Gwilym Griffith-Jones
Growing up lucky and embedded in the Kiwi lifestyle of tramping, sailing, snorkelling, climbing and sewing, Gwilym started Cactus, a purveyor of outdoor gear, in 1992. He migrated south from Wellington to settle in Wānaka where he continued his love of making things, collaborating on larger, house-sized, projects and a wonderful family.
During that time, the internet was evolving in parallel, and he worked in solving virtual problems for people. His favourite things are surfing as the sun goes down, scissors, open-source CAD software, Merle, Galileo and Maja and the family pet Juki sewing machine.
Mastodon: mastodon.social/@gwilymgj
Web: purewebhosting.nz
Rushi Vyas
Rushi Vyas is the author of the poetry collection When I Reach for Your Pulse (Four Way Books and Otago University Press, 2023) which was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and a two-time finalist for the National Poetry Series (US). Rushi is co-author of the collaborative chapbook Between Us, Not Half a Saint with Rajiv Mohabir. Born in Toledo, Ohio in the US, Rushi now lives in Ōtepoti.
Web: rushivyas.org
Gabriel Fraser
After working hard on her parents’ farm to earn pocket money on the weekends, Gabriel Fraser purchased her first film camera at eight years old. That first roll of film only lasted a day, with photos of the dogs, the cat and “the best tree”. After a few years trying out city living, she found herself drawn back out to the countryside and picked up a camera again to try and capture the feeling of being out on the land, particularly in the hills. This has morphed into photographing animals in action (especially horses) alongside our human world. Gabriel currently lives on a farm with her husband and loves being a part of the Wānaka area community.
Insta: @gabriel.the.photographer
Web: gabrielthephotographer.shootproof.com
Vinnie Botton
Vinnie Botton is a Sydney-born photographer currently living in Wānaka. He often plays with the concepts of “people-less” spaces and scenes that portray a sense of weightlessness. His work evokes a sense of isolation and stillness, allowing room to create a deeper connection between his viewers and his images. Often dancing between environmental portraiture and architecture and predominantly shot on film, his photographs range from abstract blends of shadows and shapes to striking, balanced landscapes.
Instagram: @vinnie_botton
Web: vinniebotton.wixsite.com/home
YouTube: youtube.com/@enloupevin
Harvey Aughton
Harvey Aughton is a conservationist living in Ōtepoti, working for the Halo Project Beyond Orokonui. He has a background in outdoor education, as well as studying bats (flying fox ecology) and brains (psychopharmacology) at university (separately), before moving into community-based predator control and biodiversity projects. Outside of conservation work, he has previously held art exhibitions (group and solo) and had writing published in journals and magazines including Takahē, Shot Glass Journal, Spectral Lines and Mayhem Literary Journal. He also likes to spend time in the mountains, usually finding secluded spots for hammock camping. He is often reading multiple books at once.
Instagram: @harv_au
Connie McDonald
Connie McDonald is a photographer, writer, and Angel’s Advocate with an interest in long hair, shell grottos, caves, tramping, finding cashmere in op shops, Leonard Cohen, and naturist communities. She taught English in Tokyo, and has competed in long hair competitions in Lithuania. Last year, she set up a women’s community centre in Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho. She was born and raised in Ōtepoti.
Instagram: @princess.constance
Deanna Gerlach
After twenty years living in Australia, Deanna and her whānau actually tramped the length of Aotearoa on the hunt for their new home in New Zealand. The descent from Breast Hill into Hāwea was a spiritual delivery of sorts, and four years later they are well-settled into the community. Dee takes photos and videos of everything she can get her hands on and is most at home traipsing after fellow adventurers in these here maunga. You’ll see her images from the Wānaka Festival of Colour in this issue’s music-themed Photo Gallery.
Instagram: @dgerl
Web: deannagerlach.com
James Allan
Born in Central Otago, Queenstown-based photographer James had a childhood passion for capturing mountain bikes and motorsports. After honing skills at the Mountain Scene newspaper in Queenstown and shooting professionally in Canada, James launched a successful freelance career in 2012, and now specialises in construction and architecture photography. He won Community Newspapers Young Photographer of the Year in 2009, and his photography has been featured in The New Zealand Herald, the Daily Mail and CNN. He remains devoted to capturing show-stopping moments. This obsession with “the epic” continues to drive James’ distinctive photographic styler, which resonates with audiences across the globe.
Ruari Macfarlane
Ruari counts his blessings for being raised by climbing parents, who instilled a desire to explore and cherish our wild mountain places. Careers in ski patrol, avalanche forecasting and alpine search and rescue, as well as a passion for snowboard mountaineering and climbing, led to mountain guiding in Canada and Aotearoa. In summer, he’s likely to be found with friends exploring some quiet steep corner of Fiordland or Westland with rope and rack, though laptops predominate the rest of the year as he completes a Master’s at the University of Otago studying Antarctic ice shelves. He spent two years on the Federated Mountain Clubs committee and writes regularly for the New Zealand Alpine Journal (now Climbing in Aotearoa).
Tanya Halcrow
Based in Wānaka, Tanya has spent her working life navigating the worlds of finance and food and her generosity shines through her love language: cooking for others. Until recently immersed in all things food at Mediterranean Market Wānaka, she now lends her skills to the Wānaka Helicopter Group. With a deep appreciation for seasonal ingredients, Tanya finds joy in her garden and in sharing the fruits (and vegetables!) of her labour through her cooking.
Instagram: @shared_food_tales
Bella Witten
A photographer from Alberta, Canada, Bella has a love for skiing and an even bigger love for photography. She picked up her first camera at 12 and hasn’t looked back. These days, you’ll find her riding or working lifts at Cardrona, always with a camera nearby. She also works as a film tech at the Wānaka Camera Shop, diving deeper into the world of film and gear. Bella’s happiest in the snow, camera in hand, and always keen to shoot more.
Instagram: @bella.witten
Web: bellawitten.myportfolio.com
Kirsty Taylor
Kirsty is a Wānaka-based photographer and teacher. She received her first camera for Christmas when she was eight years old and has enjoyed photographic storytelling ever since. Kirsty is passionate about dance, art, growing food and flowers, slow fashion and slowing down. She is very grateful to live in Wānaka with her husband and two sons, enjoying the outdoors and community focused, small-town living.
Instagram: @kirstytaylor_design
Catherine Hart
Catherine Hart is a queer romance writer from Wānaka. She has published work online through publications such as Art Murmurs, The Spinoff and Pantograph Punch and also writes long form fiction. In 2022 she completed her Masters in Creative Writing with AUT. In the last year she has come second in the Chapter Short Story Contest, second-equal in the Folly Short Story Prize, and second in the Peter Wells Short Story Competition. Her work focuses on encouraging everyone to be the truest version of themselves, whatever that means to them.
Instagram: @catherinehartwrites on Instagram
Sam Sharpe
Sam Sharpe is a stencil artist based in Dunedin’s North East Valley. He has been producing work for more than 20 years, and his art spans social commentary, pop art and Kiwiana. He is inspired by other street artists, and his love of travel and other cultures also informs his work. Sam also has an interest in old pulp art, an influence that will be obvious to anyone who shares this passion. Prints and canvases are available, and he is happy to engage in commissions.
Instagram: @ssmsharpe
Facebook: Sam Sharpe Studio
Jacqueline Forster
Jacqueline Forster is a journalist contributing to lifestyle publications in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Dividing her time between the two countries – from the wilds of Makarora to the equally rugged Blue Mountains of New South Wales – Jacqueline draws inspiration from the natural world which informs her writing and film photography, a hobby practised with reverence using her Nanna’s vintage Yashica 35mm camera.
Instagram: @ always_take_the_weather
Spencer Hall
Spencer Hall is a Pōneke-based visual artist, working primarily in animation, comics and illustration. His work with musicians includes visuals for Coldplay, Aldous Harding, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and emerging talent both local and internationally. Spencer’s music video for the TG Shand’s song ‘Scenes’ has been nominated for a 2025 Aotearoa Music Award. Spencer has also been instrumental in running the Ōtepoti Zinefest, which will celebrate its 15th year this November. Photographing on a Nikon FM2, his film photography projects include a long-running series of double exposures shot on found film. Having grown up in the Maniototo, he has great fondness for long summers spent in the Nevis Valley playing cards by candlelight, a bonspiel at the Styx and swimming in the Sowburn in Patearoa.
Instagram: @spencerhallnz
Web: spencerhall.co.nz
Sampford Cathie
Sampford (Sam) Cathie is a photographer of people, places and products based in Wanaka with over a decade of experience working with a range of commercial clients. A keen landscape photographer, Sam enjoys exploring the outdoors, shooting on old film cameras and creating artwork with a unique perspective – like his ongoing personal project, Viewfinder, which blends heritage images of New Zealand together with their modern-day counterparts.
Instagram: @Sampford_
Web: sampfordcathie.com
Eric Trump
Eric Trump lived in Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States before moving to Dunedin, where he writes, teaches, and tries to stay warm. He has translated two books, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Health Affairs and The Spinoff, among others.
Web: erictrumptranslator.com
Cate Chin
Cate Chin uses this pen name to honour her Central Otago Chinese ancestry. Her work takes her around Aotearoa, and she carries the Mata-au on her right forearm, so she is never far from home.
Briar Pacey
Briar Pacey is a producer with a knack for bringing ambitious projects to life. Their experience spans time in Rankin’s London studio, managing exhibitions and global campaigns, and later fostering creative communities in Aotearoa with initiatives like Women’s Work. As founder of the Pacey Production Company, Briar supports both international clients and local creatives in realising bold ideas.
Instagram: @briarpacey / @womensworknz
Web: paceyproductioncompany.co.nz
PHOTO: Todd Eyre
Ava Thomas
Ava is a young photographer raised in the Manawatu and now studying zoology, ecology, and marine science at the University of Otago in Ōtepoti. She loves to spend her time outdoors, drawing her work from nature in the forms of illustration and photography. Ava uses her photography as an outlet to show how she sees the world and to bring unnoticed things into focus, and by winning the DDB Young Photographer of the Year in 2021 gained the resources to take her photography a step up. Currently, her focus lies in her studies, and she eventually wants to work in conservation and wildlife photography.
Instagram: @ava_thomas_photography
Davide Conti
Originally from Sicily, Davide has called New Zealand home for over a decade. A physician by profession, his passion for the outdoors led him to discover photography during the COVID-19 lockdown. What started as a hobby quickly evolved into his primary creative outlet. Davide’s photography focuses on capturing visually striking scenes that invite viewers to uncover the stories within each frame.
Socials: @imagesbydavide (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube)
Diana Adams
Diana is a visual artist based in Wānaka. She has been a full-time artist for 25 years and her images of bared down New Zealand landscapes are held in collections in New Zealand and across the world. Diana has degrees in Arts and Landscape Architecture and became an artist after a short stint as a Landscape Architect. She recently won the people’s choice award at the 2023 Wānaka Art Society exhibition. Her most recent show, ‘Geographique’ shown at Little River Gallery, Banks Peninsula, was inspired by contour maps.
Instagram: @dianaadamsartist
Facebook: Diana Adams – Artist
Web: dianadams.co.nz
Robert Sullivan
Robert (he/him/ia, Kāi Tahu, Ngāpuhi, Irish) has won many awards for his poetry, editing and writing for children. Tūnui | Comet (Auckland University Press, 2022) and Hopurangi Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka (Auckland University Press, 2024) are his most recent collections. He also co-edited, with Janet Newman, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology (Otago University Press, 2024). He is an Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University and coordinates its Master of Creative Writing programme. He is a great fan of all kinds of decolonisation.
Matt Vance
Matt is a Banks Peninsula-based writer, sailor, and expedition guide. His stories and photographs have appeared in the New Zealand Listener and North & South. He is the author of How to Sail a Boat and Ocean Notorious and a frequent contributor to 1964 Journal. His latest book Innerland, published by Potton & Burton, is out now.
Instagram: @mattvanceauthor
Facebook: Matt Vance
P.M. Fadden
A husband and father, skier and friend; P.M. Fadden is a leaf on the breeze with a pad and a pen. He appreciates fresh perspective, wind-combed hair, and the chocolate chip biscuit.
Luca Warnock
Luca is a Lyttelton-based photographer who enjoys shooting both digital and film. In the past few years, he says his cameras have become a basic necessity, like a wallet or a phone. Luca doesn’t leave the house without one. When he is taking pictures, he looks for a subject that is going to spark some sort of emotion in the viewer, and combining a love of basketball and photography has allowed him to capture these emotions in the moment.
Instagram: @luca_warnock
Debbie Fahey
Debbie is a sports photographer with a decade of experience, beginning with capturing her children in action in a multitude of sports. She specialises in rugby and her background as a former player allows her to anticipate the action and capture the game’s passion. Shooting in Otago and Southland, Debbie covers local club rugby and serves as the official photographer for the Southland Stags. She enjoys freezing pivotal moments to create lasting memories for players and fans alike.
Instagram: @debbiefaheyphotography
Penzy Dinsdale
Sometimes you can find Penzy working as a doctor in a rural hospital, but whenever possible you’ll find her out on an adventure somewhere in New Zealand or abroad. Any sort of adventure will do, and it would be all the better if she could take a camera with her and catch some of the beautiful places, wildlife and people. Currently, her focus is on working and adventuring in Antarctica and completing the Fiordland finale to her Southern Alps Traverse to make it the complete South Island.
Instagram: @penzyd
Web: southerlystormphotography.com
Ben Mack
Ben Mack is a Wellington-based aspiring travel writer and former Southland resident with bylines in publications including Esquire, Vogue Australia, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and North & South. A member of the Travelers’ Century Club, Bluff is among his favourite places in the world. This is his first story for 1964.
Giulia Rusconi
Giulia Rusconi is a landscape and travel photographer born in Northern Italy and now based in Tāhuna/Queenstown. Whether at Lake Como or Wakatipu, majestic mountains will always be her backdrop and playground. Besides photography, her biggest passions are hiking, rock climbing and wildlife watching, even though it’s hard to compete with a peaceful walk in some enchanted forests of South Island. Giulia’s style is mostly influenced by minimalistic landscape photographers and suits New Zealand’s nature perfectly; her favourite destinations are also Iceland, South America, Nepal, or wherever nature thrives.
Instagram: @whereisjude
Web: giuliarusconi.myportfolio.com
Jessica Hinerangi Thompson-Carr
Jessica Hinerangi Thompson-Carr (Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is an illustrator and a poet. She works as a full-time artist, primarily online through her Instagram @maori_mermaid and has been published in various journals online and offline, such as Starling magazine, Landfall, Bad Apple Gay, Pūhia and Ōrongohau. Jessica published her first poetry collection, Āria, in 2023.
Web: aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/ria/
Bronwyn Kelly
Born in Tapanui, near the bottom of Aotearoa, Bronwyn now lives in the capital near the south coast. She believes our land is always confronting, with its beauty and rawness, and she takes photos to try and acknowledge this.
Insta: @bronkelly_snaps
David Owen
David Owen, 84, is a self-taught photographer based in Masterton. He spent more than three decades photographing the outdoors in New Zealand, the South Island in particular. One highlight was walking the Milford Track in 1984 as a “freedom walker” with four kilograms of camera gear, then pitching a tent at the end of the runway at Milford and spending four days tramping in Fiordland. (He recalls the whole trip costing just $40.) David has never been a member of a camera club. He did apply to join the New Zealand Professional Photographers’ Association but was declined because he was “only a part-timer”.
Jodie James
As an international award-winning talent, Jodie has garnered recognition for her exceptional work. From captivating visuals to thought-provoking narratives, she knows how to bring a concept to life in a way that captivates and inspires. She’s teamed up with big-name international brands, as well as local legends. Jodie also captures personal work that exudes wit and ingenuity, weaving a captivating narrative beneath the surface. Her photographs are a delightful blend of humour and cleverness, each frame telling a compelling story. Jodie is represented by Film Construction
Web: jodiejames.co.nz
Insta: @jodiejamesnz
Jay French
Jay is a global photographer who calls New Zealand home. He has created campaigns and imagery for a host of prominent brands such as Nikon, Red Bull, Macpac, Tourism New Zealand, Samsung and many more. Jay’s dramatic style has led him to be a grand finalist for Red Bull Illume, World Sports Photo and NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year, among other achievements. He’s a big fan of coffee and dark beer, and gets excited by sunsets. When he’s not at work, and sometimes when he is, he can be found in the mountains, running, biking or hiking with his wife Nicola and dog Ted.
Web: jayfrenchphoto.com
Insta: @jayfrench
Kat Heap
Kat is an artist who grew up in London before moving to Wānaka nearly 20 years ago. She loves to capture snippets of joy through pen and ink, collage and photography. Her art is informed by her life experiences, studying at the Learning Connexion for several years and working at libraries, cinemas, Wastebusters, the Tate Modern and art colleges. She has a particular love of old paper and books, as well as making art from things which otherwise would have gone in the bin.
Insta: @kat.heap
Tobias Kaser
Tobias has been going to the mountains for as long as he can remember. As af teenager, he hated it, but when he graduated from school his mother gave him a camera, and that brought him back to the mountains. He loves the sea and the mountains, but in Italy they’re always two different places, which is why he’s been captivated by New Zealand for a long time. At the end of 2022, Tobias travelled through New Zealand in a camper van with his girlfriend for six weeks and fell in love with this country.
Insta: @tobiaskaser_photo
Meg Elliot
Meg is a writer, zine-maker and mountain biker from the border of North Wales, UK. She is fascinated by story, folklore and the way memory lives in landscapes. Meg co-creates -Scaef, a zine exploring nature-connection through art and writing and is one part of The InBetween Collective, a creative collective hosting book clubs, workshops and international art projects. Her interest in writing is driven by a love of people, of the things we collect, and our legacies on the land and each other. Get in touch on [email protected].
Web: theinbetweencollective.net
Victoria Beattie
Born and bred Tasmanian, Victoria made her way to the South Island of New Zealand in search of snow and Antipodean familiarity after being brutally thrust into an urban central London greyscale hellscape in her mid-teens. In pursuit of escape, a short-lived career in freeskiing landed her in Wānaka, where she found a place that felt more like home than home. The quaint time-warp feel and simplicity of yesteryear that pervades South Island living is what pulled at her Tassie-born heartstrings. Though stubbornly still pursuing a snow-adjacent career, Victoria otherwise enjoys getting out and about in the mountains and ocean, occasionally writes (mostly about skiing), and rehabilitates a rolling list of avoidable injuries.
Fox Meyer
Fox Meyer is the editor of Critic Te Ārohi, the University of Otago’s student magazine. He studied earthquake science at the University’s Geology Department, won the 2022 Best Feature award for student journalism, and he can also drive a Zamboni, which is more important than anything on his CV. His favourite petrol station in the world is in Franz Josef, where the Alpine Fault runs directly under the forecourt. He recommends the Dusky Track and thinks the Newton Saddle walk was personally designed by Satan.
Jessica Allen
Jessica Allen grew up across the ditch in Newcastle and always had an interest in all things literature – she was a library monitor at school, who dreamed of becoming a writer. After travelling, she arrived in Aotearoa six years ago. She went back to her roots in the writing industry and started freelancing for various publications, and is now based in Queenstown. On the weekends you’ll find her doing laps snowboarding, hiking, setting up camp by the beach and paddling out for a surf, or indulging in all the fabulous craft beer the region has to offer.
Web: whakatipuwanderer.com
Insta: @whakatipuwanderer
Eliana Gray
Eliana Gray is a poet living in Ōtepoti. They like cold water and clouds. You can find their work around the internet and printed in various places, such as: Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, Minarets, Landfall, and Mayhem. They’re not on social media, but carrier pigeons may be sent to: [email protected].
Hester Ullyart
Hester is a multi-disciplinary artist from Hull, England, now resident in Aotearoa. Working predominantly as an actor, writer and director, original works include ‘Notes on a migration’ (Tiny Fest 2021), award-winning film poem ‘I am all the rooms of the house’ (RADA/HOME 2020), solo plays ‘Paragon Dreams’ (Hull Truck/Auckland Writers Fest 2022) and ‘The Ballad of Paragon Station’ (Winner: ‘Stellar Original Content’ NZ Fringe 2020). Her poetry has been published by Catalyst, A Fine Line, Takahē, A Breach of All Size and Wild Pressed UK. She founded Common Ground Spoken Word in Lyttelton, Te Whakaraupō in 2022
Insta: @hesterullyartpoetry
Ray Shipley
Ray Shipley (they/them) is a Ōtautahi-based comedian, poet and professional book-pusher. In 2019, Ray was nominated for the Billy T Award, the biggest award for the rising stars of comedy in Aotearoa. Ray has won the Christchurch Poetry Slam four times, and placed third in the NZ National Slam in 2018. Their poetry can be found in the anthologies Solid Air (UQP, 2019) and in Out Here (AUP, 2021), among others. Since 2020, Ray has been running Late Night Poetry Hour – a celebration of poetry and feelings and staying up past bedtime – regularly at Little Andromeda Theatre in Christchurch.
Insta: @hey.ray.shipley
Jay Cassells
Jay Cassells lives in Queenstown Tāhuna. He was formerly a lawyer in Sydney, specialising in the interesting double of Water/Environment Law and Film/Art/Entertainment Law. For much of his life (perhaps troubled by the Flaubert quote: “every lawyer carries within himself the débris of a poet”) he has drawn and painted and written. He was the regular cartoonist for the NSW Law Society Journal, occasionally published in The Bulletin and elsewhere, and was a member of the Australian Black and White Artists’ Club. He has published two books, and written some poetry, lyrics, scripts and countless planning submissions. Jay is a contributor to the Lakes Weekly Bulletin and works on commissions and other long-term projects including conservation, trout and putting.
Web: jakehassells.com
Insta: @jakehassells
Lucy O’Hagan
Lucy O’Hagan is a doctor and writer who worked for 20 years as a rural GP in Wānaka. She is currently finishing a book of stories and personal essays, using poignancy, humour and irony to explore the experience of being a doctor (and the limitations of the medical model). She is about to record a short book of reflections on being a GP in Aotearoa during the pandemic and is a regular columnist for New Zealand Doctor / Rata Aotearoa magazine.
Web: nzdoctor.co.nz/contributor/lucy-ohagan
Facebook: @LucyOHagan
Jason Charles Hill
Jason Charles Hill is a landscape and travel photographer based on the east coast of Australia. With a dedication to meaningful storytelling, Jason’s work has led him to explore many offbeat destinations, including all seven continents. From the windswept dunes of the Kalahari to the remote isolation of the Arctic and Antarctic Jason’s imagery aims to document and immerse the viewer in the wild and unknown parts of our world. His photographic works consist of travel, lifestyle and commercial projects and hosted photo tours in some of the most far reaching places on earth.
Web: jasoncharleshill.com
Insta: instagram.com/jasoncharleshill/
Julie Chandelier
Julie Chandelier is a passionate French/Swedish conservation and wildlife photographer based in New Zealand. She advocates for the ocean and the wider natural world by telling stories about the connection we have with the amazing natural world we live in. Her passion leads her to contribute to meaningful projects and to work with individuals and organisations who strive to improve our environment and our communities’ wellbeing. From documenting whale research in the Subantarctic Islands to working as a guide in the polar regions, or exploring the most remote parts of New Zealand, out in the elements is where her storytelling is at its best.
Web: juliechandelier.com
Facebook: @JulieChandelierPhotographer
Insta: @julie_chandelier
Viv Head
Viv Head is a Welshman at heart who spends at least four months every year in Aotearoa. He lives in Cardiff and Christchurch when he is not on the road somewhere else. Viv likes remote places, and while in and out of lockdown in the UK, he travelled around the coast of Britain and wrote the book Exploring the Coast by Degrees.
Web: watermarks.org.uk
Kanari Zukoshi (Kanary)
Kanari describes her camera lens as a portal, one that invites you to step into her shoes and see the beauty of the world surrounding us. She says her home is in the solitude of alpine terrains and the wilderness of the coast, and in between are the people. Kanari is an advocate for women in surf, “building sisterhood and creating a supportive community for our future generations of wahine to thrive”. Through photography and videography, she hopes to create content that people can relate to.
Insta: @eyes.betweenlines
Eiko Jones
An award-winning filmmaker and photographer, Eiko strives to capture the natural and human world in a way that inspires and motivates people to appreciate and care about this planet we call home. He works with companies such as National Geographic, BBC, PBS and Patagonia. Water-based filming and photography, including underwater images of the waterways and the life forms that inhabit these areas, make up a lot of Eiko’s body of work. Underwater filming of Pacific Salmon was one of his main focuses while living in Canada. Now based primarily in New Zealand, he continues to explore out of the way places and document the life that exists there.
Web: eikojones.com
Insta: @eikojnz
Dan Slater
After fifteen years in the outdoor industry, both selling high-end gear and scribbling down his frequent escapades, Dan feels he can discourse knowledgeably on many topics, from huddling under a wet tarp during a lightning storm, to fighting off a pack of drop bears with a broken trekking pole. It’s experiences such as these that make the difference between merely an enjoyable trip, and an “adventure”. With writing credits in all of Australia and New Zealand’s outdoor publications, reputable or not, plus his own three full-length books, Dan has honed his craft to perfection. Now, he’s ready for 1964!
Web: thisisnotaholiday.com
Insta: @thisisnotaholiday
Simon White
Simon thinks of himself as an obsessive observer and never goes anywhere without a camera. He studied Design at university and moved to Otago back in 2012. Based in Dunedin, he uses the region of Otago to create authentic projects that are inspired by the landscape, culture and geology of the deep south.He specialises in black and white photography and occasionally photographs in colour, with the goal of capturing images that show drama, emotion and atmosphere.
Web: simonwhitephotography.org
Insta: @simonwhite.nz
Kelsey Timpany
Raised in Invercargill and with her home base currently in Tāhuna / Queenstown, Kelsey hasbeen chasing summers and mountain biking since 2016. Kelsey is a professional mountainbiker and ambassador for Pivot Cycles USA, Mons Royale and Wide Open. She competesinternationally in Downhill and Freeride, writes a column for Pivot’s global market, and contributes to publications like Spoke Magazine. Outside of mountain biking and writing, Kelsey is a real estate agent.
Insta: @3kels
Sarah Taylor
Sarah is a mixed media artist and nurse. Originally from Somerset, England, she emigrated to New Zealand in 2008, making her way to Wānaka in 2014. Thirty years after gaining a diploma at art college in the UK, she enrolled in a course with The Learning Connexion Wellington to study from home. In her art space, she creates pop art collages using paint, pastels, torn pieces of magazines, text and image transfers. The inspiration is drawn from her children, imagination, textures in nature and the beautiful mountains.
Instagram: @sarah.taylor.art
Facebook: @naturecreativenz
Ben Brown
Ben Brown (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Koroki, Ngāti Paoa) is an acclaimed writer, poet, performer and publisher who lives in Lyttelton, New Zealand. Born in Motueka, he has previously worked as a tobacco farm labourer, market gardener and tractor driver, and has been writing and publishing since 1992. Brown is the author of an evocative memoir, A Fish in the Swim of the World, a number of children’s books, non-fiction works, and short stories for children and adults. In May 2021, Ben was appointed the inaugural Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador. He is also a father of two, which he considers his best work to date.
Instagram: @benbrownthepoet
Web: penguin.co.nz/authors/ben-brown
Photo: Sophie Taylor-Brown
Tara Black
Tara Black is a cartoonist and visual chronicler of book events. You can find their comics in many places, including The Sapling, Stasis Journal, The Spinoff, Salt Hill Journal, Takahē and their website, taracomics.com. Their first graphic novel, This Is Not a Pipe, was published in 2020.
Photo by Ebony Lamb.
Instagram: @tara_comics
Website: taracomics.substack.com
Hayley Rata Heyes
Hayley Rata Heyes is a Pākehā poet and painter based in her hometown, Ōtepoti Dunedin. Her work has been published in Takahē and Landfall, among other places. She came to know the Clutha / Mata-au via trips through Central Otago to stay in her family’s small corrugated iron hut on the edge of the Poolburn Dam.
Instagram: @rataheyes
Sara Litchfield
Sara Litchfield is a writer, editor and photographer based in Te Anau, on the doorstep of Fiordland National Park. A member of the New Zealand Society of Authors, the Queenstown Creative Writing Group and the Fiordland Arts Society, Sara holds a Masters in Theology from the University of Cambridge, where she is currently completing a Diploma in Creative Writing. She is happiest out in the wild, exploring the forests, lakes, mountains and coastlines that make Aotearoa so special.
Instagram: @saralitchfield
Web: saralitchfield.com
Janu Kewish
Janu Kewish is a Christchurch-born former Wānaka resident who now lives in Australia. New to film photography, he uses film “for that rush when you get a roll back after two to four months, and that time, location, memories and beautiful people flood back into your present mind.” He also works to capture the beauty in all aspects of the earth, and in the people who walk on it. Outside of the arts, you’ll probably find Janu in the kitchen; he’s been working as a cook for nearly three years.
Instagram: @janukewish
Michael Hall
Michael Hall grew up on a farm in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and went to the University of Canterbury, where he completed a Geography degree. His poem, The Map Room, refers to the map library in the Geography department itself. It was a continent of a room, with old and new atlases, grey mesa-like map drawers, and unmoving globes. Out the window, west, was the world of the university, its campus buildings and a few leaf-clinging birches, empty Elysium fields, halls of residences, and beyond that, the snow-covered Southern Alps. This was an age ago, and the poem may be more the confluence of youthful myth and faulty memory. Recent poems of Michael Hall’s have appeared in the NZ Listener, Poetry NZ Yearbook 2022, Otago Daily Times and Love in the Time of Covid: a Chronicle of a Pandemic.
Web: sites.google.com/view/michaelhallpoetry/home
Jase Blair
Jase Blair is a professional photographer, drone pilot, writer, and adventure seeker based on Te Tai o Poutini / the West Coast. Photographing professionally for about 15 years, Jase likes to spend his spare time in the hills as much as possible, climbing, skiing, mountain biking, trail running, and generally exploring the incredible natural environment of The Coast, and further afield. He was named the New Zealand Landscape (In Camera) Photographer of the Year and was a finalist for the Commercial Photographer of the Year at the 2021 NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards.
Web: katabatic.co.nz
Instagram: @jaseblair
Marc Blake
Marc Blake was born and raised in Auckland. After graduating Auckland University, he spent several years living and painting in Yokohama, Japan and in Sydney, before moving to Queenstown in 2015. Marc is represented in collections both nationally and internationally, including 17 works held in New Zealand’s largest private art collection. A recipient of and finalist in numerous awards, Marc’s work has been shown in exhibitions at the Auckland Art Gallery, the Kyoto Cultural Museum and The Dowse, as well as a residency and exhibition at BankART NYK, Yokohama. Marc is the director of Queenstown Contemporary, the largest artist-run space in New Zealand.
Web: marcblake.co.nz
Instagram: @marcblake__ Marc Blake
Jemma Wells
An industrial designer by day, Jemma embraces bikes and cameras as an escape from office life. She is forever grateful for the places and people she has been lucky enough to capture, and is drawn to find “the moments in between” and tell stories with images of “how it felt”. Jemma believes that the best days end dusty, dirty, wet and/or cold, with a bowl of hot chips, a cold pint, and a story or three to share.
Web: jemmawells.com
Instagram: @jemmawells_photo
Dougal Rillstone
Dougal Rillstone was mesmerised by the beauty of moving water while growing up beside the Mataura River. He has fly-fished in both salt and fresh water from Cuba to Russia, and many places in-between, but he continues to be drawn back to the Mataura, for its trout, and the landscape of his happiness.
His writing on fly-fishing and the outdoors has been published in Australia, the USA and New Zealand. His book, Upstream On The Mataura, is, in part, a chronicle of his 240-kilometre walk beside the river from the coast to its source, high in the Eyre Mountains. Dougal splits his time between Dunedin, the Ida Valley and Northern Southland, where he shares a fishing cottage with an old friend. His late life heart continues to be captured by rivers.
Georgia Merton
Georgia Merton has succumbed to the allure of the mountains and now lives in Wanaka. Happiest writing about eccentric folk, interesting food and our environment. Currently attempting to master the art of compost. Read her work here: www.georgiamerton.com
Zack Black
Zack Black is a photographer based out of Montana in the U.S. He typically spends his time adventuring throughout Montana in the summers and then goes international for the winters. He is an avid fly-fisherman and outdoor enthusiast who has pursued and photographed trout for most of his life. Zack’s work has been featured in galleries and shows around the U.S. as well as Salt Water Fly Fishing magazine. He has dedicated his life to conservation and preserving the wild places of the world.
Lizzie Carruthers
Lizzie Carruthers draws on her farming career to bring wit and playfulness to her art, showing her subjects in a joyful light. These bright paintings are rendered in luscious oils, illustrating characters with interesting life stories.
Nathan Weathington
Nathan Weathington is the co-founder and publisher of 1964 and also the author of Where the Hell Were Your Parents? and Invasion of the Bastard Cannibals (Winner of the Bronze Medal for Humour at the 2016 IPPY Awards).He has worked as a civil engineer, bartender, math teacher, secretary, publisher of several newspapers/magazines in British Columbia, and a smart-ass astrologer named Mr. Asstrology. As an up-and-coming media mogul, he responsibly decided to ditch his career to pursue the untold riches of becoming a stay-at-home dad and author. Nathan now lives with his family in lower Albert Town where he pursues his obsession with fly fishing.
Peta Carey
Peta Carey spent 20+ years making documentaries in NZ and various other corners of the globe, at the same time as writing freelance features. She published her first book, A Place for the Heart, in 2017, and just recently published Tamatea Dusky (see Chapter 19, ‘Seabirds, Beyond Tamatea’ for her story of grey-backed storm petrel). She lives just outside Queenstown, high on a hill, with her daughter and her dog; loves time in the hills, skiing, tramping and climbing (“only safe stuff”), mainly in Fiordland and Mt Aspiring National Parks, close to home.
Web: petacarey.co.nz
Richard Abraham
An award-winning freelance writer, photographer and tour guide originally from Oxford, UK, Richard is on hiatus from chasing the wheels of the professional peloton across Europe at events like the Tour de France. He and his partner Genny can now be found biking, hiking and writing in the forests and mountains of the South Island from their van, Mizzie.
Instagram: @richard.a.abraham
Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson lives in Wellington with his partner and two children. He likes to spend his time in either the mountains, or the sea, and he puts up with the inevitable places in between. He is a co-creator of Up Country: A Journal for the New Zealand Outdoors, which was started by a few friends around a borrowed boardroom table and a six pack of cheap beer. ‘How to do just about anything’ first appeared in his book of poetry, Memorandum of Understanding, published by VUP in 2016.
Web: upcountry.co.nz or vup.victoria.ac.nz/memorandum-of-understanding
Iona Winter
Iona Winter (Waitaha) lives on the East Otago Coast. Her hybrid work is widely published and anthologised in literary journals internationally. She has authored three collections, Gaps in the Light (2021), Te Hau Kāika (2019), and then the wind came (2018). Skilled at giving voice to difficult topics, she often draws on her deep connection to land, place and whenua.
Web: ionawinter.wordpress.com
Joe Murdie
A teller of stories using light and motion, Joe has had a camera in his hand since he learnt to walk on the bumpy streets of South Auckland. He is now a filmmaker and cinematographer based in the stunning alpine town of Wānaka. He is a creative thinking, whisky drinking, Swanndri wearing kinda guy who has an extensive background working on news and broadcast, TV series production and documentary production.
Instagram: @joemurdie.film
Nick Stringer
Nick grew up in the mountains around Wakatipu: Kawarau, Coronet, Pikirakatahi. Despite a taste of the Himalayas and Europe, it’s the Southern Alps he considers home. The bliss of the mountains inspires photography and poetry. When not at altitude, he’s probably on a vineyard or in a winery.
Whitney Thurlow
Whitney Thurlow is a mountain guide fully-qualified by the IFGMA, NZMGA, SPCA, OMG, NASA, CAPTCHA and YOLO. On social media he can be found @ (at) Rhyme and Reason Brewery.
Lou Burton
Lou is an ocean, surf and adventure lifestyle photographer based in Mount Maunganui. She is fascinated by the colours and light that are cast across the sky and on the water in blue and golden hours. Find her on the beach or in the ocean at first light, no matter the season or water temperature. While her focus is on capturing fragments of time spent with nature, she loves to document adventures around New Zealand and beyond with her partner, as well as surf sessions with fellow ocean-loving wahine.
Web: louloubphoto.com
Instagram: @louloubphoto
Mickey Ross
Mickey moved to Wānaka in 1996 to finish high school and to be close to the mountains. Chasing winters and racing gates for years led him to a university scholarship in Lake Tahoe, where he studied digital art. A couple of winters in Revelstoke, Canada gave Mickey a taste of backcountry skiing, and he developed a love for documenting adventure and the life around it with a camera. In between photographing winter adventures, weddings and commercial projects, Mickey likes to slow down and capture the places and situations surrounding him using older film cameras.
Web: mickeyross.photo
Instagram: @_mickeyross
Jamie Fraser
Based in New Zealand’s wildlife capital, Ōtepoti / Dunedin, Jamie Fraser’s award winning photography focuses on capturing a unique perspective on New Zealand’s natural world. His passion for photography combines particularly well with his love of the outdoors, mountains and wildlife. His creative take on subject behaviour makes for intriguing and captivating wildlife imagery.
Instagram: @fraserfotography
Web: jamiefraser.co.nz
Jan Hawkins
Education consultant in the Middle East, barista, shop owner/manager, mentor, reporter – flexibility is the word since Jan left her position as principal of Cromwell College. She lives in Bannockburn with photographer husband Tim Hawkins, loves the written word in many forms, and is a passionate co-founder of the Bannockburn Arts Festival, Across the Bridge.
Facebook: facebook.com/AcrosstheBridgeBannockburn
Nick Ainge-Roy
Nick Ainge-Roy is a freelance writer based in Wānaka. A child of the mountains, Nick grew up experiencing everything his hometown had to offer, and the impact of his alpine upbringing can be felt in the articles, poems and short stories he writes. When not behind his desk, Nick can be found walking, cycling and kayaking around Wānaka, or in the company of his partner and a few good friends indulging in the town’s most premiere refreshments.
Instagram: @nickaingeroy
Web: nickaingeroy.com
Hank Bilous
Who wore it best? Hank Bilous. Always. As part of the Freeride World Tour, Hank is known as one of the best, and most entertaining skiers in Aotearoa. It’s Hank’s style and originality that you’ll remember. He dresses like an up-and-coming rockstar, and no matter the Hawaiian shirt, onesy, or killer blond moustache, it somehow always works. This originality has carried over into Hank’s photography. Using a busted Wastebusters’ camera and a roll of film, he’s able to produce unique images, which occasionally have proprietary ‘duct tape effects’. And again, somehow it just works.
Instagram: @hankbilous
Mike Wilson
Mike Wilson is a North Islander who felt like he came home when he moved to the South Island many years ago. Trained as an industrial designer, he is a jack of all trades with a passion for photography, who is happiest on a bike, off the beaten track, or making things by hand. He currently earns a living restoring old cars to their former glory and in the past, among other things, was a designer for Macpac. His partner Lizi and their fourth Irish Setter, Baxter, live in Nelson and explore all over.
Instagram: @instameccanica, @cartel.works, @baxterthesetter
Pia Davie
Pia Davie studied Fine Arts at the Dunedin School of Art. She collects vintage paper maps of Aotearoa, sourced from friends, op shops and tip shops and repurposes these into original art works. “Maps are used to describe and record ownership, showing culture and features relating to land use and value. My birds are unaware of these man-made pressures and ideas, they continue to wing their way across the skies, following migratory paths and returning to breeding grounds they have used for thousands of years.”
Instagram: @piadavieart
Facebook: facebook.com/pia.davie
Web: etsy.com/nz/shop/piadavieart/
Erik Kennedy
Erik Kennedy is a poet, editor, critic and sea-bather. His two books of poems are There’s No Place Like the Internet in Springtime (2018) and Another Beautiful Day Indoors (2022), both with Victoria University Press. He has also co-editedNo Other Place to Stand, an anthology of climate change poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, out with Auckland University Press in 2022. Originally from New Jersey, he lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Twitter: thetearooms
Linktree: linktr.ee/erikkennedy
Website: erikkennedy.com
Zoe Hawkins
Zoe is an escapee from agency land in the big smoke, now enjoying the low-key life in Lake Hāwea with her husband and 1.5 children. Co-founder of Wānaka’s conscious marketing company ‘Brand+Butter’ and original music and poetry open mic night ‘Creative Juices’, she splits her time between helping businesses and nonprofits unlock their gold and letting her weird out through spoken word.
Instagram: @z.j.hawkins
Facebook: facebook.com/Creative-Juices-Wanaka
Web: brandandbutter.co
Chloe Lodge
Deep in the Hakataramea Valley, Chloe and her family have found their forever home. Since leaving her home shores of England 17 years ago, she’s trained as a photojournalist in Paris, lived and worked as a lifestyle, birth and wedding photographer across five continents, written a book entitled For the Love of the Photograph, co-written its sister Creative Journal, had two beautiful children, and is now mentoring photographers across the globe.
Instagram: @chloelodgephotographer / @fortheloveofthephotograph
Web: chloelodge.com
Dan Root
Dan Root is an award-winning freelance commercial and editorial photographer. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he emigrated here in 2018 and now resides in Wānaka with his wife and daughter. Dan specialised in the world of sports and sports culture and has worked for brands like Epic Fly Rods, Les Mills, Merrell, Brooks Running and Manchester United. He is an avid fly fisherman and loves traveling the South Island with his family.
Instagram: @dan_root / @dan_root_photo
Web: drootphoto.com
Maya K. Templer
Maya K Templer is a freelance cartoonist and illustrator based in Ōtautahi. When not drawing, she spends much of her free time biking in the countryside and tending to her tomato plants. After taking several gap years, Maya is about to undertake a Bachelors in Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury. She hopes to develop her storytelling abilities in order to highlight experiences and injustices through visual means.
Web:mktempler.com
Sven Grabow
Sven Grabow is an archaeologist by trade. After moving to New Zealand more than ten years ago, he started to use the skills he acquired as an illustrator of archaeological artefacts to reflect on the country’s breathtaking outdoors. He produces “technically-evolved scribbles”, and while he is uncomfortable sharing his work, he loves nothing more than when people enjoy it. Sven currently lives in Wellington and works for the Department of Conservation.
Erika Galpin
For the last seven years, Erika Galpin worked as an acquisitions editor for several eBook companies. Before that she was a professionally published author and even won an international haiku contest. Now Erika is concentrating on her own writing.
Liz Breslin
Liz Breslin writes poems, plays, stories, reviews and a fortnightly column for the Otago Daily Times. Her first collection of poems, Alzheimer’s and a spoon, was published in 2017 by Otago University Press, and listed as one of the NZ Listener’s Top 100 Books the same year. Recent performances include Verb Wellington’s Litcrawl, Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival, WORD Christchurch and a tour of bars, bookshops and a fairy-lit skatepark in BC, Canada.
www.lizbreslin.com
Bethany Rogers
Originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK), Bethany Rogers travelled the world a little before becoming ‘stuck’ in New Zealand. She writes and edits for magazines, particularly on her favourite topics of the arts and adventures. At night, she writes dark, short fiction. When she’s not writing she can be found hiking, trail running, paddle boarding or boxing.
Web: bgrogers.com
Facebook: @bethanygrogerswritesInstagram @bethanygrogers
Allan Uren
Allan Uren lives in Wanaka. He’s a mountaineer, rock climber, skier, and in his spare time, a painter and decorator. He’s written stories for New Zealand Geographic, has a short story in a book, To The Mountains, a collection of New Zealand alpine writing and has had a column in Wilderness Magazine.
Contact Allan on [email protected].
Annabel Wilson
Annabel Wilson is a writer from Wanaka. Her first poetry collection, Aspiring Daybook, was published in 2018 by Makaro Press. It was longlisted for the 2019 Okham New Zealand Book Awards and won the NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival award in the Fiction/Poetry category. Her work has also appeared in journals in NZ and overseas. Her play No Science to Goodbye was performed at the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour, BATS and Te Pou theatre. Annabel has been awarded the RAK Mason fellowship at NZ Pacific Studio, the inaugural Australasian Association of Writers’ Programmes Emerging Writers’ Prize and a residency at the Robert Lord Writers’ Cottage. She runs a NZ arts, adventure and culture guide at www.onmag.co.nz
Samantha Montgomerie
Samantha Montgomerie is a poet based in Macandrew Bay, Dunedin. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Nga Kupu Waikato: An Anthology of Waikato Poetry, Takahe and Landfall. She is also a published author of fiction for children. When she is not writing, she enjoys roaming the forests and mountain tracks around the country.
Teresa Angell
Teresa Angell is a freelance photographer based out of Raumati Beach in New Zealand. A passionate action photographer of animals, wildlife and dogs. She is currently photographing and researching the history of the Sled Dog Racing community in New Zealand, to publish a pictorial book later in 2020. When not immersed in her projects, Teresa enjoys time with family, the beach, mountain biking and riding her motorbike.
teresaangell.co.nz
Erin Maessen
Erin Maessen is a science writer based in Taranaki, and has recently completed a Masters in Science in Society at Victoria University. She is interested in science, people, and the way they interact, particularly in relation to conservation and the environment. She enjoys tramping, but especially likes stopping to look for birds and insects along the way, and loves all native creatures especially the weird ones.
Find her at erinmaessen.nz
Neil Kirby
Neil Kirby came to New Zealand from the UK in 2005, by accident. And stayed. He lives in Otatara with his wife, 3 young children and 5 sheep. When he’s not changing nappies or pretending he knows how to use power tools in his workshop, he runs his own Marketing & Brand consultancy business, the curiously named Atticus Road.
Web: www.atticusroad.co.nz.
Facebook: @atticusroad.
Twitter: @atticusroad
Pallas Hupe Cotter
Pallas Hupé Cotter was an Emmy award-winning former TV news reporter and anchor in the USA. Now she’s an award-winning speaker, writer and founder of a personal leadership development and strategic messaging consultancy, called POP. Pallas’ personal essays have been published in The Spinoff, The New Zealand Herald, Huffpost Australia, and Cultural Weekly. She’s also authored two books: The POP Process: Discovering Your Passion, Purpose & Personality and Discovering Yourself in New Zealand, Inspiration for Reinventing Your Life.
Pedro Pimentel
Originally from the antipodes of New Zealand (Portugal), Pedro Pimentel travelled a bit of the world working as a Mechanical Design Engineer, taking photographs and making videos of climbers and other adventurers before calling Wanaka home five years ago. His adventure photography work has been featured and published in numerous publications around the world like Nat Geo, The Guardian UK, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun, amongst others. Pedro is the creative brain behind his video production agency Katalyst Media, and his work recently went viral with the Wanaka Floods Daily Drone Episodes.
Ross Mackay
Ross Mackay started shooting photo and video for fun in 2012, then people started calling. He officially made a business of it in 2014 and has been running ever since. He has shot still and moving images all over the world in some of the hottest, coldest and highest parts of our amazing planet. According to Ross, “It provides me with a creative outlet that I hadn’t quite found in life, the variety of work and the people I have been involved with is quite incredible, long may it continue!”
Web: rossmackay.nz
Shayne Galloway
Shayne Galloway is a recovering academic who splits his time between Dading, consulting in recreation, and photography. Based in Queenstown, Shayne pursues landscapes and portraits that are a bit different and – if he can get away with it – in black and white. He applies his training in leisure theory via mountain biking, skiing, and Jiu Jitsu. If you’d like to see more of his work go to: shaynegalloway.com
Claire Lacey
Claire Lacey is a Canadian writer. Their first poetry collection, Twin Tongues, won the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. Their second book, Selkie, is a graphic novel collaboration with artist Sachie Ogawa. Claire is currently pursuing a PhD on the topic of brain injury and poetry at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
Web: poetactics.blogspot.com.
Twitter: @poetactics
Fiona Murray
Based in Wanaka, Fiona Murray spends as much time as she can in the mountains, while design and art keeps her ticking during down time. She says, “like a lot of people, I need art as an outlet for everything going on in my head, it allows my thoughts to become 3D and lets me process them better. Between sports, adventure, study and art/design, I can stay inspired and be creative in so many different ways, and am always looking for more.”
Instagram: @fizzymuzza
Jason Beacham
Jason Beacham first came to Wanaka nearly 20 years ago chasing winters and living the ski bum lifestyle. After a wee stint back in his homeland, he moved back to New Zealand, started a family, and eventually found himself returning to Wanaka four years ago. Now a full time photographer and media man, he splits his time being behind the lens, enjoying the Southern Alps, and creating new dad jokes for his daughter to be ashamed of.
Instagram: @208media
Facebook: @208medianz
Jillian Sullivan
Jillian Sullivan lives in the Ida Valley, Central Otago, in a strawbale house she built with her son-in-law Sam. A writer of creative non-fiction, fiction and poetry, her thirteenth book, Map for the Heart – Ida Valley Essays, is due out with Otago University Press in 2020.
Web: jilliansullivan.co.nz
Laura Williamson – Editor / Co-Founder
A writer, songwriter and poet based in Central Otago, Laura Williamson is the editor of 1964: mountain culture / aotearoa. She co-wrote The Blue Moments Project song and spoken word cycle, and her book The Bike and Beyond: Life on Two Wheels in Aotearoa New Zealand is out now as part of the BWB Text series.
Instagram: @laura_willwritefor
Lennon Bright
Born and raised in the bush in the far north of New Zealand, Lennon Bright has always had a fascination with the outdoors. He first picked up a camera to document his adventures through photographs, only to realise he had found the creative outlet he didn’t know he was searching for. Lennon likes to shoot most things, especially the outdoor sports and activities he is passionate about. Living in Wanaka now provides him no shortage of fun things to point a camera at.
Web: lennonbright.com
Sue Wootton
Sue Wootton lives in Dunedin. Her most recent publications are her novel, Strip, and her fifth poetry collection, The Yield, which were listed for the Ockham NZ Book Awards in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Sue edits the medical humanities e-zine ‘Corpus: Conversations about Medicine and Life’ found at corpus.nz. More about her work and how to purchase her books on her website: suewootton.com.
Tim Brewster
Wanaka-based writer Tim Brewster is the founder and editor of The Good South – thegoodsouth.co.nz – a locals’ guide for visitors to the lower South Island. Originally from Dunedin, Tim has written extensively about travel and adventure and runs his own digital marketing copywriting business. He has worked in skiing and tourism for decades and enjoys paddleboarding, mountain biking and cooking curry.
Web: timbrewster.co.nz
Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas is 55 years old and lives in Hawea Flat. He earns a living as a chimney sweep, and spends his free time chasing swell, wind and snow. Other interests include a burgeoning belief in the right of all New Zealanders to good mental health, and he campaigns quietly for more openness and honesty around mental illness. He is a former newspaper reporter. Photo credit: Andy Cole
Leslie Eaton
Leslie Eaton is an award winning graphic artist tucked away in the tiny community of Metchosin, Canada. She has over 25 years of experience in print and advertising. Her work has reached as far as NYC (andnow NZ!). When not in front of a computer you can find her coaching archery, fishing, walking forest trails with her dogs, practising some form of fibre-arts or painting medieval illumination recreations, all while being a military spouse and TCB.
Photo: Susan Robertson
Instagram: paperscapeworks
Hayden Campbell
Hayden is a full-time professional photographer living in the beautiful Catlins, New Zealand. He concentrates on weddings and portraits in the summer, which allows him to focus on surf and landscape during the winter months.
Web: blacklabelphotographythecatlins.co.nz
Facebook: hayden.blacklabelphotography
Instagram: hayden.blacklabelphotography/
Oscar Hetherington
Oscar is 20 years old and has been creating images since he was about 14. He has a great passion for the outdoors, and loves shooting all aspects of the ocean, and the lifestyles and sports that surround it. Whenever he is not shooting in the water or on land, he’s surfing, swimming or planning the next adventure.
Web: oscarhetheringtonvisuals.com
Instagram: oscar.hetherington
Scott Kennedy
Scott Kennedy is a card-carrying multipotentialite, splitting his time between various creative projects, including working as a writer, photographer, installation artist, musician, filmmaker, educator and event planner. And, let’s be honest, he drinks a lot of coffee. Born in Canada, Scott has called Queenstown home since 2002. His words and images have appeared in numerous publications over the years, writing about topics as diverse as travel (remember that?), politics, adventure sport, art and culture. He is the co-founder of the post-rock band / art project EchoKnot, which released their first album, Under a Mountain, in 2019.
Web: scottkennedy.nz
Twitter: @ScottKennedyNZ
Ilja Herb
Ilja Herb is a Canadian artist currently based in Wellington, where he teaches photography at Massey University. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Geo, Outside, Powder and Bike magazines, and he has led community filmmaking projects in Ghana and South Africa on issues related to environmental governance and policy. Other recent work includes a visual media project documenting ecological impacts that come with the return of the sea otter in indigenous communities in coastal BC and Alaska. When not photographing chainsaws and outboard motors, Ilja can be found sailing the Canada’s West Coast aboard his temperamental sailboat Foxy.
Web: iljaherb.com
Instagram: @iljaherb
Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair
Having graduated with a BA (English & Art History) from the University of Otago, Michelle worked in sales and marketing until 2004, when she followed her dream and became co-owner and Managing Director of the Artist’s Room Fine Art Gallery and The Framers Room Studio in Dunedin. An emerging photographer, she also co-founded the Dunedin and Otago Fonebooks. Both were bestsellers, and the Dunedin Fonebook was the highest selling self- published book in Aotearoa in 2016/17.
Gavin Lang
Wānaka-based mountain guide and adventure photographer Gavin Lang owns and operates First Light Guiding and is currently working on a project called Seeking The Light, for which he is climbing the24 New Zealand peaks higher than 3000 metres. He plans to write a book and produce a documentary to tell the story of the mental health benefits of adventure, challenge, and time spent in nature.
Web: seekingthelight.co.nzfirstlightguiding.com
Facebook: facebook.com/gavinlangphotography
Instagram: gavinlangphotography
Camilla Rutherford
Camilla is a photographer who lives on her husband’s family merino station in Tarras. She loves to photograph adventures, but more recently has turned her art towards documenting the regenerative farming movement. She has travelled around the country photographing positive farming stories to be part of an exhibition that will tour New Zealand this autumn.
Web: healtheearthnz.com | camillarutherford.co.nz
Instagram: @camillarutherford_photography
Emile Hussell
Emile is an artist, photographer and outdoorsman based in Queenstown. He makes imagery around his interest in the beauty of natural landscapes and their relationships with light and shadow. With a unique eye for detail, his tight compositional style tends to capture intermediary areas between environments, cultivating a sense of curiosity and a desire within the viewer to understand the full picture. Emile is currently hiking the Te Araroa Trail.
Web: emilehussell.com
Instagram: @emilehussell
Cilla McQueen
Born in 1949, Cilla McQueen has lived in Te Waipounamu for most of her life. After formative years in Dunedin and some travel, she settled in Motupōhue, Bluff, in 1996. A poet, teacher and artist, her honours and awards include a Fulbright Visiting Writer’s Fellowship, two terms of the Robert Burns Fellowship, a Goethe Institut Scholarship to Berlin, three New Zealand Book Awards (1983, 1989, 1991), Hon.LittD Otago 2008, and the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry 2010. She was named National Library New Zealand Poet Laureate 2009 -11. In 2020 she was honoured with an MNZM for services as a poet. Her latest book of poetry, Poeta, was published by Otago University Press in 2018.
Jasmine O M Taylor
Jasmine O M Taylor [she/her] is a pākehā, bisexual, Pilates-enthusiast poet with a day job. She lives in Ōtepoti with her true love and two ridiculous cats. Jasmine is a member of Dunedin’s Octagon Collective and you can find some of her work in Landfall, NZPS Anthology 2018, Catalyst, Overcommunicate, Mayhem Literary Journal, Poetry NZ Yearbook 2021, blackmail press, and takahē.
Web: jasminetaylorpoetry.co.nz