Looking back on 2025
Peak Light Newsletter December 2025
As the year draws to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the moments, places, and people that have shaped my photographic life — both here in Hawke’s Bay and further afield.
In the Community
I recently finished a rewarding judging assignment for the Hawke’s Bay Photographic Society, reviewing a large and diverse collection of member images. Attending their annual end-of-year function was a real highlight — a reminder that photography is very much alive and thriving in our region. It also reinforced how much I value being part of this community, whether it’s connecting with fellow photographers or creating images for people who feel a strong connection to certain landscapes.
A few other standout experiences this year included:
Fotofest - Hawke’s Bay’s photography festival continues to grow year on year, excelling at bringing photographers and photography lovers together.
Writing for the Nature Photographers Network Magazine - inspiring global photographers with New Zealand images and comprehensive articles.
Private workshops and one-on-one tuition sessions - spending time with both beginning and experienced photographers, helping them develop their skills, from understanding the basics and refining composition to improving post-processing and preparing images for competitions and exhibitions.
The Landscape Images that Defined My 2025
Looking back on 2025, my photography naturally settled into two parallel threads. One followed my travels through New Zealand, making scenic images of the places that continue to draw me back — coastlines, mountains, rivers, and the changing light that defines them. The other stayed much closer to home, among trees wrapped in mist, where familiarity allowed me to slow down and respond more intuitively to what I was feeling as much as to what I was seeing.
Together, these two sets of images reflect how I worked this year: moving between exploration and familiarity, between describing place and expressing experience. Both approaches feel equally important to me, and together they form a quiet but honest record of the images I made in 2025.
Places that stayed with me
Looking back over the year, I’m struck by how each place I’ve visited has left its own quiet mark. From the deep valleys and high passes of the Routeburn Track to the volcanic shoulders of Taranaki, and from the rugged Wairarapa coast to the wild Tasman shoreline — every landscape offered something different, something to notice, something to carry home.
Travel has a way of sharpening awareness. New places reveal fresh possibilities, while familiar ones — like Te Mata Peak — continue to surprise with small changes in light, season, or mood. Whether standing before Castlepoint’s reef at dawn, watching the wind shape the dunes at Wharariki, or wandering the shores of Tata Beach, I found myself drawn again and again to moments that felt both fleeting and grounding.
Closer to Home: Trees in Mist
Some of my favourite moments making images this year were spent among trees wrapped in mist. All of these images were made in Hawke’s Bay, during slow-clearing mornings when the land reveals itself gradually as the sun begins to warm it. It is a kind of light that softens everything it touches, stripping the landscape back to its essentials — shape, gesture, tone, and the quiet spaces between them.
In mist, trees reveal something different. Their individual characters come forward, and at times the chaos of nature briefly resolves into order. Familiar places become unfamiliar again, and the ordinary begins to edge into the poetic.
You can view the image collection and read more about the images that shaped my year here.
Articles You May Have Missed
Writing articles to inspire and educate aspiring photographers has been a large part of my work this year. Here are the articles I’ve published this year in case you’d like to catch up:
Trips:
Tips:
Master Lightroom’s Tone Controls to Perfect Exposure, Contrast, and Balance
Circular Polarising Filter (CPL) - What is it and does it make a difference?
Photographing in an unfamiliar landscape
I’ve just published a new article about photographing in an unfamiliar landscape — a topic that becomes especially relevant as many of us head away over summer. In it, I share the methods I rely on when travelling: part preparation, part mindset, and part willingness to let the landscape take the lead. If you’re exploring somewhere new this holiday season, I think you’ll find it useful.
Private Workshops and one-on-one tuition
Spending time with both beginners and experienced photographers has been one of the real pleasures of my year. From teaching the fundamentals, to strengthening compositional skills, to helping refine post-processing, to preparing images for competitions and exhibitions — every session has been meaningful.
If you’re in the Hawke’s Bay region this summer, and would like to enhance your photography skills, why don’t you book a private or small-group workshops with me. A workshop experience could be the perfect choice to slow down, explore Hawke’s Bay, and make beautiful images this summer—no matter your current skill level.
See you next year!
Thank you for being part of this journey. I hope you have a safe, restful, and inspiring holiday season — and I look forward to sharing more images, ideas, and stories with you in the new year.
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