The 17th National Maori Field Hockey Tournament was held at the Northland Hockey Association over Labour weekend. The tournament teams, Tane (male) and Whahine (female) are comprised from eight districts in New Zealand - Taitokerau (Northland), Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland), Waikato Maniapoto (Waikato), Waiariki (Bay of Plenty), Tairawhiti (East Coast/Wairoa), Aotea (Taranaki/ Whanganui/Manawatu/Horowhenua), Takitimu (Hawkes Bay/ Wellington/Wairarapa) and Te Waipounamu (South Island).

I was lucky enough to take hockey photos of 5 games over the weekend tournament. Here are some photos from the Taitokerau B side (top) doing a haka challenge against Tairawhiti’s own haka.

Another image added to the canvas prints section. Bryce from the Department of Conservation came to see me about getting a canvas print done. Bryce had taken a series of photos at the Poor Knights Marine Reserve. The reserve is situated 23km off the coast of Tutukaka, Northland, New Zealand. All fishing and visits by the public are banned, except for trips by conservation staff.

Bryce wanted a canvas print made as a gift for a parting member at DOC whom was in charge of overseeing work done at the reserve. We looked at all the photos, chose the best of them, then had it printed onto canvas and gallery wrapped.

Chris came to me with a recently taken photo of a motor-home he had just sold. He wanted a photo print to remember when having owned it. Chris had the photo on a negative, wanting to know what I could do. I showed him my new Nikon 9000 slide negative scanner, warmed it up and scanned the photo.

It produced a very nice image producing great detail. Chris also wanted me to remove the for sale sign in one of the windows and clean up the rear of the vehicle. 3 prints were made, looking very nice at 35cm wide.

So far I’ve been very impressed with the quality the scanner produces. Still working my way through getting to grips with it, hence the time taken to put the info on my general website. I’m happy to answer an queries in the meantime.

Have you ever found a photo torn into little pieces, thinking it’s beyond repair? Normally you’d think yes, it’s a goner. However all is not lost. If you don’t have a backup of the photo or a negative then the photo is worth looking at to see if it can be restored.

This photo came to me ripped into tiny little pieces. The customer’s young child thought it’d be fun to tear this photo apart. I was able to scan in all the individual pieces, then put them together like a jigsaw. Normally with these types of tears the rips are very clear and sharp so most of the detail is retained. It’s just a matter of fixing the small line joins. The photo was restored back to original condition.

Sharon from Wellington contacted me regarding putting a photo of Mt Egmont/Taranaki onto canvas. Sharon is from Taranaki and wanted something printed onto canvas to remember her previous stomping grounds. Having come from the ‘Naki’ myself I always have great memories of growing up there as a child.

Sharon commented after receiving her canvas photo :”The print arrived today thank you. I am very pleased with the quality of the product and will def recommend your services to others who are looking for a canvas print.”

I’m heading off to the Hamilton Home Show from Thursday Oct 2nd to Sunday Oct 5th. I got talked in to helping a friend sell his giant outdoor chess sets. However, as a small promotion of my services I took a photo of one of the chess sets, changed it to look like a painting then have it printed and mounted on canvas. I won’t have a chance to answer email queries over those days but i’ll be back into the swing of things on Monday.

I only just realised I’ve had the blog running now for just over a year! The blog has been a real bonus for customers looking at examples of work coming through the doors and the internet. The images you see here are just a small portion of the work I do. I always try to put on something of real interest or of historic note, providing I have permission from the customer. From the way work’s been going, the next year will be even busier.

Katherine came to me with 3 photos she wanted putting onto canvas. Canvas prints ranged from a 12 x 8 up to a 33 x 28inch print. This photo here is of her partner’s two sons playing on the beach at dusk. To keep all the photo on the front of the canvas print I extended the image to retain the gallery wrap effect.