About

“My fascination with photography started as early as 3yrs old, helping dad print black and white photos in our tiny schoolhouse laundry which was made into a make-shift dark-room. Dad (John Niwa) captured some really cool photos of my siblings and I growing up in a rural community. In my adult life I realised my parents made sure we were surrounded with photos growing up. My father had none to capture his childhood and his mum died when he was just nine years old and his older brother two years later. Fortunately, and sadly, he only had one photo of his mother. As a teenager I was super fortunate to be able to make great use of dad’s camera gear. I lived for the excitement and adrenaline of photographing friends/local sporting heroes playing rugby-league or surfing somewhere around the wild Taranaki coast. After graduating from Waikato Polytechnic with Honours in Photography I landed my first dream job as Studio Manager for John Crawford back in my home city of New Plymouth. This was an opportunity to learn all about commercial, wedding and portrait photography like never seen before. The experience of working with such a legendary photographic artist was incredibly transformative. I have always had an excellence ethos (thanks to my mum, Raewynne Niwa), and here with John I got to see what excellence looked like at the highest level. Through John I developed my skills in photographic design, studio lighting and how to entertain and communicate with clients to put them at ease so they would enjoy the experience of being photographed. In 1995 I migrated to Australia and developed a solid reputation achieving many international photographic awards. Although I was then based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, I was still very much a member of the NZIPP and at the age of 26 years, became the youngest NZIPP Professional Photographer of the Year. That same year I also achieved NZIPP Master of Photography and soon after I achieved Fellow (and gold bar to fellow), which is now known as Master with Distinction. In 2012 at the age of 41 I was thrilled to become Australia’s youngest female Grand Master of Photography with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) and in 2020 was made a Life Member. In 2015, when ‘the call of Taranaki’ became too strong, with great support and strategic advice I changed my business model and returned home to Waitara. I then opened a studio nearby in New Plymouth where my career began. Here I have found my niche, working on commissioned photographic art assignments as well as commercial and portrait photography. For the last five years, until the borders closed I have been flying back and forth between my two businesses in New Plymouth and Sydney.” Interview feature from New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography Feature Profile Interview feature from AIPP Journal