Welcome to Wellington Harbour, not a bad spot to gather a whole bunch of photographers from all over New Zealand, along with a few Ozzie visitors, for the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography 2016 Conference… And Shed 6 on the Queens Wharf Waterfront was the perfect spot for all the official shenanigans that went down..

It’s a complete weekend of festivities, which kicked off on Thursday the 16th of June with judging for the Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards. The judging ran through Friday and Saturday as well, with close to 1200 entries. It’s fantastically inspiring to see peoples imaginations come to light with ink on paper…

Saturday welcomed the public to the ‘Exposure : NZ Photo Show’ – with award winning prints lining the walls, live photo creations and amazing speakers handing out experience and inspiration like lollies… :)

‘InFocus’, the photo conference that highlights New Zealand’s professional photographic industry, rocked our minds over Sunday & Monday…. Then the Gala dinner on Monday evening to finish the weekend off and sum up all the festivities…

And to get the ball rolling…….. Saturday morning welcomed me with a glorious view…

Let’s introduce you to Rachel & Clinton… These two amazing humans were the stars of the weekend.. As MC’s go, these two had the seriousness of Bert & Ernie and the flare of Mrs Callander & Mr Lloyd…

‘Exposure’ was open to the public and what a world of people it was.. If you were there as a gear nut, there was everything you could have wanted to check out, with all the sponsors on hand to have a chat and those chairs and bean bags were super comfortable & welcoming for the days to come…

Over in Room 4, (where the judging continues into day 3) that magical place where these amazing photos that are lining the walls were coming from…

Like clockwork, a new scene enters the room, where the initial gasps happen, the awe and beauty of emotion that jumps out of a hole in the wall. For outside the artist’s circles, this is the first time this image has been seen and thus here is the birth of a ‘vision’ for all to know henceforth…

Back in the main room, Vicky Papas, the creator of VERGARA, is in the process of demonstrating her creative vision in fashion photography during a live shoot.

Since Vicky creates works of art in the way she dresses and kits out her models, Epson have been giving her a hand with one of her many ideas. They print onto fabrics, that are truly creating that extra bit of magic…

Seeing as the tradeshow is going at the same time, there was no shortage of knowledge hanging around in that one room..

Next onto the stage was Mr Richard Wood, The Highest Scoring Grand Master in the NZIPP… He was accompanied by Fleur Verhoeven to stand as his model for “Phoenix Rising“…

The sweet “We Do” 1973 VW Kombi was the place to go for some Photobooth fun…

With so much awesomeness on the walls it was hard not to just stand & stare. The inspiration to express oneself was rife… standing, gazing and absorbing was a mandatory practice.

As the 3 days of IRIS Judging finished up at the end of Saturday, it was time for a Wrap Party, so down to Wellington’s Foxglove we all went…

Queens Wharf was looking amazing on the night the All Blacks defeated Wales back in June…

And the light just got more and more interesting as the Blackness set in…

Given that it was almost winter solstice & the full moon was due the next day, there had to be a point, where I would have to call it a night….

But not without utilizing the only models I could muster, Craigo’ and Susie, both amazing behind and now in front of the camera too…

Kicking off InFocus Day 1 on Sunday morning was the super talented and amazingly charismatic James Simmons… A wedding photographer extraordinaire,  he has a creative space in his mind that just never stops ticking…. It’s a wonderful thing to witness.

First thing he did was to get everybody involved, get the blood flowing, the tiredness out and the crazy in……

Head to the link here to check out his vision… “Suckfizzle Mind Extension”

Today’s Room 4 is where the early birds were, after getting up & at it for a sunrise shoot around Wellington’s Harbour, they then sat down to an all day Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop workshop, with Mark Galer, Adobe‘s main man as Ambassador to Australia…

Darren Jew stepped in to give us a show about what happens under the water.. And had us all gripped with his experimental night shots and tales of Whales & Turtles, Sharks & Volcanoes…

Did you ever see so many photographers in one go? ..The official photo for 2016!

Speaking of Epson earlier, they were on hand to print out anything you wanted, that was shot over the weekend. Here is the creation shot by Vicky Papas at Saturday’s live shoot, as a 6 foot high print for all to marvel at…

If you are looking for photographic inspiration in all aspects of family life, look no further than Niki Boon..
With a drive and goal to document the life of her own family, she chooses to capture everything in a striking black and white. She has, without a doubt, developed into a photographer like no other…

Christina Force gave us all a bit to think about in terms of business goals and direction…

Returning to the stage, Darren gave us a video presentation from a Volcano he had visited and photographed a couple weeks prior to its going sky high. Along with more of his mesmerizing videos, photos and stories on sharks & sunken wrecks that he captures under the shadow of night….

Enter Mr Jonathan Suckling, with his interpretive dance moves, confetti and outrageously awesome wedding photography.. His presentation ‘Suckling on Social’ gave us some of his insights to the ever growing online marketing scene…

Half of the team from The Intuition to Succeed, Kelly Vanyai, gave us some great motivational, sales & portrait photography advice…

Out into the night we ventured to follow James & Jonathan for a live shoot with a few models that they had roped in, some rain & their lighting flare…

It was such a treat to get a bit of a glimpse into how their minds work ‘on location’…

All while throwing out useful hints & tips & general how-they-dos…

While we had been out and about, Adam Finch had been taking the others through his photography set up, shooting routine & creative styling…

On a side note, all the lighting set ups for the live shoots were supplied by CR Kennedy, if you have a chat with Greg, he’ll sort you out with anything you’ve ever dreamed of…

And what a way to finish off a jam packed Sunday….

With a rolling start we hit into Monday… And this is how the morning greeted me on my morning walk to Wellington’s Shed 6… Beautifully…… it was going to be a great day… :)

We were spritefully welcomed to InFocus Day 2 by Rachel & Clinton…

Vicky Papas was right onto it, encouraging all to have a good dance to get the endorphins flowing…

After the dancing, Vicky took us through a bit of her creative mind flow.. From outfits & props to shooting styles & what motivates her to be as awesome as she is….

Along her creative path, she encountered the Epson crew, who are making it possible to print photographs onto fabric with incredible detail – an initiative that Vicky loves to incorporate into her designs…

Advertising Photographer Troy Goodall took to the stage to give us a look into his commissioned works and creative processes…

Christina Force was back on set to teach us how to sell a pen, how to be confident in yourself & your work and how to be the best you that you can be…

The ‘Eye in the Sky’ presentation by Grant Sheehan gave us a look into his latest book release which covered many aspects of his Drone & Landscape photography…

Over in Room 4, positivity was raining from the sky, as Kim Hamblin of The Portrait Studio, took to the floor to give us perspective on small business structuring based around Baby Photography and amazingness…

And the last speaker of the event, all the way from Spain, Susana Barbera wowed us with her solely Black & White photography. All while linking her thoughts on the teachings & traditions of the Samurai to how we should all equip ourselves for the best of a creative life…

Thus summed up the last of the InFocus Conference: what a jam packed & thoroughly inspirational weekend that was just a visual feast of other photographers’ inspirations, dreams, desires and beautiful personalities…

The Epson Crew had been racking up these goodies over the day too… Both James & Jonathan’s shots from the day & night before.. Pretty Yumtime hey?!?!?!

And not to forget Ilford’s famous paper that went into all the printing…

And that wasn’t even close to the end of it all. This was the weekend that kept on giving, as the Gala dinner was still to come later Monday night….

With awards covering all bases of the print judging… Along with all the guests in their Glad Rags & Black Tie, throw in dinner & a few drinks and we were set for a grand night ahead…

Katherine Williams, the 2016 President of the NZIPP was on hand to give the opening address & present all the medals throughout the evening…

Along with thanking the event organisers & speakers who have pulled together and made the event as amazing as it could be….

Above we have Tracey Stamatakos & below Kaye Davis….

With Marama Shearer awarded the James White Memorial Award..

The photographer of the Night, is the one & only Katherine Williams, taking out 3 categories, including the prestigious New Zealand Photographer of the Year. This was a beyond overwhelming moment and, Katherine, we wish you our highest Congratulations! You deserve it!! :)

To the board of 2016, that pulled mostly everything together for this amazing weekend… All we can cheer is Congratulations on such a phenomenal Conference and Thank You for all your dedication to the photographic community!!!!!!!

And there you have it folks, in only a corner of a nut shell, that was the NZIPP Exposure, InFocus & IRIS Awards for 2016…

If you’d like to see the prints that were awarded and the category winners, head over to the InFocus 2016 Winners, scroll over the IRIS Award Images in the top right and have your pick of category… Or have a read of the July 2016 Pro-Report .

 

What a whirlwind weekend, with so much inspiration, thought provoking substance & raw emotion, it’s no wonder photographers come back to Conference year after year…And Wellington 2016 will go down as one of the best ever held…

It was such a pleasure to capture & document all the goings on.. So from me to all who attended, it was fantastic to see you, to meet many of you and I look forward to catching up in the near future.. :)

Doug :)