The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King World Premiere - 15 years on

Has it really been fifteen years?

As I mentioned this time last year (and the year before!), not long after I moved to Wellington in the late nineties, Peter Jackson started filming the Lord Of The Rings right in our neighbourhood of Seatoun, where I was living at the time. By the end of principal photography, I had been an Elf, an Orc, a Gondorian and a Rohan - most of them dead, some of them killed by the person I'd been playing the day before - on sets all over the Wellington region.

By the time the films came out, I was also a photographer - and by the premiere of the third film, there were a few more of us there…

First XV: Dead Letters (2005)

I've written about the short film Dead Letters before (here, here, and here) - but I couldn't go past this image of Yvette Reid when I was looking through some of the work I'd done in 2005.

I hadn't worked on-set as a stills photographer before (though I'd been an extra on Lord Of The Rings and a few TV series & commercials before that, so I had at least some idea how it would work); but I really wanted to commit to this production, to see what full days on set would be like and whether I could both stay out of the way of the crew, and get what the producers needed...

First XV: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King premiere (2003)

I wrote a few months ago about the first Lord Of The Rings premiere at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, and I'm sure I'll be looking at the Two Towers one again in December; but this image, as much for what it represents to me as anything else, has made it into my First XV list - celebrating fifteen years of my career, photographing the arts.

I'd photographed the previous two premieres by the time of the third one, and seen the crowds on the street (and in the media pen) grow exponentially each time; but I think, perhaps because I was still fairly new to the industry, I was still a bit shy, a bit hesitant about being elbow-to-elbow with the world's press in a tiny fenced area.

Don't get me wrong, I planned ahead and got there early, to make sure I got a good spot! But this time was different...

Lost & Found #31: Dead Letters, Wellington 2005

This is the third instalment of my Lost & Found series dedicated to Dead Letters, a beautiful short film I worked on nearly ten years ago now - but the more I dug into the files from this one six-day shoot, the more I liked what I saw (if I may say so myself)!

Lost & Found #29: Dead Letters, Wellington 2005

In mid-2005, my friend Gemma Gracewood got in touch to say she was working on a short film called Dead Letters, with fellow producer Fraser Brown and director Paolo Rotondo, which was going to be shot in Wellington - and would I be interested in doing some stills for them...?

Lost & Found #24: Methven, New Zealand 2003

As I mentioned in last week's post, this Lost & Found image is from a trip to Methven in the South Island of New Zealand I did back in 2003 for a magazine in NYC; because the story was about skiing, it seemed important to try to capture some of the mountains around the town, even though the season wasn't right...

PhotographyRobert CattoFebruary 26, 2015Photography, Methven, New Zealand, South Island, Lost And Found, Film, MountainsComment

Lost & Found #23: Methven, New Zealand 2003

In early 2003, I got an email from a magazine in New York, wondering if I was available to pop down to the South Island for a couple of days, to find some images to accompany a story about skiing in New Zealand. Well, who am I to say no to such a thing?

PhotographyRobert CattoFebruary 19, 2015Photography, New Zealand, Methven, South Island, Film, Lost And FoundComment

Lost & Found #15: Oriental Bay Bench, Wellington New Zealand 2005

Film! This one's on REAL FILM, look everyone! From the truly Lost & Found department, this is one foggy morning on Wellington's waterfront, back when I was playing about with rangefinder cameras for the first time. I found myself a Voigtlander Bessa and a 28mm lens (if I remember correctly) and got back into film for a brief window before digital cameras hooked me again.

PhotographyRobert CattoDecember 11, 2014Bessa, Film, Lost And Found, New Zealand, North Island, Photography, Voigtlander, WellingtonComment

Robert CattoSeptember 3, 2011Exhibition,, Opening, Launch, Event, St James Theatre, Cinema, Artists, Photography, Wellington, Weta Workshop, FilmComment

Robert CattoApril 1, 2011Roxy Cinema, Photography, Miramar, Cinema, Wellington, Fuji X100, FilmComment

Roxy Cinema, Miramar

Robert CattoNovember 9, 2010Capitol Cinema, Miramar, Cinema, Wellington, Weta Workshop, FilmComment

Robert CattoOctober 27, 2010Capitol Cinema, Miramar, Cinema, Jamie Selkirk, Photography, Wellington, New Zealand, FilmComment

Robert CattoOctober 25, 2010Rally, Hobbit, Photography, Cinema, The Hobbit, Richard Taylor, Lord Of The Rings, Wellington, New Zealand, Weta Workshop, FilmComment

Robert CattoOctober 20, 2010Cinema, Equity, Hobbit, Industry, MEAA, Peter Jackson, Protest, Richard Taylor, Technicians, Photography, Wellington, Weta Workshop, FilmComment

Filminute.com

Robert CattoAugust 11, 2010filminute, Cinema, Competition, 1 Minute, New Zealand, FilmComment