Yesterday was  a sad day for both of us as we came a significant step closer to our building coming down. We received notification that the Historic Places Trust was getting sign-off on full demolition.

As probable as that always was, it shook us up to be told so by the people who were trying to save it.

We came back from a trip into the city to find an incredibly generous gift from a local resident, and then last night somebody gave us a very significant donation. Their timing was astounding. It was as if they knew.

We have had many generous heartfelt gifts, wishes, and help from so many amazing people. We don't know how to thank you all.

We cannot express enough, our thanks for everything that has taken away the harshness of the impact of the Earthquakes.

Thank you everybody.

Johannes Jo and Ida

We decided to work our way through the things that happened this year.

People have been very good in supporting us and many have asked how they can help.

'Come to our seminar!' is the answer.

We need help but we want to be able to give something back for it. So here it is

'The Disaster Relief Master Class - Everything we know for 300 bucks.'

The Disaster Relief Master Class

We want to do Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

We also wil be speaking in Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin.

Dates to come after Easter

Come along and learn.

I'll put up some more information very soon.

Cheers

Jvk

A stranger came up to us the other day and said we weren't trying hard enough.

She was referring to 'saving the building'. I just wanted to cry. There are realities that we are facing which do not need the interference of the uninformed.

We have engaged the efforts of experts to tell us what is real. They are able to do it without attachment.

We love that the fate of our building matters to other people in our community but we want them to trust that we, through our insurance company, will do something that will be deserving of its location. We want it to be iconic, and we want it to belong in Lyttelton. The new Lyttelton!

This is real.

This was my office

This cracking belongs to a structural wall

The internal structural wall is failing in many places

and we can see a lot of daylight!!!

Another structural wall that is broken

This week somebody told us that they had heard that our building was being demolished on Monday.

Its news to us. I hope that's not true because we have a very busy day on Monday doing more important things like getting a lease on another place to live, and sorting out some furniture. There are meetings to go to, people to see, banks, and of course there will always be Ida.

Our new place is a total opposite to what we had. ....It has a garden and trees and fabulous outside areas for photography.

We are really looking forward to photographing people there.

We are looking forward to not being gypsies any more.

This earthquake has made us stronger and more resilient.

We are looking for people to photograph.

We are looking for Weddings and Engagements.

We are positively going to work our way through this.

To all of the friends and family that have helped out with kind words, gifts, donations, and loving, I just want to say a huge thanks for everything that you have done. We are very lucky to know you and call you friends.

Take care xxx

Johannes

PS since I wrote this there was another biggish earthquake. We went through again with the engineer and things are definitely getting ugly inside the building.

Immediately we were trying to unravel the intricacies of the meaning of love.  This lengthy conversation lasted ten days and never came to a conclusion. We walked across town in the search of the perfect Paella.

I met with Virginia, (the original Barcelona Bride, and sister of the groom for Saturday,) and Desi , the bride-to-be of her brother. We went hunting locations, something there is no shortage of in Barcelona. The one we loved, The Railway Station wanted to charge 2500 Euros for the opportunity ... we declined.

On the Tuesday I trained to Bezier (in France) to meet my friends Rachael, Charlize and Andy. My greatest challenge is photographing photographers. Rachael is a wonderful animal and people photographer. It was an absolute joy to be their guest in their 'under construction' French home. We went out early Wednesday morning and played in some French Light.

An impulsive decision by Maria Via gave me the opportunity to photograph somebody who was willing but reluctant. Maria is famous as the translator of Shutter Island and Mystic River to Spanish ... no easy task. But what is fame?

The beautiful people at H2O gallery allowed us the use of their space to create some images.

The weird thing is that none of these images are what we discussed initially. When I create portraits I want to be fluid in my thinking so that I can be spontaneous and creative.

We talked about the implications of soul stealing .... but never resolved what I would do with it once I had captured it.

This was a presentation I did with my talks in the UK last year.

I am curious about any interest in a talk in May this year on the album design process.
I am looking at two or three locations in the UK ... Let me know if you are interested.

It is still sinking in. Ian Baugh from Queensberry contacted me this evening with this picture and his congratulations from Las Vegas.

This is our trophy!

I want to thank Queensberry and my beautiful wife Jo Grams for all their support.

I also need to thank Virginia and Richard the beautiful bride and groom.

see also this award

The Eastern family (includes Banjo)

They have a new CD out

The Eastern 'Arrows'

buy it now ... no questions!

These guys deserve success ... they work hard and they sound great!

Say no more.

more ...

I'm not criticising the judgment of weather forecasters but it created an unnecessary sense of foreboding for the day as ugly weather was on its way (supposedly). The ugly weather never showed .... Ballantynes made a few extra umbrella sales that day.

I love the crazy unpredictable energy that happens at the time I arrive at the brides place. My arrival is an undenible signal that there is not much time until she has to get out there and sign the contract.

Everybody deals with that differently.

Zoe had a calm approach to it. Maybe because she's a doctor, maybe because a little bit of rain was no worries compared to her dress getting lost in transit from Australia ...

It was a wedding that had personal and special written all over it.

Zoe

Nick

The both of them ... I know that seems obvious.

Zoe at one of my favourite spots

At my other favourite location ....

I love shooting weddings ... and I hope that you can see this in my work.

Take care

Johannes

Time suddenly disappeared as I spent last week photographing four weddings, the buskers festival, and having a birthday.

I have seen enough acrobats and jugglers to see me through the year. Weddings I can never get enough of, And birthdays ... even though I was spoiled, one a year is good enough for me.

I will post some more images from All the weddings shortly but I am compelled to put these up to show that I am still here and very much wanting to get something up.

Christmas with Ida Valentina

It has been a challenging year for all of us.  At Moda we were very lucky to have Susie working behind the scenes to keep the wheels turning whenever we were distracted by our new project (Ida). We quietly introduced our new entity (The Wedding Assassins). Even more quietly we released our  'Cherish Photography' project.  We are proud at what we have achieved in what has indeed been a difficult year and we are excitedly looking forward to whatever comes our way for 2010.

We have a couple of special projects in the think tank. (A deep - almost bottomless - vessel full of crazy ideas, hopes, and wishes.) One involves travel, and the other is about education.  Actually they are both about education because we always want to learn new things.

... and then of course there will be Ida Valentina .... currently a two tooth ... who will add her own brand of unpredictability to our chaotic lives.

Ida Valentina ... the beginning of the joys of teething.

Anyway I just wanted to say a big 'thank you' for any part you may have played in this exciting year.

All my love

Johannes

We stayed at a wonderful house on the beach in a place called Suffolk Park.

Our accommodation had private access to the beach.

On the 5th day there I went to the beach via the public access and saw this sign.

Tallow Beach

It was still a great beach ... but oops!

Last year we went to a conference and one of the speakers was Kate Bezar.

She spoke passionately about a dream she had of starting a magazine like no other. She wanted to create a publication about real people doing real things real well.

She also believed that stories were created to to be shared. From this dream was born Dumbo Feather, pass it on, not a magazine and not a book but a 'mook'

Today's mail brought us the latest copy and in it was a story by Kate that started with this quote "In 1938 Cyril Connely, an English intellectual writer,and literary critic wrote "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall" ..

This a great beginning to an astute observation on the impact of parenting on creativity.

What I am shamelessly saying is that its a great publication well worth the subscription.

Back to the Dumbo Feather ... the thing that you believe in. This is an important idea.

In some ways as a photographer we can become the Dumbo Feather for our clients.

If they believe in what we do then they themselves can achieve so much

Ida hits Lyttelton (under construction)

Ida at the Lyttelton Coffee Co

I certainly cannot get enough of this adorable girl.

The fascination is endless ... something to make up for being puked over ....

My apologies to people who thought that I would be blogging about being a photographer.

That will come soon enough.

Sorry for the lack of posts for a while.

Take care

Johannes

The perfect camera is the one that gets the result.

Its not about the number of pixels. It is about the effect of the camera on the image creation.

Sometimes the pixels matters but for me 'more emotion' beats 'more pixels' every time.

The more fearsome your camera, the more intrusive it becomes.

Don't misunderstand me ... we do love pixels.

For me the best camera is almost invisible.

This is really all about being photogenic. Actually what makes people photogenic is their feeling about being photographed

Many people declare that they hate having their photograph taken and that they are not photogenic. They continue to qualify this with something about their favorite photograph being the one that was taken when they didn't know they were being photographed. I have to admit, then, that it is their awareness of being photographed that makes them unphotogenic. So in this instance the best camera is the one they are least aware of.

For me the perfect camera would then be  a Leica M ... its on my wish list. I have one from my film days and one day it will be updated.