Been a while since some new content, but that’s not to say I haven’t been working the camera, quite the opposite in fact! (Fact is I can’t publish half the stuff I’ve done…)
However, I have been telling anyone that will listen about a book written by a gentleman called Ray Waru, for which I was fortunate enough to be asked to provide all the photography. The book ‘Secrets & Treasures’ is a look into the hidden gems and treasures that reside at Archives New Zealand, the country’s national archive and home to the memory of government of New Zealand. Truth is that my day job is wielding the digital nerdy stick at Archives New Zealand, so it gave me a unique insight into the collection which made the process of photographing the numerous archives for the book much richer. That didn’t mean though that the photos were any less of a job…
Oh no!
As well as existing scans of archives, new scans were made of more (many, many more), images were gathered from all four of Archives New Zealand’s offices and collated, all added to an original series of new photographs of some of the objects and ephemera from the collection as well as photographs of the staff and facilities. All in all, over 8000 digital files were sent to the publisher, north of 230GB of data. I used up to three cameras, about a dozen lenses, about fifteen different lights, at times up to eight at once, three reflectors, two sheets of glass and one torch with some old film cans stuck on the top. There were long hours, some tests of patience and eyesight but a massive, massive sense of satisfaction when the book recently launched at Archives New Zealand’s head office in Wellington.
So have a look at the projects page here https://manipula.co.nz/projects/secrets-treasures/ for some details, but also have a nosey below for some behind the scenes glimpses and a look at the video if you really want to see how that cover shot was taken…
Some of the gear that was used to shoot the book…
The book in hand…
The book on its stand on launch night, Oct 16th, 2012
The team behind the cover photo and all round invaluable help in keeping everything moving along…
And the author Ray Waru and myself on launch night.
And if you want a nosey at how the cover was shot watch the video!