Three women smile brightly, each wearing a different Surface Active t-shirt showcasing New Zealand wildlife: an Adélie penguin, a jewelled gecko, and a giant weta.

New Zealand Nature T-shirt Store

November 18, 2020 / / No Comments

Celebrating our Surface Active New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company store launch

Chrissie and I are happy to announce the launch of our Surface Active New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company store. You can shop here to get your Surface Active teeshirts.

Chrissie and I created our New Zealand nature t-shirt company and clothing brand, Surface Active, in 1985. As design pARTners we create wildlife T-shirts in the spirit of fun. Our subject matter is native flora & fauna, landscapes and Kiwiana—designs that celebrate some of the unique and beautiful assets of our country that we love.

We have had many requests to make our most popular T-shirt designs available again. So I made it my lockdown 2020 project to complete the job of launching our brand new Surface Active Teespring store.

From whales to wetas, paua to penguins—please browse through our store to see if there’s something for you.

All the best,

Surface Active design pARTners: Shaun Waugh (boss), Chrissie Terpstra (bossier)

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A coolie steps off a wooden cargo boat gangplank. These magnificent Makassar schooners called Pinisiat at the port of Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta, Indonesia.

The right picture: Batavia, old harbour of Jakarta

August 28, 2019 / / No Comments

Sunda Kelapa, the old harbour of Jakarta, whispers tales of a bygone era.

Known as Batavia until 1949, the port was a centre of trade and cultural exchange; students of Captain James Cook are generally cognisant of Batavia’s prominence in the first voyage story. In this post I’ll take you on a visual journey through Sunda Kelapa, using this captivating location as a springboard to explore the art of choosing the perfect image.

The practice of self assignment can be one of a photographer’s most useful exercises. It is a highly personal experience in which the photographer becomes his own audience—there is no client to please, no specific requirements by which the photographs will be judged. It serves as a way to test your abilities should they ever be offered the “dream” assignment. This is an opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. Some good images may be captured in the bargain. The purpose beyond any such practice should be to move beyond the ordinary, to break the photographic cliché.
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Events Management Group branding

June 28, 2019 / / No Comments

EMG Events Management Group was a Christchurch firm established to support the performing arts and project manage the creation and development of large and small scale events such as outdoor theatre for the city council’s parks & recreation department, conferences, conventions and bespoke corporate events such as product launches and fundraisers.
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Pionair website, aircraft charter page, Tauck group photo centre, Pionair Cargo page to the left, Tailormade travel page to the right.

Pionair websites for N.Z. & Australia

June 27, 2019 / / No Comments

Pionair.com, Pionair.com.au overview

Pionair logo, rebrandThe Australian and New Zealand private air charter and inbound tourism wholesaling firms had two websites side-by-side, Pionair.com, and Pionair.com.au which I designed and maintained through three iterations between 2003–2009. In 2008 the new combination “affluent travel/private air charter/air cargo” themed redesign for both websites was briefed.
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Auto Restorations website homepage after redesign, showing Automotive Dreams marketing slideshow and table of links to website feature articles and pages.

Energise an image heavy website

April 9, 2019 / / No Comments

Energise an image heavy website by design

AUTO RESTORATIONS, 52 STEWART ST, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

Links to PDF of New Zealand Classic Car magazine cover story on the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso

Making it to the cover of Classic Car magazine, the superior quality of Auto Restorations’ work speaks for itself in this 6 page cover article  (linked).

Established in 1973 Auto Restorations has a story to tell. Every year it must mobilise new car restoration projects. To do this it relies on existing clientele, affluent, discerning people who might already know of the company by word of mouth, prestigious Concours D‘Elegance ‘First In Class’ wins, the publicity that generates in classic car enthusiasts’ media, their advertising, website and brochure—sales brochures, basically—designed to showcase the superior quality of the work they do. Showcase the process of restoration, the completed works, among them some of the most refined and rare cars in the world, and do it justice with advertising and promotional material that has the maximum effect and gives the impression to their select international clientele of an organization worthy of trusting one’s precious, valuable car to.

Well crafted and well made custom built motor cars, widely regarded as some of the most rare and beautiful, are the results of the restoration process, a process which varies.
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Four of Auto Restorations skilled workforce wheel a custom body Delage Roadster into position in the carpark.

Informal portraiture at work

April 6, 2019 / / No Comments

Informal portraiture in the workplace using available light

AUTO RESTORATIONS WORKSHOP, STEWART STREET, CHRISTCHURCH 2009–2012

When shooting informal portraiture avoid distraction from the most important purpose—getting photographs. These photos were shot and photo composites produced 2009–2012, they offer a historical profile of Auto Restorations during that time soon after Allan Wylie stepped up from the Mechanical Shop floor to the role of General Manager. Pictures of their employees on their redesigned website, and capabilities brochure in print helped Auto Restorations transform from a faceless company to people that their customers can relate to. The highly specialised, high value personal service that Auto Restorations’ workforce offer to customers is an advantage that they have over large companies, their multiple international Concours D’Elegance awards attest to this. Good photos of their skilled workforce reinforce this.
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Pomeroy’s staff group photo. Halloween Party 2008.

Pomeroy’s Petrifying Halloween Party 2008

March 29, 2019 / / No Comments

Pomeroy’s, that pit of petrifying pestilence! Be afraid—be very afraid!

POMEROY’S FIRST HALLOWEEN PARTY, FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER, 2008

Galleries of good social event photography should be an energetic expression of the real event, which was such a great time. The photos need to do justice to it by conveying all of the paranormal pestilence and deadly energy of the night, and the sense of place, a Halloween Party in Christchurch’s favourite old English pub.
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Pomeroys Boutique Accommodation logo and hand-crafted three dimensional sign.

Excellent design conveys care

March 22, 2019 / / No Comments

POMEROY’S ON KILMORE BOUTIQUE ACCOMMODATION, CHRISTCHURCH

Excellent design conveys care, craftsmanship, professionalism, it is beautiful to see and fun to do

THE BEST DESIGN—design that moves people’s hearts and minds—has something more. It expresses a concept, a great underlying vision that combines imagination and wisdom. Without a great concept, it is fair to say, design is only superficial decoration. A great concept is what gives purpose to the communication art of design. The design of Pomeroy’s on Kilmore Boutique Accommodation’s brand and corporate identity components, from signage to print & web, to bathroom products is all about vision—the art of imagining and thinking and seeing a world that does not yet exist, and that needs graphic design to bring that to life.

Entrance to Pomeroy’s on Kilmore Boutique Accommodation.
Pomeroy’s on Kilmore custom bathroom product range packaging.

“Pomeroy’s and daughters and son” is a family business, having welcomed lots of guests through its doors over the previous eighteen months, in 2007–8 Steve and Victoria Pomeroy decided to complete their plans to fully refurbish, upgrade and rebrand the colonial villa, formerly known as Pomeroy’s B&B from 2006. Snug, comfortable Pomeroy’s on Kilmore Boutique Accommodation is centrally located next door to Christchurch’s own historic, English-style pub! Managed by Ava the atmosphere is private and personal, complete with delicious continental breakfast, what more could you ask for but their fantastic value tariff? Steve’s career in construction and Victoria’s flair for interior design came together in a great luxury b&b concept that positioned Pomeroy’s on Kilmore as a top of the line B&B.
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Pomeroy’s Press newsletter front page, masthead, leading article, Pomeroy’s family greeting, photo of Steve and Victoria Pomeroy.

Pomeroy’s pub newsletter

March 11, 2019 / / 2 Comments

The restrained look for Pomeroy’s English style pub newsletter is pure news

POMEROY’S OLD BREWERY INN, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

THE QUARTERLY POMEROY’S Old Brewery Inn and restaurant newsletter had a name inspired by their brand, “The Pomeroy’s Press”, it was well-edited by Chrissie Terpstra who was also chief reporter between 2005–2010 and was designed and laid out with a look that made the news.
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Mario, wild Orangutan, Borneo

February 25, 2019 / / No Comments

The opportunity to capture wild Orangutan portraits was a rare treat

CAMP LEAKEY, TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK, BORNEO

ORANGUTAN ARE AN ALMOST exclusively arboreal species, so the glimpse we got of this teenage male named Mario, early in the morning from our riverboat before leaving the National Park, dipping in the river and posing like Tarzan on the ground just a few metres away, this was an extraordinary treat.
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