute’ target. Smashed it.

rock n roll

A while back I covered some of the basics of white balancing and how it can be used for creative effect. Here it was about the opposite – the most representative colours that were true to the object and designer. Wood comes in a million different shades of brown so to get all those different shades precise I used my fabulous pocket-sized WB card checker thing and calibrated everything to it while batch editing in Lightroom. One click, ctrl+a, sync and bam, all the colours are calibrated to that little grey guy. And since every shot was under the same lighting conditions we know that the same settings will apply to all of the images. That WB card is one of the most useful things I own and it cost me less than a coffee, plus it’s credit card sized so it would even fit in your wallet if you’re that cool and can pull it off.

It’s hard to write something engaging about product photography because seriously, not a lot happens, but sometimes that’s just what you need. As aforementioned it’s studios, methodical and a scientific cause/effect approach to lighting and photography where you have to indulge your analytical brain and your lighting knowledge and just photograph things as they are, not as you think they are. Keep it simple, but keep it right.

Howdy do,

This is follow up to the previous article/entry on the NZFS, but this one will be focusing on the actual photography rather than the article.

First thing: I travel light. I dislike big heavy backpacks slung over both shoulders and the more I’ve been doing this, the more I’ve streamlined the gear in the bag. The first thing on 99% of the shoots/gigs is a 24-70 2.8 L. On a full frame camera it covers a very useful focal length, has a fast constant aperture, lovely bokeh, sharp as a tack, seemingly immortal, fast focusing… basically it’s been the workhorse for the past 6 years. The second thing that goes in is a fast, longer prime lens. Usually for portraits but also very handy at events for detail shots and picking things/people out of a crowd. 75% of the time it’s a 135mm f/2 L, the other times it’s an 85mm. Beyond that it’s a flash (just in case), all the wireless triggers and receivers, a white balance card, and generic stuff like spare batteries, colored gels (CTO and CTB) and that’s about it. Easy, portable.

Second thing: I use lighting on 90% of the shoots I do. The only times I don’t are at events, or things like landscapes or a rare outdoor shoot where natural is required and/or preferred. I’m a huge proponent of lighting and seriously, as a photographer, the world opens up when you can get the flash off the camera. It’s one of those whoa moments when you suddenly have the ability to control everything. Back in the day when natural light had to be used, you’re at the mercy of sun and clouds and limited to where and when you can shoot. In the commercial field you can’t call off a shoot because the light isn’t playing ball with your plans.

I’m waffling.

The lighting.

It’s so utterly simple. One light. One lens. One subject.

That’s a big octabox to the camera left at around 40 degrees, camera with a 135mm and the person looking right down the barrel. The light is a bit above head height and set so it throws some light on the background. The scene naturally shot would be underexposed -1 so there’s some ambient light coming into the scene but the light’s job is to light the entire subject, a bit of the background and look good doing it. I try and point the very centre of the light just off-axis to the person to hopefully avoid the hot-spots that generally come along with pointing the centre of the light at someone. You can get around this with a second diffusion panel inside the diffuser, but I lost the one for this octabox years ago.

The above lighting diagram looks like this:

Senior Station Officer Jake Kennedy

Shot with a 135mm at f/2.5. It’s a gorgeous lens, it even makes this guy look good. Nothing fancy to it at all. Which was deliberate. Me and Geoff the video genius from 2dProductions wanted to keep it natural looking, not glitzy, or processed or glamourised, just an honest portrayal of these great people. That objective in mind determined the lighting style and setup for the shot. That background was picked to set the scene, not a plain white background, or a plain wall, but a setting unique to the fire station with a colour palette that totally fits in with what we’re shooting. If you think about it, some other backgrounds wouldn’t make a lot of sense but this one just fit the bill and I also dug the diagonals receding into the distance. If this was a more commercial shoot, or more stylized, I would have thrown some rim lights around the back sides to provide some hard edge lighting – something you see commonly in sports photography, or action movie posters – it’s a great way to add an instant badass look to someone and like all things, sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn’t. It probably would’ve looked pretty cool here but to me that would be getting away from what I’m there for. So, one light pointed at a firefighter.

The detail shots, and shots inside the truck, we’re all done with the 24-70. It focuses pretty closely so for closeup details it’s great.

McCartney on the radio with dispatch

That’s the old watermark. Ha. Anyway. I shot this from the observer’s seat (fire trucks have 5 seats – 4 for crew, one for the observer) which is facing the rear view mirror. Kev was speaking with dispatch in code, I shot this at 70mm, around ISO 1600. Just picked up the camera and blam. It’s the only shot I have from the cab, the other work I did was recording some video for the NZFS vid I hope you’ve checked out.

Editing.

I made a post a while back about white balance and how it can be utilised for effect. Warm, cold, desolate, summery, you can implant a feeling into a photo with colour tinting and white balance is one of the ways to do this. I generally shoot most things quite warm, around 6000k. A little thing I always seem to do is to add a very very very slight tint to the whites of an image to warm it up slightly and smooth everything out. Obviously this wouldn’t work for product photography or other projects where colour reproduction and accuracy are imperative but it really helps skin tones. It isn’t frequency separation or anything hardcore, but it’s a finishing touch I apply to most of my images containing people.

Senior Firefighter Dean Olsen

The method is again really really simple and I’ve done it so many times it’s autopilot for me. Push ctrl+j, then ctrl+u. This duplicates the layer and opens up the good ol’ hue/saturation palette which will only affect the layer you just made. Set it to ‘colorize’ then input 52/11 in hue and saturation respectively. It turns everything kinda brown. That’s good. Push ok. Set that layer to colour and roll back the opacity to around 8% or thereabouts. It’s subtle but I find it really helps even out the tones and apply a little tonal augmentation. As with all things in Photoshop there are a thousand ways of achieving the same result, this is one I’ve found that works for me.

When a firetruck screams by you on the road, where are they going? The guys on board, who are they? After they’ve done what needed to be done, what do they do then? What made these people become the firefighters they are?

I spent a day at Silverdale Fire Station trying to find answers to these questions and to hopefully uncover who these people are underneath the skellerup and the fireproof jackets. What I found was humbling, compelling, and left me with a great deal of respect that people like this are out there putting themselves in harm’s way so others don’t have to.

Here’s the published story. All images & words by Tez Mercer. Video by 2DudesProductions – Geoff Carlaw and Tez Mercer.

EVERYDAY HEROES:

“The call comes in. A siren woops across the quiet firehouse. The Scania fire truck rumbles into life and

sirens blaze. The call is for an MVA (motor vehicle accident) has occurred, a man is stranded and in peril.

The 4 firefighters at the Silverdale, Auckland station were in the truck quick as a flash, everyone in their

designated seats, every one focused, every one professional. 5 minutes before they were attending to

various tasks: Qualified Firefighter Kevin McCartney was refilling the breathing apparatus cylinders,

Qualified Firefighter Becky Wood was handling some paperwork, Senior Station Fire Officer Jake

Kennedy was on the phone and Senior Firefighter Dean Olsen was cleaning his gear.

“We’re like a coiled spring. When you go, you go, but when it’s quiet you’re alert, but relaxed”. says McCartney, a recent

addition to this station which is manned by 4 full-time firefighters and some 35 volunteers. “No point

burning yourself out trying to be alert all the time, you can’t do it”. On the truck it’s like watching a

choreographed scene: the fire-retardant jackets come on effortlessly, marks of soot, ash and oil around

the FIRE RESCUE sign emblazoned large on the back. The gloves slide on, the overall trousers go over the

standard issue navy uniform and the impression is that they’ve done this 10,000 times and this is so

routine for these guys that they’re on autopilot. “How do you do that so fast?” I ask Olsen who’s seated

behind the driver, he just smiles at me as he’s pulling up his Skellerup boots as he listens to more

information crackling out of the radio up front.

McCartney on the radio with dispatch

This type of call is regular. The actual putting out of fires is thankfully a slim minority in a firefighter’s

workload. As people become more educated about fire hazards and smoke alarms become more

prevalent, the outbreak of major fires is a lot less than it used to be- in 1985 there were 7 fatal-fire

injuries in NZ workplaces, in 1997 that number was zero. Senior Station Officer Jake Kennedy says that

the majority of a firefighter’s workload is out in the community checking smoke alarms, giving talks in

school educating kids on fire safety and on what to do in case of a fire, helping people who have had a

MVA; installing smoke alarms, liaising with NGOs to implement efficient and safe fire protocols in new

builds. “We’re a service, we’re part of the community and we’re here to help” he says.

Kennedy has been a fireman since the 1970s. He saw an ad proclaiming the NZFS as having the highest

job satisfaction rate of any job in the world, and based on that he signed up. And is it true?

Senior Station Officer Jake Kennedy

“Absolutely.This is the best job in the world” and what makes it so good? He gazes out the window thoughtfully for a

moment, turns back and says “there’s a bit in there about helping people you know? Being a people

person and wanting to assist other people when they’re in trouble. And then there’s the camaraderie,

I’ve never seen anything quite like it. There are the elements of excitement, but it’s always about

helping people”. These sentiments are echoed by the other full time staff at the station. Being a fire

fighter is not about the money, the glory, or the prestige, it’s about doing good for the community we’re

all a part of.

Firefighter Kevin McCartney

McCartney, who became a firefighter 3 years ago after serving in the NZ Army, says “I was

looking for something different, I couldn’t sit behind a desk all day. I need to be doing something… when

I joined the job I really enjoyed helping people and getting that satisfaction from helping people”.

Fire fighting is a profession that has changed dramatically over recent years and is shifting still. As fires

become less and less frequent through education and a more safety-conscious society the NZFS is

adapting their role to also become medical first responders to provide medical care until the paramedics

or ambulance crews can arrive.

Becky Wood, the youngest firefighter in the station at 27 is also a trained

medical responder: “I’ve been on more medical calls than anything else, and as we get better and better

trained there will probably be a lot more… We’ll turn up to jobs and the ambulance crews love us as we

can attend to the CPR and first aid while they attend to the more severe injuries”. Becky Wood is also

the only woman on the crew amidst a changing landscape in the Fire Service which is shaking off its old

stereotype of the ‘Old Boy’s Club’. McCartney explained the benefits of having a diverse workforce: “It’s

a great asset to have a woman on the crew as sometimes, women relate better to her than they do to

us.”

Senior Firefighter Dean Olsen

The NZFS has been undergoing a change in terms of its image to try and recruit more women, more

Maori, more Pacific Islanders, more Asian firemen to better represent the community. “Same for if

you’re Polynesian or Asian… we’ll go to someone’s house or workplace and their English might not be so

good. If you speak Mandarin or Korean or something you can get on their level straight away”. The old

stereotype is fading away to be replaced by a modern, progressive, and inclusive organisation: Kennedy

explains that “for many many years, the service was a male-dominated organisation, however back in

the 90s the Labour government were pushing for a more diverse workforce, across all the services, so

there was a push to recruit more women, Maori, Pacific Islanders and Asians. We now have more people

that can relate to communities better than ever before. We’ve become a lot more community-focused.”

As it stands today 10.4% of the NZFS are Maori, around 4% are Pacific Islanders and around 3% are

female. When compared to the 2001 figures of 5.3% Maori, 0.9% Pacific Islander and 0.9% female it’s

clear to see the landscape is definitely changing as the Fire Service stakes its claim at being a leader in

recruitment processes and recruiting from all parts of the community. The recruitment procedure to join

as a firefighter is involved to say the least. Whereas in an everyday employment interview an applicant

would sit with HR, answer questions about their work history and go through the “tell me 3 things about

yourself” routine, the NZFS adopts a multi-faceted approach to recruitment which can take months to

not only test whether an applicant can do the physical work but whether they can function in a group,

take orders, adapt, and spend time in an enclosed space (the fire station) with the same people.

The road to being a firefighter begins with an online application, then there’s a cognitive ability test,

then a physical test ; followed by a practical assessment course. After that comes the formal interview,

followed by medical and security checks. The formal interview is more situational than directly related

to the procedures of fighting a fire. Instead of asking “what would you do if there was a fire in an oil

pan?” the questions are more along the lines of “after a fire is extinguished, a Samoan man is distraught.

What would you do?” questions like this capture applicants off guard and also test how they react to

new information, or unexpected turns of events, which on a call could occur at any second. This also

highlights the awareness possessed by the NZFS of its role and place in a community, it sits within it, not

outside it. Once an applicant has been accepted through the testing phase there is a 12 week

training course in Rotorua before going on a 12 month probationary period. This long amount of time

spent working and training engenders a camaraderie and a strong sense of trust between the

firefighters in a crew: “Your crew are your safety. There’s a huge amount of trust… you have to trust that

the other guy’s going to be there. We all buy into it and live up to that trust.” says McCartney. Kennedy

puts another slant on it: “it isn’t just the trust on the calls, it’s trusting them with your life and your

problems. If someone is going through a personal problem, there’s people who will listen and who will

understand”.

Spending time with the crew provides a tangible sense of the trust and friendship between the members

and garners a profound respect for these people who selflessly serve the community by helping others.

They don’t receive any special praise and sometimes it’s a thankless job as the men and women of the

NZFS are taken for granted. With that in mind there are a few things we can all do that would not only

make their jobs easier, but could potentially save lives when they’re on the line.

“Obviously, we need to get somewhere quick. If a house is burning down, or if you’re trapped in your car then every second

counts. If you see the big red truck bearing down on you, pull over to the left and let us pass, that’s all

we ask” McCartney explained. Another simple thing to do is to regularly test the smoke alarms in your

home and keep them operational and uncovered: “we’ve seen them with plates taped over them or

with batteries removed because it woke someone up once. You’ve got to test they’re working at least

once a month”. In 2 minutes a fire can go from an ember in a grill pan to engulfing a house. The adverts

on TV aren’t sensationalised and there’s a real need to be diligent and responsible around fire and fire

safety to keep you and your family safe.”