Planning your Wedding photography in Dunedin.

Introduction

My name is Trev Hill and I am a professional photographer based in Dunedin, New Zealand. I enjoy working in the commercial photography space doing a lot of corporate work, business portraits, using fancy lighting; in general, providing images for marketing use. However, I also love landscape photography and are often hired for event photography. With events they can be business, sporting or community related, and occasionally, I get asked to shoot weddings.

Picking a wedding photographer is a key decision for couples planning a wedding, so I’d thought I’d cover off my thoughts on the task and perhaps give some tips that could help make the process go a bit more smoothly.

Dunedin Wedding Photographer.

Where do I find my perfect wedding photographer match?

The photographer was at a wedding you attended. I would maintain this is possibly the best way of finding your wedding photographer. You will get an insight into their personality, how they present themselves, how they interact with the wedding party and guests. Details like are they a photographer who stands in front of guests in key moments of the ceremony? I attended a wedding where the photographer stood right in front of the couple as they took their first kiss, I’m sure they got a lovely shot, but they blocked the moment from everyone watching the ceremony… I wasn’t impressed. Do you barely even notice they are there? Do they use lighting when needed, or are they strictly natural light types? Do you think they ‘over direct’ couples, or do they just let people be to enjoy the occasion? Also, You saw the delivered images from the wedding and liked them. That one is a must, make sure you like the product of their labour.

Referrals. Another great way of finding a photographer is through friends who have hired photographers for thier wedding or have attended weddings they have worked at. It’s second hand experience, but it’s still a good insight into the photographers work and you can ask plenty of questions about them.

Website. I would bypass any wedding photographer who does not have a proper website. The website is a great way to see the style and quality of the photographers work. Many photographers are able to shoot all styles of photography, but often choose to showcase just their wedding photography credentials. By doing so, they can taylor the whole website for providing information to prospective clients. Look for comprehensive sets of images from individual weddings, pricing information with package options.

Social Media. Instagram is a great platform to discover wedding photographers by searching with simple wedding photography hashtags including your location. Just make sure they have a professional website!

Online search tools. Up until very recently Google Search was the best way to find a photographer, just typing in keywords like ‘Dunedin Wedding Photographer’ or ‘Dunedin Wedding Photography’ is a good start. Make sure you click on the images section as well to see what pops up. In 2026 the momentum of AI search is undeniable. Using ChatGPT, Gemini or any of several AI platforms could be a valuable tool in finding your wedding photographer. Infact, it’s hard not to see AI as the most used method from this time going forward.

Dunedin Wedding Photography

Selecting a Photography Style

In general wedding photography is a mix of both posed and candid photography. There is almost a shot list of images standard for the general wedding photographer from lay flats, to first kiss, cutting the cake and everything in between.

Some couples might find they would rather have the photographer just shoot documentary style for the whole wedding, the photographer then becomes a fly on the wall, observing and capturing genuine moments completely unstaged. This documentary style can be really nice for couples who dislike posing or even having their photo taken (grooms on occasion can be less excited about pictures than brides.) Imagine having a ceremony and then immediately celebrating with family and friends, no need to head off for 2 hours getting wedding party pics. To go all in on this style does mean you are foregoing the traditional family pictures after the ceremony, however you can have your cake and eat it too, it’s your wedding and if you want those pictures ask your prospective documentary photographer if they can include them on the day. If they refuse, you have a decision to make on whether to employ them or not.

Some photographers might have a distinct style you love, using flash, and the results look stunning. However, be aware anytime you introduce flash photography into the scene, it can take time to get the shot, and you have to weigh up whether the photography is going to outweigh the importance of the occasion. Because it shouldn’t. Ideally your special day shouldn’t become a marathon photoshoot.

Dunedin Wedding Photographer, Larnach Castle.

Hiring a videographer as well

These days it’s not uncommon to have a videographer and a photographer shoot the wedding. Some photographers offer a hybrid service, and if you are considering getting both, I’d think hard about the 2 for one option. You see if your wedding ceremony is located in a small venue, space will be at a premium. A videographer and photographer can look a bit silly if they are both moving around in front of guests (getting in the way) and getting into each others shots.

You have found a wedding photographer you like, what next?

In an ideal world you have found a photographer who’s work you love and perhaps scheduling a coffee catch up would be a great way of seeing if they gel with you. You can find out if they have worked the venue before, as local knowledge is of benefit. Also, remember the photographer is around a fair bit of the day, so it’s nice if you can enjoy their company, make sure you like them. If you have a photographer who has listed packages on their website, perhaps you could get them to run through those options in more depth. You will need to cover off if accommodation will be required (are they travelling to work your wedding?), whether you will be providing them a meal, time requirements, any assistance from the wedding party in organising group photos (trust me, delegate a person to help organise these photos). At the meeting you can also cover off your shot list requirements to see if they are comfortable providing that imagery. Often photographers will require a deposit, and there can be contracts to bind a commitment, expectations and delivery outcomes between parties.

Summary.

Good luck in finding your photographer for your upcoming Dunedin wedding. Hopefully you find the right photographer to deliver a beautiful set of images, providing precious memories for years to come. If you like the look of the sample pictures I included in this blog and would like to contact me about my wedding photography service, just click the contact icon in the menu.

Dunedin Wedding Photography, Botanic Garden.

The Laowa 12-24mm f5.6 Shift Lens Review.

About a year ago I purchased the Laowa 12-24mm lens. Since then it has become one of my favourite lenses to use. It’s a highly technical lens with incredible versatility. What Laowa has achieved here needs to be applauded. Not only providing a shift lens for APSC sensor cameras, but also a zoom lens, it just blows my mind. Is it the perfect lens? No, but any negatives are outweighed by overwhelming positives, plus this lens is just outright fun to use.

The Positives: WHAT I LOVE

It’s a zoom! The lens was based on a Laowa full frame version of the 12-24mm, but whoever had the lightbulb moment of genius to turn it into a zoom-shift lens should get a pay rise. There is no other zoom shift lens on the market. This lens is unique, a bonafide unicorn! Will it be as sharp as individual primes? Probably not, wide open at f5.6 it’s a bit soft but stop it down to F8, F11 & F16 and you are laughing. The lens is reasonably priced as well, so you really do get plenty of bang for your buck!

It’s fantastic for capturing grand scenes of architecture. The issue I have with a standard wide angle zoom is when you attempt to create nice straight lines in your frame invariably you end up with images you didn’t want to take, like having heavily weighted foregrounds or you cut off elements in the top part of the frame. When shooting a shift zoom lens, the issue is solved. You get to compose a scene as you want it to look. The following 3 examples show off how the Laowa zoom shift lens helped me take the image I wanted to frame.

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Otago University library, Dunedin. 3 stitch vertical panorama. I don’t think you need to take 3 images as 2 generally stitches together just fine, but just incase…take 3 shots.

Otago School of Dentistry, Dunedin. Here just 2 vertical shift images were required to showcase the grand entrance to the building.

South Dunedin Public Library. Another vertical 2 shot panorama to capture the lighting and panelling design of the foyer hallway.

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Dunedin Railway Station, NZ. A 2 shot vertical panorama stitched together in Lightroom. I shot this image from level 1 so dropped the shift vertically down for ground level details and then pushed up to get the ceiling window in shot.

Controlling composition of elements within the frame is a breeze. Having the choice of where to place the subject in the frame is brilliant, no compromises, your choice.

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Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Ltd Building, Vogel Street, Dunedin. Here not only can I get straight lines of the building, but I can shift the lens up to include less of the foreground road and more of the sky above the building. Try that with a standard lens.

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School of Physiotherapy, Otago University, Dunedin. An exaggerated perspective as I am just across the road from the building, but the ability to vertical shift allows me to frame the vehicles nicely in the foreground of the building.

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Burns Hall, Dunedin. I shifted the lens vertically here to include the overhanging branches into the frame and reduce the foreground grass in shot.

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Burns Hall, Dunedin. In this image I was standing on a steep pathway looking up to Burns Hall, when I leveled the camera, the frame cut off 3/4 of the way up the building, but with vertical shift I was able to easily get it all in the frame.

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ACC Building, Dowling St. Dunedin, NZ. A simple vertical shift on this image again took much of the shadow and road out of the image and included more of the blue sky.

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I’m really close here to this scene, and I’d say am getting a little distortion on the silos because of it. But again simple vertical shift is giving me so much control with my composition.

Easily shoot Panoramas. Who doesn’t love a good old panorama, whether it’s vertical or horizontal, shift lenses make it so easy.

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Tunnel Beach Dunedin, 2 shot horizontal panorama. Here tourists make the most of the sun as others pose on the cliff top for endless photos.

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Tunnel Beach Dunedin. A 2 shot horizontal panorama. A view from the top of the cliff looking back down toward the beach below where I took the previous image.

It’s a light and compact lens. Having such a small tool that performs a wide variety of tasks is truly fantastic.

The Negatives: Not many!

f5.6 is a bit soft for use. The solution is stop it down to at least F8 or F11, even F16. I like to run the images through a little bit of software to sharpen them up anyway, and they look great to me.

In the beginning controls are a bit fiddly. The best thing to do is use the lens a lot and then things become second nature. There are a few dials and knobs quite close to each other, but with practise you can operate the lens easy enough. If you are working in darker environments a torch can come in handy to see what settings you have it on, and sometimes when rotating the shift you can lose sight of your aperture settings, so be careful not to bump them!

No lens hood. I would have loved a lens hood on this lens as I often use it in industrial situations where artificial lights are in heavy use, they can create flaring, not the best situation.

Summary

The Laowa 12-24mm f5.6 shift lens is a wonderful addition to my camera bag, and I am very happy to use it for work assignments. I can easily capture architecture scenes as I want. I am a Fujifilm X and Fujifilm GFX shooter. So I love how Laowa is providing shift ability for APSC cameras and are also pleased they have a growing Tilt-Shift Lens line-up for GFX owners. The new Tilt-Shift 35mm f2.8 is an exciting lens I’d love to get my hands on. Well done Laowa you are doing great things in the lens manufacturer space.

Photographing Yoga in a Lavender field.

Here are a few images from a session I had with Kristi the owner of Bend Yoga in Dunedin. The location was Lavender Row, a local lavender farm. Kristi needed some marketing images for an upcoming class planned during their Festival of Lavender. All of the photos below were taken with my Fujifilm GFX 50sii and the GF 110mm F2. I played with using the purple lavender flowers as a colour filter.

A weight off my shoulders - Rethinking event photography gear.

We live in a time of great innovation and variety in digital photography. I’m a fan of gear, I just love it. I have 2 systems; Fujifilm XF and the Fujifilm GFX. They are both great systems, but, through experience of using both at events, I have come to the conclusion size and weight make a big difference to my workflow.

Simply put, the size and weight of the medium format Fujifilm GFX is getting in the way of the type of event photography of want to explore and develop. I want to be freed from carrying the bulk and size of large bodies and lenses for a full day. I want my camera and lens combo to be smaller, lighter and faster. I want a system that not only makes me a more nimble and responsive photographer, but, also a less intimidating photographer. I honestly believe big camera and lens combos cameras can create a barrier between the photographer and subject. Ideally I’d like not to be noticed at an event, maybe even look like one of the guests. If someone looks at my camera, I’d rather think they thought it looked cool, retro and desirable, (thanks to Fujifilm design aesthetic) as opposed to massive and intrusive. If they can see me coming, I might miss the genuine moment, candid gold of real emotion and connection between subjects.

Head to head my GFX 50sii and X-T5 with 23mm F2 size comparioson. No prizes for guessing which one weighs more and is more discrete.

I recently volunteered my time at Zen hair salon for a charity event raising money in support of bowel cancer. All I used was a Fuji XT5 and 23mm F2, a combined weight of 751gm. It was liberating. I could easily hold the camera with one hand, and with great freedom move the camera around low or high to explore more interesting angles and compositions. The working distance I had to subjects during the fundraiser was tight. So in this instance a small camera didn’t cause much if any distraction and the 23mm focal length (35mm FF equiv.) gave context to the subjects environment.

After the session, I felt fresh as a daisy and the shear smallness of the kit really did get me thinking more about more interesting angles. In essence I think this approach will make me a better event photographer.

I still love my GFX and it has it’s place in portraiture, landscape and commercial jobs. But I’d much prefer to rock a small camera/lens combo for weddings and events.

Below are pics of the team from Zen and fellow fundraisers all embracing a shaved head for bowel cancer. There is some wonderful energy in many of these images. A great event and cause all round.