A woman wearing a dolphins leaping New Zealand t-shirt with her hair all over her face.

Dolphin watercolour print

February 8, 2021 / / No Comments

Designed by Chrissie and I and printed in the USA and Europe. My new absolute fav dolphin watercolour ‘all-over’ teeshirt print. All purchases made using this link to the global store will receive a 5% discount, use promo code: “PERFEC”.

Or shop at our New Zealand-based store: Sale price, the price of all the goods in the NZ store are 10% discounted.

The colourful print of four common dolphins leaping is brought to life with a watercolour splash. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphus) are seen in Kaikoura mainly in the summer time. Kaikoura is one of the best places in New Zealand to view marine wildlife and rated as one of the best in the world to swim with dolphins.

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Spotted shags are the best kind

December 1, 2020 / / No Comments

Now designed & printed in New Brighton

This t-shirt wildlife art print features a trio of Banks Peninsula spotted shags during breeding season, when nature gets heavy-handed with blue-green makeup and punk hair-dos. It is a multimedia design featuring a woodcut portrait of the birds and an airbrushed sky.

With their distinctive spotted feathers, bright blue-green colouring and tufted crests, these spotted shags/parekareka are thinking of romance (and fish.) What else does a shag do in it’s pre-nuptial plumage?

You can choose between having the large art printed on the front or the back of the shirt. This design looks great on grey marle, royal blue and deep royal. Email Shaun at mailto:hello@surfaceactive.nz to order direct from the graphic artist.

Shop for the double-sided version at our international store here with the big print on the back, and the single-sided version here with the big print on the front. Or shop at our Tauranga New Zealand-based online store here.

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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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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 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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Wildlife Photo portrait of a Cheetah at Orana Wildlife Park

Where the wild things are

December 14, 2018 / / No Comments

Orana Wildlife Park is a great place for wildlife photography

ORANA WILDLIFE PARK, MCLEANS ISLAND, CHRISTCHURCH

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE GENRE of photography concerned with the documenting of wildlife in their natural habitat, Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch, is New Zealand’s only open range zoo. Visiting Orana Park therefore offers a unique opportunity for the self-assignment of exercising your photography skills because in the wild animals are difficult to approach, predicting their actions is hit and miss, whereas the animals at Orana Park are not perturbed when viewed from quite close up and because there are mostly no bars or cages capturing great images of them in interesting situations just takes a little patience to be in the right place at the right time.
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MTC 2015 launch catalogue

July 16, 2018 / / No Comments

MTC_logo_greys_256Once a mainstay of the graphic design business, nowadays print brochures are more the rarity but my fascination with ink on paper is perennial. I was inspired by the opportunity to create a small company launch and product catalogue brochure for MTC Equipment, that is short and to the point.
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