That’s the beauty of a commission, as the Harris family discovered.
They had owned a bach in a small inlet in Lake Tarawera for over 4 decades. But in 2017, they sold their stake in the place.
They reached out to me for a commission as they wanted to preserve the spot that had been special to them for so many years.
With camera in hand, I set off to this beautiful part of New Zealand to capture some photos for the final piece. My standard approach to photography is “Take 1000 photos and 2 or 3 are bound to have potential.”
After returning to Wellington, I chucked the photos into my computer and got to work editing them. The Harris’s wanted a wide-angle version of the inlet with no particular focal point. But I had other ideas.
I felt that a smaller section of the lake, with the family boat ‘Marg’s’ as the subject, was going to make a better scene. I sent the photos off for feedback and sure enough, they were on board.
The rest is history.
This painting now hangs in their home in Tauranga, framed neatly in a minimalist black frame. It is actually the second work they have of mine now, so I must be doing something right.