To me, there's a lot to like in this week's image, from Tan Dun's opera Tea: A Mirror of Soul at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in 2006; it's simple, clean, and graphic.
And yet, at the same time, there's something mysterious about it. Like the best production images for promoting the arts, it raises more questions than it answers...
Read MoreOnce, early in my career, someone gave me wise advice about photographing events: 'remember, there are two sides to every story. There's what's happening on stage, and then there's the audience's reaction to it.'
Naturally, not every event I work on has an audience in attendance - often, I'm at a dress rehearsal, with only the director & crew - but also, most of the time, the audience (deliberately) isn't lit! So the opportunity to make use of this suggestion isn't always there; but once in a while, the chance comes along, and it's great to be able to take it...
Read MoreThis week's Lost & Found post is from my last Wellington Jazz Festival - who are kicking off again today, over in New Zealand!
Our major draw card in 2011 was a one-off concert with Sonny Rollins and his band at the Michael Fowler Centre. He may have been 81 (REALLY!?) at the time, but he put on a heck of a show - and as you'd expect from someone of his calibre, the band were top notch as well...
Read MoreI was Orchestra Wellington's photographer from 2004-2011, documenting concerts and rehearsals for them with a range of guest soloists alongside music director Marc Taddei, a marvellous conductor, and a hilarious guy to work with, too.
In 2007, General Manager Christine Pearce got in touch to say they were working with a circus school on a kids' concert, and would I like to photograph it for them - naturally I was intrigued, but I'm not sure I expected THIS! Sure, why wouldn't you put hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of delicate instruments on stage with a flying trapeze, kids on unicycles, and stilt-walkers? What could possibly go wrong...?
Read MoreAlmost there - only one day left of this look back at the New Zealand Festival over the past decade or so. Of course, the Festivals we're looking back at were winding up too, so today we've got more people than shows, as naturally there were fewer & fewer rehearsals for me to attend & photograph as the shows came to an end.
Read MoreIt was a pleasant surprise to be asked to pop over to Ravi Shankar's sound check on the afternoon of his concert - I don't think I was really expecting to get a chance to photograph him or the show, but I tailed Festival Director Lissa Twomey over to greet him and spent a bit of time with them as he & his daughter Anoushka got things ready for that night. It was amazing to see him, at the age of 90, settle in and just play. Because he could really PLAY. Amazing - wish I'd been able to come back for the show!
Read MoreWell, now that the Festival is rolling, it would usually be a tightly scheduled 24-day marathon for me, jumping from rehearsal to rehearsal to opening night function to post-show function, with the possibility of seeing something in between those two - and from looking back over the years, there were certainly a number of days like that!
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