Kariotahi Beach Castaways | Auckland wedding photographer

What an amazing post wedding session I had with my wedding clients at Kariotahi beach near Castaways (Waiuku, Auckland).

This couple is just amazing, they were married just two weeks ago and I had the honour to take their pictures at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Russian Orthodox Church, Auckland. You can check their wedding gallery and look at their amazing video.

Weather was really good for us: it was rainy just couple a minutes before the session, but when couple arrived to the beach the sun come out. What a lucky day! :)

We had a lot of fun and positive emotions, enjoyed beauty of the wild west coast nature, hills, rocks, sand, ocean. It was really windy on the top of the hill, but it made a special atmosphere for pictures. 

Later we moved down to the ocean just before the sunset, when sky was so beautiful. It was really important to walk in the water and feel all power of the nature. Need to mentioned I been walking with 2 cameras, light stand with flash holding in one hand and taking picture with another one (at some point big wave come to us and we had feeling like we in the middle of the ocean, it was really tricky to move back to the safe place, waves been really powerful). 

Lucky all goes good way and we even manage to catch last light laying on the sand near the water. Good wedding been in the past, so we no need be worries about wedding dress cleanness or good condition for groom's suit, so we had a lot of fun, and can make its all dirty for our shots :)

We need change of clothes afterwards and hot cup of tea to unfreeze, but it was totally worth it, so much positive emotions and such stunning pictures!

Enjoy this gallery!

Talk to you soon!

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

Wedding Photography Giveaway Winner | Auckland | Hamilton Lifestyle wedding photographer

Thank you so much everyone for coming to the Grand Wedding Show and viewing my lifestyle wedding photography stall, LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY.

We have a special surprise for our guests who entered the draw to win a FREE wedding photography experience for up to 6 hours!

I am delighted to announce the winner - Ailsa Reilly. Congratulations!

But there's more good news for all who visited our stand….

We are offering 20% OFF any wedding package to our participants which includes a free engagement shoot! I am committed to making your wedding day the best day you could ever ask for, so the couples' session/engagement shoot will help me get to know you better so you feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible in front of the camera on your wedding day so we can capture your true emotions of joy and love, without the nerves!

Please feel free contact me with any questions and tell me more about your wedding day! I can't wait to hear from you!

* if winner is not reachable during 7 day | date is not available | or any other reason for cancellation, prize will go in a draw again

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

Wedding Show Skycity | Auckland-Waikato wedding photographer

We are so excited to announce: this Sunday we are happy to see all our lovely brides and their families at the Wedding Show in Skycity (27 September 2015, from 9 am till 4pm).

LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY, lifestyle family and wedding photography, prepared special surprises for our guests:

- 20 % off vouchers, applied to any wedding package

- compliment engagement session (included in package)

 - and main surprise: an opportunity to WIN a FREE wedding photography experience!!! 

Conditions apply:

* up to 6 hours coverage ($250 for each extra hour)

* one photographer (second photographer extra $50 per hour)

* travel expenses extra fee (Auckland | Hamilton area no charge)

* online gallery with best artistic retouched images included

* wedding date is subject of availability

Good luck!

Look forward to see you all! Come and say Hello (stand 44) :)

wedding show

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}


Engagement-Couples Photo Shoot | Auckland wedding photographer

Engagement and couples photography is one of the special genre of portrait photography with mix of lifestyle moments.

Its all about showing the connection, emotions and relationships. Sounds easy, but its not :) Of course some couples easy going, not shy at all to show to all world about their love. But what I found, a lot times successful photo shoots could be archived only when you pay attention to details, ask questions, understand couples character, interests, what they love to do together and apply this knowledge to create a perfect relax atmosphere at photo session. Its really short time, just 1-2 hours, which we need to use to create a little love story, from moments of starting love to really tender and strong feelings.

We can talk (and I love to talk a lot, ha-ha), make a jokes, dance, play around, have posed and unposed moments.

What helps a lot is a find real moments, leave couple along for some time and just watch their quiet moments, which show a lot how they connect to each other, how they speak and relax.

Everyone loves to have down time :)

Also good use of space (shooting in all possible points - shade, open sun, sampled light etc.), and different angles (shoot from the top, eye level, down, side, back, close, far etc.) helps to create unique images and gives more opportunities to make variety of shots what best suits this couple.

I love to hear all these special love stories, how you meet each other, who doing cooking, who is bossy etc. Ha-ha! Sometimes answers vary, but it always helps me to full in love with the couple and even become good friends, then we meet again at exciting special wedding day.

If you have the opportunity to have an engagement shoot before the wedding with your photographer, its helps a lot on your wedding day, believe me. Its makes it all more relaxable, enjoyable and everyone knows how we all roll :)

I also found couple in long relationships really treasure our sessions, its like special psychology session for renew / refresh their relationship. Im so happy to help with it.

Have a look at my last engagement | couples sessions. I just love all these moments:

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}


Personal Project 365 | August | Lifestyle Photography Auckland

Its always surprising to look back at the start of the month and see images what you took FOREVER ago. Yes, thats how its feels, and then you realised it was not a long time ago, just start of the month.

So much happening: different sessions, events, news,  few commercial projects and kids around, of course :)

Here are my personal everyday moments in 365 Project. Capturing real life and emotions, remember treasure moments.

Enjoy it!

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR SESSION}

Cornwall park Couples-Engagement Session | Auckland Wedding photographer

What a beautiful couple I met last weekend for their engagement session at Cornwall Park, Auckland. 

Julie and Ettienne such an amazing and fun loving couple!

I love every single moment of our session together: all these lyric, romance and fun moments, posing and un-posing, relaxing talking and moving around. We even been dancing!

This couple is so gorgeous! It was interesting to hear their love story, how they met and where they come from: Julie a real kiwi girl and Ettienne from South Africa (name sounds really French and romantic! :). We found a lot in common - passion to dance (Julie doing latin dancing) and figure skating (Ettienne love to skate and practice on ice as me :).

What a great time together! Thank you guys!

So excited about your upcoming wedding!

Happy future together!

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

Flash vs Natural light | Photography tips | Family and Wedding photographer | LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

Im often saying Im a natural light photographer. I take a pictures outside in beautiful locations: parks, beaches, reserves, rocks etc. Also use gorgeous window light at lifestyle family / newborn / baby / couples sessions.

I love to watch light, I love to use light, I love to play with light (detract, side, back light which looks just amazing, believe me!).

light

But there are some situations when light just doesn't works how you want it, how you imagine it in your head. Maybe not enough to light your subject, or opposite - overpower and making a lot of hot spots on the face, or it sampled light. At this cases the best option is a flash, especially off-camera flash.

I love to use flash to bounce light in the room where there is not enough light (clients houses, newborn sessions, wedding receptions, family formals), or where needs to fill with light, or even overpower the sun. 

What an amazing result you can get just before the sunset with off camera flash to show beautiful background full of colours and also give some light on the faces (couple, family, maternity, kids, portraits etc.). Here some example from my last couples session on the beach. I will show you natural light picture and picture with using off-camera flash. See the difference in feelings, different effects and looks what you want to archive. Its works just great when you want to give the variety in the gallery and put so different but so beautiful pictures at the same moment of time. Flash give you a big power to have choice and apply your vision on the capturing moments:

Main tips with using flash:

1. know your synchronise speed (for not get a black stripe across the image)

2. put it closer to the subject (to get nice light)

3. control flash power manually

4. use the manual mode in the camera to control aperture and shutter speed.

5. and practice! :)

You can also put flash in TTL automatic mode but its not I've you much ability to control the flash.

Good luck with your shooting! Just take a camera, equipment and go with the flow! :)

Talk to you soon!

Contact me if you have any question info@levienphotography.com!

 

Kariotahi beach couples photo shoot | Auckland wedding photographer

OLGA & MARTIN

Kariotahi beach in South Auckland (not far from Waiuku) is a stunning location for any couples photo shoot. This weekend I met my lovely couple / friends just before the sunset to make special pictures for them.

This couple few years married and had 2 year old little one. Good time to show their love and connection. As Olga been joking during the photo shoot - this type of session should be included in all psychological course for every couple who wanted to refresh their relationship and remember how much they love each other. What a great idea! I should think about it, how to make all families live happily ever after :)

We start our session next to the beach at grass areas then walk at the sand and finished session on the top of the hill meeting beautiful sunset. 

Olga and Martin; so romantic and fun loving couple. I really enjoyed to watch them cuddling each other, joking and playing around. It was a cute moment when Martin helped Olga to move sand out of the shoes (she might be feel like Cinderella) and put flower in her hair. 

Love all the moments of our photo shoot. Enjoy it too!

Contact me for any enquiries! Remember we had complimentary engagement session for wedding bookings during August 2015 (limited availability)

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR SESSION}

Wedding celebrant - Featured Guest in the Blog | Auckland wedding photographer

Meet a new guest in our Blog - beautiful wedding celebrant Valeria (Lera) Antipenko! 

cafe portrait {Auckland couples-wedding photographer}

I love to meet a new people in the industry and hope this information can help our brides to made their wedding day run smoothly. More surprises coming soon in the Blog ;)

cafe portrait {Auckland couples-wedding photographer}

First what I think when remember Lera its a high energy and passion: love to her profession, to dance and how she speaks and care about people. So meet Lera Antipenko (www.nzcelebrant.nz):

"Choosing a celebrant is an important part of your wedding planning process. These days, not everyone is after the same thing.

I am a registered marriage celebrant and have completed a celebrant course through the Celebrant School of New Zealand. I design wedding ceremonies with traditional international customs that are tailored to create special intimate moments for your ceremony.

cafe portrait {Auckland couples-wedding photographer}

Are you looking for an open minded, passionate, energetic, well organised, committed, approachable, flexible person who will guide you through your ceremonial process? Then I would love to assist you create your special day.

I'm all about creating a fun, relaxed but enthusiastic environment. After all, you're getting married and this should be one of the most special days of your lives! The only thing that limits you is your imagination.

This process is all about your dreams, your personalities, your relationship. Every wedding ceremony is as special as the couples with whom I work. A great deal of time is spent creating a custom-designed ceremony. 

cafe portrait {Auckland couples-wedding photographer}

In addition to being your celebrant I can also coordinate your special day and provide entertainment. As I am a professional Latin American dancer and entertainer I can provide dance lessons so your first dance will be one to remember.

Available for marriages anywhere in New Zealand. I'm contactable 24/7. Any questions or queries please give me a call 02102432052 or send me an email info@nzcelebrant.nz."

street women portrait {Auckland couples-wedding photographer}

Thank you Lera! Look forward to our next meeting (possibly on another wedding in excited environment :)

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

Full Wedding Package Special: Compliment engagement session | Auckland, NZ wedding and elopement photographer | LEVIEN & LENS

I have great news for you:

If your booking a wedding during August 2015 engagement session is complimentary (included in full wedding package).

It will let you save a lot which is great as it helps me to get to know you better, and helps you to get to know me and feel confident and relaxed on your wedding day.

I would love to use this opportunity to make your special day less stressful and make it run smoothly and flawlessly, when we already had a great experience together and happy with our choice!

Lets have some fun together before the wedding day and save our time at the wedding and your money! I really want to make a success from all our photography experience!

Love to capture natural moments and raw emotions!

Look forward to hearing from you! Exciting!

Contact me with any question 

Check our packages and specials at Pricing page

Wedding | Elopement Photography

Engagement | Couples Photography

Manukau Wedding | Auckland Botanic Gardens | New Zealand Wedding Photographer

LUKE & DEBBIE

Wedding in Manukau Baptist Church, Auckland Botanic gardens and Bronco's - what could be better!? Luke and Debbie decided to have a nice quiet ceremony with close family and friends and share these happy moments with me.

Need to mentioned this couple connected to me as relatives: Debbie is my husband's cousin, but I still been at work (shooting, trying to catch and capture all important moments, raw emotions, happy and crying moments during this day. So no talking just action :)

Its so important to see all these stages of the special day for couple: prepare the church, groom waiting the bride, bride with bridesmaids arrived on retro old cars, guest reactions, ceremony moments, crying and laughing, congratulations from friends and family, bridal party fun, quiet moment away from the guests, reception - emotional speeches (Debbie's dad in the hospital at this moment, so it was really sensitive moment to heard his speech and seen bride reaction and how groom supported her) and much more different events :)

What a great day, what a good place to be, what a beautiful couple!

Did I mentioned the wedding cake? It's amazing piece of art: two Minions, shows this fun loving couple character and they looks just gorgeous!

Congratulations Debbie and Luke!

Happy future together!

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

Wedding Dresses Collection Photo Shoot | Auckland Wedding Photographer

Every little girl dreams about beautiful wedding dress and often dresses up in some long mummy's dress and put her shoes on. Do you remember all these moments?

How lucky Kim from www.nzweddingsareus.co.nz creating her own wedding dresses. :) I had the honour to be chosen to photograph her wedding dress collection at the weekend in Otorohanga (few hours drive and I'm there, catch up with Kim and her 3 girls who were the models for our photo shoot: Hallie, Sassie, and Christina.

I asked Kim what inspired her for this wedding collection and received the answer:

"My inspiration is around making dresses for the curvier figure. I am a big girl and find it hard to find clothes to fit. And when I got married had to pay a lot of money to get a dress made for me.. and I thought the prices are ridiculous. So I make them for a fraction of the price and gives girls the opportunity to have a designer dress for affordable price".

Dresses look just amazing by the way! Any curvy bride should look with attention on this collection, and every girl too!

We enjoyed our time with girls (few hours gone really fast!) having shots at the lake and near beautiful bush, trees and fields. Otorohanga is such a great place, they have a kiwi house I hear (didn't have the opportunity to visit it but love the surroundings!

We had so much fun! Kim done a great job with dress fitting, drive girls to location, change their dresses one by one and do it all again and again. Might be exhausting! 

Girls changed a few stunning dresses and its fit, looks just amazing! They even seem to have different characters in each dress. What a beautiful transformation. It's true what people say - dress makes you feel so special. Even Coco Chanel said:

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.”

and another one (one of my favourites:

"Simplicity is a keynote of all true elegance" and "Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself" and these girls dressed in these elegant dresses just showed real personality (maybe even hidden from themselves, I tried to capture their real character and direct and posed them to complement the dresses best way.

What a great day in amazing company and environment! Just a dream come true! One little girl and a lot of wedding dresses! Ha-ha :)

Enjoy our pictures and feel free to make an enquiry to book your wedding, commercial photography  or made an enquiry for your stunning wedding dress to Kim Clark-Ware (she definitely knows how to make your dreams became true)

 

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

 

Spring and Summer Wedding Photography Package

Spring and Summer are coming and it's a beautiful time for a wedding!

We want you to save money on wedding photography package (save up to $500) and we will do something what we really love to do:

to capture natural moments of your wedding day, lifestyle candid shots and some formals, emotions and feelings, some fun and joy in flawless manner.

Would you like to tell us more about your wedding day, your plans and ideas? Feel free to contact us with any questions and ideas! info@levienphotography.com.

Use the opportunity to get a special price for your wedding photography (limited availability). Check our Pricing and Packages.

Elopement package is available on request.

Check our Engagement | Couples Pictures and

Wedding Portfolio

Look forward to hearing from you!

Lets make this Spring / Summer day special and treasure your memories forever with stunning images!

DO you have a wedding at different time of the year?

Check our Early Bird Wedding Package 2016 and Winter Wedding Special at Pricing page (limited availability)!

Giveaway - family and wedding photographer LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

We really excited to announce our Winter Giveaway:

giveaway photography session

ENTRY IS SIMPLE:

  • Go to my Facebook page LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY and hit Like.
  • Leave a comment on this blog post telling me why you would like to win
  • Share with your friends on Facebook

The deadline to enter is Sunday June 21th, 2015. 

The winner will be announced on Monday June 22th, 2015.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. The closing date for entries is Sunday June 21th, 2015 at 12:00 AM

2. The prize is one free portrait session with LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY and the session must take place within Auckland, New Zealand.

3. To be eligible to win you must Like LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY on Facebook, comment on the blog post with why you want to win and share with your friends on Facebook.

4. No purchase is necessary to enter this prize draw.

5. Winner(s) will be drawn at random on Monday June 22th, 2015 and will be notified on Facebook. A direct response to confirm the winner’s details is required by email to info@levienphotography.com by July 1st, 2015 with their full name, email address and a contact telephone number. If the winner is unreachable or they fail to respond to LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY’s winner notification within the above time, LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY reserves the right to randomly draw another winner from entries.

6. The winner agrees to their name being published as the identified winner in LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY’s Facebook status.

7. The prize as stated is non-negotiable, non-transferable and there is no cash alternative or different option.

8. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

9. The promoter of this competition is LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

10. You will be supplied with high res images under personal licencee/print release only.

11. LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY holds the irrevocable right to use the photographs in all forms and in all media and in all manners, without any restriction as to changes or alterations, for advertising, trade, promotion, exhibition, or any other lawful purposes.

Casting Call. Auckland photographer - LEVIEN & LENS PHOTOGRAPHY

Casting Call!

I am looking for:

- Three girls: a blonde with long hair (preferred) + a brunette with short/medium hair + a redhead (with long crazy curly hair) between the ages of 16 and 24. If you have dancing skills (good stretching and flexibilities) definitely note that in your message!

- A pregnant women between 28 and 34 weeks along between ages of 22 and 32. Long hair preferred.

- Two fun loving family with 1-3 kids or crazy in-love couples who are comfortable being photographed in their own home. If you have with lots of windows definitely note that in your message! 

No modelling experience necessary. Sessions will take place in Auckland. Send me a message or email me at info@levienphotography.com if you are interested :)

Behind the scene | Couples-Engagement documentary photographer {Event photography Auckland}

Event photography is a lot of fun, dynamic and creative type of photo shoots. 

It's stressful for some people and fun for others :)

You get opportunities to meet new people, make new friends and practice different type of photography styles: formals, documentary, storytelling. From shooting portrait, couples, big group of people to decorations, details and food photography :) From photographing babies, kids at parties, to adults and seniors. So many opportunities! Shooting in dark conditions, inside to sunny outside, nature environment or streets, offices and halls.

You should be well prepared to handle variety and different tasks. Thats why I love shooting parties (birthday, engagement, baby shower, anniversary), weddings and other events. It gives freedom to shoot what you see around and love; so much different things with beauty inside and raw emotions.

Here are some quick tips for events shooting:

1. Check your camera settings - every time when you move from different lighting conditions (or light change at your location - especially happens fast before sunset).

2. Be creative, open your eyes - try to see beauty in details, all these little things around make this atmosphere and will be treasured in future.

3. Be fast and patient - conditions changes fast and you should too. But not too hurry, you still need be patient and capture this special moment.

4. Think outside the box - shoot with different angles, perspectives and sides.

5. Turn around, capture all these events and people. Especially little ones could bring a lot of interesting shots and fun moments.

6. Be flexible - all things changes around, conditions, planned schedule etc. Don't be upset, try to find new direction and fast change your vision and plan.

Here few pics from my last engagement party, kids made atmosphere so special. Just love to capture these alive moments!

 

Contact me with any questions!

Emotional couples photo shoot {Auckland Engagement documentary photography}

What a great couple I met this weekend - Nicole and Jon.

It's a pleasure for me to be involved with storytelling and to capture their love story special moments.

So here is just pure love and relationship. No need words, just pictures:

 

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

 

Sweet Couple | Engagement Party Pictures {Auckland Event-Wedding photographer}

Congratulations to Juliette & Jonny! What amazing couple and great engagement party I visited this weekend. It was a cosy event at Juliette house in Ellerslie, Auckland.

Happy future together! Look forward to your upcoming wedding!

Thank you for inviting me!

 

Contact me with any questions!

{BOOK YOUR WEDDING}

 

Autumn special - $85 Mini Sessions! Auckland family, couples, kids photographer

Autumn Colours are here, and it's warm! A perfect chance to have some stunning portraits taken with us at three Auckland locations: Waiake beach, Cornwall Park, Kariotahi beach. Its a great opportunity to have special present on Mother's Day too!

30min mini sessions available over the next couple of weeks. Email us for details.

info@levienphotography.com

promo

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Happy Valentine's Day. Couples, engagement photographer

Love-Love-Love!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! What a magic day full of love, friendship and freedom spirit!

Want to say to my clients/friends - I love you all and especially my dear husband! To the moon and back :) Thank you for all you support and love: tea in bed, looking after kids when Im shooting, feeding and changing nappies (not an easy task, especially put clothes back on), making yummy dinners or drive to buy take aways (curry forever!), and listening my talking (not sure how much percent information go through, maybe 10%? ha-ha :)

And thank you guys for share with me your special moments, love and feelings! I'm really appreciate to be part of something magical! :)

Maria+Taz

Maria+Taz

P.S.: Im planning to shoot two weddings soon, really excited, counting days - can't wait, more pictures to come in the blog and Facebook page. See you there!

And Happy Valentine's day!