Mr Parkes, who now lives in the UK, worked on Tales From the Great War, which this month won best cinematography at the Hastings Rocks International Film Festival.
Mr Parkes was the cinematographer for the fantasy thriller, set in World War 1, which follows the colliding fates of four unlikely soldiers.
Hastings Rocks International Film Festival, held in the seaside UK town, focuses on independent films that push boundaries.
Mr Parkes was overwhelmed by the award and the attention the film was receiving.
"It’s my passion — filming drama — and to win an award for that is amazing," Mr Parkes said.
Mr Parkes, who has been visiting family in Oamaru, said the period drama was difficult to film.
"It wasn’t an easy shoot and I’m honoured that the judges thought the cinematography was worthy of an award," Mr Parkes said.
The film was also runner-up in the best film category.
Mr Parkes said the film’s director, Andrew Elias, was inspirational.
Mr Elias, who lost half of his face due to nerve damage after getting cancer, decided to make a film where he could use that as part of the story.
As well as directing Tales from the Great War, Mr Elias played the role of a soldier who had been shot in the face.
"He’d taken that deformity of his face and put it into the film — I was inspired by that and happy to have supported someone going through a life-changing illness but putting a positive twist on it," Mr Parkes said.
Mr Parkes is a former Waitaki Boys’ High school pupil who worked as a junior reporter at the Oamaru Mail from 1998 to 2001.
He also worked as a restaurant pianist at the Millhouse and as a mailman.
"I had to bike up Tyne St back in the days when posties were on bikes," Mr Parkes said.
After moving to Tokyo in 2002, he met his future partner, who encouraged him to follow his dreams of film-making.
They moved to England, where Mr Parkes went to Brighton Film School for two years before setting up a film production company with his wife, Itsuka Parkes, in 2007.
Filming funerals was one of his first jobs.
"They say when you start out you should film weddings, but I was filming funerals, which is a lot easier because the subject doesn’t move much," he said.
The next step came from a fortuitous connection, over a stolen bike, with a neighbour who turned out to be a film producer.
"He became my first client. Then we got into corporate work and that’s how it began; going from funerals to corporate work," Mr Parkes said.
The husband and wife team, Parkes Production, is based in Brighton, filming everything from music videos and drama to feature films.
"Both my parents are British and I always wanted to live in England and be a filmmaker, so I’m living the dream really," Mr Parkes said.
Mr Parkes has been home in Oamaru visiting his parents.
His father, Alan, was proud of his son’s cinematography award: "It’s amazing. We’re very proud."
Mr Parkes said Tales from the Great War was “a film that has obviously resonated" with audiences.
War films were once again popular with audiences, he said, citing the recent best picture Academy Award nomination for the war drama All Quiet on the Western Front.
Tales from the Great War had "echoes" of the award-winning, 2019 British war film, 1917, he said.
Mr Parkes’ film, which has a gothic, dark and humorous tone, is being screened at international film festivals before its release on Amazon Prime.
By Jules Chin
