NZPhotographer Issue 12, October 2018

HI SARAH, COULD YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT
YOURSELF AND YOUR INTERESTS?
I’m a pilot with Air NZ, currently a B777 captain,
and have been with the company for 31 years. I’m
divorced with no kids and own a terrace house in
Parnell that’s filled with books and mostly abstract
oil paintings done by my mother. My home is very
close to the domain, which is great for walking in
the summertime and photographing the flowers in
the Wintergardens.
Over the years, my interests have been varied,
mostly sporting, beginning at school with netball
and then learning to ski in my late twenties. I took
up golf in my forties then shifted to tennis but knee
injuries (and the desire to look after my knees)
means no more tennis or skiing.
I’m an avid foodie and a wine lover, I keep a small
cellar and probably collect a lot more than I really
need. I’m also an avid reader and have been for
most of my life. My favourite author is Robertson
Davies and of all his books, The Cornish Trilogy is the
one I love the most. I enjoy thrillers as well, reading
the likes of James Patterson, Lee Childs, David
Baldacci, Tom Clancy and John Grisham. I also love
Ken Follet, Edward Rutherford, and Stieg Larsson
books, amongst many other authors.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FLYING CAREER…
I got into aviation at a young age, gaining my
private pilots licence at 18 and working as an Air
Traffic Control Assistant at Ardmore, eventually
qualifying as an Air Traffic Controller. The next step
would have been a promotion to becoming a
Radar Controller at Auckland but, whilst off work
with a badly broken leg from a skiing accident,
I realised I wasn’t looking forward to this. One sunny
afternoon, outside with my leg in plaster, I realised
that I really wanted to be up there in the sky so I set
about gaining my Commercial Pilot’s licence.
In early 1987, with enough hours and having
completed all the Airline Transport Pilot Licence
exams, I finally become employed by Air NZ as a
First Officer on the Fokker F27 Friendship, and from
there my career has flourished.
SO WHERE DID PHOTOGRAPHY ENTER YOUR
LIFE?
I always wanted to learn photography and had
bought an SLR film camera before my career took
me to the UK but, with my busy lifestyle of work and
sport, I never got around to learning photography
and ended up with a lot of out of focus and poorly
exposed shots.
In 2013, I had 4 months off work with a knee injury
from tennis and whilst finding a photography
contest website for my sister, I realised I could enter
in it too, so that triggered a DSLR purchase. I finally
had the time to learn so I began two concurrent
beginner DSLR adult education night courses
followed by the start of the online Photography
Institute course.
I quickly became passionate about photography
and continued learning, taking workshops in
the following years but found I wasn’t taking my
camera away with me on work trips, as it was too
heavy and cumbersome so I switched to mirrorless.
The architecture photography only really took off
after when I went on an Art of Creativity and Art
Of Processing course in Maine, USA. Being in major
cities, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Los Angeles,
Houston, Buenos Aires and London for work made
it easy to find subjects plus I’ve always loved
architecture — The lines and shapes etc.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
STYLE?
Probably the best way of describing it is Creative
Architecture. I mostly shoot interiors but I don’t do
any real estate type photography. I capture what
appeals to my eye knowing the lenses I use and the
effects they give me. I love reflections, symmetry,
lines and shapes, particularly converging lines.
October 2018
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