It was to be Aaron Smith's last home game in the Highlanders jersey. Knowing his passion and enthusiasm, with 10 minutes to go, I camped out a few metres from him and watched his every move, ignoring, as best I could, the action on the field. It was close, and a try in the dying minutes had Smith exploding from his seat on the bench in a moment of pure joy. My favourite personal sports photo in my 17 years at the
ODT.
The Omakau Races and it is hot. Hot like the world is coming to an end. But how to illustrate the heat? I grabbed a couple of likely local lads and explained what I wanted to do, if they were up for. Being good sorts, they obliged and ended up on the front page of the
ODT the next day.
Lucky Ivan. Ivan Fahey, 81, of Cromwell, had his day made at a recent event at Highlands Motorsport Park when he won a Lamborghini sports car. I liked the cheeky glint in his eye when I told him he was now the fastest pensioner in Cromwell.
It's not every day that you get to photograph the second-most powerful person in government sticking their tongue out. What could have been a rather dry event ended up with a bit more character when Grant Robertson, then Finance Minister, posed for a photo with pupils from his old school. He suggested performing a Pukana and I readily agreed, to the delight of our political editor, Mike Houlahan.
Wheels at Wanaka and Oceana Gold had their giant Caterpillar haul truck on display. As luck would have it, Caterpillar NZ had its display not far away too. That's where I found Thea and her new model of a similar haul truck, giving me the chance to illustrate the contrast in scale and the fun to be had.
A cold morning in the middle of April and this hardy family were about to set off on a harbour swim from Portobello. What made this picture difficult was that I ran out of limbs ... I really needed three arms to do this job properly. My camera is in a small fish tank, there are waves crashing over it and I'm trying to keep the very expensive and not-seawater-friendly camera dry, at the same time as focus on the people and light them with an external flash held out on a cord in my left hand. Not to mention getting the poor folk in the picture to look happy about posing for me in the freezing water while I bumbled around getting just the right frame. Thanks go to the Watts family.
