I have just returned from a trip to the UK combining work with catching up with friends and family is always good. I shot Tommy recently, a wonderful sailor whose stories I could listen to for many an hour. 
The touring Champions: New Zealand Winners exhibition is currently showing at Thenewdowse until the end of Aug 09. The gallery have given the show a great space, we called in to view it last weekend while we were in Wellington.
Kiwi Champions TV3 2.15pm 10th April 09 (Good Friday)
Tells the story of finding and photographing 43 New Zealand Champions to produce the book Champions: New Zealand Winners. It combines the highs and lows of travelling around the country in a 1970s caravan in search of the champions with interviews with the winning subjects themselves. This is a heart felt documentary showcasing ordinary New Zealanders with extraordinary achievements.
The past five weeks have been an incredible learning experience, one that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I have worked with Mike and Ken editing and piecing together the hour long documentary. We began with 27hrs of footage and that has been whittled away to a much shorter version of our journey on the road. The story focuses predominantly on the champions themselves with some of our trials and tribulations thrown in. The result will be shown on TV3 this year or early next year. The book Champion: New Zealand Winners is selling ’steadily’ in these economic times. Click here to read a recent review of the book.
I feel neglectful of this space. I have spent the last five months with my head down whilst this Champions project has 
brewed and grown. During this time the book has been written and published, launching at a wonderfully unique party last week at the Ponsonby Bowling Club. Two weeks ago the Exhibition ‘Champions: New Zealand Winners’ opened in Rotorua’s Museum of Art and History and will continue to tour around the country for the next two years. Today I begun work on the documentary about the subjects themselves and the trip around NZ to shoot the project, this is being funded by New Zealand on Air and will be broadcast on TV3. Tonight is the first time in a long time that I have sat and found nothing pressing to do. It is a year since the first seeds were sown and the initial ideas for the project begun to cumulate and I enjoyed stopping for a moment and looking back and thinking about how much more I know now.
It is possible to watch a short doco which accompanies the touring Exhibition.
Campbell Live, TV3, profiled our trip and some work from the book last Tuesday. They were able to include video footage, shot by me during the 3 months away, plus photographs plus their own interviews. We were really pleased with the results, see the TV3 clip
